Trump denies knowing of any hush money paid to porn actress

pulse

April 6, 2018 2:18 AM

President Donald Trump denied Thursday knowing of a $130,000 payment his lawyer made to a pornographic film actress who claims to have had a sexual encounter with him, an assertion that threatened to complicate his legal battle against her.

Trump made his first public remarks about the matter aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, where he had held a round table on tax cuts.

Asked by a reporter if he knew about the payment to the actress, Stormy Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, he said, “No.”

Asked why Michael D. Cohen, his personal lawyer, had made the payment, Trump said, “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney, and you’ll have to ask Michael Cohen.”

The president said he did not know where the money had come from, and ignored a question about whether he ever set up a fund Cohen could draw from.

Clifford has said that she was paid $130,000 before the 2016 election to buy her silence. She is now suing Trump to abrogate a nondisclosure agreement that was supposed to prevent her from discussing the relationship. She claims the agreement is null and void because Trump never signed it.

The president’s comments Thursday could create a predicament for him and his legal team. Clifford’s case is based on the notion that the confidentiality agreement is invalid because Trump was not a party to it. By saying he was not aware of the agreement, Trump appeared to confirm that argument, which would mean neither party is legally bound by it, thus potentially paving the way for Clifford to break her silence without consequences.

Clifford’s pugnacious lawyer, Michael J. Avenatti, quickly issued a statement. He said that the president’s professed ignorance of the payment would improve his client’s case, suggesting that he would use legal discovery to expose the back and forth around the payment.

“Our case just got that much better,” Avenatti said in the statement. “We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump’s feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130,000 as he stated on Air Force One.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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