Adult-film actress Stormy Daniels filed a lawsuit against President Trump on Tuesday, claiming that the deal she made to keep silent on details of a relationship with Trump is invalid. While Daniels and Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen signed a non-disclosure agreement, the suit says, Trump did not.
The suit, obtained by NBC News, alleges that Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, had an intimate relationship with Trump that lasted from the summer of 2006 "well into the year 2007," with trysts taking place in Lake Tahoe and the Beverly Hills Hotel. Appended to the suit are two agreements: A "hush agreement" that refers to Daniels as "Peggy Peterson" and Trump as "David Dennison," and a side letter agreement revealing that Peterson is Clifford and Dennison is Trump.
The hush agreement states that $130,000 will be paid to the trust account of Clifford's attorney and in exchange, Clifford would stay mum on the relationship and refrain from sharing texts or photos from Trump. Both documents, NBC News reports, have blank spaces where "DD" was supposed to sign; Daniels and Cohen signed them just days before the election, on Oct. 28, 2016. The suit asks the Los Angeles County Superior Court to declare that both agreements "were never formed, and therefore do not exist," and also alleges that Cohen has been trying to intimidate Daniels into silence, with his last attempt on Feb. 27.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in OregonSpeed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denialSpeed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartelsspeed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feudSpeed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protestersSpeed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoffSpeed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
-
YouTube to pay Trump $22M over Jan. 6 expulsionSpeed Read The president accused the company of censorship following the suspension of accounts post-Capitol riot
