legal showdown
CNN's Anderson Cooper presses Michael Cohen's lawyer for 'assuming' Stormy Daniels violated NDA
Lawyers for Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen appeared on CNN on Tuesday night to battle it out over the ongoing legal dispute regarding a nondisclosure agreement Daniels, a former adult film actress, signed in 2016.
Arthur Schwartz, representing President Trump's personal attorney Cohen, mostly traded barbs with Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti over the nitty-gritty of the contract that barred the actress from discussing an alleged affair with Trump. But Schwartz clashed with host Anderson Cooper when the conversation turned to whether or not Cohen had violated the NDA by publicly discussing it and confirming that he had paid Daniels $130,000 for her silence. (Trump has steadfastly denied he was ever involved with Daniels.)
Schwartz shut down the suggestion, and said that Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, had already violated the agreement before Cohen publicly discussed the payment last month. Cooper pointed out that the story was leaked to The Wall Street Journal, and Schwartz continued to insist that Daniels was the first to break the contract.
"How had she violated the contract?" asked Cooper.
"Because she leaked it," said Schwartz. "She's the one that was out there leaking the information."
When Cooper asked how he knew that Daniels had leaked the story, Schwartz simply claimed that the details would "come out in court," and that Daniels was seeking more money. Cooper pushed him on his claim, seeking to clarify that Schwartz didn't actually have any evidence that Daniels herself had leaked the story to the Journal.
"I'm assuming she did," responded Schwartz.
At that point, Daniels attorney Avenatti chimed in: "Well, you know what they say about people that assume." Watch the entire showdown below, via CNN. Summer Meza