Stormy Daniels sues Trump, says 'hush agreement' invalid because he never signed</s>Adult film actress Stormy Daniels -- who had once claimed to have an affair with Donald Trump prior to his presidency –- filed a lawsuit against him on Tuesday alleging that the nondisclosure agreement she signed before the 2016 election to silence the story is not valid because Trump himself never signed it.

The "hush" agreement -– as it's referred to in the suit -– was signed by Stephanie Clifford (known professionally as Stormy Daniels) and Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, 11 days before the election.

Cohen, a lawyer representing Cohen, as well as lawyers representing the president, have yet to respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

According to the lawsuit, Trump and Daniels had a relationship that lasted from the summer of 2006 "well into the year 2007."

The suit says, “To be clear, the attempts to intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and shut her up in order to ‘protect Mr. Trump’ continue unabated. For example, only days ago on or about February 27, 2018, Mr. Trump's attorney Mr. Cohen surreptitiously initiated a bogus arbitration proceeding against Ms. Clifford in Los Angeles."

The hush agreement refers to Clifford throughout as Peggy Peterson and Trump as David Dennison and has a blank where "DD" was supposed to sign.

Cohen recently acknowledged using his private funds shortly before the election to pay $130,000 to Daniels.

“In a private transaction in 2016, I used my own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Ms. Stephanie Clifford,” Cohen said in a statement emailed to ABC News, referencing Stormy Daniels.</s>Porn star Stormy Daniels sued President Donald Trump, saying a “hush agreement” to prevent her from talking about their purported affair isn’t valid because Trump never signed it.

Daniels wants a judge to void the agreement so she can avoid being dragged by Trump’s personal lawyer into an arbitration proceeding, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles.

According to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, she had an affair with Trump that began in the Summer of 2006 in Lake Tahoe and continued well into 2007, including at least one meeting in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen paid her $130,000 to stay quiet about the affair in 2016, when several women came forward with allegations of sexual misbehavior by Trump.

Michael Avenatti, Daniels’ lawyer said Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show that the actress did have a sexual relationship with Trump, but declined to say whether she had texts or photos that would corroborate it. He also said that she may ultimately return the money if the agreement is found to be void.

“It’s time for her to tell her story,” Avenatti said, adding that “there’s no question the president knew about” the non-disclosure agreement at the time.

The agreement, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, uses the pseudonyms David Dennison and Peggy Peterson and requires the actress to turn over any video and still images, as well as email and text messages in her possession.

Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, said last month he had paid Daniels out of his own pocket and neither the Trump Organization or the Trump campaign were involved. Cohen has since initiated an arbitration agreement against Daniels in Los Angeles, according to her lawsuit.

“Put simply, considerable steps have been taken by Mr. Cohen in the last week to silence Ms. Clifford through the use of an improper and procedurally defective arbitration proceeding hidden from public view,” according to the complaint. “The extent of Mr. Trump’s involvement is these efforts is presently unknown, but it strains credibility to conclude that Mr. Cohen is acting on his own accord without the express approval and knowledge of his client Mr. Trump.”

Cohen didn’t immediately respond to an email sent to the Trump Organization after regular business hours seeking comment on the lawsuit.</s>Porn star Stormy Daniels has sued Donald Trump over the non-disclosure agreement she was paid £93,500 hush money for.

The adult actress alleges that Trump never signed the agreement that his lawyer had arranged with her following her alleged affair with the billionaire businessman.

The civil lawsuit alleges that the non-disclosure agreement is invalid because, while she and Trump's attorney Michael Cohen signed it, Trump did NOT.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, filed the lawsuit, which was obtained by NBC News , in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.

Daniels is referred to as Peggy Peterson throughout the non-disclosure paperwork, while Trump is referred to as David Dennison.

An additional side letter agreement redacts the true identity of 'DD', but Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, claims the individual is Trump.

Avenatti tweeted confirmation of the lawsuit on Tuesday, linking to the full set of court documents .

Daniels signed both the agreement and a side letter agreement using her professional name on October 28, 2016, just days before the 2016 presidential election, NBC reports.

Cohen reportedly signed the document the same day, but there is an empty blank space where 'DD' was supposed to sign, but did not.

Both agreements are appended to the lawsuit as Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2, the website reports.

Yesterday, it emerged that lawyer Cohen moaned to friends he had not been reimbursed for paying Daniels hush money out of his own pocket.

Last month the attorney said he made the payment and denied it violated any campaign finance laws.

Cohen had been working to secure a deal with Daniels just weeks before the November 2016 US election, it is claimed.

But as the deal was being brokered, it is claimed he was unable to track down Trump for the money forcing him to use his cash instead.

Earlier this year, it emerged that Trump allegedly had the porn star spank him with a Forbes business magazine cover featuring his picture.

In 2009, Daniels was thinking of a run for the Senate in Louisiana and was working with local political consultants about potential donors.

Trump was on her list - and his name was one of the contacts in her phone, one political aide told Democratic consultant Andrea Dubé in an email.

"She says one time he made her sit with him for three hours watching Shark Week. Another time he had her spank him with a Forbes magazine," the consultant wrote to Dubé.

The consultant revealed Daniels had told him the bizarre spanking session occurred while they were involved in a sexual relationship that began soon after they met during a golf tournament in July 2006.

The magazine that Trump asked Daniels to spank him with had his face on the cover, the consultant added.

An Autumn 2006 cover of Forbes features a photo of Trump flanked by his daughter, Ivanka, and his son, Donald Jr.

Responding to the claims Daniels received "hush money" the White House said: "These are old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election."

The president has repeatedly said that all of the more than a dozen women who’ve accused him of sexual misconduct or assault are liars.

"[The sex] was textbook generic," she said in an interview with US magazine InTouch magazine in 2011.

"It was nothing crazy. It was one position, what you would expect someone his age to do."

The seven-year-old interview was published for the first time earlier this week after allegations emerged that Trump's personal lawyer brokered a deal for her never to speak again.

But before accepting the supposed payment weeks before Trump was elected, the Good Will Humping star had already discussed her alleged liaison with Trump with InTouch.

She and the billionaire businessman met at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada in 2006 - after Trump had married Melania and when their son, Barron, was just three months old, she said.

Daniels said she agreed to go back to his hotel room, where she says she teased him about his hair and he evaded her questions about Melania.

"He goes, 'Oh, don’t worry about her,'" she recalled.

Eventually, Trump began pressuring her to get closer to him.

"He was sitting on the bed, and he was like, 'Come here.' And I was like, 'Ugh, here we go,' and we started kissing," she said.

"I actually don’t even remember why I did it, but I do remember while we were having sex, I was like, 'Please don’t try to pay me.' And then I remember thinking, 'But I bet if he did, it would be a lot,'" she said, according to the mag.

Afterward, he asked her to sign a copy of her X-rated film 3 Wishes, Daniels said.

She said the now president became "smitten" and started calling her every 10 days, promising to get her on The Apprentice and referring to her as "honeybunch", she said.

She also recalls Trump comparing her to his daughter, Ivanka.

"He told me once that I was someone to be reckoned with, beautiful and smart just like his daughter,"Daniels said.

Despite the then-60-year-old Trump’s unremarkable performance between the sheets, the pair continued to meet up, including in his office at Trump Tower in 2007.

"Whether you’re a fan of his or not, which I never really was, you gotta admit he's pretty fascinating," she said of their relationship.

"We had really good banter."</s>President Donald Trump never signed the nondisclosure agreement that his lawyer arranged with adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to a lawsuit filed by Daniels in Los Angeles Tuesday and obtained by NBC News.

The suit alleges that her agreement not to disclose her "intimate" relationship with Trump is not valid because while both Daniels and Trump's attorney Michael Cohen signed it, Trump never did.

Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, signed both the agreement and a side letter agreement using her professional name on October 28, 2016, just days before the 2016 presidential election. Cohen signed the document the same day. Both agreements are appended to the lawsuit as Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump's outside attorney, John Dowd, declined to comment on the lawsuit.</s>Adult film star Stormy Daniels sued Donald Trump Tuesday, alleging that he never signed the nondisclosure agreement that his lawyer had arranged with her.

The civil suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by NBC News, alleges that her agreement not to disclose her "intimate" relationship with Trump is not valid because while both Daniels and Trump's attorney Michael Cohen signed it, Trump never did.

Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, signed both the agreement and a side letter agreement using her professional name on October 28, 2016, just days before the 2016 presidential election. Cohen signed the document the same day. Both agreements are appended to the lawsuit as Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2.

Click here to read the "Hush Agreement" and the side letter agreement

The "hush agreement," as it's called in the suit, refers to Trump throughout as David Dennison, and Clifford as Peggy Peterson. In the side letter agreement, the true identity of DD is blacked out, but Clifford's attorney, Michael Avenatti, says the individual is Trump.

Each document includes a blank where "DD" is supposed to sign, but neither blank is signed.

According to the lawsuit, which Avenatti announced in a tweet, Clifford and Trump had an intimate relationship that lasted from summer 2006 "well into the year 2007." The relationship allegedly included meetings in Lake Tahoe and at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The 2016 hush agreement directed that $130,000 be paid into the trust account of Clifford's then-attorney. In return, Clifford was not to disclose any confidential information about Trump or his sexual partners to anyone beyond a short list of individuals she'd already told about the relationship, or share any texts or photos from Trump.

The suit alleges that Cohen has tried to keep Clifford from talking about the relationship as recently as Feb. 27, 2018.

"To be clear, the attempts to intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and 'shut her up' in order to 'protect Mr. Trump' continue unabated," says the suit. "On or about February 27, 2018, Mr. Trump's attorney Mr. Cohen surreptitiously initiated a bogus arbitration proceeding against Ms. Clifford in Los Angeles." Binding arbitration is specified as a means of dispute resolution.

Clifford and her attorney, Michael Avenatti, are asking the Los Angeles County Superior Court to declare that both the hush agreement and the side agreement "were never formed, and therefore do not exist, because, among other things, Mr. Trump never signed the agreements."

"In the alternative, Plaintiff seeks an order of this Court declaring that the agreements in the forms set out in Exhibits 1 and 2 are invalid, unenforceable, and/or void under the doctrine of unconscionability."

The suit also says that Trump must know that Cohen is trying to silence Clifford, since rules for the New York bar, of which Cohen is a member, require him to keep his client informed at all times. "[I]t strains credulity to conclude that Mr. Cohen is acting on his own accord and without the express approval and knowledge of his client Mr. Trump."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Trump's outside attorney, John Dowd, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Trump has never addressed the alleged relationship publicly, and White House spokesperson Raj Shah told members of the press he had never asked the president about the alleged relationship. Cohen has acknowledged the payment, but has repeatedly declined to tell NBC News what the payment was for.

Clifford had previously given conflicting accounts of her relationship with Trump. In the lawsuit, Clifford alleges that in January 2018, Cohen, "concerned the truth would be disclosed ... through intimidation and coercive tactics, forced Ms. Clifford into signing a false statement wherein she stated that reports of her relationship with Mr. Trump were false."</s>Adult-film actress Stormy Daniels has sued President Donald Trump, alleging he never signed a nondisclosure agreement to keep her quiet about an “intimate” relationship between them.

Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles claiming the agreement is invalid and she is free to publicly discuss her relationship with Trump.

The lawsuit, which Clifford’s attorney Michael Avenatti published in a tweet, says that she signed both the agreement and a side letter using her stage name on October 28, 2016, days before the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen signed the document the same day, but Trump never signed the document, the lawsuit claims.

The “hush agreement” as it is called in the lawsuit refers to Trump as David Dennison and Clifford as Peggy Peterson. The side letter agreement reveals the true identities of the parties as Clifford and Trump, according to the lawsuit.

Clifford asks in the lawsuit for the Los Angeles County Superior Court to declare the agreement and side agreement invalid and unenforceable.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Avenatti was not immediately available for comment.

According to the lawsuit, Clifford and Trump had an intimate relationship that lasted from the summer of 2006 well into 2007, including meetings in Lake Tahoe and at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Daniels was quoted in a 2011 interview with In Touch Weekly magazine that she had an affair with Trump after they met at a Lake Tahoe golf tournament in 2006, not long after Trump’s wife, Melania, had given birth to their son, Barron.

Cohen has said he paid Clifford $130,000 of his own money in 2016, the year Trump was elected president, but said neither the Trump Organization nor Trump’s campaign was a party to the transaction, though he declined to say publicly what it was for.

The lawsuit said the 2016 hush agreement called for $130,000 to be paid into the trust account of Clifford’s then-attorney. In return, Clifford was not to disclose any confidential information about Trump.

The suit alleges Cohen has tried to keep Clifford from talking about the relationship as recently as Feb. 27, 2018.

“The attempts to intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and ‘shut her up’ in order to ‘protect Mr. Trump’ continue unabated,” the lawsuit said.</s>Adult film star Stormy Daniels (born Stephanie Clifford) filed a lawsuit against President Trump on Tuesday alleging that she’s not bound by the “hush agreement” she signed prior to the election because Trump himself never signed it, NBC News reports. Daniel’s lawyer Michael Avenatti has shared a copy of the court documents asking for the non-disclosure agreement — for which Daniels was paid $130,000 in October 2016 by Trump’s fixer Michael Cohen — to be voided so that Daniels could speak freely about an alleged affair she carried on with the then-Apprentice host in 2006.

The non-disclosure agreement Daniels signed in 2016 reportedly refers to her as “Peggy Peterson” and to Trump as “David Dennison” with the space for his signature left blank. An accompanying letter reveals their actual identities.

Avenatti appeared on the Today show Wednesday morning and dismissed the notion that Trump didn’t know about the payout because Cohen allegedly acted on his own accord.

“The idea that an attorney would go off on his own, without his client’s knowledge and engage in this type of negotiation and enter into this type of agreement quite honestly is ludicrous,” Avenatti said. “Mr. Trump did not sign. We believe that that was so that he could later claim deniability, and therefore, from a legal perspective, we believe she’s free to talk.”

Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’ attorney, tells the Today Show that Stormy did have a sexual relationship with Trump and says “there is no question that the president knew about” the $130,000 payment. If true… that’s a blatant violation of campaign finance laws. pic.twitter.com/34BPmtHnhI

Sources previously told the Wall Street Journal that shortly after the election Cohen was complaining that Trump still hadn’t reimbursed him for the $130,000 he paid to Daniels’s lawyer out of his own funds. When asked for comment at the time, Cohen simply responded “fake news.”</s>LOS ANGELES — A new lawsuit filed by the porn star known as Stormy Daniels claims President Donald Trump never signed a hush agreement regarding an alleged sexual encounter between the two and therefore the agreement is void.

According to the legal complaint filed in California state court and tweeted out by her lawyer on Tuesday, Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, signed the document on behalf of the President instead.

The porn star, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims in the lawsuit to have had an affair with Trump several years prior to his presidency. However, the lawsuit claims that when he was running for office and multiple women were coming forward to share stories of their own alleged encounters with the then-Republican presidential candidate, Cohen intervened in an attempt to keep Clifford from coming forward as well.

The lawsuit says Cohen has continued his attempts at silencing Clifford — including as recently as February 27, 2018.

“To be clear, the attempts to intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and ‘shut her up’ in order to ‘protect Mr. Trump’ continue unabated,” the lawsuit states. “For example, only days ago on or about February 27, 2018, Mr. Trump’s attorney Mr. Cohen surreptitiously initiated a bogus arbitration proceeding against Ms. Clifford in Los Angeles. Remarkably, he did so without even providing Ms. Clifford with notice of the proceeding and basic due process.”

NBC News first reported on Clifford’s complaint against Trump.

Just weeks before the 2016 election, Cohen reportedly created a private LLC to pay off Clifford, The Wall Street Journal reported in January.

Following initial reports last month that Cohen had made the payment, he said in a statement that Trump “vehemently denies” any encounter between the two.</s>A lawyer representing adult film actress Stephanie Clifford – who performs under the name Stormy Daniels – confirmed on Wednesday that his client had a sexual relationship with President Donald Trump years ago.

'Yes,' Michael Avenatti said on the 'Today' show, answering the question on every Trump-watcher's mind.

Daniels had previously refused to say out loud what news outlets had reported breathlessly, citing a nondisclosure agreement that she signed in exchange for $130,000 in hush money just days before the 2016 election.

But on Tuesday she sued the president, alleging that while she and both of their attorneys signed it, he never did.

'We look forward to sunlight serving as a disinfectant,' Avenatti told DailyMail.com on Wednesday.

It's unclear whether Trump and his lawyer have a signed copy.

Daniels says Trump's longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen has continued to try to silence her about her 'intimate' relationship with Trump that ran from 2006 to 2007 and began shortly after first lady Melania gave birth to their son Barron.

Her lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court includes copies of the nondisclosure agreement – in which she and the president are referred to by aliases – and a side letter that identifies her and Trump by name.

Avenatti said Daniels is prepared to return the payment, which Cohen insists he made out of his own pocket.

'I think she may have to,' he said, 'and she is prepared to do that.'

But 'in light of the amount of misinformation that’s out there, some of which has been disseminated by Mr. Cohen and others,' he insisted, 'she believes it's important that the public learn the truth about what happened.'

Avenatti also said he doubts that Cohen, and not Trump, paid his client off.

'We think it’s highly questionable as to whether it came from his personal funds ... there's no question the president knew about it at the time,' he told NBC's audience.

'The idea that an attorney would go off on his own without his clients knowledge and engage in this type of negotiation and enter into this type of agreement, quite honestly I think is ludicrous.'

Avenatti said Tuesday on 'CBS This Morning' that Daniels is 'absolutely not' trying to sell her story to the highest bidder. But he admitted that 'I don't know whether she's going to ultimately seek payment or not.'

The agreement at the center of the legal dispute was signed by Clifford – using her professional name – and Cohen on October 28, 2016.

The copy included with Tuesday's lawsuit features a blank space where Trump would have signed.

The suit says that Cohen tried to keep Clifford from talking about her relationship with Trump as recently as Feb. 27, 2018.

'To be clear, the attempts to intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and "shut her up" in order to "protect Mr. Trump" continue unabated,' according to the suit.

'On or about February 27, 2018, Mr. Trump's attorney Mr. Cohen surreptitiously initiated a bogus arbitration proceeding against Ms. Clifford in Los Angeles.'

Avenatti is asking the court to declare that the 'hush agreement' and the side agreement 'were never formed, and therefore do not exist, because, among other things, Mr. Trump never signed the agreements.'

'In the alternative, Plaintiff seeks an order of this Court declaring that the agreements in the forms set out in Exhibits 1 and 2 are invalid, unenforceable, and/or void under the doctrine of unconscionability.'

The suit also alleges that the president must be aware that Cohen is trying to keep Clifford quiet because, as a member of the New York bar, he is required to keep his client informed at all times.

'[I]t strains credulity to conclude that Mr. Cohen is acting on his own accord and without the express approval and knowledge of his client Mr. Trump.'

The 2016 agreement paid Daniels $130,000, days before the presidential election to keep her from disclosing any confidential information about Trump or his sexual partners to anyone beyond a short list of individuals she'd already told about the relationship.

She was also forbidden to share any texts or photos from Trump.

Avenatti said Tuesday that he was 'not at liberty' to say whether or not Daniels still has them.

The president has never addressed the alleged relationship publicly, and the White House has side-stepped questions about it with spokesperson Raj Shah telling members of the press he had never asked the president about it.

Cohen has acknowledged the payment, and has previously claimed it came from his own funds – but has never said what the payment was for.

In the suit, Clifford also alleges that in January 2018, Cohen, 'concerned the truth would be disclosed ... through intimidation and coercive tactics, forced Ms. Clifford into signing a false statement wherein she stated that reports of her relationship with Mr. Trump were false.'
Porn star Stormy Daniels sues Donald Trump, arguing that a nondisclosure agreement signed by her and Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen is invalid.