Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is suing President Donald Trump and wants a California judge to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement she signed... (Associated Press) 
 
 LOS ANGELES (AP) — An adult film actress who has said she had sex with Donald Trump filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement and "set the record straight," her lawyer said Wednesday. Clifford’s lawsuit seeks to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement requiring her to keep secret her sexual relationship with Donald Trump, but the lawsuit itself announces the nature of the relationship in the first paragraph of the suit’s factual background: 
 
 Ms. Clifford began an intimate relationship with Mr. Trump in the Summer of 2006 in Lake Tahoe and continued her relationship with Mr. Trump well into the year 2007. Tuesday's lawsuit says that Trump attorney Michael Cohen — who brokered the agreement with Clifford during the presidential campaign — attempted to "intimidate" Clifford and "shut her up" by initiating what it calls a "bogus arbitration proceeding" against her in Los Angeles on Feb. 27.  Washington (CNN) Sarah Sanders was asked a simple question by CNN's Jeff Zeleny on Wednesday afternoon: Did President Donald Trump know that his personal lawyer made a $130,000 payment to silence a porn star alleging that she had engaged in an extramarital affair with Trump? One big caveat to consider here is that Cohen has already filed an arbitration proceeding pursuant to the agreement, with the lawsuit alleging that it was filed “surreptitiously” and without notice to Clifford, and that its purpose was to silence Clifford. "The president has denied the allegations against him and again this case has already been won in arbitration," Sanders said. On Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that Trump had been unaware of the payment and that he denied the relationship took place, another point of contention of the lawsuit itself—the suit argues that it stretches credulity to argue Trump didn’t know about the payment—and one that would seem potentially to offer another avenue for invalidating it.
– President Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, got a restraining order against Stormy Daniels last month in an attempt to keep the adult film star from speaking out about her alleged 2006 affair with Trump, the New York Times reports. The temporary Feb. 27 order, obtained in a private arbitration meeting with a retired judge, prohibits Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford) from discussing "confidential information" related to the nondisclosure agreement she signed in Oct. 2016, NBC News reports. Daniels' lawyer tells NBC that Cohen has continued to make efforts to silence Daniels via "threats" and "intimidation" since the order was procured, warning her she is subject to damages should she talk. In her lawsuit against Trump attempting to have the NDA declared invalid, filed Tuesday, Daniels refers to a "bogus," "improper and procedurally defective arbitration proceeding hidden from public view," the AP reports. Cohen's own attorney says the NDA Daniels signed included an arbitration clause with permission to "seek an injunction in the event of a breach or threatened breach of the agreement," and that "the designated judge from the arbitration tribunal found that Ms. Clifford had violated the agreement and enjoined her from, among other things, filing [her lawsuit against Trump]." Also Wednesday, White House rep Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump denies "all of these allegations"—both the affair and any knowledge of Cohen's $130,000 payment to Daniels—and that "this case [has] already been won in arbitration." Her exact meaning was not clear, as Trump is not listed as a party on the restraining order, and CNN's Chris Cillizza notes several of Sanders' "non-answers" skirt the issue of whether Trump knew about the hush money. If all of this seems a lot to wrap your head around, you're not alone; Slate calls it "convoluted to the point of paradox."