Stormy Daniels' lawyer seeks to depose President Trump and his private attorney Cohen once again
Adult-film star Stormy Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, has filed a motion to depose President Donald Trump and his private lawyer, Michael Cohen, once again. Avenatti has filed the deposition to ask about the controversial hush money payment of $130,000 given to Daniels by Cohen before the 2016 presidential poll.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and President Trump had an alleged affair, shortly after the First Lady gave birth to his youngest son Baron Trump, according to reports. The speculations of the affair between the president and the adult-film star were rife after the Wall Street Journal, on January 12, reported that one of Trump's lawyers, Cohen, had arranged a $130,000 payment for Daniels to remain silent about the affair.
Avenatti, in the motion filed in a California federal court on Sunday evening, also asked Cohen to produce the documents on topics associated with the non-disclosure agreement. Daniels filed a lawsuit against President Trump last month, seeking to be released from the non-disclosure agreement between the duo. The adult-film star claimed that the deal stands invalid, considering the Republican did not sign the agreement.
Reports state that Daniels is also seeking an expedited jury trial to determine the validity of the deal. A federal judge in California, last month, had put a temporary halt to Avenatti's initial motion for an expedited trial, according to CNN.
US District Court for the Central District of California's Judge S. James Otero said that Daniels' lawyer was "premature" in making the motion because the firm established by Cohen — Trump and Essential Consultants LLC — to pay Daniels had not filed a petition to compel arbitration. Reports state that the petition was filed by Cohen's firm last week.
Avenatti, on Sunday, reportedly requested for a deposition of Trump of two hours, a deposition of Cohen of two hours in his legal filing and 10 additional requests for production of documents directed at President Trump and his lawyer.
Daniels' attorney said that through the deposition, he wants to ask certain questions which include whether Trump is "David Dennison" or "DD" referring to the non-disclosure agreement signed by the adult-film star or whether he "truly did not know about the $130,000 payment."
President Trump, last week, made his first acknowledgment of the entire scandal stating that he did not know about the $130,000 payment made by his lawyer to Daniels.
Avenatti's other questions include whether the $130,000 payment was made with Trump's money, what was Cohen's role in it and "was Mr. Trump personally in an effort to silence Plaintiff in order to benefit his presidential campaign by preventing voters from hearing Plaintiff speak publicly."
President Trump and the White House have denied all the allegations made by Daniels and his lawyer.