President Trump does not believe the nondisclosure agreement that his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, arranged with Stormy Daniels prior the 2016 election is valid and he will not follow through on threats to sue her for discussing an alleged affair, Trump’s attorney said in a court filing Saturday, according to The Associated Press.
Charles Harder said in the filing that Trump doesn’t consider himself a party to the agreement and doesn’t think the contract is valid.
{mosads}The filing comes after the company that arranged the deal, Essential Consultants, sought to vacate the nondisclosure agreement with Daniels, requesting that the adult-film star repay the $130,000 that was given to her as a payment. The company has also backed away from a $20 million lawsuit it threatened against Daniels, the AP reported.
The AP noted that the developments could prevent Daniels’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, from being able to depose Trump in the matter.
Cohen last month pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that included campaign finance violations for payments made ahead of the election to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. He implicated Trump in those crimes, saying he made the payments at the direction of “a candidate for federal office.”
Avenatti told the AP that he believes Harder’s court filing is “worthless” and has “numerous problems.”
“We are tired of the constant delays and games being played,” he said. “We want these depositions as soon as possible.”
Both Harder’s filing and Essential Consultants’s attempt to vacate the agreement with Daniels come after Bloomberg News reported Friday that other Trump Organization officials were under investigation for payments that Cohen made to Daniels and Karen McDougal, the other woman who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006.