US porn star sues Trump, wants to speak out

Adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels
Adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels Copyright REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
By Natalie Huet with Reuters
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Adult film star Stormy Daniels sues President Trump, saying the nondisclosure agreement arranged to cover up their alleged relationship is invalid because he never signed it.

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Adult film actress Stormy Daniels sued US President Trump on Tuesday (March 6), alleging he never signed the nondisclosure agreement his lawyer arranged with her before the 2016 presidential election.

The actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles, claiming the agreement is invalid as a result and she is free to publicly discuss the "intimate" relationship she alleges to have had with Trump.

The lawsuit, which Clifford's lawyer 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 US election.

Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen signed the document the same day, but Trump himself never signed the document, the lawsuit claims.

Cohen confirmed last month he privately paid the actress $130,000 – though he declined to say publicly what it was for. The lawsuit alleges he tried to "intimidate her into silence".

Clifford is now asking the court to declare the agreement invalid so she can go public with her story.

Secret meetings at Lake Tahoe

In a 2011 interview with InTouch magazine, the actress said she began a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006, shortly after his wife Melania had given birth to his son Barron.

The 2016 "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.

According to the lawsuit, which Clifford's attorney, Michael 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.

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.

Trump has never publicly addressed the alleged relationship. Cohen has said the president "vehemently denies" any romantic involvement with the adult film star.

Additional sources • NBC News

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