Stormy Daniels, the xxx film star who claims she had a sexual relationship with President Donald Trump more than a decade ago and was paid $130,000 not to talk about it, is offering to give the money back to speak freely.
In a letter, her attorney, Michael Avenatti, says Daniels “will pay $130,000 to President Trump by wire transfer, to an account designated by the president” by this Friday. Trump has never admitted knowledge of the payment to Daniels, which was made by his longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump, through Cohen and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has denied that there was an affair, which by Daniels’ telling took place in 2006 and 2007 when Trump was married and his son Barron was a baby.
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, is currently bound by a nondisclosure and nondisparagement agreement signed in October 2016. Her lawyer’s letter says she wants out of it to be able to “(a) speak openly and freely about her prior relationship with the President and the attempts to silence her and (b) use and publish any text messages, photos and/or videos relating to the President that she may have in her possession, all without fear of retribution and/or legal liability for damages.”
“At some point they need to stop the bleeding, I would think,” Avenatti said when pressed on why an attorney associated with Trump would accept the offer. “Our entire democracy is built around the notion of free speech, competing ideas, competing debate and this situation should be no different.”
Though, nondisclosure agreements are built on the idea of ensuring silence.
