Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Stormy Daniels.
- Stormy Daniels' lawyer has demanded that the Trump Organization and two banks involved in a secretive $130,000 payment preserve records.
- The lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said he plans to subpoena those records.
Porn star Stormy Daniels' lawyer has demanded that President Donald Trump's namesake business preserve all records related to his client as he plans to subpoena them, NBC News reported Thursday.
Her attorney, Michael Avenatti, insisted there are "unmistakable links" between the Trump Organization and the secrecy agreement Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, signed just prior to the 2016 presidential election - to stay quiet about her alleged affair with Trump in 2006 in exchange for $130,000.
Avenatti sent requests to two banks involved in the payment, which was facilitated by Trump's longtime attorney Michael Cohen, in addition to the Trump Organization.
"We request that you immediately preserve all evidence, documents, tangible things and electronically stored information ('ESI') potentially relevant to the claim," Avenatti wrote to the Trump Organization and the banks.
He told NBC News that, "We intend on using all legal means at our disposal to uncover the truth about the cover-up and what happened. And this is but one of many tools we will use. When we are done, the truth will be laid bare for the American people."
Clifford said in a lawsuit earlier this month that she and Trump engaged in an "intimate" relationship between 2006 and 2007. The alleged relationship was initiated at a celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe. The White House has denied the affair and said Trump was not aware of the payment from Cohen to Clifford. Cohen says he was acting in his own capacity and not on behalf of the president, although he reportedly was heard talking about having the money reimbursed, though it was not clear by who.
Clifford says the secrecy agreement she signed is invalid since the president didn't sign it. Cohen disagrees, and obtained a temporary restraining order against her. She gave a recent interview to "60 Minutes" which is set to air Sunday.
"Technically I didn't sleep with the POTUS 12 years ago," she tweeted this week. "There was no sleeping (hehe) and he was just a goofy reality TV star. But I digress...People DO care that he lied about it, had me bullied, broke laws to cover it up, etc. And PS...I am NOT going anywhere. xoxoxo"
Multiple ties involving the Trump Organization and the payment have been reported, including that Cohen used his Trump Organization email address to help facilitate the payment and that Trump Organization assistant general counsel Jill Martin was listed in an arbitration filing for the company Cohen used to make the payment to Clifford. The Trump Organization said Martin did so in "her individual capacity."