Stormy Daniels' lawyer mocks White House claim that Trump already won the case: 'Yeah, and he also won the popular vote'
- Porn star Stormy Daniels sued Trump on Tuesday over a nondisclosure agreement meant to conceal their alleged affair.
- Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, argued in the lawsuit that the NDA is null and void because Trump never signed it.
- White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that Trump has already won the case through private arbitration, adding that the allegations were untrue.
- Clifford's lawyer joked, "Yeah, and he also won the popular vote."
The lawyer representing Stormy Daniels, a former porn star suing President Donald Trump, shot down the White House's claim on Wednesday that the case was previously resolved through private arbitration.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a press briefing that allegations of an affair between Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and Trump were untrue. She said Clifford's lawsuit seeking to nullify a nondisclosure agreement had already been handled.
"This case has already been won in arbitration," Sanders said.
Clifford's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, later quipped: "Yeah, and he also won the popular vote."
Daniels' lawsuit argued that the "hush agreement" meant to conceal their alleged affair was invalid because Trump never signed it. As part of the agreement, Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has said he paid Clifford $130,000 just 12 days before the 2016 presidential election.
Though the arbitration case Sanders referred to may have occurred, Clifford's lawsuit called it "a bogus arbitration proceeding," and argued that Cohen initiated it without providing Clifford due process.
"Put simply, considerable steps have been taken by Mr. Cohen in the last week to silence Ms. Clifford through the use of an improper and procedurally defective arbitration proceeding hidden from public view," the suit argues.
Avenatti told NBC News on Wednesday that Cohen also obtained a secret restraining order through the private arbitration proceeding and barring her from publicly discussing her allegations against Trump.
Cohen "further threatened my client in an effort to prevent her from telling the truth about what really happened," Avenatti said. "We do not take kindly to these threats, nor will we be intimidated."