The president’s comments on Thursday could create a predicament for him and his legal team. Ms. Clifford’s case is based on the notion that the confidentiality agreement is invalid because Mr. Trump was not a party to it. By saying he was not aware of the agreement, Mr. Trump appeared to confirm that argument, which would mean neither party is legally bound by it, thus potentially paving the way for Ms. Clifford to break her silence without consequences.
Ms. Clifford’s pugnacious lawyer, Michael J. Avenatti, quickly issued a statement to respond to Mr. Trump’s claim. He said that the president’s professed ignorance of the payment would improve his client’s case, suggesting that he would use legal discovery to expose the back and forth around the payment.
“Our case just got that much better,” Mr. Avenatti said in the statement. “We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump’s feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130,000 as he stated on Air Force One.”
“As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath,” he added.
Later, Mr. Avenatti appeared to exult on Twitter about what he suggested were undisciplined comments by Mr. Trump that would give Ms. Clifford the upper hand in the legal dispute.
Newsletter Sign Up
Continue reading the main story
Thank you for subscribing.
An error has occurred. Please try again later.
You are already subscribed to this email.
“Good (actually GREAT) things come to those who wait!!!” Mr. Avenatti wrote. “The strength of our case just went up exponentially. You can’t have an agreement when one party claims to know nothing about it. #nodiscipline.”
Mr. Cohen did not respond on Thursday to requests for comment. Charles Harder, a lawyer representing Mr. Trump in his legal wrangling with Ms. Clifford, also did not respond to requests for comment on the president’s remarks and how they could affect his case.
Mr. Trump and a company affiliated with him filed papers in court on Monday seeking to force Ms. Clifford to raise her disputes through private arbitration, not lawsuits.
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
Arbitration would shield the case from public view, sparing Mr. Trump the public spectacle that would attend a lawsuit with a discovery process and a trial. Mr. Avenatti said at the time that he would vigorously oppose the effort to resolve the case privately. In fact, on Thursday night, he said that Mr. Trump’s remarks had made him more determined than ever to try to depose the president.
“If the president didn’t know anything about the payment, then he obviously didn’t know anything about the agreement, in which case you can’t have an agreement,” Mr. Avenatti said in an interview on MSNBC. “And then there is no such thing as an NDA,” he added, referring to a nondisclosure agreement.
“Now if, on the other hand, what he said on Air Force One is not accurate — and I, for one, have serious questions as to its veracity or accuracy — they’ve got a whole host of problems,” Mr. Avenatti said.
The president and his lawyers have been working to prevent Ms. Clifford, who sat for a lengthy interview that aired on “60 Minutes” last month, from making further public statements.
In February, she said that she believed that Mr. Cohen had violated the agreement and that she, as a result, was no longer bound by it. Mr. Cohen secretly obtained a restraining order late that month to prevent her from speaking.
Then last month, Mr. Trump’s legal team filed a motion asking to move the case from state court to federal court, which may have been an effort to increase the likelihood that it would be resolved in arbitration.
Continue reading the main story