Saying the request was premature, a federal judge in Los Angeles Thursday rejected a motion by adult-film actress Stormy Daniels’ attorney to depose President Donald Trump about allegations he had an affair with the performer a decade ago.
Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, said he plans to re-file his request once attorneys for Trump and his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, file their formal response to Daniels’ lawsuit trying to nullify a non-disclosure agreement she signed in 2016 about the alleged affair.
Avenatti, whose motion requested expedited proceedings in the case and two-hour depositions of Trump and Cohen, argued that Trump and Cohen are expected to file papers forcing the case into private arbitration “to hide the facts from public view.”
“We expect this any day,” Avenatti wrote on his Twitter page in response to Thursday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge S. James Otero.
In the ruling, Otero noted that while Trump and Cohen “have stated their intention to file a petition to compel arbitration, they have not yet done so. If such a petition were filed, a number of the questions raised in (Daniels’) motion may be answered in the petition, thus limiting the need for discovery on these issues. If such a petition is never filed, plaintiff’s motion is moot. Accordingly, plaintiff’s motion is premature and must be denied.”
Otero denied the motion without prejudice, meaning Avenatti is free to re-file the request to depose Trump at the appropriate time.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, appeared on “60 Minutes” on Sunday and described a brief affair she alleges she had with Trump more than a decade ago before he ran for president. Daniels said she had unprotected sex with Trump in 2006 and was later threatened for telling her story.
Trump has not directly addressed Daniels’ allegations, although White House press officials have repeatedly said that Trump denies having an affair with Daniels.
Daniels, who signed a non-disclosure agreement about the alleged affair and received $130,000 from Cohen shortly before the 2016 presidential election, sued on March 6, alleging Trump never signed the “hush agreement,” rendering it “legally null and void.”
She amended the lawsuit Monday, adding a defamation allegation against Cohen, who has accused Daniels of lying about the alleged affair and her accusation that someone physically threatened her after she went public.
Cohen has filed papers alleging he could seek as much as $20 million from the actress for breaching the nondisclosure agreement.
On Tuesday, Avenatti filed the motion requesting, as part of the discovery process, two-hour depositions of Trump and Cohen. He argued in the court papers that questioning Trump is critical for resolving the issue of whether he was aware of the non-disclosure agreement Daniels signed.
“… There is likely to be a factual dispute between the parties regarding whether Defendant Trump was aware of the Hush Agreement, whether he was a party to the agreement and whether he ever consented to the agreement,” according to the court document. “This issue goes directly to whether a valid contract was ever in fact formed between the parties.
“… Finally, if Mr. Trump was aware of the Hush Agreement, given that he never signed it, plaintiff must be permitted to explore through document demands and deposition testimony how he claims he communicated his acceptance and assent of the agreement, including his assent to the terms requiring him to provide plaintiff with a release of claims and a covenant not to sue.”