So if you’ve been watching cable news today, you’ve probably seen Trump’s ex-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski making the rounds talking about how great his former boss Donald Trump is. Have you noticed the glowing reviews? I mean the guy just got canned. Hours later on CNN, Lewandowski said he had “no regrets,” that it had been a “great privilege” and “honor” to have worked on the campaign. As much as CNN’s Dana Bash tried, Lewandowski wouldn’t say a dang negative thing about Trump — despite reports he had repeated blow ups with Trump’s campaign spokesperson.
This might be the reason why. As part of signing up to work for Donald Trump, Lewandowski, like all of Trump’s campaign staff, signed a nondisclosure agreement which likely includes a non disparagement clause. That basically means Lewandowski is legally forbidden from say anything “demeaning” about Trump that would put him in a bad light. How do we know? While Trump’s campaign won’t confirm such a section was signed by Lewandowski, the existence of a Trump non disparagement agreement was leaked earlier this year to the Daily Dot and widely reported on. On top of that, check out Lewandowski’s own tweet from just one month ago about the existence of a strict confidentiality agreement.
Despite false reports to the contrary, I am not writing a book. I am under a strict confidentiality agreement with Mr. Trump.
— Corey Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) May 16, 2016
Trump’s campaign volunteers are also reportedly forced to sign them. And you can bet, if volunteers are made to sign them, Trump’s closest aides are too. More than volunteers, Lewandowski would have access to everything about Trump.
The non disparagement section for volunteers reads:
No Disparagement. During the term of your service and at all times thereafter you hereby promise and agree not to demean or disparage publicly the Company, Mr. Trump, any Trump Company, any Family Member, or any Family Member Company or any asset any of the foregoing own, or product or service any of the foregoing offer, in each case by or in any of the Restricted Means and Contexts and to prevent your employees from doing so.
“These clauses vary significantly. I would imagine but do not know that Trump would have a fairly draconian one in place,” Mike Delikat, an attorney at Orrick told LawNewz.com. Unlike the volunteers, Lewandowski’s non disparagement agreement would be enforceable because as a paid employee, there is what is called “consideration.”
“These types of agreements also generally include provisions that enable them to be ‘specifically enforced,’ in addition to subjecting the violator of money damages. Specific enforcement means that, in this case, Trump and his campaign could sue to require a court to order Lewandowski to comply with these provisions, and hold him in contempt of a court order if he failed to comply. ” New York-based contracts attorney Keith Stein told LawNewz.com.
So, don’t bet on any juicy details from Lewandowski leaking about Donald Trump. If they do, given Mr. Trump’s history of taking legal action against his adversaries, you can bet some type of lawsuit would be forthcoming.
Update 6:34 p.m:
When asked by NBC News’ Peter Alexander about a non disclosure agreement, Lewandowski responded:
“I can tell you that my situation with Mr. Trump is unique to my situation with Mr. Trump and I can’t tell you about what other people do, but I can tell you this: I will do everything I can to make sure Donald Trump is elected the next president of the United States because our country is in too much trouble if he isn’t.”
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