On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed during a live press briefing that President Donald Trump had won a private arbitration against porn star Stormy Daniels. Her comments came one day after an attorney for Daniels filed a lawsuit against Trump regarding an agreement which was a purported attempt by Trump to silence Daniels about an alleged sexual affair. In return for keeping her mouth shut about the alleged affair with Trump, Daniels was paid $130,000, the court documents indicate. Trump’s private attorney, Michael Cohen, claims to have been the source of the money.
Michael J. Avenatti, the attorney for Stormy Daniels, said Thursday morning on NBC’s “Today” that his client and Trump did have a sexual relationship. Sanders on Thursday afternoon again stated that Trump denied such an affair.
In an email to Avenatti, Law&Crime sought a response to the White House claims that (1) Trump had “won” the Daniels case “in arbitration,” and (2) Trump apparently claims to know nothing about the purported $130,000 payment.
Avenatti’s e-mailed response was this one-liner: “Yeah, and he also won the popular vote.”
Our report on the original statements by Sanders is here.
Read our other coverage of the legal implications of the Stormy Daniels situation here.
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
[Editor’s note: This piece has been updated.]