The attorney representing adult film star Stormy Daniels was unequivocal on Wednesday morning when asked point-blank if his client and President Donald Trump had an extramarital sexual relationship.
"Yes," the attorney, Michael Avenatti, answered when asked by the "Today" show's Savannah Guthrie.
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The disclosure comes after Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, filed suit against Trump this week, claiming that a non-disclosure agreement his attorney paid her to sign is not valid because the president never signed the document.
The agreement, which Daniels signed on October 28, 2016, just days before the presidential election, stipulated that she was "not to disclose any confidential information about Trump or his sexual partners to anyone beyond a short list of individuals she'd already told about the relationship, or share any texts or photos from Trump," according toNBC News--but Daniels and her lawyer says the agreement was never made official and therefore doesn't exist.
If Daniels's lawsuit is successful, Avenatti said, she plans to make her side of the story public.
"She believes it's important that the public learn the truth about what happened," he said. "I think it's time for her to tell her story and for the public to decide who is telling the truth."
Trump and Daniels were apparently referred to by the aliases Peggy Peterson and David Dennison throughout the agreement, and NBC reported that the signature page contained no signature for the latter.
In recent weeks, Trump attorney Michael Cohen acknowledged that the six-figure payment was made to Daniels, but said he personally financed the transaction and was not reimbursed by the Trump Organization or the Trump campaign. Daniels's suit, however, alleges that the president was aware of the payment and on Monday the Wall Street Journalreported
that Cohen complained to the Trump campaign for not being reimbursed.
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