Lawyers for President Donald Trump are asking a federal judge to order that an arbitrator resolve a dispute with Stormy Daniels, a former adult film actress, over an alleged “hush money” agreement reached weeks before the 2016 presidential election as she shopped a story about an alleged sexual liaison with Trump a decade earlier.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, filed suit against Trump in a state court in Los Angeles last month and urged a judge to declare the $130,000 deal null and void because Trump never signed it.
Lawyers for Trump and a company that his personal attorney Michael Cohen set up to facilitate the payment quickly moved the case to federal court.
In a new court filing on Monday afternoon, they asked U.S. District Court Judge James Otero to require Daniels to pursue any disagreements in arbitration, as the agreement provides.
“This motion seeks to enforce the arbitration provision in the Settlement Agreement, which was negotiated at arms’ length by the parties’ respective counsel, and pursuant to which Clifford accepted $130,000 as consideration,” attorney Brent Blakely wrote on behalf of the company used to pass the funds, Essential Consultants. “The strong policy favoring arbitration set forth by Congress in the Federal Arbitration Act (‘FAA’) dictates that this motion be granted, and that Clifford be compelled to arbitration, as she knowingly and voluntarily agreed to do.”
Daniels’ attorney in the matter, Michael Avenatti, warned Monday that sending the case to arbitration would effectively lock the public out of the proceedings.
“We will vigorously oppose the just-filed motion by [Trump and Cohen] to have this case decided in a private arbitration, in a private conf room, hidden from the American public,” Avenatti wrote on Twitter. “This is a democracy and this matter should be decided in an open court of law owned by the people. #sunlight”
Avenatti has argued that because the validity of the agreement is in dispute, a judge should decide the issue of whether the deal was ever consummated.
However, Blakely noted that Daniels took and kept the $130,000 and did not dispute the effectiveness of the agreement until last month.
“Clifford and EC signed the Settlement Agreement, and Clifford accepted $130,000 in consideration from EC, despite not receiving a signature from Mr. Trump,” Blakeley wrote. “Then, over the course of the next sixteen (16) months, Clifford did not at any time: reject the Settlement Agreement; offer to return or return the $130,000; or assert that the Settlement Agreement is unenforceable because it was not signed by Mr. Trump, or for any other reason.”
Avenatti filed a motion last week asking to depose Trump about his knowledge the agreement. Otero rejected the motion as premature, but suggested he would reconsider the issue once Trump’s side made a formal motion to enforce the alleged arbitration agreement.
