“We do not take kindly to these threats, nor will we be intimidated.”
According to the legal complaint filed in California state court, Clifford is claiming that a non-disclosure agreement is void because Trump never signed it himself. The “hush” agreement allegedly regards an affair involving the two several years before Trump was in office. Just weeks before the 2016 election, Cohen paid Clifford $130,000, an admission he made in a statement last month.
“Despite Trump’s failure to sign the Hush Agreement, Cohen proceeded to cause $130,000.00 to be wired to the trust account of Clifford’s attorney. He did so even though there was no legal agreement and thus no written nondisclosure agreement whereby Clifford was restricted from disclosing the truth about Trump,” the document stated.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders fielded questions about the payment and said Trump did not know about it, reports CNN.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Sanders responded when pressed on whether Trump knew about the payment.
“Anything beyond what I’ve already given you, I would refer you to the President’s outside counsel.”
Sanders also said that “the arbitration was won in the President’s favour”, admitting for the first time that a non-disclosure agreement did exist, and that the President is involved.
When asked about the comments Sanders made regarding the arbitration, Avenatti told CNN: “President Trump hasn’t won anything relating to Clifford.”