Stormy Daniels may have just won her case against Trump attorney Michael Cohen in her fight to be freed from the non-disclosure agreement preventing her from revealing all of the details of her affair with Donald Trump (video below).
Ironically, it was a public blunder by Cohen’s own lawyer in the case, David Schwartz, in a live appearance on CNN that may be the deciding factor in determining whether the agreement is enforceable or not.
Daniels and her attorney, Michael Avenatti, have been suing to declare the NDA invalid because it was never signed by Donald Trump himself, despite the fact that a line in the contract was reserved for the signature of one “David Dennison,” reportedly the alias used to disguise Trump’s identity on the contract.
Avenatti filed a motion in federal court today seeking depositions from both Cohen and the president to force them to answer questions under oath about the agreement and the $130,000 payment to Daniels that Cohen claims that he paid out of his own pocket without reimbursement from Trump, the Trump organization, or the Trump campaign.
The source of the money for the payment is crucial because of the possibility that the money could be considered an illegal undeclared in-kind campaign contribution or a misuse of campaign funds, or, in the event that the money came from Trump himself, it could be tantamount to proof that the alleged affair actually took place.
Talking to CNN’s Erin Burnett, David Schwartz categorically denied that Trump knew anything about the agreement or the $130,000 payment. Perhaps this was a strategy to lay the path to avoiding having Trump be deposed in the case, but what Schwartz failed to realize is that the language of the agreement, as pointed out by various Twitter pundits, places the enforcement of the agreement in the hands of “David Dennison” himself.
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Without Dennison coming forward to enforce the terms of the contract, and without a signature, the agreement is unenforceable and Daniels is free to do and say whatever she wants about the affair and any photos, audio, or video from her tryst.
Under the terms of the agreement itself, only "DD" can enforce it. If Cohen's position is that Trump is not DD, then unless someone else comes forward as "DD," it is unenforceable and Stormy Daniels can release the materials. https://t.co/pIquaTzwX1
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) March 29, 2018
Cohen could have another problem with the scenario that his own lawyer just publicly admitted to. If he acted on Trump’s behalf in the matter without his client’s permission, he is violating legal codes of ethics that could lead to his disbarment or at least to disciplinary measures.
You can watch David Schwartz with Erin Burnett on CNN in the video contained in the tweet below:
On CNN, Trump's lawyer's lawyer (David Schwartz) claims Trump was not aware of the hush agreement with Stormy Daniels or of the $130,000 payment made to her days before the 2016 election pic.twitter.com/mtteUdVQyr
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 29, 2018
