Stormy Daniels’ request for Donald Trump to submit a deposition regarding his participation in their “hush agreement” was dubbed premature by a California federal judge.
“While [Essential Consultants] and Mr. Trump have stated their intention to file a petition to compel arbitration, they have not yet done so,” U.S. District Court S. James Otero explained via The Hollywood Reporter. “If such a petition were filed, a number of the questions raised in Plaintiff’s Motion may be answered in the petition, thus limited the need for discovery on these issues. If such a petition is never filed, Plaintiff’s Motion is moot. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s Motion is premature and must be denied.”
As previously reported, Daniels, 39, has alleged that she had a sexual relationship with Trump, 71, in 2006. While the porn star was allegedly paid $130,000 by Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, to sign a “hush agreement” in 2016 to not publicly speak about their alleged affair, she claimed in a lawsuit earlier this month that Trump did not sign the documents, which means the nondisclosure agreement is invalid. The adult entertainer is suing Trump to be released from the NDA.
Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avanatti did not seemed discouraged by the latest development in the lawsuit.
“These passages in the Court’s order do not bode well for the defendants and suggest that there is a strong likelihood that the Court will ultimately agree with our requests for discovery and a trial,” Avanatti captioned a screenshot of the court documents on Thursday, March 29, via Twitter. “They also destroy David Schwartz’s claims that the motion was without merit.”
The adult entertainer opened up about her alleged affair with the president to Anderson Cooper on Sunday, March 25.
“I’m not OK with being made out to be a liar, or people thinking that I did this for money and people are like, ‘Oh, you’re an opportunist. You’re taking advantage of this,’” Daniels explained on 60 Minutes. “Yes, I’m getting more job offers now, but tell me one person who would turn down a job offer making more than they’ve been making, doing the same thing that they’ve always done? I have no reason to lie.”
