In late July, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump asked adult film star Stormy Daniels to sign an agreement promising not to talk about her “interactions” with Trump or questions about her “fitness as a presidential candidate,” documents provided to CBS News. by Daniels’ lawyer Clark Brewster shows.
In exchange, according to the documents, they offered him a financial incentive — reducing the amount Trump would receive to settle legal fees related to the defamation lawsuit. The agreement would silence Daniels from talking about Trump before the 2024 election.
This is an extraordinary request that comes just eight weeks after Trump punished of 34 felonies related to the plot to cover a nondisclosure agreement Daniels signed up the day before the 2016 presidential election in exchange for $130,000. Daniels claimed she had a sexual relationship with Trump years earlier, which Trump denied.
MSNBC reported the NDA request on Wednesday night, citing a letter sent to Brewster from an attorney for Trump. Brewster provided the letter to CBS News on Thursday.
The request comes amid negotiations over a court-ordered settlement stemming from a 2018 defamation lawsuit filed by Daniels against Trump, which ultimately fired. The court in the case ruled that Daniels must cover Trump’s legal fees.
The bill went unpaid for years amid appeals and challenges, accrued interest and additional legal fees, and ballooned from $293,000 to more than $600,000. One of Trump’s criminal defense attorneys toast Daniels about debt during Trump’s criminal trial, during which he testified over two days about alleged sexual relations, the 2016 NDA and the fallout. Trump pleaded not guilty, but a Manhattan jury unanimously convicted him in May and he is awaiting sentencing.
After the trial, Daniels launched an online fundraiser, raising more than $1 million. Brewster sought to determine exactly how much Daniels owed the former president in talks with Trump’s attorney Harry Ross.
On July 23, Ross told Brewster in a letter that the bill was $652,362.23, which was more than Brewster had calculated. Two days later, Ross wrote to say that Trump agreed to accept less, $620,000, on one condition: “that your client agrees in writing not to make public or private statements related to past interactions with President Trump, or defamatory or disparaging statements.” about him, his business and/or any affiliation or his suitability as a presidential candidate, with the terms of these points to be determined in a separate agreement to come.”
CBS News
Daniels refused to sign an NDA and Brewster said he ended up paying $627,000.
University of Florida law professor Lyrissa Lidsky said it’s “not unusual in the abstract that lawyers will try to avoid reputational harm in negotiations.” But this offer is different from the usual cases, he said.
“What’s unusual about this is that the case is being made in the middle of a presidential candidate, and the party is a former president who still has an interest in keeping it quiet,” Daniels, Lidsky said.
Brewster told CBS News the offer was “unthinkable.”
“You can’t talk about Trump? I was like, ‘This is never going to happen.’ How can he testify, he’s been interviewed on international TV, that’s not going to happen,” Brewster said.
In response to questions about whether Trump knew about the July NDA offer to Daniels, in which CBS News reported that the letter was provided by Brewster, the Trump campaign blamed hackers. Three Iranians were indicted in September for hacking campaign email accounts over the summer.
“These admitted documents were obtained as part of an illegal foreign hacking attack on President Trump and his team,” spokesman Steven Cheung said.
“We are working with the authorities to determine legal consequences for those who may have committed federal violations by sending and using material stolen by opponents of the terror regime,” Cheung said. “Ms. Daniels has been arrested for having to pay President Trump over and above the money she owed to people as a result of her wrongdoing.”
Cheung sent a similar statement to MSNBC.
Brewster told CBS News he also gave the letter to the outlet.
“I don’t even know what to say. I gave them the email. So, I mean, it’s just more bullshit,” Brewster said.
