Stormy Daniels Lawyer Responds to President Trump's 'Feigned Lack of Knowledge'

Stormy Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, quickly responded to President Donald Trump's claim he [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Stormy Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, quickly responded to President Donald Trump's claim he was not aware of the $130,000 the former adult star received in exchange for not talking about an alleged affair with Trump before the election.

"We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump's feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One," Avenatti tweeted. "As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath."

Avenatti later suggested that Trump's remarks make their case against Trump stronger.

"Good (actually GREAT) things come to those who wait," Avenatti tweeted. "The strength of our case just went up exponentially. You can't have an agreement when one party claims to know nothing about it."

During a brief exchange with reporters on Air Force One Thursday, Trump said he was not aware of the payment his lawyer, Michael Cohen, sent to Daniels in October 2016.

"No," Trump said when asked about it. Trump wanted to move on to another topic, but reporters continued asking why Cohen made the payment.

"You'll have to ask Michael Cohen," Trump said. "Michael is my attorney. You'll have to ask Michael."

Daniels, an adult film actress and director, claims she had sex with Trump in 2006, shortly after meeting him at a celebrity golf tournament. She also claims to have met Trump a year later to discuss her appearing on The Celebrity Apprentice, but that never came to fruition.

Daniels also claims she was physically threatened before Cohen paid her $130,000 to not talk about the affair before the 2016 presidential election. She also signed a non-disclosure agreement, which she broke to talk to 60 Minutes last month.

Although Trump has denied having the affair, Cohen has admitted to paying the $130,000 from his "own personal funds."

Daniels is suing Cohen, and recently amended it to include defamation, citing his Feb. 13 statement when Cohen said, "Just because something isn't true doesn't mean that it can't cause you harm or damage." Avenantti said Cohen's statement resulted in Daniels facing "physical threats of violence to her person and life, as well as hatred, contempt, ridicule, and shame."

Avenantti is also seeking to have the non-disclosure agreement invalidated because Trump did not sign it.

Daniels told 60 Minutes last month that she came forward to tell her story to set the record straight.

"People are just saying whatever they wanted to say about me, I was perfectly fine saying nothing at all, but I'm not okay 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 told Anderson Cooper. "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?"

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