President Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has undoubtedly revealed far more than his boss would prefer. Cohen claimed that he personally paid porn star Stormy Daniels’ $130,000 “hush agreement” money over her alleged 2006 affair with Trump. He also used his home-equity line and his Trump Organization email account to coordinate it all, and now, an actual Trump Organization attorney has been connected to the nondisclosure agreement as well.
NBC News reports that Trump Org Assistant General Counsel Jill A. Martin signed legal papers connected to the restraining order filed last month to keep Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford) quiet, and this link is yet another piece of the puzzle:
Clifford’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, said Martin’s signature on the paperwork is another piece of evidence that Trump knew about the nondisclosure agreement, the payment and the more recent efforts to stop his client from talking.
Two documents provided by Avenatti — and first reported by the Wall Street Journal — bear Martin’s name: a Feb. 22 demand for private arbitration to determine if Clifford violated the agreement and a declaration that the agreement allowed a company registered to Cohen to obtain a gag order without notifying Clifford.
While this doesn’t guarantee that Trump knew about the payoff to keep Daniels quiet, the mounting evidence that the NDA exists — which is what Jimmy Kimmel recently tried so hard to get Daniels to publicly admit — goes further to prove that Trump was associated with Daniels. The president reportedly grew upset with Sarah Sanders when she inadvertently dropped a few clues as well, and it must be awfully hard for Trump to not address the matter on Twitter. His fingers must be itching.
In related news, Avenatti told Buzzfeed that other women have contacted him about possible legal cases involving Trump, although he declined to elaborate.