Stormy Daniels' Trump hush-money lawsuit thrown out by judge
A porn actress has her bid to rip up a Non-Disclosure Agreement signed in 2016 rejected, after a judge says it is irrelevant.
Friday 8 March 2019 17:20, UK
A US judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by adult film actress Stormy Daniels to end a hush-money agreement she had with US President Donald Trump, court papers have shown.
Ms Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, wanted a court to declare the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) illegal so she could speak out.
She argued that speaking with the deal still in force could have financial penalties.
The original NDA was brokered by Mr Trump and his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Mr Cohen claimed to have arranged the agreement in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election to silence Ms Daniels about an alleged affair in 2006.
But District Judge James Otero threw out the lawsuit, saying it was irrelevant because the two men had agreed not to enforce the NDA which was signed for a payment of $130,000 (£99,000).
Tweeting after the ruling was made public, Ms Daniels wrote: "More than a year ago I was being threatened with a 20 million lawsuit, I asked a judge to toss out this illegal NDA.
"Glad I stood my ground & kept fighting."
Michael Avenatti, Ms Daniels' lawyer, wrote on Twitter: "The court specifically found that Stormy received everything she asked for in the lawsuit - she won."
The NDA did not prevent Ms Daniels from speaking to news media or releasing a memoir, "Full Disclosure".
Mr Trump has denied having an affair with Ms Daniels.
In October, Judge Otero dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by Ms Daniels against Mr Trump, and ordered her to pay legal costs.