President Donald Trump likely won't fare well when it comes to his lawsuit against adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to attorney Nancy Erika Smith.
A new attorney has joined Trump's team in the legal attack against Daniels, which CNN host Chris Cuomo called a "dicey proposition." Trump's attorney Michael Cohen has argued that Daniels has violated their nondisclosure agreement 20 times and as such, she owes Trump $20 million.
Smith, who has represented Gretchen Carlson in the past, noted that the president's line has been that he had nothing to do with it and didn't know Daniels.
"That complicates matters because the president's representatives said that he had nothing to do with it. He didn't know her," Smith explained. "And he said that publicly, not in an arbitration proceeding. After he said it publicly, then he wanted to go to arbitration in late February. I would say he waived his claim that he gets to go to a secret court system."
She explained that Cohen was obviously acting on his behalf of Trump, unless Cohen has some kind of relationship with Daniels that he paid her for. She went on to say she doesn't believe for "one second" that Cohen was acting of his own accord to help protect his friend.
"And now we know Donald Trump has gone to court, trying to move the whole case to federal court and then to a secret court [arbitration]," she continued. "Secret courts are for Iran, Russia. In our country, our democracy is based on a public open court system. So, we all see how the law is applied."
Trump's team is arguing that the nondisclosure agreement demanded arbitration in the event that a deal went badly. Smith argued that when it's the president of the United States, particularly one who hauled President Bill Clinton's accusers to a debate, secret arbitration is off the table.
Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti is arguing that the NDA was never valid because Trump didn't sign it. There also seems to be a question regarding the notary on the agreement.
"He is claiming she is talking to the public about what happened. And I also don't think it is right to characterize it as Stormy Daniels said, 'Give me money and I won't talk,'" Smith continued, referencing Cohen's account of what happened. "I think she was talking to media outlets and they said 'What do we have to pay you to shut you up.' And it was a month before the election. As a public democracy, shouldn't we say that's wrong no matter what is? The president of the United States should not go around paying money to people to shut up about him. He's not claiming it's false. He's claiming 'I wanted you to shut up.'"
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