Stormy Daniels physically threatened, her lawyer says
Stormy Daniels' lawyer claims she was physically threatened by someone. The adult film actress' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Friday that someone physically threatened his client — but he declined to reveal who allegedly threatened her.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is suing Mr. Trump and Mr. Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen in an attempt to dissolve their non-disclosure agreement. Clifford claims the pact is invalid because Mr. Trump didn't provide his signature in a 2016 hush agreement. Avenatti, in a separate interview Friday with CNN's Jake Tapper, acknowledged that at least one of his client's accusations involves alleged behavior since Mr. Trump took office.
"Is there anything in the litany of accusations -- you would call them facts -- that surround this case that happened while Donald Trump was president?" Tapper asked.
"Yes," Avenatti responded.
A hearing for the lawsuit has been set for July 12 in Los Angeles.
The Stormy Daniels saga continues to plague a White House that would much rather not take questions about the story during daily White House briefings. The White House has denied the alleged 2006 affair.
In February, Cohen admitted to paying $130,000 of his own funds to Clifford in 2016, claiming the Trump Organization had nothing to do with it. But Cohen using a Trump Organization email to arrange the negotiations for the NDA.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said they take individuals' security seriously, but referred questions to Mr. Trump's personal attorneys.
"Obviously, we take the safety and security of any person seriously," Sanders said. "Certainly would condemn anyone threatening any individual but I have no knowledge of that situation and would refer you to the president's outside attorneys."
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story said that Stormy Daniels' lawyer said she was physically threatened by someone representing Donald Trump. But her lawyer only said that she had been physically threatened. The story has been updated to reflect this.