BuzzFeed Has A Brilliant Idea To Let Stormy Daniels Tell Her Story…
And, amazingly, it involves the Russia investigation!
BuzzFeed wants to use its lawsuit with Michael Cohen as a vehicle to give Stormy Daniels legal cover to discuss her affair with Trump.
This is brilliant. But it is also a little complicated, so try to stay focused.
Stormy Daniels is being prevented from telling her story about her affair with Donald Trump because of a $130,000 payoff and nondisclosure agreement that she signed just days before the 2016 election.
If Stormy Daniels breaks the nondisclosure agreement she could be on the hook for a million dollar penalty.
Daniels, through her lawyer, has been trying to get out of the nondisclosure agreement and has filed a lawsuit to get the agreement thrown out.
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer, has admitted to paying Daniels the $130,000 and arranging the nondisclosure agreement.
At the same time, Michael Cohen is involved in a lawsuit with BuzzFeed News over the Trump-Russia dossier.
Cohen is suing BuzzFeed for defamation because BuzzFeed was the first news organization to publish the dossier, where Cohen is featured heavily.
This is where it gets hilarious.
“Now, BuzzFeed is using Cohen’s libel suit as a vehicle to demand that Daniels preserve all records relating to her relationship with Trump, as well as her dealings with Cohen and the payment he has acknowledged arranging in 2016,” according to Politico.
In fact, BuzzFeed’s lawyer has already sent Daniels’ attorney a letter asking her to preserve all documents relating to her relationship with Trump.
This is generally the first step in the process of subpoenaing someone.
And here is the kicker. If Daniels has a subpoena demanding her to turn over her communications and her deposition in a legal proceeding then she will also be free to talk about her affair with Trump without needing to worry about the nondisclosure agreement she signed.
Here is a relevant section from Politico’s report:
“The letter from BuzzFeed’s attorney, obtained by POLITICO, argues that Cohen’s role in paying Daniels is similar to allegations in the dossier about Cohen. The dossier alleges that Cohen met Russian legal officials and legislators in Prague in August 2016 in a bid to “sweep … under the carpet” details of the relationship between Russia and Trump campaign officials like Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Cohen has flatly denied the claim.
“‘Mr. Cohen’s role in President Trump’s 2016 campaign, including but not limited to any payments he made or facilitated to third parties during or in connection with the campaign, is therefore directly relevant to’ Cohen’s suit, BuzzFeed lawyer Katherine Bolger wrote.”
Like I said, brilliant.
[image via Creative Commons/Toglenn]