Michael Cohen's attorney accuses Stormy Daniels of "legal extortion"
President Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen would agree to a deposition if a judge orders it, according to his attorney and spokesman, David Schwartz. Stormy Daniels' lawyer filed a motion on Wednesday seeking to question Mr. Trump and Cohen under oath about a $130,000 payment from Cohen to secure a non-disclosure agreement with Daniels.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims she had sex with Mr. Trump in 2006 and argues the agreement is not valid because Mr. Trump never signed it. The White House has denied Daniels' allegations.
Schwartz, who is not representing Cohen in this specific case but has been authorized by Cohen to speak in his defense, told "CBS This Morning" that Cohen never told Donald Trump about the agreement.
"The president became aware of it much later on, alright?" Schwartz responded when asked when Mr. Trump did learn of the agreement. "He learned about it when it came out."
Schwartz maintains that Mr. Trump was not aware of the NDA before it was signed, raising questions about the validity of the agreement which was not signed by "David Dennison," an alias for Trump. It was signed by Cohen on behalf of "EC, LLC."
"The nondisclosure agreement is rock solid. It's an excellent nondisclosure agreement. It's a nondisclosure agreement between EC, LLC, the LLC that was created by Michael Cohen, and Stormy Daniels -- and the clause says 'and or' so even though there was a line for David Dennison 'and/or' so it could be 'and/or' the EC, LLC or David Dennison," Schwartz said.
He called Daniels' seeking payment "legal extortion."
"She violated the agreement right away, right. So she never had any intention of – so she stole the $130,000 basically and then decided to shop the story around."
In explaining why it wouldn't be strange for Cohen to act without Trump's knowledge, Schwartz stressed that their connection went far beyond a typical lawyer and client relationship.
"He's fixed all kinds of problems for Donald Trump over the years. In fact, he is the guy you call at 3:00 in the morning when you have a problem," he said. "Michael Cohen is not anyone. He's a very loyal trusted person who had great latitude to be the fixer, and that's exactly what he was. He was the fixer."
An attorney for the president has not responded to our request for comment.
