Not Trump’s first defamation case
A Los Angeles judge on Friday put Daniels’ lawsuit there against Cohen and Trump to end her non-disclosure agreement on hold for 90 days. The judge cited the reasonably high likelihood that letting the case continue might threaten Cohen’s constitutional right against self-incrimination. Cohen faces a criminal probe into his business affairs by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, including over the $130,000 payment, which he has called legal.The Los Angeles case also includes Daniels’ claim that Cohen defamed her in a Feb. 13 statement by implying she had lied about her relationship with Trump. “Just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean that it can’t cause you harm or damage. I will always protect Mr. Trump,” Cohen had said. Daniels sued Trump as an individual, not in his capacity as president, which could pose problems for any defense. “He’ll have to litigate unless he can get a court to agree he has a privilege not to while he’s president,” said Stephen Burbank, a University of Pennsylvania law professor. Burbank co-wrote an earlier brief arguing that then-President Bill Clinton was not immune in federal court from private civil lawsuits during his presidency for unofficial acts. The Supreme Court adopted that view in 1997. Daniels’ defamation case is also not the president’s first. Trump is appealing a March 20 decision by a New York state judge in Manhattan that allowed Summer Zervos, a contestant on his former TV show “The Apprentice,” to pursue her own defamation case. Zervos had accused Trump of kissing her against her will and groping her at a meeting about a possible job, and that he defamed her by calling such allegations lies. Trump has argued that he was immune from that lawsuit. Daniels has offered a $100,000 reward for information about the man in the sketch. The case is Clifford v Trump, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No 18-03842.A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)! https://t.co/9Is7mHBFda
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018