President Donald Trump has yet to publicly address the controversy surrounding him and Stormy Daniels. Judge denies motion to depose Trump, but Stormy Daniels’ attorney vows to refile

A federal judge on Thursday denied a motion from Stormy Daniels seeking to depose President Donald Trump and his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen in the case over the adult film actress’s nondisclosure agreement.

Michael Avenatti, Daniels’ attorney, filed the action in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Tuesday asking permission to question Trump for two hours. Avenatti also sought to depose Cohen.


According to the filing, Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford but who goes by her stage name, wants Trump to answer questions about their alleged affair and wants Cohen to discuss the reported hush agreement he struck with her.

After the motion was struck down by a judge as premature, Avenatti vowed during a CNN interview on Thursday afternoon to re-up the legal maneuver, possibly by the end of the day.

“We can refile this motion,” he said. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

David Schwartz, the lawyer who represents Cohen, told NBC host Megyn Kelly before the judge’s ruling that the motion filed by Daniels’ legal team seeking permission to question the president and Cohen under oath was a nonstarter.

“It’s absolutely not going to happen — not in this case, anyway, because the case itself is completely frivolous,” Schwartz said.

Avenatti had argued in the filing that Trump could be deposed because “a sitting president is not afforded special protection from a civil suit regarding conduct before he or she entered office.”

In a separate legal move, Daniels on Monday sued Cohen for defamation, alleging he knowingly lied about her. According to Daniels, Cohen defamed her when he issued a statement in February regarding the $130,000 payment he made to her as part of the so-called hush agreement. Cohen said at the time, “Just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean that it can’t cause you harm or damage.”

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Schwartz framed the lawsuit as meritless on Thursday.

“That’s going absolutely nowhere,” he told NBC. “On its face, as you know, Megyn, you have to prove that the statement is false. On its face, that’s not a false statement.”

Daniels’ allegation of a sexual relationship with Trump, which she says took place in 2006, gained heightened attention this week after she and Avenatti spoke out on the matter during an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday.

The White House has maintained that the president denies Daniels’ allegations. Trump has yet to publicly address the controversy.

