Essential Consultants LLC, which was allegedly created by Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen for the purpose of hiding "the true source of funds to be used to pay" Daniels, filed a removal to federal court on Friday. Trump lawyer files to move Stormy Daniels lawsuit to federal court

President Donald Trump's personal lawyer is seeking to move a lawsuit filed by adult film star Stormy Daniels against the president to federal court.

The filing also asserts that Cohen or "Defendant Trump" have the right to seek more than $20 million from Daniels for violating a non-disclosure agreement.


Essential Consultants LLC, which was allegedly created by Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen for the purpose of hiding "the true source of funds to be used to pay" Daniels, filed a removal to federal court on Friday.

Federal courts tend to more strictly enforce arbitration agreements, which could lead to Daniels being forced into a closed-door legal forum where an arbitrator has already issued an injunction against her. California courts tend to to be less friendly to arbitration.

New filings in connection with the move to federal court show that Trump is now represented in the dispute by Beverly Hills attorney Charles Harder, who often works for celebrities in high-profile legal battles with the media.

Earlier this year, Harder threatened a lawsuit on behalf of Trump in an effort to block publication of Michael Wolff’s book on the White House and the campaign. Harder also represented First Lady Melania Trump in libel suits against a Maryland blogger and the Daily Mail.

Daniels earlier this month filed a lawsuit claiming that a “hush agreement” between her, Trump and Essential Consultants LLC was never binding because Trump did not sign the document.

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Daniels’ lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles. Cohen requested it be moved to the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division.

Trump’s attorney argued that matter of controversy exceeds over $75,000, which federal courts have jurisdiction over.

A lawyer for Daniels, Michael Avenatti, responded on Twitter calling the effort a "bullying tactic" and argued it was in an effort to keep the lawsuit private.

"The filing today is yet another bullying tactic from the president and Mr. Cohen," he wrote. "They are now attempting to remove this case to federal ct in order to increase their chances that the matter will be decided in private arbitration, thus hiding the truth from the public."

In another tweet he added, "The fact that a sitting president is pursuing over $20M in bogus 'damages' against a private citizen, who is only trying to tell the public what really happened, is remarkable. Likely unprecedented in our history. We are NOT going away and we will NOT be intimidated."

Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.