Porn star files lawsuit over her alleged relationship with Trump

She alleges that the agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election, which prevented her from discussing the alleged sexual encounters, is “null and void and of no consequence” because Trump didn’t personally sign it.

Her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, told reporters yesterday that she wants “to set the record straight”.

He said on NBC’s breakfast show there was “no question” Trump knew about the agreement, though he did not offer any proof.

Avenatti said Daniels was not looking to profit from her story. But he told CBS: “I don’t know whether she’s going to ultimately seek payment or not.”

Asked about Avenatti’s claims yesterday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: “We’ve addressed our feelings on that situation, and I don’t have anything else to add.”

Clifford alleges that she began an “intimate relationship” with Trump in 2006 and that it continued “well into the year 2007”, according to the lawsuit.

She said the relationship included encounters in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and Beverly Hills, California. Trump married his current wife, Melania Trump, in 2005.

Clifford claims she had sex with Trump once and then carried on a subsequent platonic relationship for many years.

Previously, through a lawyer, Clifford denied the two had an affair, but Avenatti said yesterday that was to meet the terms of the nondisclosure agreement.

Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen has denied there was ever an affair.

Cohen has said he paid the porn actress $130,000 (£94,000) out of his own pocket as part of the agreement. He has also said that “neither the Trump Organisation nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly”.

The lawsuit charges that the October 28, 2016 “hush agreement” is legally invalid because it was only signed by Clifford and Cohen.

The agreement refers to Trump as David Dennison and Clifford as Peggy Peterson, but an attached exhibit details their true identities.

Clifford’s lawsuit also alleges that Trump and Cohen “aggressively sought to silence Ms Clifford as part of an effort to avoid her telling the truth, thus helping to ensure he won the presidential election”.

“To be clear, the attempts to intimidate Ms Clifford into silence and ‘shut her up’ in order to ‘protect Mr Trump’ continue unabated,” the lawsuit said. Clifford alleges that as recently as last week, Trump’s attorney tried to initiate an arbitration proceeding against her.

Cohen did not respond to requests for comment.