A disc allegedly containing evidence of an affair between President Trump and the pornographic film actress known as Stormy Daniels is “locked and loaded,” her attorney said Friday.
Michael Avenatti, the actress’s lawyer, said the contents of a DVD he touted on the eve of his client’s “60 Minutes” interview last month could still see the light of day pending their lawsuit against the president.
“Michael, will you ever release the contents of the warning-shot disc of evidence you tweeted about?” comedian Bill Maher asked the attorney on Friday’s episode of his weekly HBO program.
“Possibly. It depends how the case progresses,” Mr. Avenatti replied.
Mr. Avenatti first referenced the DVD on March 22, four days before CBS aired an interview in which the actress born Stephanie Clifford publicly discussed her alleged affair with Mr. Trump and subsequent, supposed attempts to buy her silence.
“If ’a picture is worth a thousand words,’ how many words is this worth?????” Mr. Avenatti tweeted last month alongside an image of the disk.
Addressing the DVD nearly a month later, Mr. Avenatti on Friday credited the tweet with keeping Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, from pursuing litigation related to Ms. Clifford’s “60 Minutes” appearance.
“We took that picture and we tweeted it out and it was exactly that — it was a warning shot to Michael Cohen and the president that if they tried to claim that my client was a liar after ’60 Minutes’ there was gonna be consequences, and it worked, and it worked perfectly because we heard nothing from them,” said Mr. Avenatti.
“So we have the DVD, and we’re going to release it when and if it’s necessary and we’re going to see what happens with the case. But make no mistake about it: it’s locked and loaded,” Mr. Avenatti added.
Mr. Avenatti previously said the DVD contains “evidence substantiating the relationship” that allegedly existed in 2011 between Ms. Clifford and Mr. Trump.
Ms. Clifford was paid $130,000 by Mr. Cohen in 2016 weeks before the presidential election, and she’s claimed the payment was meant to keep her from publicly discussing her alleged affair with Mr. Trump. She sued Mr. Trump in Los Angeles Superior Court prior to her “60 Minutes” interview airing last month, alleging the non-disclosure agreement she signed on the eve of the election is invalid. Federal investigators have since executed a search warrant seeking documents from Mr. Cohen involving the arrangement with Ms. Clifford, according to multiple news reports.
“The president doesn’t believe that any of the claims Ms. Daniels made in the interview are accurate,” White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said a day after Ms. Clifford’s interview aired last month.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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