DONALD Trump’s lawyer claims porn actress Stormy Daniels is liable for at least US$20 million (RM78 million) for violating a nondisclosure agreement she says prevents her from discussing an affair with the president, according to court filing yesterday.

A lawyer for Michael Cohen’s Essential Consultants limited liability company made the filing, which said that Daniels violated the agreement “at least” 20 times.

“The Settlement Agreement provides for liquidated damages of US$1 million per instance of breach,” the court filing said.

Daniels signed the agreement, under which she was paid US$130,000, shortly before the 2016 presidential election, leading to allegations that the payment amounted to an illicit contribution to Trump’s campaign.

Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, took to Twitter to criticise the court filing.

“The fact that a sitting president is pursuing over US$20 million 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,” Avenatti wrote.

White House officials have tried to deflect questions about the alleged affair, pointing to previous denials by the Trump campaign.

The issue could hurt Trump with religious voters, who were key to his electoral success and appears to have already caused strains between the president and First Lady Melania Trump. – AFP, March 17, 2018.