Stormy Daniels seeks to reactivate 'hush money' suit

Lawyers for porn star Stormy Daniels are seeking to lift a judge's 90-day hold on her lawsuit over a $130,000 deal she struck to keep silent about a sexual encounter she says she had with President Donald Trump.

A federal judge imposed the stay last month as questions swirled about whether Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen, who paid Daniels in 2016 before the presidential election, was about to be indicted, Politico reported on Thursday evening.

Her attorney, Michael Avenatti, on Thursday cited extensive comments about the issue by Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani to say that the stay should be removed.

"The general premise is that Trump and Giuliani have, once again, shot themselves in the foot by making public statements related to the $130,000 payment," Avenatti told Politico.

"They clearly don't need Cohen to mount a defence in the case. There's no need to wait for a resolution of the criminal matter..."

Giuliani called the latest move "an interesting action" but he said that he wasn't going out of his way to talk about Daniels.

"I don't know what she's talking about, really," Giuliani told Politico.

"She has a lawyer going on TV three times a day. I never talk about it. I get asked questions about it and I avoid them."

Daniels sued Cohen and Trump in a county court in Los Angeles in March, seeking to void the 2016 deal.

She also filed a separate defamation suit against Trump in New York last month, accusing him of libeling her by denying her account that a man threatened her in a casino parking lot in 2011 to get her to keep quiet about her relationship with Trump.

--IANS

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