--- title: Stormy Daniels Threatened With Violence, Lawyer Says description: Stormy Daniels was threatened with physical violence amid the effort to cover up her alleged affair with Donald Trump, her lawyer said. canonical: https://time.com/5202798/porn-star-stormy-daniels-threatened-violence/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-16T13:06:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:40:22.138Z article:section: Politics og:title: Stormy Daniels Was Threatened With Physical Violence, Her Lawyer Says og:description: "Was she threatened physical harm?" Mika Brzezinski asked. Michael Avenatti responded: "Yes." og:url: https://time.com/5202798/porn-star-stormy-daniels-threatened-violence/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5255085983653d92/69892b100a4a22167a9d21d6/gettyimages-911413558.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5607 og:image:height: 3154 og:image:alt: 2018 Adult Video News Awards - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stormy Daniels Was Threatened With Physical Violence, Her Lawyer Says twitter:description: "Was she threatened physical harm?" Mika Brzezinski asked. Michael Avenatti responded: "Yes." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5255085983653d92/69892b100a4a22167a9d21d6/gettyimages-911413558.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Porn Star Stormy Daniels Was Threatened With Physical Violence, Her Lawyer Says > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Mar 16, 2018 1:06 PM UTC  Adult film actress/director Stormy Daniels attends the 2018 Adult Video News Awards at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on January 27, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Adult film actress/director Stormy Daniels attends the 2018 Adult Video News Awards at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on January 27, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Gabe Ginsberg—Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Mar 16, 2018 1:06 PM UTC Ex porn star Stormy Daniels was threatened with physical violence amid the effort to cover up her alleged affair with Donald Trump, her lawyer said on Friday morning. At the end of an interview on MSNBC’s _Morning Joe,_ the attorney Michael Avenatti, who represents Daniels, was asked by cohost Mika Brzezinski if his client was “threatened in any way.” “Yes,” Avenatti responded. “Was she threatened physical harm?” Brzezinski asked in return. “Yes,” Avenatti said, but declined to elaborate when Brzezinski prompted him. “I’m not going to answer that,” he said. “People will have to tune into _60 Minutes_ on March 25.” (Daniels is [set to appear](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cbs-tentatively-sets-march-25-for-airing-60-minutes-interview-with-stormy-daniels/2018/03/15/f400a36a-27b4-11e8-bc72-077aa4dab9ef%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.67406dd6e49a) on the CBS program then.) > [](https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/974612042710691840) Avenatti’s incendiary claim is only the latest in a saga of political pulp that has dominated headlines for most of this year. In January, the _Wall Street Journal_ reported that Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen had paid her $130,000 in the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election to keep silent about a series of sexual encounters she had with the then-Republican nominee a decade prior. The scandal concerns [alleged effort](http://time.com/5200711/donald-trump-lawyer-stormy-daniels/) to silence Daniels, and Daniels’ efforts to combat it [in court.](http://time.com/5188928/stormy-daniels-suing-donald-trump-over-nondisclosure/) The White House has repeatedly denied that the president had an affair with Daniels, although Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did acknowledge that the president was involved in an ongoing legal battle with Daniels. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5202798/porn-star-stormy-daniels-threatened-violence/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5202798/porn-star-stormy-daniels-threatened-violence/"},"headline":"Porn Star Stormy Daniels Was Threatened With Physical Violence, Her Lawyer Says","datePublished":"2018-03-16T13:06:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:40:22.138Z","description":"\"Was she threatened physical harm?\" Mika Brzezinski asked. 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