--- title: Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Files Motion to Depose Donald Trump description: Porn star Stormy Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, filed a motion to depose President Donald Trump and attorney, Michael Cohen, under oath. canonical: https://time.com/5218425/stormy-daniels-motion-depose-donald-trump/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-28T12:46:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:47:48.046Z article:section: Politics og:title: Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Files Motion to Force Trump to Talk About Porn Star Payoff Under Oath og:description: President Trump has not publicly address the scandal og:url: https://time.com/5218425/stormy-daniels-motion-depose-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe387029a5a2d01b/69892bf0656a3fc476bd3fa1/gettyimages-936613792.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1920 og:image:height: 1080 og:image:alt: 60 Minutes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Files Motion to Force Trump to Talk About Porn Star Payoff Under Oath twitter:description: President Trump has not publicly address the scandal twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe387029a5a2d01b/69892bf0656a3fc476bd3fa1/gettyimages-936613792.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Files Motion to Force President Trump to Talk About Porn Star Payoff Under Oath > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### 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 [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 28, 2018 12:46 PM UTC  Stormy Daniels in her interview with Anderson Cooper broadcast on CBS' 60 Minutes on March 25, 2018. Stormy Daniels in her interview with Anderson Cooper broadcast on CBS' 60 Minutes on March 25, 2018. CBS/Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Mar 28, 2018 12:46 PM UTC The lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels has filed a motion that would require President Donald Trump and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, to testify under oath about a “hush agreement” pertaining to an alleged affair between Daniels and the president. Daniels [claims that she had a sexual relationship with a married Trump in 2006.](http://time.com/5189218/stormy-daniels-porn-star-donald-trump-affair-confirmed/) She is currently suing Trump to break an agreement meant to prevent her from discussing their alleged affair, [claiming that the document is invalid because Trump never signed it](http://time.com/5188928/stormy-daniels-suing-donald-trump-over-nondisclosure/). Daniels has also said [she will return the $130,000](http://time.com/5195786/stormy-daniels-hush-money/) paid to her by Cohen days before the presidential election, if she needs to. Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, tweeted that the motion was filed late Monday and is set to be [heard on April 30](https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/978922771924254720). The motion also requests that a jury trial begin within 90 days of its hearing. > [](https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/978638084937080832) Trump [has not publicly addressed](http://time.com/5217712/white-house-donald-trump-stormy-daniels/) the alleged relationship, and the White House has not commented on the motion. The White House has repeatedly denied the affair, but did acknowledge the ongoing legal battle. But David Schwartz, an attorney for Cohen, [told NBC in a statement](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/stormy-daniels-lawyer-files-motion-depose-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-n860656) that the filing is a “reckless use of the legal system in order to continue to inflate Michael Avenatti’s deflated ego and keep himself relevant.” Avenatti fired back on Twitter Wednesday morning. > [](https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/978959791706996736) Daniels [also appeared on ](http://time.com/5215421/stormy-daniels-60-minutes-ratings/)_60 Minutes_ to discuss her charges against the president, claiming during the interview that [she and her child were threatened over the alleged affair](http://time.com/5215078/stormy-daniels-donald-trump-threat/) in 2011, in an effort to keep her silence. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5218425/stormy-daniels-motion-depose-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5218425/stormy-daniels-motion-depose-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Files Motion to Force President Trump to Talk About Porn Star Payoff Under Oath","datePublished":"2018-03-28T12:46:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:47:48.046Z","description":"President Trump has not publicly address the porn star scandal","url":"https://time.com/5218425/stormy-daniels-motion-depose-donald-trump/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe387029a5a2d01b/69892bf0656a3fc476bd3fa1/gettyimages-936613792.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe387029a5a2d01b/69892bf0656a3fc476bd3fa1/gettyimages-936613792.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"60 Minutes","caption":"60 Minutes","creditText":"CBS/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5218425/stormy-daniels-motion-depose-donald-trump/","name":"Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Files Motion to Force President Trump to Talk About Porn Star Payoff Under Oath"}}]}] ```