Stormy Daniels Lawyer: Several More Women Want to Sue Trump

CYBERSPACE—Stormy Daniels is one of two women now suing Donald Trump over allegations of his sexual misconduct, but there may soon be many more according to Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, who confirmed to BuzzFeed News on Wednesday that he has been approached by other women seeking representation in legal actions against Trump. One other woman, Summer Zervos, currently has an active lawsuit against Trump that stems from sexual allegations against him. Zervos is a former contestant on Trump’s long-running NBC reality show The Apprentice. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Zervos was one of about a dozen women who accused Trump of sexually harassing or assaulting them.  The number of women who have now accused Trump of sexual harassment or assault has since rise to at least 19. Zervos charged that in 2007 Trump invited her for dinner at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles on the pretext of discussing job opportunities. Instead, she says, Trump kissed her with his open mouth against her will, then grabbed her breast while continuing to kiss and push her “aggressively,” physically pulling her into a bedroom. Trump called Zervos and the other women who made similar accusations “horrible, horrible liars.” Zervos is now suing Trump for defamation of character over the “liars” remark. A judge in New York is currently deciding whether her lawsuit will move forward. While Daniels has not disputed that her alleged affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007 was consensual, her lawsuit charges that Trump and his “fix it guy” Michel Cohen have threatened and intimidated her, and that they paid her $130,000 to sign a “hush agreement” about the affair that is not valid because Trump never signed it. Avenatti did not explain on Wednesday who the other women who have approached him are, nor did he reveal the nature of their allegations against Trump. Avenatti did not comment on whether any of the women who have approached him are the same women who have previously accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Karen McDougal, the 1998 Playboy Playmate of the Year, also had an affair with Trump starting in 2006—at the same Lake Tahoe golf tournament where Trump is alleged to have had sex with Daniels for the first time—according to an investigative report in The New Yorker magazine. The New Yorker reported that McDougal also received a payoff, this one from The National Enquirer tabloid, which paid her $150,000 for the rights to her story, and then simply quashed the story never published anything about the alleged affair, a practice known in the tabloid business as “catch and kill,” and is often used to protect powerful individuals from scandal. National Enquirer owner David Pecker is a close friend and unabashed supporter of Trump. Trump married his third and current wife, Melania Knauss Trump, on January 22, 2005. Their son, Barron William Trump, was born on March 6, 2006, making him an infant at the time Trump allegedly started his simultaneous affairs with Daniels and McDougal. Daniels’ allegation of her affair with Trump received a further boost of confirmation last week when Florida radio host Bubba the Love Sponge Clem—who has legally changed his name from its original, Todd Clem—reported that Daniels had told him about the affair during an on-air interview in 2007. While Daniels did not reveal Trump’s name on the air during that interview, Clem said that she did reveal it privately. Daniels gave details of the affair on the air, however, that closely match later accounts of her affair with Trump. Above, Michael Avenatti in a CNN interview posted on YouTube.com