Trump lawyer tells porn star 'cease and desist' after interview: letter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, demanded Stormy Daniels “cease and desist” after the adult-film star said in a “60 Minutes” TV interview that she was threatened with violence to stay silent about her alleged affair with Trump.

“Mr. Cohen had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any such person or incident, and does not even believe that any such person exists, or that such incident ever occurred,” said the letter sent by Cohen’s attorney, Brent Blakely, to the lawyer representing Daniels, Michael Avenatti, late on Sunday, shortly after the interview aired on CBS. A copy of the letter was viewed by Reuters on Monday.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, had implied Cohen was behind the threat of harm if she did not “leave Trump alone,” which was made by a stranger in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011.

The letter also demanded “that you immediately retract and apologize to Mr. Cohen through the national media for your defamatory statements on ‘60 Minutes,’ and make clear that you have no facts or evidence whatsoever to support your allegations that my client had anything whatsoever to do with this alleged thug.”

Daniels sued the president on March 6, stating that Trump never signed an agreement for her to keep quiet about an “intimate” relationship between them.

White House aides did not respond immediately to requests for comment after the interview aired.

Daniels attorney Avenatti on Monday morning spoke with major news and broadcast network outlets.

In an interview with NBC, he said the man who threatened Daniels while she was with her infant daughter was not Cohen but that “it had to be someone that is related to Mr. Trump or Mr. Cohen.”

Asked about the cease-and-desist letter on CNN, Avenatti said Cohen “needs to stop hiding behind pieces of paper and come clean with the American public.”