Popular Culture Review 30.2
Boutrous , who renegotiated the contract to allow her to respond to legitimate inquiries about Trump without fear of penalty .
Michael Cohen left the Trump campaign to become the president ’ s personal attorney . He announced “ I am the guy who would take a bullet for the President ” ( Palazzolo et al . 1 ). Trump paid him by check over the course of the year for the Daniels NDA . Hints of the president ’ s affairs came out , but the president continued to deny them .
In March 2018 , McDougal hired a third lawyer , Peter Stris , who filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court to void her nondisclosure agreement . Stris , stated , “ Through efforts including the collusion of her own lawyer , AMI has consistently deceived and manipulated Ms . McDougal through an illegitimate contract ” ( Conley 1 ). The former Playmate charged Davidson did not explain to her that allowing her to write stories for AMI did not mean they would publish them . She argued Davidson , Cohen , and Pecker conferred without her knowledge to protect the president . The suit claimed her payout amounted to an illegal corporate contribution intended to influence the election .
Kate Briquelet , a reporter for The Daily Beast , reported on how AMI counsel , Jean-Paul Jassy , fought back with a motion to strike McDougal ’ s suit . He contended that AMI had a First Amendment right not to publish her story and its editors “ who chose not to publish it cannot be punished for exercising that right ” ( para . 6 ). In rebuttal , Stris said “ As we have learned through brave truth-tellers like Ms . McDougal , the tabloid went to great lengths to silence her and others , and they are now attempting to silence her again with the absurd claim that their own free speech was violated ” ( Briguelet para . 7 ).
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