(NewsNation) — The lawyer for Stormy Daniels says his client is taking neither glory nor pleasure from the indictment of former President Donald Trump, but rather is satisfied that “truth is being aired” in a forum where evidence has been presented and accepted.
“It’s more of the success of the facts being presented to seemingly, or hopefully, independent jurors that gave their time … to sit through the evidence and make a decision and have reached a point that they’ve made a decision that he has committed a crime,” Clark Brewster said Friday on “CUOMO.”
Trump was indicted Thursday by a Manhattan grand jury that has been investigating an alleged hush money scheme involving Daniels, an adult film star, who claims she had an affair with Trump. Trump has repeatedly denied that claim.
The investigation dates back to 2016, when Trump allegedly directed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to pay off Daniels. Cohen previously pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection to the payment after giving Daniels $130,000 through a shell company that he set up.
Trump acknowledged that he paid Cohen a “monthly retainer” as part of an agreement to “stop the false and extortionist accusations” by Daniels, but denied that it had anything to do with campaign funding.
In an exchange with NewsNation host Chris Cuomo on Friday, Brewster asserted that Daniels was aware of criminal activity at the time, pointing to pressure being placed on her even after a non-disclosure agreement was breached.
“With regard to all the elements of the payoff, the fact that after the (non-disclosure agreement) was executed, great pressure was being placed on her. There was a leak from Cohen to many others that confronted her about it,” Brewster said. “They breached the agreement first, they put pressure … not to speak in spite of that breach.”
In a statement, Trump’s lawyers said no crime was committed and they will “vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.”
Although Daniels did not testify before the grand jury, Brewster said his client will be ready and willing if she is called as a witness during the trial.
“She’s always been willing to be cooperative with law enforcement; that’s always been the case. We’ve made that very clear from the outset,” Brewster said. “I think that this case could be tried without her being a witness in front of the (trial) jury, though.”