Donald Trump had senior staff sign NDA's, which would extend beyond their time in the White House.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

In the early months of the administration, at the behest of now-President Trump, who was furious over leaks from within the White House, senior White House staff members were asked to, and did, sign nondisclosure agreements vowing not to reveal confidential information and exposing them to damages for any violation. Some balked at first but, pressed by then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and the White House Counsel’s Office, ultimately complied, concluding that the agreements would likely not be enforceable in any event.

The nondisclosure agreements, said a person who signed the document, “were meant to be very similar to the ones that some of us signed during the campaign and during the transition. I remember the president saying, ‘Has everybody signed a confidentiality agreement like they did during the campaign or we had at Trump Tower?’ ” 

At that time, in February or March of 2017, the source said, “There was lots of leaking, things that just weren’t true, and a lot of things that were true and should have remained confidential. The president’s point was that they [staff] would think twice about that if they were on the hook for some serious damages.” 

Moreover, said the source, this confidentiality pledge would extend not only after an aide’s White House service but also beyond the Trump presidency. “It’s not meant to be constrained by the four years or eight years he’s president — or the four months or eight months somebody works there. It is meant to survive that.” 

This is extraordinary. Every president inveighs against leakers and bemoans the kiss-and-tell books; no president, to my knowledge, has attempted to impose such a pledge. And while White House staffers have various confidentiality obligations — maintaining the secrecy of classified information or attorney-client privilege, for instance — the notion of imposing a side agreement, supposedly enforceable even after the president leaves office, is not only oppressive but constitutionally repugnant.

The draft of the NDA seen by the reporter for this story levied a fine of 10 million dollars for every unauthorized revelation about Trump or the Trump Administration.

That is beyond punitive, that his draconian.

It is also not enforceable, as explained by this professor of political science:

Even if the White House NDAs are unenforceable, they (a) still could have a chilling effect and (b) are inconsistent with the principles we expect the leader of a free society to uphold. https://t.co/AlHBqEmczY

— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) March 18, 2018

I am having a hard time getting over the fact that Trump is treating White House personnel in the same way that he treats an adult film actress with whom he had an extra marital affair.

After he does something criminal or despicable, they are just loose ends to be tied up by his attorneys.

Really makes you wonder exactly what Donald Trump is so concerned with people finding out about him, doesn't it?

Today's weather report sees Stormy skies ahead.

Courtesy of CNN:

A hearing date has been set for the lawsuit adult film actress Stormy Daniels filed against President Donald Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen's company to dissolve their non-disclosure agreement. 

The hearing has been set for July 12 at the Los Angeles County Superior Court. 

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, filed suit last week against the President. The lawsuit said Trump never signed a hush agreement to keep Daniels quiet late in the 2016 campaign about an alleged sexual encounter between the two before Trump was president.

The lawsuit said Cohen had signed it on Trump's behalf and therefore the agreement was void. Both Cohen and the White House have denied the allegations of an affair between Daniels and Trump.

The lawsuit also accuses Cohen of continuing the efforts to "intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and 'shut her up'" by initiating a "bogus" arbitration proceeding last month without notifying Daniels or allowing due process.

Tweet from Daniel's attorney:

The President and Mr. Cohen have purposely ignored our settlement offer, thus doubling down on their efforts to muzzle Ms. Clifford and prevent her from telling the American people what happened. Time to buckle up. #basta

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 13, 2018

So despite every effort by Trump's legal team this thing is definitely still moving forward.

They will of course attempt to put this hearing off, but then they have to be careful not to have it take place too close to the 2018 election cycle, or THAT will be at least one of the questions posed by reporters to GOP candidates.

Daniels has also started a fundraising campaign to help pay her legal fees.

So far it has raised more that $121,000, and that is only since yesterday.

What might be perhaps just as troubling for the Trump camp is that according to her lawyer multiple women have been inspired Daniels to consider filing their own lawsuits against Donald Trump.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed News: 

Multiple women are exploring potential legal cases against President Donald Trump, following the lead of an adult film actor who has filed a lawsuit in order to speak out about an affair she says she had with Trump in 2006, her attorney said Wednesday. 

Michael Avenatti, who represents Stephanie Clifford — better known by her professional name, Stormy Daniels — told BuzzFeed News that other women have reached out to him for representation in cases against Trump. Avenatti did not answer questions about the number of women or the nature of their allegations. 

When asked by BuzzFeed News if other women had approached him about potential legal cases, Avenatti replied, "confirmed."

An attorney for Buzzfeed also believes that he has found a way for Daniels to divulge everything she knows about Trump without defying the NDA.

Courtesy of Politico: 

BuzzFeed may have found a legal opening to allow the porn actress Stormy Daniels to discuss her alleged relationship with President Donald Trump and a $130,000 payment she received just before the 2016 election as part of a nondisclosure agreement she is now trying to void. 

The same Trump attorney who brokered the deal with Daniels, Michael Cohen, filed a libel suit in January against BuzzFeed and four of its staffers over publication of the so-called dossier compiling accurate, inaccurate and unproven allegations about Trump’s relationship with Russia. 

Now, BuzzFeed is using Cohen’s libel suit as a vehicle to demand that Daniels preserve all records relating to her relationship with Trump, as well as her dealings with Cohen and the payment he has acknowledged arranging in 2016. 

On Tuesday, BuzzFeed’s lawyer wrote to Daniels’ attorney asking that the adult film actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, preserve various categories of documents. Such preservation letters are often a prelude to a subpoena. If Daniels’ testimony is formally demanded in a deposition, the nondisclosure agreement would likely be no obstacle, legal experts said.

What's more this payoff by Michael Cohen is very much like the allegations in the Steele dossier, which identified him as the one "sweeping things under the carpet" for Donald Trump.

Like I said, Stormy skies ahead. 

The Stormy Daniels/Donald Trump legal agreement, may not in fact be legal, because it was never signed by a notary.

Courtesy of TPM: 

The Texas Secretary of State’s office is investigating the notary who stamped her approval on an adult film star’s non-disclosure agreement regarding an alleged fair with President Donald Trump, the Dallas Morning News reported Monday. 

By now, that agreement is well known: Porn actress Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, received $130,000 to stay mum about the alleged sexual relationship. Clifford has argued forcefully in recent weeks that she has the right to tell her story because Trump didn’t sign the document, and she’s launched a publicity tour reportedly to include a “60 Minutes” appearance. 

But the News reported Monday on yet another complication with the agreement: According to a letter from the Texas Secretary of State’s office obtained by the paper, Erica Jackson, the notary public whose stamp appears on the non-disclosure agreement, did not sign or date it. Jackson also failed provide a required notarial certificate confirming that the people signing the document were who they claimed to be, the letter said.

So Donald Trump never signed this document, and it was never legally notarized.

Well now, I'm no lawyer, but that sounds like somewhat of a problem. 

It's kind of like there is a race on to see whether Robert Mueller, or Stormy Daniels will be the first to take Trump down.

And yes, I think there is something that Daniels knows which might very well accomplish that very thing.

Trump lawyer complained that Trump did not repay him for using his own money to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

President Trump’s lawyer complained to friends following the 2016 election that he had not been reimbursed for his payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. 

Michael Cohen paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement that ensured she would not speak about an alleged 2006 affair with Trump. 

Cohen last month acknowledged that he made the payment, and denied it violated any campaign finance laws. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that Cohen was working to secure a deal with Clifford’s representatives in October 2016, but was unable to track down Trump. As a result, he used his own funds to wire money to Clifford’s lawyer. 

Cohen’s bank later flagged the wire transaction as suspicious and reported it to the Treasury Department, The Wall Street Journal reported.

I actually had to take a break before adding anything to this because I was laughing too hard.

What a moron.

And he should have known better, because this is exactly how Trump has treated contractors who he hired to work on his properties, and business associates that he has worked deals with over the years.

Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, who works for the Trump campaign has to sign a nondisclosure form..

This is one of the things that you are no allowed to disclose.

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

Corey Lewandowski is a CNN contributor even though he’s subject to a nondisclosure agreement legally prohibiting him from criticizing Trump, his family, or any of his businesses. Suffice it to say Trump’s former campaign manager has lived up to his end of the bargain — Lewandowski basically serves as a paid Trump campaign source during his CNN appearances. (Seriously what is the point of even having this guy on staff?)

On the other side of the spectrum, Trump recently filed a $10 million lawsuit against former senior campaign consultant Sam Nunberg for allegedly violating that same NDA. As ThinkProgress previously wrote, Trump accused Nunberg of “leaking information to the New York Post about a public fight and romantic affair between two other Trump campaign staffers in May.” 

Both Lewandowski and Nunberg were high-ranking Trump staffers, and it’s somewhat understandable Trump wants to prevent the sort of sensitive information they’re privy to from going public. But on Thursday, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that even online volunteers who merely want to phone bank for Trump must sign that same more than 2,200 word NDA, even though most of them will never meet Trump or his family. 

On some level I kind of understand this, I mean if I were Donald Trump I would NEVER want anybody to tell the truth about me.

But putting that aside the fact that even low level phone bank volunteers have to sign them, and that they forbid them from talking about Trump, the campaign, or his family FOREVER, speaks to a level of paranoia that should trouble anyone who supports Trump or who thinks he might someday become the President.

By the way, do you know who else makes EVERYBODY sign NDA's?

That's right, EVERYBODY.

I actually already knew that on some level, since some of my sources dropped off of the radar ostensibly for that reason, but after talking to Levi Johnston I found that she really gives Trump a run for the title of Prince (Or Princess) of Paranoia.

So for those of you who keep asking why people who know the truth about Palin are staying silent, I think that this might help you to better understand their position.