LOS ANGELES (CN) – Adult film star Stormy Daniels’ former attorney fired back after she claimed earlier this week that he was a “puppet” for Donald Trump’s personal attorney, saying in a countersuit that her current attorney posted false and defamatory statements about him on Twitter.
And in a separate cross-complaint also filed Thursday, Keith Davidson accuses Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen of recording their phone conversations without permission.
Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, sued Davidson, her former attorney, in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, claiming he colluded with Cohen to discredit her story of an alleged affair with Trump in 2006 in Lake Tahoe.
The adult film star says Cohen paid her $130,000 days before the 2016 presidential election to buy her silence under a non-disclosure agreement.
In court filings, Daniels’ current attorney Michael Avenatti has referred to Cohen as Trump’s personal “fixer.”
Daniels claims that on Jan. 17, 2018, Davidson and Cohen exchanged text messages to hash out a plan to get her to appear on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show to deny an In Touch magazine article that detailed her alleged affair with Trump. Trump has consistently denied the affair.
Daniels’ lawsuit alleges Cohen pleaded with Davidson says in a series of text messages to get her to appear on the show.
In an answer to her complaint, Davidson says Daniels contacted him “seemingly hundreds of times” to request that he reach out to Cohen and get his permission for various financial opportunities that would not violate the non-disclosure agreement.
Davidson says Daniels’ lawsuit paints Cohen as “panicked and “desperate” to get her to appear on Hannity’s show to “lie to the American public about her relationship with Mr. Trump via the Fox News broadcast.”
But the porn star’s former attorney claims she actually wanted to “increase her public exposure” and her earning capacity.
In a separate counterclaim filed Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, Davidson goes after Avenatti, claiming Daniels’ current attorney made “countless reckless and false statements” about him. Avenatti is named as a defendant in the countersuit.
Davidson says Avenatti has used his Twitter account to publish false statements that have a “natural tendency to injure” and that the statements were made with actual malice, knowing they were false.
One tweet in question was posted by Avenatti on Wednesday.
“Keith Davison should have been charged after his arrest for extortion not long ago…Watch him now try and distract away from his own unethical conduct. Ms. Daniels deserved better,” wrote Avenatti, who linked to a Daily Beast article that detailed Davidson’s relationship with Cohen.
Davidson asserts in his countersuit that he has never been arrested for extortion and the defamatory statements damage his “personal, business and professional reputations.”
The June 6 tweet and other statements from Avenatti imply that Davidson is a “violent threat to others, threatened physical violence against other persons, committed misconduct, violated company policies” and that his firing as Daniels’ attorney was justified, according to the countersuit.
Davidson goes on to say the attacks will likely continue from Avenatti, who has earned a reputation as a media mainstay on cable news programs.
In a third filing Thursday, a cross-complaint, Davidson also accuses Cohen of invasion of privacy and says he believes Cohen recorded several phone calls between the two men, in an alleged violation of California law.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood in New York warned Avenatti that his attacks against Cohen could interfere in Cohen’s right to a fair trial in a criminal investigation stemming from a raid on his home, office and hotel room in April. Avenatti has published what he says are bank records from Cohen’s business dealings that show criminal activity.
In addition to Davidson’s three filings on Thursday, which he brought pro se, he has also moved for Daniels’ lawsuit to be removed from state to federal court. He seeks attorney fees and costs as well as the dismissal of her complaint.
On Friday morning, Avenatti took to Twitter to ask why Davidson has refused to turn over files and text messages between him and Cohen that relate to Daniels.
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