Trump Suing Again, This time is ($10 Mil) Fmer Top Aide
With the revelation on Wednesday of a legal dispute between Donald Trump and a former political aide, the unconventional campaign’s dirty laundry is once again spilling into public view, providing a new glimpse into an operation riven by conflicts unrelated to the task of beating Hillary Clinton.
This time, Trump’s decision to privately seek $10 million in damages from former campaign aide Sam Nunberg in May for an alleged breach of a nondisclosure agreement has triggered a public allegation that his former campaign manager and current press secretary engaged in a “sordid and illicit affair.” Trump’s arbitration claim and the allegation of an affair between Corey Lewandowski and Hope Hicks became public in a filing made by Sam Nunberg this week in New York state court, where he is suing to block private arbitration of Trump’s claim.
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Hicks, Lewandowski and Nunberg did not respond to requests for comment, but Trump counsel Alan Garten said in a statement that Nunberg was “simply looking for free publicity using categorically false claims."
"As is standard practice for all major businesses, organizations and other entities dealing with proprietary information, Mr. Trump requires employees to sign and adhere to strict confidentiality agreements" Garten said. "When the agreements are not adhered to he will enforce them to the full extent of the law, and Mr. Trump’s litigation track record on such matters is outstanding."
The nasty dispute between Trump and his former aide – first reported on Wednesday by The Associated Press -- is just the latest in a long line of legal battles and internecine struggles that have distracted the campaign, this time on the eve of the Republican National Convention. Trump and his lawyers on Wednesday were also fighting in a courtroom in San Diego to prevent the public release of testy deposition videos Trump gave as part of a class-action suit against his Trump University real estate seminar.
Trump’s lawyer in that case argued on Wednesday that such videos, if released, would be used as a weapon in political ads and for reasons unrelated to the court case. "We have this convention in Cleveland next week. There's all kinds of potential for mischief," Daniel Petrocelli said.
Unsubstantiated rumors of an affair between Hicks and Lewandowski, who is married, have swirled in political circles since last summer, and were hinted at in May in a suggestive New York Post gossip item about a public shouting match between the two staffers on a sidewalk in Manhattan. But as a result of Trump’s decision to pursue arbitration, the allegation is now being aired explicitly.
“This is a typical Trump intimidation tactic that backfired on him,” said a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing the parties involved. The person said they believe Nunberg, who is also a lawyer, possesses additional information about Trump world that he has so far avoided disclosing in order “to leave room for negotiation to dispose of this matter in amicable fashion.”
Trump’s May complaint against Nunberg claims that the former aide made disparaging comments about his old boss and disclosed confidential information, in violation of the confidentiality agreement.
The complaint cites the New York Post item, as well as a subsequent POLITICO article that reports on Nurnberg’s role in placing the item. The complaint alleges that the campaign learned of Nunberg’s intention to provide information for an unspecified article that was then forthcoming from POLITICO about Trump’s aides.
Trump’s complaint also claims that Nunberg admitted to a Trump representative that he provided confidential information to the New York Times and the Daily Caller.
In his filing, Nunberg cites several reason for blocking private arbitration in favor of court proceedings.
Trump is seeking private arbitration based on a clause in a strict January 2015 confidentiality agreement, but Nunberg argues that that clause was superseded by an April 2015 consulting agreement he signed with Trump that calls for disputes to be settled in state or federal court.
Nunberg, while denying that he provided information to the New York Post, also argues that he could not have provided confidential information about an incident that took place in public months after he left the campaign.
The former aide’s court filing also contends that Bloomberg reporter Michael Bender witnessed the incident. Two people with knowledge of the incident also told POLITICO that Bender witnessed it, though he did not subsequently report on it. Bender referred questions to a Bloomberg spokesman who declined to comment.
Nunberg argues that his comments about Trump in endorsing Ted Cruz were not disparaging and were constitutionally protected speech. His filing cites a March POLITICO article in which Nunberg comes out in support of Cruz and says that Trump lacks a “coherent political ideology.”
And the person with knowledge of the situation said, “Trump is annoyed that Sam didn’t come back begging for his job, because as soon as he was gone, [Cruz campaign manager] Jeff Roe picked him up and took him to the Cruz campaign, and Sam loved it there.”
Nunberg also argues that Trump brought his complaint through an entity called “Trump 2012 PCA,” which the former aide argues no longer exists.
Alan Garten, general counsel of the Trump Organization, did not respond to an email seeking responses to Nunberg’s arguments.
Nunberg is being represented by Andrew Miltenberg of the New York City law firm Nesenoff Miltenberg Goddard Laskowitz, LLP.
In a sign of the acrimony that characterizes Trump’s orbit, news that Trump was seeking $10 million in damages from a former adviser rattled another ex-aide to the New York billionaire. “When I saw the headline, I thought it might be,” the former adviser remarked to POLITICO
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