The ruling looked like a temporary setback for Daniels’s case, but it also opens Trump’s legal team to exposure. The judge's denial came a little more than a day after Michael J. Avenatti, an attorney for Daniels, filed the motion seeking to depose Trump and Cohen in the case. Cohen has said he paid Daniels the $130,000 out of his own funds, while the White House has denied that Trump had an affair with Daniels. David Schwartz, an attorney for Cohen, argued Thursday that the lawyer “never told” Trump about the agreement. “The parties are advised that the instant litigation is not the most important matter on the court's docket,” Otero wrote in a footnote attached to the four-page order.

Source: Washington Post March 29, 2018 17:45 UTC