NEW YORK _ President Donald Trump wants to fight a suit by adult film star Stormy Daniels in Los Angeles rather than in New York, his hometown and the location of lots of buildings with his name on them.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, sued Trump in April claiming the president defamed her when he said on Twitter that her claim of having been threatened in 2011 by a man in a Las Vegas parking lot was a "total con job." Daniels said in interviews that she was told to keep quiet about an alleged tryst with Trump. Daniels and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, released a composite sketch of the man in April.
Lawyers for Trump on Monday asked a federal judge in New York to transfer the case to Los Angeles, where Daniels is suing to get out of a 2016 agreement that barred her from talking about the alleged 2006 encounter with Trump. They claim Avenatti filed the defamation suit in New York only to avoid a judge's ruling to delay the L.A. suit while a criminal investigation of Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, goes forward.
Asked why Trump prefers litigating the case in Los Angeles, Avenatti said in an email: "I have no idea, maybe he likes the weather or his golf course better."
