It’s hard to keep track of all the women who have current lawsuits against the president. Summer Zervos, Karen McDougal, Stormy Daniels — and now we can add Jessica Denson to the list.
On March 26th Denson became the fourth woman to sue Trump during his presidency, and the third to try to void a nondisclosure agreement (NDA).
With all of these lawsuits it’s surprising Trump has time to send out his many tweets which are firing cabinet members, criticizing Congress, destroying trade agreements and tanking the stock market.
Denson is a journalist and actress who worked for the Trump campaign and was forced to sign the NDA which is also known as a confidentiality agreement.
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Denson’s legal filings state that she is asking the court to nullify the agreement she signed with the campaign because it “violates public policy” and is too “vague and overly broad.”
In another accusation she said that the president and his campaign “weaponized the NDA by using it as a club to thwart and chill” her charges that she was illegally discriminated against.
Denson provided to the judge a copy of the specific campaign confidentiality agreement that she had signed.
Under the terms of this agreement, which appears to be standard for all campaign workers, she was and still is prohibited from disclosing any “confidential information about Trump, his children and their spouses, his grandchildren and his company.”
Denson also said in court documents that she was “consistently disparaged and sexually and verbally harassed” by her direct supervisor while working for Trump’s presidential campaign. She first worked as a phone bank administrator and later was moved to a position as the campaign coordinator for Hispanic outreach.
Denson initially brought a lawsuit against Trump’s campaign in New York state court in November. In that filing she claimed that she had been suffering great “emotional distress” caused by “pervasive slander, aggravated harassment, attempted theft, cyberbullying and sexual discrimination and harassment.”
The New York Daily News reported that Denson, 33, had filed a police report in early December 2016 at the New York Police 18th precinct in Manhattan. In that report she accused her male supervisor in Trump Tower of harassing her and attempting to hack into her Twitter account without her permission. Denson had provided hard evidence of her claims, including screenshots of attempts by her supervisor to change her Twitter account password so he could enter it.
In her March lawsuit, Denson argues that her previous lawsuit did not set forth any “allegations whatsoever pertaining to the personal life or business affairs of Donald Trump or any of his family members or businesses.” She also maintains that she has the right to sue for discrimination and Trump’s attempt to silence her by weaponizing the NDA agreement is wrong because not only did she not violate the agreement, but it is not valid or enforceable. Denson is asking for $25 million in damages.
Denson’s new lawsuit is the third one filed this year attempting to void a Trump NDA. Porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal both have also sued Trump to void NDAs which Trump used in his attempt to force them to remain quiet and not talk about their sexual relationships with the president.
We’ve always thought there could be more Trump NDAs out there that were signed by women who Trump had affairs with or who he had harassed in some way. And now we’re finding that this is true.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
