Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

2016 Trump Campaign to Pay $450,000 to Settle Nondisclosure Agreements Suit

The settlement with a former campaign aide who says she was the target of sexual discrimination effectively invalidates agreements hundreds of 2016 Trump campaign officials signed.

Donald J. Trump in front of a large American flag backdrop, holding out his arms at a podium.
Donald J. Trump has made broad use of nondisclosure agreements throughout his business and political careers.Credit...Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Former President Donald J. Trump’s 2016 campaign will pay $450,000 as part of a settlement of a long court fight over its use of nondisclosure agreements, according to documents filed on Friday in a New York federal court.

The proposed settlement with Jessica Denson, a former campaign aide whom the campaign tried to silence as she claimed she was the target of abusive treatment and sexual discrimination by another campaign member, effectively invalidates the nondisclosure agreements that hundreds of officials from Mr. Trump’s first presidential run signed.

Ms. Denson is set to receive $25,000, the filings show, and the rest will cover legal fees and other costs. The judge in the case, who has not yet approved the settlement, pushed back on efforts by the campaign to keep the paperwork sealed. The details were reported earlier by Bloomberg News.

“We think that this N.D.A. was entirely unreasonable from the beginning,” said David K. Bowles, one of the lawyers for Ms. Denson, who initially represented herself in the case. “No attorney should have ever drafted it, and no campaign worker should have ever been compelled to sign it. We think the unwinding of the N.D.A. is a triumph for free speech, for democracy and for Jessica Denson, in particular, and we are very proud of our accomplishment tonight.”

A representative for Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Mr. Trump has made broad use of nondisclosure agreements throughout his business career and, later, his political career. The agreements have generally sought to keep people from disclosing information about Mr. Trump, but he has also used them as a cudgel against a wide variety of aides. In Ms. Denson’s case, her lawyers argued the agreement was overly broad, among other flaws.

Ms. Denson had been trying to make the suit a certified class action shortly before the matter was settled. She has a separate case pending related to her claim that she was sexually discriminated against by a superior on the campaign.

Maggie Haberman is a senior political correspondent and the author of “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.” She was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on President Trump’s advisers and their connections to Russia. More about Maggie Haberman

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 15 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Settles With Ex-Aide Over the Use Of N.D.A.s. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT