Trump campaign won’t enforce NDAs, attorneys say

Lawyers representing former President Trump’s 2016 campaign said that it will no longer enforce confidential or nondisparagement agreements, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.

“Specifically, the Campaign has unequivocally sworn in the enclosed declaration that it ‘shall not ever enforce or attempt to enforce any confidentiality or non-disparagement provisions contained in any written agreements signed by any employees, independent contractors, or volunteers who worked for the Campaign on the 2016 Presidential Election,’” lawyers for the campaign told a federal judge in New York in a letter dated Tuesday.

The lawyers also said that the campaign had contacted former volunteers and employees of the 2016 Trump campaign by mail to let them know that NDAs and confidentiality agreements were no longer applicable to them.

The campaign submitted documents providing proof that it had contacted people to make them aware of the development.

“We understand that you signed an NDA in connection with your working for the Campaign during the 2016 Presidential Election,” one letter signed by Make America Great Again PAC treasurer Bradley Crate said, according to the filing.

“We are writing to advise you that you are no longer bound by the confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions in your NDA. The Campaign has determined that it will not enforce these provisions.”

The development came in response to litigation from Jessica Denson, a former staffer for Trump’s campaign.

“In another resounding victory for my team, the Trump campaign is waiving the white flag in my years long battle for truth and accountability,” Denson said in a statement shared by one of the groups representing. 

“But we will not allow the Trump campaign to circumvent the legal steps necessary to ensure that these NDAs are wholly unenforceable by both the Campaign itself and the multitude of third parties it purports to empower, including the former president himself.”

Former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman prevailed against her own nondisclosure agreement last year, when an arbitrator ruled in her favor after she published a book titled “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House.” The campaign claimed it violated the confidentiality agreement she signed.

John Phillips, a lawyer who represented Manigault Newman during her successful bid against the NDA agreement, praised the development.

“After @OMAROSA publicly defeated the Trump Campaign and substantial attorneys fees were awarded and the Campaign’s NDA was held unenforceable, the Campaign has officially given up and is releasing everyone from the NDA. Kudos to AJ, Jessica and all who faught these NDAs,” Phillips wrote on Twitter. 

The Hill has reached out to a lawyer representing Trump’s campaign for comment.

Updated at 3:18 p.m.