News of the legal dispute comes on the eve of the Republican convention, and is once again airing out the campaign’s dirty laundry in the public’s view.
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Sam Nunberg, a former campaign consultant, was accused by Trump of leaking information about a shouting match between two top campaign officials to the New York Post.
Lewandowski advocated the suit as a way to make sure his relationship with Hicks ― which Nunberg’s filing calls a “sordid and apparently illicit affair” ― didn’t become public, the adviser said. The ex-Trump staffer says he made no disparaging comments toward Trump and that he had every right to endorse Cruz under the First Amendment.
Nunberg’s lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg, told reporters the dispute is important to voters because it raises questions about how Trump runs his campaign.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Eileen Bransten said she would hear full arguments in August whether Trump’s secretly filed $10 million claim against a former political aide should be considered in state court or by the American Arbitration Association, where proceedings are private.
Nunberg denied being the source of the article, but in court papers referred to the quarrel as being part of an “apparent affair”. After all, the source said that “Trump never backs down”.
As is standard practice for all major businesses, organizations and other entities dealing with proprietary information, Mr. Trump requires employees to sign and adhere to strict confidentiality agreements. Recently, the Associated Press reported that Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, was prohibited by a confidentiality agreement from revealing private or negative information about Trump in his role as a news analyst on CNN, leading to questions about what value he could provide viewers beyond pro-Trump talking points. Once it was filed, Trump had no intention of dropping the suit, even after Lewandowski was sacked.
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Or let’s say you improperly took corporate funds and put them into your campaign, and the person you want to sue knew about it. That might also be a good reason to hold off bringing a legal case against him until after the election. Trump is known for his use of restrictive non-disclosure agreements and secret arbitration proceedings to keep details about his campaign, business, and personal life extremely close to the chest.
