Business

Trump NDAs Scrapped: Hundreds Of 2016 Campaign Staffers Can Now Publicly Criticize Him As Court Finalizes Settlement

October 14, 2023

Topline

Staffers on former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign are now totally free from non-disclosure agreements they signed barring them from taking legal action or publicly disparaging Trump, as a federal judge formalized a settlement agreement Wednesday over a lawsuit claiming the agreements were overly restrictive.

Then-candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Prescott Valley Event Center, on … [+] October 4, 2016 in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

The settlement voids non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements included in employment contracts for Trump 2016 staffers, barring the Trump campaign and any third parties from taking any action to enforce the agreements.

The settlement—which also involved the Trump campaign paying $450,000 to resolve the claims—was initially reached in January and preliminarily approved in June, but Wednesday’s order finalizes the agreement, and gives ex-staffers more legal protections after the campaign informed them last year they were no longer bound by the agreements.

According to the lawsuit, which was brought by Jessica Denson, the campaign’s onetime Hispanic outreach director, the NDAs prohibited employees from disclosing any “confidential information” about the campaign or using it to disparage Trump, his family or business, not only during their employment but “at all times thereafter.”

The non-disparagement agreement stated employees could not “demean or disparage publicly” Trump, his company or family during their work for the campaign and “at all times thereafter.”

Confidential information was described in the NDA as including “any information with respect to the personal life, political affairs, and/or business affairs of Mr. Trump or of any Family Member,” which Denson argued was overbroad and vague, and the agreement did not contain any exceptions for employees to bring legal action for alleged workplace misconduct.

The Trump 2024 campaign has not yet responded to a request for comment—but previously argued the case was moot because they’d already freed staffers from the agreements—while Denson said in a statement Wednesday the settlement is “a massive victory for free speech, in the face of a wannabe authoritarian who threatens American democracy to this day.”

Big Number

At least 422. That’s the number of 2016 campaign staffers who are affected by the settlement, according to the filing.

What To Watch For

The finalized settlement could open Trump up to more legal liability, given that staffers can now make allegations of workplace misconduct or wrongdoing without fear of violating their NDA. “Anything and everything” workers could sue over “will of necessity contain some information that a Trump Person could find disparaging or a disclosure of confidential information,” attorneys argued in a previous court filing in the case, saying the NDAs “effectively strip employees, contractors, and volunteers of their ability to pursue any of their rights to redress workplace misconduct.”

What We Don’t Know

How the settlement—and ability for hundreds of staffers to openly criticize Trump—could affect the former president both in his legal troubles and 2024 campaign. None of the criminal indictments against Trump concern his 2016 campaign directly, other than charges against him in Manhattan over alleged “hush-money” payments made during the campaign, though the order could possibly embolden staffers from his 2020 operation to speak out against him in cases involving that election. Any public criticism that arises as a result of the settlement could also hamper the ex-president as he runs for reelection in the 2024 race. Denson’s attorneys told the Washington Post in 2020 they hoped at that time the case would be resolved by the 2020 election in order to allow people to speak out against Trump, and the plaintiff told Politico in 2021 she believed the NDAs—and other ones Trump has instituted—have silenced criticism against him and public debate. “NDAs like this are part of the reason why we ended up with a Donald Trump candidacy and presidency in the first place,” Denson said.

Key Background

Denson first sued the Trump campaign in 2018, initially winning in court and getting herself out of her NDA before bringing a broader class action suit in 2019 asking for all affected staffers to be released from the agreements. Trump has widely used NDAs to quell criticism against him, the Post notes, getting his ex-wives, business associates and contestants on the Apprentice, among others, to sign agreements. The agreements have resulted in other high-profile legal battles, such as when adult film star Stormy Daniels, who alleges having an affair with Trump, sued to invalidate an NDA against her in court. Trump said he wouldn’t enforce the agreement and ultimately had to pay her $44,000 in legal fees. Trump also unsuccessfully sued former aide Omarosa Manigault for violating her NDA by writing a tell-all book, which resulted in him having to pay her $1.3 million in legal fees, and took legal action against former campaign aide Sam Nunberg for allegedly violating his NDA. Those claims were later “amicably resolved,” Nunberg’s attorney said.