Trump lawyer says he paid Stormy Daniels out of own pocket
Michael Cohen says he paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to the porn star; chief national correspondent Ed Henry reports from Washington.
Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who was paid $130,000 by an attorney for President Trump, is apparently ready to bare all about an alleged tryst with the president after her manager suggested she was released from a non-disclosure agreement.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, made the announcement via her manager after Trump lawyer Michael Cohen admitted to making the payment. Cohen said the payment was lawful and not a campaign contribution or campaign expenditure “by anyone.”
“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” the statement read.
According to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the payment in January, Clifford began talking with ABC News in the fall of 2016 for a story involving an alleged relationship with Trump, but reached a $130,000 deal a month before the election, which prevented her from going public.
But now Daniels believes that Cohen’s statement, along with another from Cohen that Daniels is pushing a book proposal, violated a non-disclosure agreement.
Stormy Daniels plays coy with Jimmy Kimmel
Porn star Stormy Daniels’ coy interview with Jimmy Kimmel is raising more questions than answers regarding her alleged affair with Donald Trump in 2006.
“Everything is off now, and Stormy is going to tell her story,” manager Gina Rodriguez said.
The claim centers around an alleged meeting between the two at a celebrity golfing tournament in Nevada in 2006. Daniels has claimed that they had sex there and then carried on a yearslong platonic relationship.
Cohen has said Trump vehemently denies the affair. A recent statement attributed to Daniels also denied the encounter, though she later seemed to challenge whether the statement originated from her.
The actress first detailed her account of an alleged extramarital affair with Trump in 2011 in the celebrity website The Dirty, and it was picked up before the 2016 election by The Smoking Gun.
In Touch Weekly published a 2011 interview last month in which the actress — whom the magazine said passed a polygraph exam — said the two had sex on one occasion and described subsequent in-person meetings, phone calls and discussions about a possible TV appearance.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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