Times Colonist

60 Minutes plans Stormy interview

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NEW YORK — The head of CBS News said Tuesday that a 60 Minutes interview with adult film star Stormy Daniels is on its way but that more work needs to be done on the story.

News president David Rhodes’ statement at a conference in Israel Tuesday was the first time CBS publicly confirmed it had interviewe­d Daniels, who has alleged an extramarit­al affair with Donald Trump before he became president. Trump has denied this. Michael Avenatti, lawyer for the actor, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, last week tweeted a picture of himself, Clifford and CBS interviewe­r Anderson Cooper.

No air date has been set for the interview.

Rhodes, in remarks reported by Variety, said he could not imagine what the basis would be for any legal action by Trump’s team to prevent the interview from airing. BuzzFeed had reported that Trump’s lawyers were considerin­g seeking an injunction to stop it.

“I haven’t seen such an injunction, and I can’t imagine what the basis for that would be,” Rhodes said. “The encounter between Anderson Cooper and [Clifford] was accompanie­d also by conversati­ons with attorneys, documents were provided, and so we have to run all that down before it runs.”

Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, has not immediatel­y returned messages for comment.

The actor has sought to invalidate a nondisclos­ure agreement under which she was paid $130,000 not to give details of her encounters with Trump. Clifford said Monday that she has offered to repay the money as long as she can speak openly about the situation.

Clifford filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles last week that sought to invalidate the agreement so she could “set the record straight.”

The lawsuit claimed the “hush agreement” that was signed days before the 2016 presidenti­al election is legally invalid because it was signed only by Clifford and Cohen and not by Trump.

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