RNC official who agreed to pay Playboy model $1.6M resigns
Deal was uncovered amid inquiry into Trump’s attorney
A major donor with close ties to the White House resigned Friday as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee after the revelation that he had agreed to pay $1.6 million to a former Playboy model who became pregnant during an affair.
The deal was arranged in the final months of 2017 by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen.
Under the terms of the deal, the Republican donor, Elliott Broidy, would pay the woman in installments over the course of two years, and she would agree to stay silent about their relationship, two people with knowledge of the arrangement told the New York Times. The deal was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The agreement with Broidy is the latest instance to come to light of Cohen’s involvement in efforts to suppress negative information. On Monday, as part of a wide-ranging federal inquiry into Cohen’s activities, the FBI raided the lawyer’s Manhattan office and hotel room. The FBI was seeking, among other things, business records, emails and documents relating to Cohen’s role in paid confidentiality agreements during the presidential campaign with two other women, who said they had had sexual relationships with Trump.
One of the women, a former Playboy model named Karen McDougal, sold the rights to her story for $150,000 to American Media Inc., the publisher of The National Enquirer. The other woman, Stephanie Clifford, a pornographic film actress known as Stormy Daniels, received a payment of $130,000 that Cohen said came out of his own pocket.
Both women were represented by Keith M. Davidson. Davidson also represented the woman in the agreement Cohen struck on behalf of Broidy, further establishing a pattern of collaboration between the lawyers in striking for-pay accommodations to silence women’s allegations of misbehavior by powerful men.
The deal involving Broidy was not known to be a subject of the federal investigation. It is unclear whether the FBI has scrutinized Davidson, who is no longer representing the former Playboy model. Her new lawyer is Peter K. Stris, who also now represents McDougal.
In his statement, Broidy apologized to his wife and family while acknowledging that he had had an affair with the woman, who has not been identified. He said that “she alone decided that she did not want to continue with the pregnancy, and I offered to help her financially during this difficult period.”
A spokesman for Davidson said he could not confirm or deny the details of the agreement. In a statement, Davidson said, “I’ve always acted in my client’s best interest, and appropriately in all matters.”