Stormy Daniels offers to return $130,000 to Trump’s lawyer

WASHINGTON – Stormy Daniels, the former porn star who says she had an affair with Donald Trump, offered Monday to give back a $130,000 payment to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

In return, she wants to walk away from an agreement she reached in October 2016 with Cohen to keep quiet about the alleged tryst.

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, gave Cohen until noon Tuesday to respond and said she would wire the money by Friday “to an account designated by the president,” according to a letter Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti sent to Cohen and his lawyer, Lawrence Rosen. The New York Times first reported Daniels’ offer.

Daniels wants assurances that Trump’s team will not take any action to keep a 60 Minutes interview she taped recently from airing publicly.

Cohen and Rosen did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.

The demand is the latest development in a week of maneuvers from Daniels’ team as she seeks to abandon what she calls a “hush” agreement with Cohen and tell her story publicly.

Cohen won a temporary restraining order against Daniels in a secret arbitration proceeding late last month.

Daniels responded by filing a lawsuit last week, arguing that the agreement Oct. 28, 2016, with Cohen was invalid because it was never signed by Trump.

The salacious details of the alleged affair and sparring among Cohen, Daniels and her lawyer have thrust the matter into the spotlight as the White House juggles challenges, including proposals to curb gun violence and planning for a meeting in May with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Stormy Daniels