WSJ: Porn star paid off after Trump romp
One month before the 2016 election, President Trump’s personal lawyer reportedly arranged a payment of $130,000 in hush money to silence a porn star about her alleged 2006 sex encounter with Trump.
Michael Cohen, a longtime Trump Organization attorney, put together the payment in October to Stephanie Clifford — known in the adult film industry as Stormy Daniels — after a negotiation with her attorney, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
The newspaper reported Clifford had privately told of the encounter with Trump that allegedly took place at a July 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, a year after Trump had married his third wife, Melania.
The White House attacked the Journal’s report calling it “old, recycled” news from rumors circling prior to the election.
Cohen told the newspaper he and his “client” had denied the payoff allegations since 2011.
“This is now the second time that you are raising outlandish allegations against my client,” he said to the Journal. “You have attempted to perpetuate this false narrative for over a year; a narrative that has been consistently denied by all parties since at least 2011.”
Cohen also provided the newspaper a statement signed under Clifford’s stage name.
“I recently became aware that certain news outlets are alleging that I had a sexual and/or romantic affair with Donald Trump many, many, many years ago,” the statement said. “I am stating with complete clarity that this is absolutely false.”
It continued: “Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false.”
Efforts to reach Clifford and her agents were unsuccessful.
In November, reports circulated that Clifford had been in talks with ABC to discuss her encounter with Trump, but she did not. The Journal reported that the parent company of the National Enquirer paid a former Playboy centerfold $150,000 for her decade-old story about an affair with Trump, a story the tabloid did not run.
Trump was infamously caught on a hot “Access Hollywood” mic in unaired footage claiming in 2005 he could kiss and grope women due to his celebrity, and he was also dogged by numerous sexual misconduct allegations leading up to the election.
Clifford, whose website claimed she goes by “Stormy” even to friends and family, launched an exploratory committee to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana in 2010 at the urging of a group of fans. She registered as a Republican, but never launched a campaign.