Lawyer stopped story in 2011
The president’s personal attorney Michael Cohen interceded in 2011 to prevent porn star Stormy Daniels from airing her story about an alleged affair with Donald Trump, telling the agent who arranged for its publication that he could harm her career, according to a person involved in the discussions.
Randy Spears, the ex-husband of agent Gina Rodriguez, told The Washington Post he answered the phone when Cohen called Rodriguez after she arranged for Daniels to earn $15,000 by telling her story to a celebrity publication.
“You tell Gina that if she ever wants to work in this town again, she’ll call me immediately,” Spears said Cohen told him. He said Rodriguez, who declined to take Cohen’s call, contacted her lawyer instead.
Spears’ account offers the first look at the original effort by Trump’s lawyer to silence Daniels, who resurfaced again in 2016 as Trump ran for president. Cohen has acknowledged he arranged a $130,000 payment in October 2016, using money from his own home equity line of credit, to ensure her silence. Cohen did not respond to questions.
In recent weeks, Daniels’ nondisclosure agreement has brought tense legal negotiations as she prepares once again to tell her story — this time, to CBS’S “60 Minutes” in a segment with Anderson Cooper tentatively scheduled for March 25. Lawyers for a Cohen company involved in the Daniels payment are trying to enforce a provision that makes Daniels liable for a $1 million penalty each time she speaks publicly about a relationship with Trump. The lawyers claimed in a federal court filing Friday that the total penalty they seek is now up to $20 million.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, had first agreed to tell her story to Bauer Publications, publisher of celebrity tabloids, in 2011. She abruptly pulled out of the deal and the story was held. According to Spears, the deal included a 20 percent commission for Rodriguez, a $1,500 payment to him and, Spears believes, the same amount for Michael Mosny, who lived with Daniels.