The New York Times released a new report last night revealing that President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid Porn Star Stormy Daniels $130,000 of his own money to protect then candidate Trump from allegations of an affair. This comes after a Wall Street Journal report revealed that Trump had paid Daniels $130,000 as part of a non-disclosure agreement of an affair that happened in 2006 while President Trump was married to the First Lady, Melania Trump.
The original report that the Trump organization used campaign funds to pay Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, the hush money raised red flags amongst a government watchdog group. During the Federal Election Committee’s investigation into the transaction, Cohen told the FEC that the Trump Organization was unaware of the payment and that he himself paid the porn star. He offered similar sentiments to the New York Times.
“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Cohen told the New York Times. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.”
Cohen refused to answer any other relevant questions related to Stormy Daniels.
In previous statements, Cohen denied that Trump had an affair with the actress, but Cohen’s new statements seem to confirm the existence of said affair. At the same time, it also could be an attempt to protect Trump from investigations. Trump’s personal lawyers have been known to take the heat for something Trump has done.
Trump’s other personal lawyer, John Dowd, took the heat for a controversial tweet from Donald Trump’s account that read, “I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!”
This tweet received a lot of attention because at the time Flynn was fired, the White House supposedly did not know that Flynn had lied to the FBI. Flynn, months after being fired, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the transition into the White House.
