The Wall street Journal :
At the height of the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer reportedly arranged a payment of $130,000 to a former porn star, so she’d stay silent about an alleged affair she’d had with Trump.
That’s according to a new story by the Wall Street Journal’s Michael Rothfeld and Joe Palazzolo, published Friday. They write that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen arranged the payment to Stephanie Clifford, who went by the stage name “Stormy Daniels,” so she wouldn’t appear on national television to discuss her history with Trump in October 2016.
In a statement to the Journal, Cohen said, “President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Ms. Daniels” [sic]. However, he did not deny arranging the payment.
Cohen also sent the Journal a statement signed by “Stormy Daniels” denying
an affair with Trump, and claiming that “rumors” that she received “hush money” from Trump “are completely false.”
However, the Journal reporters appear to have obtained specifics about the payment. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” they write that the payment was sent to Daniels through her lawyer Keith Davidson, and that money was sent to Davidson’s “client-trust account at City National Bank in Los Angeles.”
Though a report like this would be a massive scandal for any ordinary politician – and though the alleged affair occurred after Trump’s marriage to his third wife, Melania – it’s unclear if it will have much of an impact on Trump politically.
The thrice-married mogul has never exactly presented himself as squeaky-clean on sexual matters – indeed, his history of infidelity has been well-known for decades. And his core supporters have proven willing to ignore myriad admitted or alleged scandalous conduct from him so far.
At the height of the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer reportedly arranged a payment of $130,000 to a former porn star, so she’d stay silent about an alleged affair she’d had with Trump.
That’s according to a new story by the Wall Street Journal’s Michael Rothfeld and Joe Palazzolo, published Friday. They write that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen arranged the payment to Stephanie Clifford, who went by the stage name “Stormy Daniels,” so she wouldn’t appear on national television to discuss her history with Trump in October 2016.
In a statement to the Journal, Cohen said, “President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Ms. Daniels” [sic]. However, he did not deny arranging the payment.
Cohen also sent the Journal a statement signed by “Stormy Daniels” denying
an affair with Trump, and claiming that “rumors” that she received “hush money” from Trump “are completely false.”
However, the Journal reporters appear to have obtained specifics about the payment. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” they write that the payment was sent to Daniels through her lawyer Keith Davidson, and that money was sent to Davidson’s “client-trust account at City National Bank in Los Angeles.”
Though a report like this would be a massive scandal for any ordinary politician – and though the alleged affair occurred after Trump’s marriage to his third wife, Melania – it’s unclear if it will have much of an impact on Trump politically.
The thrice-married mogul has never exactly presented himself as squeaky-clean on sexual matters – indeed, his history of infidelity has been well-known for decades. And his core supporters have proven willing to ignore myriad admitted or alleged scandalous conduct from him so far.
