WSJ: Trump Lawyer Paid Porn Star $130K for Her Silence

Claims it was in connection with an alleged consensual sexual encounter in 2006
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 13, 2018 6:11 AM CST
WSJ : Trump Lawyer Paid Porn Star $130K for Her Silence
In this Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with lawmakers on immigration policy in the Cabinet Room of the White House.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a $130,000 payment was made to a porn star by a lawyer for President Trump in order to ensure her silence in advance of the election. What the Journal claims the silence was in connection with: an alleged consensual sexual encounter Trump had with Stephanie Clifford, who goes by Stormy Daniels in films, in July 2006. Trump wed Melania in 2005. The Journal alleges the payment was made by Michael Cohen in October 2016 upon Clifford's signing of a nondisclosure agreement. A then-27-year-old Clifford and Trump met at a celeb golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, and the Journal points out that it previously reported via sources that Clifford had been considering an appearance on Good Morning America around the time the payment was allegedly made.

Backing up the allegations: Jacob Weisberg, editor-in-chief of the Slate Group, tells the New York Times he interviewed Clifford in August and October 2016 and was told of the affair and the agreed-upon $130,000 payment. He said she was considering going public because she had yet to receive the payment and feared it wasn't coming. He supplied texts of their conversations as well as a purported draft agreement that used pseudonyms. "President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Ms. Daniels," Cohen said in a statement, which swung at the Journal for "raising outlandish allegations against my client ... [for] the second time." Cohen also supplied a statement that read in part, "Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false"; it was signed by Stormy Daniels. Read the Journal's full story, which includes its attempt to trace the alleged payment, here. (More President Trump stories.)

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