Trump Threatened to Sue Over Porn Star's Interview

That's why 'In Touch' held its 2011 interview with Stormy Daniels, ex-employees say
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 20, 2018 9:35 AM CST
Tabloid Held Porn Star's 2011 Interview After Trump Threat
This photo taken July 3, 2009 shows adult-film star Stormy Daniels at Rooster's Country Bar in Delhi, La.   (Arely D. Castillo/The News-Star via AP)

In Touch held back from publishing Stormy Daniels' 2011 account of an alleged affair with Donald Trump after the future president's personal lawyer threatened to sue, four former employees of the tabloid's publisher told the AP. In Touch magazine published its interview with the adult film star on Friday—more than six years after Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, sent an email to In Touch's general counsel saying Trump would aggressively pursue legal action if the story was printed, according to emails described to the AP by the former employees. Daniels signed a source contract with the magazine, which said a friend and Daniels' ex-husband corroborated her account of a 2006 tryst. She also passed a lie detector test, the magazine said.

In the interview, Daniels claims she and Trump had a sexual encounter after meeting at a golf tournament in Nevada, a year after Trump's marriage to Melania. It wasn't immediately clear why In Touch didn't publish its interview during the 2016 presidential campaign despite reminders from former employees that the transcript was still available in the company's networks, two former employees said. A spokesperson for the magazine claimed it only learned of its earlier interview after a report in the Wall Street Journal last week. She wouldn't comment on the magazine's decision not to publish in 2011. Despite Daniels' first-person details on Trump, former employees said the decision not to run the story in 2011 was a justifiable business decision because at the time because Trump didn't have the same star appeal as more famous celebrities.

(More Donald Trump stories.)

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