Trump's lawyer: "I paid $ 130,000 to pornstar Stormy Daniels out of my own pocket"
The actress claims she had an affair with the president in 2006. The payment would have come shortly before the start of the presidential election campaign
In recent weeks the White House had categorically denied that US President Donald Trump had had any sexual encounter with pornstar Stormy Daniels. But now Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has confirmed that he paid the American actress $ 130,000 out of his own pocket.
In a note sent to the New York Times, the lawyer said that "neither the Trump Organization nor the campaign for Trump had a role in the transaction with Ms. Clifford (the real name of the porn star Stormy Daniels, ed) and neither. reimbursed my payment, neither directly nor indirectly ». Cohen did not explain the reasons for the payment, but added that "the payment was legal and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expense by anyone."
It was the same porn star, however, who revealed in the past to another American newspaper, Slate, that she had agreed to pay the president's personal lawyer $ 130,000 "to keep silent" about their meeting in 2006. The negotiations, according to Clifford, had begun shortly before Donald Trump's election campaign.
Trump was a mere citizen when he met Stormy Daniels. The meeting would take place four months after the president's wife, Melania, gave birth to their son Bannon. Attorney Cohen told the New York Times that the transaction was a private matter and that he also supported this argument before the Federal Election Commission in response to a Common Cause complaint that had seen in the payment to the porn star a contribution to the campaign. election campaign.
Stormy Daniel is not the only woman to have received such payments. Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, said she had an affair with the president and sold her story about her to the company that owns the National Enquirer, but according to The Journal in 2016, it was never disclosed. Hope Hicks, now the White House communications director, said the McDougal affair was a hoax and that the Trump campaign had "no knowledge" of any payments to Ms. McDougal.
