A month before the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, reportedly arranged a $130,000 payment to silence adult film star Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels. According to people familiar with the matter, Clifford’s attorney negotiated the nondisclosure agreement with Cohen after Trump allegedly cheated on his wife, Melania Trump, with the porn star in 2006.
Recently revealed by The Wall Street Journal, Trump met the adult film star at the American Century Championship in July 2006, held at Edgewood Tahoe golf course in Nevada. Clifford has privately alleged that a sexual encounter took place between her and Trump one year after he married Melania.
Refusing to discuss the $130,000 payment to Clifford, Cohen told The Wall Street Journal, “This is now the second time that you are raising outlandish allegations against my client. You have attempted to perpetuate this false narrative for over a year; a narrative that has been consistently denied by all parties since at least 2011.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, the company that owns the National Enquirer agreed to pay $150,000 to a former Playboy centerfold model three months before the election for her story of an affair a decade earlier with the Republican presidential nominee, but the tabloid newspaper did not publish the story. During the fall of 2016, Clifford was reportedly in talks with ABC’s “Good Morning America” to discuss her relationship with Trump.
After Clifford signed the nondisclosure agreement, her attorneys threatened to cancel the deal when Trump’s lawyers failed to pay her in a timely manner. Cohen arranged for Clifford’s attorney, Keith Davidson, to receive the $130,000 payment through his client-trust account at City National Bank in Los Angeles.
“I previously represented Ms. Daniels,” Davidson stated, referring to Ms. Clifford’s stage name. “Attorney-client privilege prohibits me from commenting on my clients’ legal matters.”
Shortly after Clifford’s attorney received the payment, the notorious “Access Hollywood” video surfaced with Trump boasting about his repeated acts of sexual harassment. As numerous women stepped forward accusing Trump of sexual misconduct and harassment, another adult film star named Jessica Drake held a press conference in October 2016 accusing the presidential candidate of kissing her without consent and offering her $10,000 to have sex with him.
Drake attended the same 2006 celebrity golf tournament on the shore of Lake Tahoe where Trump allegedly encountered Clifford. In a recent statement, Drake wrote, “I did not sign [a nondisclosure agreement], nor have I received any money for coming forward. I spoke out because it was the right thing to do.”
Although Cohen denies that Trump cheated on his wife in 2006, the president and his attorney clearly do not possess the moral authority to be believed by the American public or the rest of the world.
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