http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2018/01/12/trump-lawyer-reportedly-arranged-payment-adult-film-star-keep-alleged-encounter-quiet/e9Ya1rgvrAkNTds9qtJEVM/story.html
A lawyer for President Trump reportedly arranged a payment of $130,000 to a former adult film actress shortly before the presidential election in order to stop her from describing an alleged 2006 sexual affair, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The woman, Stephanie Clifford, reportedly signed a nondisclosure agreement in October 2016 at the time the payment was arranged by the lawyer, Michael Cohen.
A White House official denied the affair reports to the Wall Street Journal, calling them “old recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election.”
Advertisement
In their statements, neither the White House official nor Cohen addressed the alleged payment.
Get This Week in Politics in your inbox:
A weekly recap of the top political stories from The Globe, sent right to your email.
A separate statement sent to the Journal by Cohen and signed by “Stormy Daniels” denies both the affair and the payment. “Stormy Daniels” is the stage name adopted by Clifford.
“Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false,” the statement said, according to the Journal.
At the time of the alleged nondisclosure agreement, Trump was facing a number of sexual misconduct allegations by several women as voters prepared to go to the polls to choose the next president.
The allegations surfaced in the wake of a bombshell October 2016 report by the Washington Post on the existence of a 2005 tape in which Trump, then a reality star, bragged to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush about his ability to grope women without their consent.
Advertisement
The claims that Clifford was allegedly preparing to make in 2016 did not involve any type of nonconsensual behavior, according to the Wall Street Journal.