Slattery writes: "A former porn star was paid $130,000 by President Trump's personal lawyer a month before the 2016 election - part of an agreement to keep her quiet about an extramarital affair she had with the president, according to a report Friday."
Donald Trump. (photo: Jabin Botsford/Getty Images)
13 January 18
former porn star was paid $130,000 by President Trump’s personal lawyer a month before the 2016 election — part of an agreement to keep her quiet about an extramarital affair she had with the President, according to a report Friday.
Attorney Michael Cohen arranged the payment to X-rated actress Stephanie Clifford after her lawyer negotiated a nondisclosure agreement, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Clifford, who made dozens of dirty movies under the name Stormy Daniels, told friends the encounter with Trump took place after they met at a July 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper.
Another porn star, Alana Evans, told the Daily Beast that Clifford invited her to tag along. “I ended up with Donald in his hotel room,” Clifford later told Evans. “Picture him chasing me around his hotel room in his tighty-whities.’”
“I was like, ‘Oh, I really didn’t need to hear that!’” Evans told the website.
Trump has denied several allegations of sexual misconduct in the past, and spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in 2016 that it was “absolutely, unequivocally” untrue that Clifford had a relationship with Trump.
Clifford, 27 at the time of the alleged consensual encounter, has appeared in films including “On Golden Blonde,” “Breast Side Story” and “Good Will Humping.”
“These are old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election,” a White House official told the Journal on Friday.
Neither Clifford nor her lawyer returned requests for comment from the Daily News.
Cohen, a longtime Trump Organization lawyer, denied anything took place between the President and Clifford and sent a two-paragraph statement by email addressed “TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN” and signed by “Stormy Daniels” denying that she had a “sexual and/or romantic affair” with Trump.
“Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false,” the statement said.
The report said Clifford, now 38, had complained after signing the agreement that the payment wasn’t coming quickly enough and threatened to can the deal and break her silence.
In 2016, the Journal reported that Clifford was set to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to discuss her relationship with Trump in the wake of the paper’s story alleging the National Enquirer had paid a former Playboy centerfold $150,000 to keep quiet about her affair with Trump.
The Daily Beast reported it was in talks with Clifford to tell her story, but she abruptly backed out just five days before the election. The site said it had three sources, including Evans, who told them Trump and Clifford had been involved.
The President has denied cheating on his third wife, First Lady Melania Trump, whom he married in 2005. She gave birth to their son, Barron, just months before the alleged tryst.
The alleged agreement with Clifford came around the same time that a recording of Trump bragging about grabbing women by their genitals was leaked.
Another adult-film star, Jessica Drake, alleged that same month that Trump kissed her and two other women without permission in a hotel suite after the same 2006 golf event.
“I did not sign (a nondisclosure agreement), nor have I received any money for coming forward,” Drake told the Journal. “I spoke out because it was the right thing to do.”
Nearly two dozen women have come forward with accusations of sexual assault against Trump.
The women include former adult-film stars, a contestant on “The Apprentice” and several journalists.
The White House has maintained that the allegations are all false.
Trump’s public affair with actress Marla Maples brought about the end of his first marriage to Ivana Trump in 1990.
