President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, stated Tuesday that he paid the $130,000 to the adult film star out of his own pocket.
The transaction was made to an adult film star, Stormy Daniels, who claimed to have had an affair with Trump while he was married to First Lady Melania.
Michael Cohen previously served as a top attorney for the Trump Organization and after Trump was elected president he became Trump’s personal lawyer. During an interview with The New York Times, Cohen defended the payment he made.
“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Cohen said to the Times in a statement, referring to Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels.
“The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.”
Cohen declined to discuss the payment further, including whether Trump knew of it or the motivation behind it. Last month, it was reported that Cohen arranged for Clifford to receive $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement one month before the 2016 presidential election.
According to The Hill, in the wake of the reported payment, Common Cause, a nonprofit watchdog group, filed a complaint with the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) claiming Cohen’s payment to Clifford violated campaign finance law because it was an unreported in-kind contribution to the president’s 2016 campaign.
Previously, Clifford claimed that she and Trump had a consensual sexual encounter in 2006. An interview with the adult-film star from 2011 was also published by Touch Magazine in which she details her affair with Trump, which she claims happened shortly after his youngest son, Barron, was born.
However, after the payment was made, Daniels appeared to deny having the affair with Trump. Cohen also denied that Trump had a sexual encounter with Clifford.
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