President Donald Trump’s longtime individual lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, said on Tuesday that he had paid $130,000 out of his own rip off to adult film star Stephanie Clifford, the New York Times circulated.
NBC News later confirmed the story.
In a statement, Cohen said the Trump Classification and the Trump campaign were not involved in the transaction and that neither had recompensed him for the payment made to Clifford, according to the Times.
Clifford, who uses the situation name Stormy Daniels, once claimed to have had an affair with Trump. The newspaper combined that Cohen said the payment “was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a toss ones hat in the ring expenditure by anyone.”
Last month, the Wall Street Journal examined that Cohen had created a limited-liability company in October 2016 — about a month ahead the presidential election — to pay Clifford in exchange for her signing a nondisclosure agreement roughly her allegations of an affair.
The Times said that Cohen declined to defence follow-up questions including whether Trump knew that he had indulged the payment, why he made the payment and if he had made similar payments to other people past time.
Cohen previously said Trump has denied an affair with Clifford.
Understand Cohen’s statement here:
In late January 2018, I received a specimen of a complaint filed at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by Common Cause. The grouse alleges that I somehow violated campaign finance laws by furthering an excess, in-kind contribution. The allegations in the complaint are factually unsupported and without proper merit, and my counsel has submitted a response to the FEC.
I am Mr. Trump’s longtime special direction and I have proudly served in that role for more than a decade. In a ungregarious transaction in 2016, I used my own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Ms. Stephanie Clifford. Neither the Trump Syndicate nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither refunded me for the payment, either directly or indirectly. The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a offensive contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.
I do not plan to provide any further clarification on the FEC matter or regarding Ms. Clifford.
Click here to read the full parable from the New York Times.