The Details
Discover our latest podcast
On Wednesday 14 February, porn actress Stormy Daniels threatened to leak her sexual relationship with Donald Trump to the press. One of the actress’ representatives said she no longer felt bound by the confidentiality agreement. This was because Michael Cohen, lawyer for the US president, admitted that he had paid her privately in 2016.
1. A relationship dating back to 2006: On January 12, the Wall Street Journal reported that Stephanie Clifford, better known under the pseudonym Stormy Daniels, had been paid to stay quiet about a sexual relationship with Donald Trump. The story dates back to 2006, just after the birth of Trump’s son Barron.
The White House quickly denied these claims saying it was ‘old recycled information’ which was published relentlessly and denied before the election. While the case seemed to be forgotten, Trump’s lawyer recently confirmed that he had privately paid off the adult film actress.
2. A £94,000 pay off: In a statement released by the New York Times on Tuesday 13th February, Michael Cohen said ‘In a private transaction in 2016, I used my own private funds to facilitate a payment of 0,000 (£95,000) to Ms. Stephanie Clifford’. He added ‘Neither the Trump Organisation nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly’.
Michael Cohen made these claims following a complaint filed by Common Cause, an association monitoring good electoral practices. The association believes that Donald Trump may have violated the campaign finance law. The 130,000 USD (£95,000) was paid to Stormy Daniels a month before the 2016 presidential election but was not included in Donald Trump’s campaign accounts.
The president’s lawyer stated that the payment ‘was not a campaign contribution or campaign expenditure by anyone’. Unconvinced by the lawyer’s response, Common Cause has asked the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice to investigate the case.
3. A ‘hush-hush’ relationship: Stormy Daniels had concretely discussed her relationship before these latest revelations. She did however, briefly mention their relationship in an interview with In Touch magazine in 2011. Daniels reportedly confessed to having sex with the current US president at a golf tournament held near Lake Tahoe.
Donald Trump has also previously been accused of sexual harassment by several women with some cases dating back years. The billionaire has always denied these allegations. A video made in 2005 was also released during the presidential campaign. In these videos, you can clearly hear Trump explain that his notoriety allowed him to sexually harass women. However shockingly, this did not threaten his presidential campaign.
