The personal lawyer of sexual predator and pathological liar Donald "Rump" Trump is saying that he personally paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) $130,000 in 2016 for her silence about an affair with Rump while he was married to his current wife. As reported in the New York Times, Michael Cohen said that he made the payment out of his own pocket, and was not reimbursed:
“'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,' Mr. Cohen said in a statement to The New York Times. 'The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.'”Previously, Cohen had only said that Rump denied an affair with the porn actress. He was facing complaints filed with the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department that the payment represented a violation of Federal campaign contribution limits. Sad!
BONUS: Needless to say, Cohen's story is being met with some, um, skepticism.
Suddenly reevaluating all my friendships on whether they’d pay $130,000 to quiet a definitely for sure totally untrue rumor about me just because we’re buds— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) February 14, 2018
Cohen says he wasn’t reimbursed *by the campaign or the Trump Org,* but he doesn’t rule out being reimbursed altogether—contrary to what the article reports. Trump himself might have repaid Cohen, along with literally any other entity or individual besides the two he named.— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 14, 2018
Also, don't miss the New Yorker's Andy Borowitz's take on such payments.
