The porn star known as Stormy Daniels threatened to call off a nondisclosure agreement with President Donald Trump's lawyer weeks before the election, The Washington Post reports, citing an email from Daniels' lawyer obtained by the newspaper.
Trump's personal legal counsel, Michael Cohen, agreed to pay the woman, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, reportedly in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair she had with Trump several years prior.
But according to the Post, an email from Clifford's lawyer, Keith Davidson, on October 17, 2016, shows Clifford's lawyer threatening to end the nondisclosure deal. At that point, the payment had not arrived, the newspaper said.
Shortly after, a second email to Cohen from Davidson obtained by the newspaper said: "Please be advised that my client deems her settlement agreement canceled and void."
Ten days after those emails, another email shows Daniels received a $130,000 payment, according to the Post.
Cohen admitted last month to making the payment, saying in a statement that the exchange was a "lawful" "private transaction" in which he used his "own personal funds," and "was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone."
"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.
Cohen reportedly set up a private LLC shortly before the 2016 presidential election to pay Clifford, following an alleged July 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported in January.
After the initial reports of the payment, Cohen said in a statementthat Trump "vehemently denies" any encounter between the two.
"Just because something isn't true doesn't mean that it can't cause you harm or damage," Cohen's latter statement said. "I will always protect Mr. Trump."
Clifford's manager also said last month that Clifford now believes Cohen voided the non-disclosure by admitting to the payment.
"Everything is off now, and Stormy is going to tell her story," said Gina Rodriguez, Clifford's manager.
The-CNN-Wire
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