Porn Star Who Claimed Sexual Encounter With Trump Received Hush Money, Wall Street Journal Reports

A former star of pornographic movies received a $130,000 payment a month before the 2016 election that was part of an agreement to keep her from publicly discussing a sexual encounter she claimed to have had with Donald Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday afternoon.

The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Michael D. Cohen, who was a top lawyer at the Trump Organization, arranged the payment to the woman, Stephanie Clifford, after her lawyer negotiated a nondisclosure agreement.

Clifford, who was billed as Stormy Daniels in her videos, said the encounter with Trump took place in July 2006 after a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, The Journal reported. Trump married Melania Trump in 2005.

In a statement to The Journal, Cohen said of the alleged sexual encounter that “President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Ms. Daniels.”

He added, “You have attempted to perpetuate this false narrative for over a year; a narrative that has been consistently denied by all parties since at least 2011.”

The payment was made to Clifford through her lawyer, Keith Davidson, with funds sent to Davidson’s client-trust account at City National Bank in Los Angeles, The Journal reported.

Cohen also sent a two-paragraph statement by email addressed “TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN” and signed by “Stormy Daniels” denying a “sexual and/or romantic affair” with Trump, The Journal said.

“Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false,” the statement said.

Clifford could not be immediately reached by email or phone on Friday. In addition to appearing in sexually explicit movies, she also had a small appearance in the 2005 movie “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”

The payment appears to have been made in the final stretch of the campaign, around the same time that a recording of Trump making vulgar comments about women while filming a segment for “Access Hollywood” surfaced, in a report by The Washington Post roughly a month before the presidential election.

In that recording, Trump boasted of sexual assaults and celebrity entitlement, and the ensuing reaction led to a number of women coming forward with allegations of groping, kissing and other sexual misconduct.