LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, said he paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to an adult-movie actress who alleged a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump.
The Wall Street Journal reported in January that Mr. Cohen made the payment in October 2016 through a limited-liability company in exchange for the adult-movie star, Stephanie Clifford, signing a nondisclosure agreement about her allegations of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006.
Ms. Clifford, commonly known by her screen name Stormy Daniels, previously had said in a statement issued through Mr. Cohen that she didn’t have a ‘sexual and/or romantic affair’ or receive ‘hush money from Donald Trump.’ Ms. Clifford has privately said she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump after a celebrity golf tournament, the Journal previously reported.
Common Cause, a government-watchdog group, filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department after the Journal’s story in January. The complaint asked the agencies to investigate the payment as potentially violating campaign-finance laws… Mr. Cohen declined to say why he would spend his own money to pay Ms. Clifford.”
-Rebecca Ballhaus, Joe Palazzolo, and Michael Rothfeld, “Trump Lawyer Says He Personally Paid Stormy Daniels,” The Wall Street Journal online, Feb. 14, 2018 12:11am