Did Michael Cohen Want Trump To Repay Him For Stormy Daniels Hush Money?
Stormy Daniels Image by Getty Images
The bank used by President Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, to wire $130,000 to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, has reported the suspicious payment to the Treasury Department.
Cohen wired the money on October 27, 2016, 12 days before the presidential election, from a First Republic Bank account.
The payment to Clifford was in return for her signing an agreement that she would not discuss any details of an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
In January, campaign finance group Common Cause filed a complaint, announcing that Cohen’s payment violated election law because the money “was unreported in-kind contribution to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.”
Cohen has claimed the cash was his own way to help Trump by making Daniels’ “false” claim disappear. The Wall Street Journal also reported that friends said Cohen complained about not being reimbursed for the six-figure payoff, undercutting his own claim.
The lawyer’s response to the Wall Street Journal’s request for comment? “Fake News.”
Contact Haley Cohen at hcohen@forward.com
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