A lawyer representing a pornographic actress in a hush-money dispute with the president says he will ultimately prove that Trump attorney Michael Cohen lied about the circumstances of a $130,000 payoff in 2016.
Stormy Daniels – a stage name for 38-year-old Stephanie Clifford – took the money in exchange for keeping silent about her claims that she bedded Donald Trump between late 2006 and early 2007, in the early years of his marriage to first lady Melania.
Cohen said last month in a public statement that “[n]either 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. The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.’
Clifford’s attorney Michael Avenatti has been feverishly making the media rounds, intimating that it’s impossible Cohen could have made the payoff without the future president authorizing it.
But Cohen told ABC News on Friday that the funds were all his own, ‘taken from my home equity line and transferred internally to my LLC account in the same bank.’
Stephanie Clifford (right), a porn star who performs under the name ‘Stormy Daniels,’ was paid $130,000 in 2016 to keep quiet about her claims that she had a sexual affair with Donald Trump in 2006 and 2007; he lawyer Michael Avenatti (left) says Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen is hiding the ball about who authorized the money transfer
NBC News reported Friday that the bank which transferred the money reached him at his Trump Organization email address at least once.
Although a lawyer negotiating on a client’s behalf isn’t technically a ‘party’ to any resulting contract, the email could undercut Cohen’s insistence that he paid the porn star out of his own pocket.
He has never denied that Donald Trump personally reimbursed him, issuing denials only about the future president’s company and his political campaign.
But Cohen downplayed the significance of the bank email, saying he often used his work account for personal matters.
‘I basically used it for everything. I am certain most people can relate,’ he said.
Cohen mocked Avenatti, saying he ‘has clearly allowed his 15 minutes of fame to affect his ludicrous conclusions.’
‘The earth-shattering uncovered email between myself and the bank corroborates all my previous statements; which is I transferred money from one account at that bank into my LLC and then wired said funds to Ms. Clifford’s attorney in Beverly Hills, California. How Mr. Avenatti or the media at large believes this to be “breaking news” is a mystery to me.’
Michael Cohen, a major Trump consigliere, has claimed Trump’s real estate company wasn’t a party to the hush-money payoff, but a bank wrote to him at his Trump Organization email address as it was moving money for him
Avenatti had told NBC the email document is a new wrinkle that could prove Cohen was hiding Trump’s connection to the allegations of an extramarital affair.
‘I think this document seriously calls into question the prior representation of Mr. Cohen and the White House relating to the source of the monies paid to Ms. Clifford in an effort to silence her,’ said Avenatti.
‘We’re one step closer to demonstrating that the assertion by Cohen and the White House that President Trump knew nothing about this is ridiculous,’ he added in an interview with ABC News.
Clifford is suing Trump, arguing that he never personally signed the agreement that resulted in the six-figure payment, which she accepted.
Despite accepting the six-figure payment, Clifford, a.k.a. Daniels, is suing the president to nullify her nondisclosure agreement, saying it’s invalid because Trump never actually signed it
Avenatti said on CNN that it’s ‘absolutely laughable’ for Cohen to claim the future President of the United States was unaware his lawyer was spending heavily out of his own pocket to protect him.
‘We’re going to prove that Mr. Cohen is not telling the truth about that,’ Avenatti said. ‘We’re going to be able to obtain discovery and documents testimony that is going to show, I am highly confident, that Mr. Trump knew exactly what was going on.’
The October 26, 2016 email addressed to Cohen at the Trump Organization email camed from a First Republic Bank employee, an assistant to the institution’s senior managing director.
The subject, “RE: First Republic Bank Transfer, may indicate that the sender was replying to Cohen. The message read that ‘the funds have been deposited into your checking account.’
No amount was specified, and it’s unclear whether the transation described in the email involved a personal account or one tied to a corporation.
Avenatti said Friday that Cohen’s attempt to put distance between the president and the payout doesn’t pass the smell test.
‘We smell smoke,’ he told NBC.
In what became a day-long interview snark-fest, Cohen responded to ABC that Avenatti ‘should either evacuate the room he’s standing in or immediately seek the attention of an ENT doctor.’
‘You’re talking about the the waning days of a presidential election, where everything mattered,’ he said.
‘Mr. Cohen wants the American people to believe that he ran off half-cocked, negotiated a very detailed agreement with a signature line for his client, arranged this payment, made this payment in the waning days of the 2016 presidential election and all the time his client was in the dark, and Mr. Trump knew nothing about it.’
‘It is laughable,’ Avenatti concluded. ‘It is absurd and the mere suggestion is an insult to the American people.’
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders offered generic pushback on Friday afternoon.
Talking to reporters about the claims of an illicit liaison that formed the basis for Clifford’s 2016 payoff, Sanders said that ‘none of these allegations are true.’