President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, said on Tuesday that he had paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to adult film star Stephanie Clifford, the New York Times reported.
In a statement, Cohen said the Trump Organization and the Trump campaign were not involved in the transaction and that neither had reimbursed him for the payment made to Clifford, according to the Times.
Clifford, who uses the stage name Stormy Daniels, once claimed to have had an affair with Trump. The newspaper added that Cohen said the payment “was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.”
Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Cohen had created a limited-liability company in October 2016 — about a month before the presidential election — to pay Clifford in exchange for her signing a nondisclosure agreement about her allegations of an affair.
The Times said that Cohen declined to answer follow-up questions including whether Trump knew that he had made the payment, why he made the payment and if he had made similar payments to other people over time.
Cohen previously said Trump has denied an affair with Clifford, the Times added.
