CBS News via Reuters
Michael Cohen initially balked at the idea of buying the silence of a former adult-film star who says she had sex with Donald Trump, but he did an about-face after a video of Trump talking about groping women became public in October 2016.
A day after the recording surfaced of outtakes of Trump speaking to a host of NBC’s “Access Hollywood,” Cohen, then Trump’s senior counsel, told a representative for the performer that he was open to a deal, according to a person familiar with the conversation.
Within days, Stormy Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, signed a nondisclosure agreement that provided her $130,000 for her silence. Cohen had resisted paying Clifford when it was floated in September 2016, the person said.
Federal prosecutors in New York view the “Access Hollywood” tape as a trigger that spurred Cohen to bury potentially damaging information about his boss, as they investigate whether the payment amounted to an illegal, in-kind contribution or an expenditure that should have been disclosed by the campaign, people familiar with the matter said.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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