President Trump's longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, told The New York Times on Tuesday he paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who told multiple media outlets ahead of the 2016 presidential election that she had an extramarital affair with Trump a decade earlier.
In a statement, Cohen told the Times that "neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction" with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. He also said neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign reimbursed him for the payment "either directly or indirectly," calling the $130,000 disbursement a "lawful" and "private transaction." The payment, first reported in January by The Wall Street Journal, was made shortly before the presidential election; after that, Daniels stopped cooperating with the media outlets. Trump has denied the affair.
Cohen said he had given a similar statement to the Federal Election Commission, which was investigating a complaint from the watchdog group Common Cause alleging that Cohen's payment violated campaign finance laws. The Times says Cohen would not answer questions about whether Trump knew he made the payment, what Cohen's motivation was to make the payment, and if he's paid any other women with similar stories. Catherine Garcia
Update 2:30 a.m. Wednesday: BuzzFeed News has obtained Cohen's full statement, which you can read below.