Stormy Daniels taped a 60 Minutes interview, and Trump lawyer Michael Cohen might try to quash it

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last updated 12 March 2018

Adult film star Stormy Daniels has recorded an interview for 60 Minutes with CNN's Anderson Cooper, a 60 Minutes contributor, and according to BuzzFeed News, CBS plans to broadcast the interview on March 18. Also, a source told BuzzFeed's Chris Geidner, Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen is "preparing to file for a legal injunction to prevent it from airing." Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, teased the interview on Thursday, then taunted Cohen over the weekend.

Daniels says she had an extramarital affair with President Trump in 2006 and 2007, and Cohen has acknowledged he paid her $130,000 in October 2016 to stay silent, though he calls her claim baseless. In February, Cohen won a temporary restraining order against Daniels in arbitration — as White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed — to keep her from talking. Last week, Daniels sued Trump, arguing that the nondisclosure order is null because Trump did not sign it.

As of Sunday night, CBS News told The New York Times it has not received any legal threat. "All I can say is it was never going to air tonight and I guess we will see what happens," Daniels told The Washington Post on Sunday. Legal scholars say Cohen would be taking a political risk in trying to block the 60 Minutes interview without much chance of legal success. You can read Paul Waldman's skeptical look at Trump's affair denials, and Matthew Walther's argument for the "poetic justice" of Daniels taking down Trump, at The Week.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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