in today's stormy Daniels news
The two important, non-tawdry parts of the Stormy Daniels 60 Minutes interview
Anderson Cooper says he didn't interview Stormy Daniels on 60 Minutes to learn about the salacious details of the extramarital affair she said she had with President Trump in 2006. "There are many, many tawdry details which we did not include in the story because it's just, you know, that's not our interest," he told 60 Minutes Overtime's Ann Silvio after the Daniels interview aired Sunday night.
Cooper said he thought the most important parts of the interview were Daniels' story about being physically threatened in a Las Vegas parking lot — "If somebody is using intimidation tactics, physical intimidation tactics, it's probably not the first time they've done it," he noted — and the possible campaign finance violations stemming from Trump lawyer Michael Cohen paying Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet about the alleged affair a week before the 2016 election.
Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, suggested to Cooper that the important part of the story "is about the cover-up, this is about the extent that Mr. Cohen and the president have gone to intimidate this woman, to silence her, to threaten her, and to put her under their thumb. It is thuggish behavior from people in power, and it has no place in American democracy."
Trevor Potter, a Republican former Federal Election Commission chairman, focused on the campaign finance angle. "The payment of the money just creates an enormous legal mess for, I think, Trump, for Cohen, and anyone else who was involved in this in the campaign." he told Cooper. "It's a $130,000 in-kind contribution by Cohen to the Trump campaign, which is about $126,500 above what he's allowed to give."
"I think there's more to come on this story," Cooper told Silvio.