Michael Cohen reportedly got Us Weekly to drop story about alleged Trump Jr. affair
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After learning in 2013 that Us Weekly was preparing to run a story about Donald Trump Jr. having an affair with Celebrity Apprentice contestant Aubrey O'Day, President Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was able to get the magazine to kill the piece, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The Trump Organization was asked to comment on the story, and when Cohen called the magazine back, he threatened legal action, one person told the Journal. Us Weekly decided not to run the story, reportedly feeling it wasn't worth going to court over and wanting to maintain a "good working relationship" with Trump. Last month, Trump Jr. and his wife of 12 years, Vanessa, announced they were splitting up. O'Day, a singer, appeared on Celebrity Apprentice in 2011, when Trump Jr. was a judge.
The Journal also reported on Sunday that Cohen used the same limited liability company, based in Delaware, to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump, and a Playboy Playmate who had an affair with ex-Republican National Committee Deputy Finance Chairman Elliott Broidy. Cohen's home, office, and hotel room were raided by FBI agents last week, searching for documents related to the Daniels case, among other subjects.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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