Former White House Chief-of-Staff Steve Bannon claims the president's lawyer paid off 100 women he had sexual encounters with, after adult actress was allegedly 'paid $130,000 hush money over 2006 tryst' (4 Pics)

Porn star Stephanie Clifford (pictured with Trump) is said to have been paid $130,000 in 2016 to keep quiet about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump. And Bannon, in an interview for journalist Michael Wolff's tell-all book about the Trump White House, suggested that Clifford wasn't the only woman to receive a similar payout

A lawyer for President Donald Trump arranged a $130,000 payment to a former adult-film star a month before the 2016 election as part of an agreement that precluded her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.


Michael Cohen, who spent nearly a decade as a top attorney at the Trump Organisation, arranged payment to the woman, Stephanie Clifford, in October 2016 after her lawyer negotiated the nondisclosure agreement with  Cohen, these people said, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, has privately alleged the encounter with Trump took place after they met at a July 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, these people said. Trump married Melania Trump in 2005.





Steve Bannon suggested that Donald Trump's longtime lawyer paid off 100 women who had sexual encounters with the then-candidate during the 2016 presidential campaign


Trump faced other allegations during his campaign of inappropriate behaviour with women, and vehemently denied them. In this matter, there is no allegation of a non-consensual interaction.


“These are old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election,” a White House official said, responding to the allegation of a sexual encounter involving Trump and Clifford. The official declined to respond to questions about an agreement with Clifford. It isn’t known whether Trump was aware of any agreement or payment involving her.

In a statement, Cohen didn’t address the $130,000 payment but said of the alleged sexual encounter that “President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Daniels”.





Porn star Alana Evans (pictured) has come forward saying that she was coaxed by Trump to come over during his alleged rendezvous with Stephanie Clifford

Cohen added in the statement, addressed to The Wall Street Journal: “This is now the second time that you are raising outlandish allegations against my client. You have attempted to perpetuate this false narrative for over a year; a narrative that has been consistently denied by all parties since at least 2011.”


The Journal previously reported that Clifford, 38 years old, had been in talks with ABC’s “Good Morning America” in the fall of 2016 about an appearance to discuss Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. In that article, the Journal reported the company that owns the National Enquirer agreed to pay $150,000 to a former Playboy centerfold model three months before the election for her story of an affair a decade earlier with the Republican presidential nominee, which the tabloid newspaper didn’t publish. The company said she was paid to write fitness columns and appear on magazine covers.

Cohen also sent a two-paragraph statement by email addressed “TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN” and signed by “Stormy Daniels” denying that she had a “sexual and/or romantic affair” with Trump.



Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who is said to have arranged the payment is pictured

“Rumours that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false,” the statement said.





Clifford didn’t respond to multiple emails seeking comment.

After the agreement, Clifford’s camp complained the payment wasn’t being made quickly enough and threatened to cancel the deal, some of the people familiar with the matter said.

The payment was made to Clifford through her lawyer in the matter, Keith Davidson, with funds sent to Davidson’s client-trust account at City National Bank in Los Angeles, according to the people.

“I previously represented Daniels,” Davidson said, referring to Clifford’s stage name. “Attorney-client privilege prohibits me from commenting on my clients’ legal matters.”





A spokeswoman for City National Bank declined to comment.

The agreement with Clifford came as the Trump campaign confronted allegations from numerous women who described unwanted sexual advances and alleged assaults by Trump.

In October 2016, the Washington Post published a videotape made, but never aired, by NBC’s “Access Hollywood” in which Trump spoke of groping women.

Trump denied all allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct and apologised at the time for his remarks on the tape, calling them locker-room banter.



Cohen worked at the Trump Organisation from 2007 until after the election. As Trump took office, Cohen said he would work in private practice and act as Trump’s personal attorney. “I am the fix-it guy,” he said in an interview in January 2017 before Trump’s inauguration.

Clifford has appeared in about 150 adult films, and was considered among the industry’s biggest stars when the then-27-year-old met Trump at the American Century Championship in 2006, held at Edgewood Tahoe golf course in Nevada.

Another adult-film star, Jessica Drake, later alleged in an October 2016 news conference that Trump kissed her and two other women without permission in a hotel suite after the same 2006 golf event.



“I did not sign [a nondisclosure agreement], nor have I received any money for coming forward,” Drake said this week in an emailed statement. “I spoke out because it was the right thing to do.”

A White House official responded to questions about Drake by referring to a previous statement by the Trump campaign, which called her account “totally false and ridiculous.”