Although President Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen repeatedly claimed that he negotiated a “hush agreement” with porn star Stormy Daniels (born Stephanie Clifford) independently of Trump’s business and campaign, NBC News reports that Cohen used his Trump Organization email during the payment negotiations and to facilitate the transfer of $130,000 to Daniels’s then-lawyer Keith Davidson. From NBC News:
And Clifford’s attorney at the time addressed correspondence to Cohen in his capacity at the Trump Organization and as “Special Counsel to Donald J. Trump,” the source said.
MSNBC aired a screenshot of the emails, which Cohen copied to his personal gmail account.
EXCLUSIVE: Trump lawyer Michael Cohn used Trump Org. email address while arranging deal with adult film star Stormy Daniels pic.twitter.com/0ksd4ph7BA
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 9, 2018
The electronic trail contradicts Cohen’s statement that his out of pocket payment to Daniels to stay quiet about an alleged 2006 affair in the weeks prior to the 2016 election was unrelated to Trump or his businesses.
“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment,” Cohen told the New York Times in February, “either directly or indirectly.”
Sources told the Wall Street Journal that Cohen was complaining about not having been reimbursed for the Daniels payout a few days after Trump won the election and Trump’s fixer responded to that report with a two-word email reading “fake news.”
Last weekend, Cohen was spotted at Mar-a-Lago while Trump was there speaking at a GOP fundraiser. Cohen is not a member of the private club, nor is he known to be a frequent guest.
