Stormy Daniels–Donald Trump scandal


A political scandal involving U.S. President Donald Trump surfaced in January 2018 when The Wall Street Journal revealed that adult film actress Stormy Daniels received $130,000 for signing a nondisclosure agreement just before the 2016 United States presidential election about an affair she had with Trump in 2006. Daniels later signed a statement witnessed by both her lawyer and publicist denying that she had an affair with Trump.
Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal charges, including a campaign finance violation for the Daniels payment in August 2018. He stated under oath that he had paid her "in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office." Both Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani stated that Trump personally reimbursed Cohen in 2017, and that no campaign money was involved. Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison for various charges.
Daniels filed three lawsuits against Trump and/or Cohen, arguing that the nondisclosure agreement was invalid, that she had been defamed, and that Cohen colluded with her previous attorney Keith Davidson against her interests when negotiating the payment. The first of these dismissed; the second ordered Daniels to pay almost $300,000 in legal fees and court sanctions, and as of 2019 is the subject of an appeal; and the third settled in May 2019. The dispute gained significant media coverage and drew legal attention to Cohen's involvement in the matter.

Allegation and non-disclosure agreement

Both the blog The Dirty and the magazine Life & Style published the first reports of an alleged 2006 affair between Trump and Daniels published in October 2011. Daniels talked about the alleged affair with the gossip magazine In Touch Weekly, who chose not to publish the interview after Cohen threatened to sue the magazine around the same time. The Wall Street Journal reported on January 12, 2018, that Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in October 2016, a month before the election, to stop her discussing the alleged affair.
Cohen denied the existence of the affair on behalf of his client Donald Trump on January 14 but acknowledged on February 13 that he paid Daniels $130,000.
Daniels filed a lawsuit against Trump on March 6, 2018, claiming that the nondisclosure agreement she signed about the alleged affair was invalid since Trump never personally signed it despite acknowledging that she accepted the payment made in consideration for her silence in the matter. The suit also alleged that Trump's attorney tried to intimidate Daniels and "scare her into not talking". Cohen initiated an ex parte arbitration process the next day that resulted in an order barring Daniels from disclosing "confidential information" related to the nondisclosure agreement. The order that Daniels' lawyers called "bogus" was to remain confidential.
Daniels said that she and Trump had sex once in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired March 25, 2018. She also said that she was threatened in front of her infant daughter after a fitness class in Las Vegas in 2011. The threat pressured her to later sign a nondisclosure agreement.
FBI agents raided Cohen's office and seized emails, tax documents, and business records relating to several matters, including the payment to Daniels, on April 9, 2018.

Status of Cohen's payment

Daniels' lawyer said that the $130,000 payment to her was a cover-up, while others also raised questions about whether the payment violated federal campaign finance laws, which may be the case if campaign funds were used. The Wall Street Journal reported on January 12, 2018, that Daniels was paid $130,000 following the nondisclosure agreement via a Delaware limited liability company called Essential Consultants that Cohen created for the purpose. The political watchdog group Common Cause filed a complaint on January 22, calling on the Federal Election Commission and U.S. Department of Justice to investigate if the reported payout violated campaign finance rules, saying the alleged payment amounted to an in-kind donation to Trump's presidential campaign that should have been publicly disclosed in its official reports.
Cohen responded to The New York Times on February 13 that he paid Daniels the $130,000 from his own pocket, that it was not a campaign contribution, and that he was not reimbursed for making it by either the Trump Organization or the Trump campaign. The Washington Post later noted that, Cohen was not ruling out the possibility that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment by stating that he used his own money to "facilitate" it. Cohen said on March 13 that he transferred funds from his home equity line of credit to Essential Consultants and from the company to Daniels' attorney.
Trump was on Air Force One when he claimed that he had no knowledge of Cohen's payment to Daniels on April 5, 2018, but admitted for the first time that Cohen represented him in "the Stormy Daniels deal" on April 26. Trump's new personal attorney Rudy Giuliani told Sean Hannity of Fox News on May 2 that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment, stating Trump "didn't know about the specifics of it but he did know about the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this." Trump tweeted the next day that Cohen entered into the nondisclosure agreement and stated that Cohen reimbursed for the $130,000 through monthly $35,000 retainer payments to him and wrote that "Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction." Trump contradicted Giuliani's statements on May 4, saying that Giuliani "wasn't familiar with everything" and that, "He started yesterday. He'll get his facts straight." Giuliani later released a statement saying "the payment was made to resolve a personal and false allegation in order to protect the President's family."
Cohen pleaded guilty to eight charges on August 21, 2018, including a campaign finance violation, for his role in the payment. He implicated Trump, saying that he acted "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office." Trump said that he only knew about the payments "later on", adding that the payments "didn't come out of the campaign, they came from me." The New York Times reported on August 22 that Cohen's court documents revealed that two senior Trump Organization executives were also involved in the hush money payments. The report also said that Cohen "coordinated with one or more members of the campaign, including through meetings and phone calls" about the payments.
Trump denied directing Cohen to make hush payments on December 13.

Legal issues

The Common Cause complaints with the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission claim that Trump's campaign violated campaign laws by not publicly disclosing the $130,000 payment to the Federal Election Commission. There are also concerns about where the funds originated, and whether they are an illegal or undisclosed in-kind contribution to the campaign. However, several members of Trump's legal team deny the payment related to the campaign and claim that it was to save Trump's marriage instead. Questions have also been raised about how the payment classified for tax purposes, and if there is a possibility of tax-based charges or fees relating to the payment.
Daniels filed a civil suit in an attempt to nullify the nondisclosure agreement between Trump and her on March 6, 2018. The hearing set for July but was pushed back by U.S. district judge S. James Otero citing the possible indictment of Cohen in the ongoing criminal probe by federal prosecutors.
Cohen also faces discipline from the State Bar of New York under the New York Rules of Professional Conduct that prohibits lawyers making loans to clients.
A well established principle of contract law is the offer and acceptance of "consideration" or something of value, in exchange for a promise to do something. Legal experts argue that the $130,000 payment being accepted by one party is valid consideration and enforceable regardless of the unsigned state of the Daniels non-disclosure agreement, but other elements in the Daniels agreement make predicting the outcome difficult. Issues like the use of pseudonyms and the disclosure exception for law enforcement investigations may favor Daniels's position.
Cohen pled guilty to eight charges on August 21, 2018, including tax fraud, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations, for his role in the payment, and implicated Trump, who said that he only knew about the payments "later on" in response.
The Wall Street Journal reported on November 9, 2018, that federal prosecutors have evidence of Trump's "central role" in payments to both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal that violated campaign-finance laws.
Federal prosecutors implicated Trump in directing Cohen to commit the campaign finance law felonies for which Cohen had pleaded guilty in a sentencing memorandum for Cohen on December 7, 2018. Trump tweeted shortly after the memorandum court filing, "Totally clears the president. Thank you!" Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison.
NBC News reported on December 13, 2018, that Trump was present in an August 2015 meeting with Cohen and David Pecker when they discussed how American Media could help counter negative stories about Trump's relationships with women, confirming previous reporting by The Wall Street Journal.
The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York investigates the possible role of Trump and others regarding concealment of hush money payments, but indicated in a sealed court filing that it is unlikely to bring additional charges. On July 17, 2019, U.S. district judge William H. Pauley III, finding the investigation to be over, ordered that filing and materials related to the probe unsealed on July 18, 2019.

Timeline

January 2018