President Trump coordinated legal action with his former personal lawyer
Michael Cohen to prevent porn star
Stormy Daniels from speaking publicly about her alleged affair with Mr. Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Mr. Trump directed Mr. Cohen to obtain a restraining order against Ms. Daniels, whose birth name is Stephanie Clifford, in February through a confidential arbitration, unnamed sources told the Journal.
This was just after the two learned about Ms. Daniels‘ plans to go to the media with her story about the affair, even though she had reportedly already accepted a $130,000 hush-money payment from Mr. Cohen.
The arbitration was aimed at enforcing the nondisclosure agreement Ms. Daniels signed before the 2016 election.
Mr. Cohen was directed to coordinate this legal effort with Eric Trump, who is currently running his father’s business with his older brother Donald Trump Jr. Eric Trump then had an attorney that worked for the Trump Organization sign off on the paperwork.
Jay Sekulow, one of Mr. Trump’s current lawyers; the Trump Organization; and Lanny Davis, who represents Mr. Cohen, all did not give a comment to the Journal.
In August, Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violation charges in connection to the hush-money payments he made to Ms. Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. In his plea, he said that his actions were directed by then-candidate Trump.