We’ve all heard that President Donald Trump allegedly had an affair with pornstar Stormy Daniels between summer 2006 and early 2007. Since then, there has been a media frenzy to figure out what exactly happened. Here’s what we know so far.
It is said Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 to have her sign an NDA a few weeks before the 2016 presidential elections. Now she is filing a lawsuit against Trump. She claims that the contract is not valid since he never signed it. The story is full of gossips, personal and political motivations and there’s more than one version floating about. It’s hard then to know what is fact and what’s simply gossip.
The origins
According to Jacob Weisberg, editor-in-chief of the Slate Group, Daniels had mentioned the affair in interviews between August and October 2016. She said she met Trump at a golf party in 2006 and that they had a secret relationship for several months. However, when asked about it later, she denied it.
The story resurfaced more than a year later, in January 2018, when traces of a large payment to Daniels were found.
It has since been rumoured that Stormy Daniels was paid the money to sign an NDA about her alleged affair with Donald Trump just before his 2016 Presidential election.
The money
There is a trace of the $130,000 payment; it was received on October 27th 2016. The payment came from a company created 10 days earlier called Essential Consultants LLC. It has been flagged and reported as suspicious by First Republic Bank. However, the investigation only started a year later, in October 2017. This indicates that the investigation must have started upon an external request.
The legal action
On Tuesday 6th March 2018, Stormy Daniels engages a lawsuit against Donald Trump with the help of her attorney, Michael Avenatti. The objective is to declare the Non-Disclosure Agreement invalid, as it was never signed by Donald Trump, figuring as “David Dennison” on the original document, referred to as the “hush” agreement.
When asked about it on the Today show, Mr. Avenatti confirms his client’s version and answers positively to whether Donald Trump had sex with Daniels.
According to her attorney, Daniels’ motivation as for the lawsuit aren’t financial nor political; she wants to tell the truth.