By EMILY WEIKL
Staff Writer
(TEANECK) – Since the creation of the United States, there have been politicians involved in scandals. But the most recent controversy has been Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels’ affair.
Daniels, also known as Stephanie Clifford, was interviewed on March 25 by Anderson Cooper on “60 Minutes” about her relationship with the president. Their Lake Tahoe encounter in 2006 was one of the subjects she discussed at length.
In the interview, Daniels confirmed many of the details that have been previously reported, including allegations that she spanked Trump with a magazine that had his face on the cover, according to the New York Times.
In May 2011, Daniels agreed to share her account with InTouch magazine for $15,000. After InTouch called to ask Trump for a comment, Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen threatened to sue them. Daniels did not receive the money, and the story never ran. She was then accosted by a man a few weeks later.
“I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter,” Daniels said. “And a guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.’ And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.’ And then he was gone.”
When Trump obtained the Republican nomination five years after this incident, Daniels signed a contract that prohibited her from speaking about what happened in 2006.
“Clifford herself had become a media sensation when The Wall Street Journal first reported, in January,” according to Vanity Fair, “that Trump’s longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, had paid her $130,000 of what Cohen has said was his own money in exchange for Clifford signing a nondisclosure agreement about her alleged affair with the Republican nominee a fortnight before the 2016 election.”
Daniels explained her reasons for signing the contract in the “60 Minutes” interview, citing that her family wouldn’t be harmed.
“The story was coming out again,” she said. “I was concerned for my family and their safety. I didn’t even negotiate. I just quickly said yes to this very, you know, strict contract.”
The former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, Trevor Potter, thinks that the payment Cohen made to Daniels’ runs afoul of campaign finance laws by being too high of a number.
“His $130,000 in-kind contribution was well above whats allowed, about $126,500 above to be precise,” Potter said.
“And if he does this on behalf of his client, the candidate, that is a coordinated, illegal, in-kind contribution by Cohen for the purpose of influencing the election, of benefiting the candidate by keeping this secret.”
Michael Avenatti, Daniels’ lawyer, has found evidence that backs Potter’s assertion, including documents that show hw Cohen used his Trump Organization email address to set up the payment, according to “60 Minutes.”
“He’s found documents that show Michael Cohen used his Trump Organization email address in setting up the payment,” according to “60 Minutes.” “He also says the non-disclosure agreement Stormy Daniels signed in 2016, when she was represented by a different lawyer, was FedExed to Cohen at his Trump Organization office in Trump Tower in New York.”
Cooper asked Daniels how the audience could be sure that she is telling the truth, to which she said she had no reason to lie and could open herself up to more danger by talking – even if there are more opportunities for her as a result.
“The president watches ‘60 Minutes.’ If he’s watching tonight, what would you say to him?” Cooper asked at the end of the interview.
“He knows I’m telling the truth,” Daniels replied.
