The weeks leading up to the 2016 Presidential Election found Donald Trump in the midst of scandals involving sexual misconduct allegations and casually bragging on a hot microphone about his ability to commit sexual assault. According to a Washington Post report, Trump narrowly dodged also having his alleged 2006 tryst with adult film actress Stormy Daniels exposed days before Americans took to the polls in 2016.
“In an Oct. 17 email, an attorney for Daniels—a porn star whose real name is Stephanie Clifford—threatened to cancel the nondisclosure agreement by the end of the day,” said the Washington Post report. “That very morning, Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, had created a limited liability company, public records show, that ultimately would serve as a vehicle for Daniels’s payoff. But the money had not arrived. A second email to Cohen, a short time after the first, said Daniels was calling the deal off.”
But the alleged $130,000 bribe was paid a little over a week later, according to another email obtained by the Post. The affair would be kept under wraps.
The news may have larger political ramifications than its obvious scandalous nature. Trump’s camp reportedly paid Daniels the agreed-upon sum of $130,000 on October 27, 2016. Per the Post, there are two Federal Election Commission complaints filed on the basis that the alleged payments to Daniels was intended to influence the November 8, 2016 election. The complaints also claim the payment violated campaign finance law since it was not formally classified as an in-kind donation.
Admitted non-consensual crotch grabbing, racist rhetoric, and refusal to disclose his tax returns didn’t stop Trump from becoming president, so it’s unclear how much his controversy with Daniels would have changed the course of history. Read the Washington Post report in full here.
