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ADULT-FILM STAR REPORTEDLY SPOKE TO JOURNALIST IN 2016 ABOUT TRUMP SETTLEMENT,
FEARING HE WOULDN’T PAY UP

By Mark Berman
January 16, 2018 at 5:04 p.m. EST
Adult film star sues Trump, says hush agreement is null
1:24

Adult-film star Stormy Daniels reportedly was paid to remain silent about a
sexual relationship with Donald Trump before he was president. (Video: The
Washington Post)

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An adult-film star who was reportedly paid to remain silent about a sexual
relationship with Donald Trump a decade before he became president spoke to a
journalist because she feared he would not pay up, according to a new account.


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Stephanie Clifford, whose professional name is Stormy Daniels, spoke to the
online magazine Slate multiple times in 2016 before breaking off contact a week
before the election, Jacob Weisberg, chairman and editor in chief of the Slate
Group, wrote in an article published Tuesday.



In the story, Clifford is described as having “worked out an agreement for the
presidential candidate to pay her a six-figure sum to keep quiet.” This document
would have shielded the names of the parties involved, the Slate article added.

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“Daniels said she was talking to me and sharing these details because Trump was
stalling on finalizing the confidentiality agreement and paying her,” Weisberg
wrote. “Given her experience with Trump, she suspected he would stall her until
after the election, and then refuse to sign or pay up.”

Report: Porn star was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about a relationship with
Trump

Clifford suggested that she was keeping to herself some tabloid-ready details
“that only someone who had seen him naked would know,” Weisberg wrote.

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Also Tuesday, Alana Evans, another adult-film star, said in a television
interview on “Megyn Kelly Today” that Clifford had called her to invite her to a
hotel room with Trump, who at the time was a reality television star.

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“This was 2006, he wasn't president, there was nothing in the foreseeable future
at that time that looked like that was going to be the future,” Evans noted.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the Slate article
or Evans's interview.

Both accounts emerged four days after the Wall Street Journal reported that not
long before the 2016 presidential election, Clifford was paid $130,000 by a
lawyer for Trump to remain quiet about any relationship she had with the future
president.

While not specifically responding to the alleged payout, the White House said
when the Journal's story was published that “these are old, recycled reports,
which were published and strongly denied prior to the election.”

Three women reassert allegations of sexual harassment against President Trump

The Washington Post has not been able to independently confirm this payment. The
Journal reported that Michael Cohen, a longtime lawyer at the Trump
Organization, arranged the payment to Clifford after negotiating the
nondisclosure agreement.

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Cohen has dismissed “rumors [that] have circulated time and again since 2011"
and said that Trump “vehemently denies any such occurrence,” as does Clifford.
Cohen also issued a statement he said was signed by Clifford, which describes
rumors that she got “hush money from Donald Trump” as “completely false.”

Keith Davidson, identified in media accounts as a lawyer representing Clifford,
did not respond to a message sent to his firm seeking comment.

The Slate story adds another layer to the Journal report, which landed amid a
furor over profane remarks Trump made during a meeting on immigration last week.

According to Weisberg's account, he got in touch with Clifford in the summer of
2016 after receiving a tip, and then spoke with her multiple times on the phone
and through text messages between August and October of that year.

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Clifford said she had met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in 2006 — the
year after he married Melania Trump, now the first lady — and they began a
relationship that lasted nearly a year, Weisberg wrote.

Weisberg wrote that Clifford did not allege any abuse, saying only that Trump
had made promises he would break, such as vowing to feature her on his
“Apprentice” television show. To try to corroborate Clifford's account, Weisberg
said, he spoke to three of her friends, all of whom said they knew about the
relationship and “confirmed the outlines of her story.”

‘My pain is everyday’: After Weinstein’s fall, Trump accusers wonder: Why not
him?

Slate also published a two-page unsigned document Weisberg said he received from
Clifford related to the settlement that would have paid for her silence. The
document, which The Washington Post has not independently verified, is labeled:
“Exhibit 'A' To The Confidential Settlement Agreement and Release: Assignment of
Copyright and Non-Disparagement Agreement.”

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The document lists three parties at the bottom: “Peggy Peterson a.k.a. Stephanie
Gregory Clifford a.k.a. Stormy Daniels,” Keith M. Davidson and “David Dennison
a.k.a. [blank]." Weisberg notes that he never saw the main settlement, only the
two-page letter.

Clifford sought money for her story and was also motivated by “her anger about
Trump’s newfound opposition to abortion and gay marriage,” Weisberg
wrote. However, Clifford stopped responding to Slate a week before the election,
and a friend said she had “taken the money from Trump after all,” he wrote.

At that time, Trump's history with women was a significant factor in the
campaign. In October 2016, The Washington Post published a recording from 2005
that captured Trump bragging in graphic terms about groping women. A parade of
women soon emerged to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct, charges that he denied
during the campaign.

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As the country has confronted a wave of sexual misconduct claims against
high-profile men in recent months, the accusations against Trump have flooded
back into the news. Some of the women who had accused him questioned why similar
charges felled men like Harvey Weinstein while Trump was unscathed, and late
last year, they made a renewed push for public attention. The White House
dismissed the allegations and said any questions were answered when Trump won
the presidency.

One of Trump's accusers, a former “Apprentice” contestant, filed a defamation
case against him because of his denials during the campaign. If a judge allows
the case to proceed, attorneys could call other women to the stand to testify
about their encounters with Trump.

White House claims Wall Street Journal misquoted Trump as saying he has a good
relationship with Kim Jong Un

After the Journal's story reporting the settlement was published last week,
Trump and the White House assailed the publication for a different article,
arguing that the newspaper deliberately misquoted one of his comments during an
interview he gave to multiple reporters. (The Wall Street Journal is owned by
News Corp., which is led by Rupert Murdoch, who speaks privately with Trump.)

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In that interview, Trump said he had good relationships with other Asian leaders
dealing with North Korea. The newspaper quoted him as saying, “I probably have a
good relationship with Kim Jong Un.” The White House insisted he said “I'd
probably have a good relationship,” rather than “I probably.”

Trump, in a message posted on his Twitter account, said the Journal “knew
exactly what I said and meant. They just wanted a story.” The Journal said it
stood by its report. (On audio recordings released of the exchange, it is
unclear whether Trump said “I” or “I'd.")

Weisberg wrote that after Clifford stopped speaking to Slate, he considered
publishing her account, since she had not declared anything off the record. But
he said he assumed she would disavow the account, and since he lacked
independent corroboration of the confidentiality settlement, the story remained
untold until this month.

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