Porn star Stormy Daniels, who allegedly engaged in an affair with President Donald Trump a decade ago, announced on Wednesday that she is now free to tell her side of the story after Trump’s lawyer breached their non-disclosure agreement by admitting he paid her a six-figure sum before the 2016 election.
“Everything is off now, and Stormy is going to tell her story,” the actress’ manager Gina Rodriguez told the Associated Press.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer, admitted to the New York Times, in an article published on Tuesday, that he personally had made “a private transaction” of $130,000 to the actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, ahead of election day. This is the first on-the-record acknowledgment that such a payment was made.
“The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone,” Cohen told the newspaper, “neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly.”
The White House refused to comment on the statement and referred all questions about the payment to the president’s longtime lawyer.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the hush money and confidentiality agreement on Jan. 12, which led InTouch magazine to run an old 2011 interview performed under lie detector just one week later. In that interview, Clifford detailed her alleged relationship with Trump, which reportedly began when the pair met at the American Century celebrity golf tournament in July 2006 and ended early 2007.
Despite the renewed interest in the affair and the published allegations, Clifford has kept quiet on the story since the 2011 tell-all—even refusing questions during a recent appearance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Clifford’s manager said that in the near future the actress will announce her plans to tell her story publicly.