HANDS-ON

Trump ‘Personally Directed’ Effort to Stop Stormy Daniels From Going Public

WSJ reports president was involved in February effort to stop story hitting press.

Donald Trump “personally directed” a legal effort to prevent Stormy Daniels from publicly disclosing lewd details of their alleged affair, The Wall Street Journal reports. The newspaper says the president told his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to seek a restraining order against the adult-film star in February through a confidential arbitration proceeding. Trump and Cohen had reportedly become aware that Daniels was considering giving a media interview about her alleged relationship with the then-real-estate mogul, despite having signed a 2016 nondisclosure agreement. Trump told Cohen to coordinate the legal response with Eric Trump, who then entrusted a Trump Organization staff attorney with signing off on the arbitration paperwork. It hasn’t been previously reported that Trump had direct involvement in the effort to silence Daniels.