Reports: Stormy Daniels Offers To Pay Back $130,000 So She Can Talk Trump

Adult film star Stormy Daniels appeared at a news conference to tout the success of Restricted to Adults (RTA) website and other efforts by the adult film industry to protect children from inappropriate material held at the National Press Club, May 29, 2008.
UNITED STATES - MAY 29: Adult film star Stormy Daniels appeared at a news conference to tout the success of Restricted to Adults (RTA) website and other efforts by the adult film industry to protect children from in... UNITED STATES - MAY 29: Adult film star Stormy Daniels appeared at a news conference to tout the success of Restricted to Adults (RTA) website and other efforts by the adult film industry to protect children from inappropriate material held at the National Press Club, May 29, 2008. (Photo By Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Porn actress Stephanie Clifford, who uses the professional name Stormy Daniels, on Monday offered to pay back the $130,000 she received from President Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen so that she can publicly discuss her alleged affair with Trump, NBC News and the New York Times reported.

In a letter sent to Cohen, Clifford’s lawyer Michael Avenatti offered to wire the money to an account designated by Trump and said that the transfer would invalidate the non-disclosure agreement Clifford signed in October 2016, according to the reports. Avenatti also sent the letter to Lawrence Rosen, the lawyer Cohen reportedly brought on last week, and the company Cohen formed to facilitate his payment to Clifford.

Avenatti gave Cohen until noon on Tuesday to decide whether to accept the offer and said that he would wire the money by Friday if Cohen agrees, according to the reports.

In October 2016, shortly before the presidential election, Cohen paid Clifford $130,000, reportedly in exchange for her silence on her alleged sexual relationship with Trump. Cohen has acknowledged the payment but denied that the payment was linked to his boss.

Clifford sued Trump last week over the non-disclose agreement she signed, which she alleged was invalid because Trump never signed it. Since Clifford filed the lawsuit, her attorney Avenatti has gone on a media blitz. On Friday, he told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that he and Clifford just want the “facts to come to light.”

In Avenatti’s letter to Cohen, according to NBC News, he said that if Cohen and Trump accept the returned $130,000 payment, Clifford will be able to “speak openly and freely about her prior relationship with the president and the attempts to silence her and use and publish and text messages, photos and videos relating to the President that she may have in her possession, all without fear of retribution or legal liability.”

The letter also asks Cohen and Trump to allow a “60 Minutes” interview with Clifford to air if the payment is accepted, according to the New York Times. BuzzFeed News reported Sunday that lawyers associated with Trump have considered legal action to prevent CBS from broadcasting the interview.

Avenatti did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.

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