Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti released emails Tuesday which he claims reveal that the Wall Street journal knew of Michael Cohen’s $130,000 hush money payment during the 2016 campaign, but chose not to publish the story, according to a Tuesday Business Insider report.
A Wall Street Journal spokesperson denied the claims. “The claim we held any reporting regarding Stormy Daniels is false and outrageous,” spokesman Steve Severinghaus told Business Insider. “In fact, the Journal broke the news of the $130k payout to her, arranged by Michael Cohen.”
The emails reveal correspondence between Wall Street Journal reporter Joe Palazzolo and Daniels’ lawyer at the time, Keith Davidson, who oversaw the agreement with Cohen.
The exchange occurred less than a month after the hush money payment, and resulted in an almost immediate Wall Street Journal story about Karen McDougal, a former Playboy bunny who claims to have had an affair with President Donald Trump.
The Journal’s breaking news story about Daniels was not published until January 2018.
Avenatti’s email release seems to be in retaliation for a recent Wall Street Journal story that painted him as a hindrance to federal prosecutors trying to obtain information about Cohen’s hush money payment to Daniels.
Read the email exchange here.
