Trump offered Stormy Daniels hush money in 2024

A few days before the 2016 election, Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence about her alleged affair with the Republican presidential candidate. It didn’t go quite as planned. While Trump was in the White House, Daniels’ claims about their relationship (which Trump denies) went public. Years later, in May 2024, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the payout.

Trump has tried to overturn his conviction, or at least delay his sentencing (perhaps forever). But we’ve already learned plenty of lurid details about the alleged relationship. So why would Trump make one? second Are you trying to silence Daniels before the 2024 election?

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reported Wednesday that Trump’s lawyer recently made another offer to Daniels. In 2018, years before Manhattan prosecutors filed charges against Trump, Daniels filed a defamation lawsuit over a Trump tweet that attacked her for saying she had been threatened by a stranger to keep quiet about their affair preserve. Months later, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit and Daniels was ordered to pay Trump’s legal fees. This summer, the two camps were still haggling over the final amount: Team Trump had once asked for $652,000, while Team Daniels said it should be closer to $600,000, according to Maddow. Then in July, Trump’s lawyer sent a letter to Daniels’ representatives saying that a $620,000 payment was too low but that they would agree to it if Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement. According to MSNBC, the letter said:

We do not believe that an award of $620,000.00 would fully satisfy the three judgments. However, we may agree to settle these matters for $620,000.00 provided your client agrees in writing not to make any public or private statements relating to alleged past interactions with President Trump or any defamatory or derogatory statements about him, his companies and /or other member organizations or his suitability as a presidential candidate.

Daniels’ attorney declined the offer. Ultimately, Trump’s lawyer said that after speaking with “my client and co-counsel” they would agree to $635,000 – without mentioning that Daniels was silent. Daniels’ attorney said they ultimately settled for $627,500 without a nondisclosure agreement.

The Trump team responded to the story by claiming it was based on materials obtained as part of the campaign’s Iranian hack. Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung told MSNBC:

These alleged documents were obtained as part of an illegal foreign hacking attack against President Trump and his team. We are working with authorities to determine the legal consequences for those who are likely to commit federal crimes by publishing and using stolen material from opponents of the terrorist regime. Ms. Daniels was held accountable for having to pay President Trump more than the money she owed him as a result of her wrongdoings.

However, Maddow said the documents were provided by Daniels’ attorney.

It’s unclear why Team Trump would even try to silence Daniels a second time. Did they think there were undecided voters who still haven’t heard about Trump’s alleged affair with a porn star six years after the story broke? Were they afraid that Daniels would make even more outrageous claims about Trump’s penis and beat him with his own? Forbes Cover or his absurd shark phobia? Does Trump’s legal team simply have a habit of requiring everyone they deal with to sign NDAs?

Whatever the motivation, the plan backfired once again; All Team Trump managed to do was put the names “Stormy Daniels” and “Donald Trump” in the headlines together 19 days before another election.