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I did not have this on my fuck 2024 bingo card.

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You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / WSJ: Trump Paid Porn Actress to Keep Quiet About Affair a Month Before Election

WSJ: Trump Paid Porn Actress to Keep Quiet About Affair a Month Before Election

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Ewww, what a gross story:

A lawyer for President Donald Trump arranged a $130,000 payment to a former adult-film star a month before the 2016 election as part of an agreement that precluded her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.

Michael Cohen, who spent nearly a decade as a top attorney at the Trump Organization, arranged payment to the woman, Stephanie Clifford, in October 2016 after her lawyer negotiated the nondisclosure agreement with Mr. Cohen, these people said.

Ms. Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, has privately alleged the encounter with Mr. Trump took place after they met at a July 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, these people said. Mr. Trump married Melania Trump in 2005.

The White House issued a denial in response to the tawdry tale, as did Cohen in a statement. But interestingly, Cohen didn’t deny the payment, just the porn star sexy time, which he labeled an “outlandish allegation.”

However, the WSJ article includes a detail that strongly suggests that Trump DID pay Clifford off:

After the agreement, Ms. Clifford’s camp complained the payment wasn’t being made quickly enough and threatened to cancel the deal, some of the people familiar with the matter said.

Yep, that sounds like Trump alright.

You may recall rumors that the National Enquirer paid a Playboy centerfold model $150K for a similar story, which the Trump pal who publishes the Enquirer then declined to run. That woman probably got paid a lot quicker.

This isn’t the worst thing we’ve learned about Trump, not even in the last 24 hours. The hypocritical evangelical assholes who support Trump won’t give a shit. But, as someone pointed out on Twitter, it explains why Melania hates him so much.

What a grotesque shit-stain Trump is. I’m not sure, as a country, that we’ll ever recover from the shame of having such a garish creep in the White House. Fuck everyone who voted for him.

Reader Interactions

115Comments

  3. 3.

    Gemina13

    Just reading the headline revolted me. If not for the fact that she feels humiliated by his treatment of her, I would think Melanie would be overjoyed to have Trump fuck anyone but her.

  5. 5.

    lollipopguild

    I am sure that there are plenty more stories like this out there that will come out sooner or later, but his true fans do not care in fact they probably like these stories.

  6. 6.

    retr2327

    Of course, the very next post is titled “Penetration at all levels” . . . .

    On a different note, here’s something to watch for in the wake of S***hole-gate and the cancellation of Trump’s visit to England: Let’s see if Pres. Obama receives an official invitation to the wedding of Prince Harry (IIRC) sometime in the next week now that Trump has thoroughly disgraced himself in British eyes. I suspect the Royal fear of the ensuing diplomatic affront has lessened considerably in the past 24 hours.

  8. 8.

    MikeifromArlington

    Is anyone surprised, really?

    I pray every day that if one thing from the dossier is true, it’s the pee pee tape and it gets leaked. I may even go into s state of perpetual schadenfreude.

  13. 13.

    sharl

    Sad to see a diligent and successful sex worker dragged into something sordid like this. (I’m not entirely kidding here btw.)

  18. 18.

    Barbara

    I am having trouble keeping up. I believe that one of the salutary effects of Wolff’s book will be to unleash reporting on the tawdry and vulgar aspects of Trump’s life that “serious” journalists or their publishers have been unwilling to write or publish, or that they refer to in euphemisms so understated that many people don’t really understand what they mean. I even wonder whether the WaPo would have published the “shithole” comments unvarnished were it not for the no holds barred can’t go much lower than that stuff Wolff churned out.

  19. 19.

    Adria McDowell

    Waywaywait! Hear me out!

    How do we know Trump didn’t pay this chick money to pretend to not have had an affair with him? You know, to make it seem like all the hot women want him and blah blah blah? Like, eleventy dimension sex chess? “Hey, here is some money to pretend like we did but didn’t do something and talk about how nice I was….”

    Hahahaha just kidding- this story is gross and somehow I don’t really care about it.

  33. 33.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Adam L Silverman: Does that invalidate the letter? Because while I believe this happened, this same response is what it think would happen if Trump didn’t pay her off, too.

  35. 35.

    sharl

    @Adam L Silverman: Like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, some of us are just not yet ready for such a harsh truth, so for the moment I will ignore your assertion on this matter, well intended though it is.

    Besides, it’s Ashley Feinberg’s birthday, so for her – one of my few remaining media heroes in this Hell World – I belieeeeve.

    FEINBERG’S IDEAL REPORTING GOAL, she tells me, is to uncover the seemingly apocryphal “pee tape” described in the Steele dossier on Donald Trump. If that doesn’t show up, Feinberg says that she would love, above all else, to “catch Donald Trump Jr. stealing valor,” the act in which a civilian poses fraudulently as a member or veteran of the armed forces. “Don Jr. humiliating himself in general is a good story,” she deadpans. Feinberg has also been scraping the internet, in vain, for the digital slime trail of Stephen Miller and Jared Kushner, who, she says, don’t have any sort of online presence, “which seems impossible given their age,” she tells me. “It’s driven me nuts.”

  36. 36.

    Timurid

    @germy:

    If God really is handing out consequences, this story ends with Ms. White sharing a cell with Elizabeth Bathory or Eva Braun…

  37. 37.

    hueyplong

    “Fuck everyone who voted for him” seems like a nice thread category, except that every post should probably be included.

    Because, seriously, fuck everyone who voted for him.

  39. 39.

    Millard Filmore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    There is no pee tape. I keep telling you all this.

    Well, there is the official Pee Tape Made In A Moscow Hotel as described by Steele which most likely does not exist, but Trump has been a busy boy. There are other cities in the world with activities just as attractive as what is available in Russia and more organizations than Putin’s secret army that can video his enjoyment of them.

  41. 41.

    Brachiator

    @cain:

    She’s blonde.. no surprise there.

    I don’t think that’s her natural hair color. But I take your point.

    ETA: That’s probably not Trump’s natural hair color, either.

    @OnkelFritze:

    Is it just me or does 130K seem to be awfully low?

    Yeah. I think she should have been paid more to have to be with Trump. Even it was several years ago.

  42. 42.

    Mike in NC

    In his long tawdry career, Trump must have hit on scores of women and paid off a bunch to stay mum about having sex with him. He’d make Harvey Weinstein look like a monk.

  46. 46.

    geg6

    I feel ya, Betty. I’m just deathly sick of him (and his fan club) and can’t take another minute of it this week.

    Accordingly, I won’t pay any more attention to him tonight. A huge ice storm is bearing down on us and my plan is to hunker down with a glass of wine or two and watch Battle of the Sexes. I’ve loved Billie Jean King ever since I watched her beat that pig, Bobby Riggs. She’s amazing.

  47. 47.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I am not sure that the hair he sports on his head is natural either. Looks like fake doll hair to me.

    Yeah. Good observation. Fake doll hair or poor quality yak hair.

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Ms. Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, has privately alleged the encounter with Mr. Trump took place after they met at a July 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, these people said. Mr. Trump married Melania Trump in 2005.

    DJT and Melania married in January 2005.

    The “Access Hollywood” tape was recorded in September 2005.

    Melania was probably three months pregnant by then, assuming Barron was full term. He was born in March March 2006.

    The (ALLEGED!!) affair, or sexual encounter, with the adult film actress was July 2006.

    I cannot fathom why Melania is still married to him, but I remember ticking off people who had similar questions about Bill and Hillary, so I guess it’s really none of my business.

  54. 54.

    hellslittlestangel

    @SiubhanDuinne: I cannot fathom why Melania is still married to him …

    Really. Why would a woman who previously worked as an escort want to stay married to man who pays women for sex?

    Could it be … job security?

  55. 55.

    Timurid

    @Captain C:

    Yep. If the piss tape exists and is released tomorrow, it will barely move the needle.
    It’s basically Trump watching an extra raunchy strip show. The only crime committed was petty vandalism (presumably the hotel didn’t want guests peeing on the furniture). Even if the women were hookers, Trump was not soliciting prostitution because he did not engage in a sex act. Trump has already been caught on tape admitting to conduct orders of magnitude worse. Even today’s story is worse than the piss tape because it involves Trump actually committing adultery, not just ogling hot babes. But nobody who matters will care about any of that. Because white people want what white people want.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    Yep, that sounds like Trump alright.

    What a fucking grifter. Trump would chisel his own father if he had the stamina to dig up his grave.

    I listened to the radio all day long while working. NPR has struggled with how to refer to “shithole” all day long. They sidle up to the line, then sneak back, then step forward again. Listening to their standards editor explain their thinking was tortuous.

    On the other hand, I’ve gotten angrier and angrier at my family members who voted for Trump. I just posted this to Facebook:

    Someone who says something racist with the same kind of nonchalance used when talking about the weather is not outspoken. Someone who says something racist with the same kind of nonchalance used when talking about the weather is a racist. Period. To the people I know who voted for that man (and I call him that mockingly), I know you were raised better than that. I know I was.

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SiubhanDuinne: She got: 1) citizenship, 2) wealth, 3) citizenship for her parents. All she had to do in exchange is look good and remain looking good; be seen, but not heard in public looking supportive; provide him with a (preferably male) child to demonstrate that he was still virile in his 60s; and not complain about whatever it is he actually does with his time – publicly or privately.

    This is exactly the type of agreement in exchange for citizenship that US immigration law is intended to prevent.

  60. 60.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Adam L Silverman: How is this not immigration fraud? Did INS/USCIS interview them separately?

    ETA: A couple of my friends who married foreign nationals had to go through those interviews for their I-130s (intent to immigrate, family sponsorship) to prove that they were a real couple.

  61. 61.

    bystander

    So this is after marrying Melania. Again, why do we think she doesn’t have a fidelity clause in the prenup?

    And for those who were having trouble rhyming “Mueller” tell me how you re-write the lyrics to Stormy Weather with a rhyme for Daniels.

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Captain C:
    @hellslittlestangel:
    @Adam L Silverman:

    Yup. I know that. I know all that, and I disagree with none of your comments or conjectures. I still can’t wrap my head around a woman — any woman, really, but especially a young, attractive woman — who would willingly debase herself like that.

    I know. I know.

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: I have been feeling renewed anger today at my family members, also. I decided it was best for me not to be in contact with them for a few days lest I say something that would damage our relationships forever. It’s hard when there is nowhere for my anger to go.

  66. 66.

    FlipYrWhig

    My theory continues to be that Trump is paying these women to prevent them from telling stories of how he DID NOT have sex with them. He attempted and failed, or he paid them to get naked and he’d watch, or something of that nature. I don’t think Donald Trump has had very much sex, with a partner, under any conditions.

  67. 67.

    Brachiator

    @debbie:

    Someone who says something racist with the same kind of nonchalance used when talking about the weather is not outspoken. Someone who says something racist with the same kind of nonchalance used when talking about the weather is a racist. Period. To the people I know who voted for that man (and I call him that mockingly), I know you were raised better than that. I know I was.

    CNN spoke with a few Trump supporters. Only one was totally disappointed with Trump and appeared to reject him. The others either denied that Trump made racist comments, insisted that he had probably been taken out of context, or just did not care.

  69. 69.

    debbie

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s hard when there is nowhere for my anger to go.

    Exactly! I would like to have it out with them, but I’d bet they don’t want to get into it with me. I’m left with yelling in their direction on FB.

    Other than playing Words With Friends with them and knowing when one of them is hospitalized (or something similar), I haven’t spoken to them in more than a year. By now, it’s irreparable, I’m afraid.

  70. 70.

    debbie

    @FlipYrWhig:

    He’s too cheap to do that. This is why we need to see his tax returns. Bet the payments are all hidden under amortization expenses or something similar.

  72. 72.

    scav

    @bystander:

    . . . how you re-write the lyrics to Stormy Weather with a rhyme for Daniels.

    Well, the obvious Shakespearean lead appears more apt for his Evangelical followers, rallying to defend his behavior.

    And even for that do I love you the more.
    I am your spaniel. And, Demetrius,
    The more you beat me, I will fawn on you.
    Use me but as your spaniel—spurn me, strike me,
    Neglect me, lose me. Only give me leave,
    Unworthy as I am, to follow you.

    or the snappier

    Yet, spaniel-like, the more she spurns my love,
    The more it grows and fawneth on her still.

  74. 74.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    so just glancing at twitter and seeing Chris Matthews trending…

    This has already been covered?

  76. 76.

    NCSteve

    If we could set aside the salacious and the confirmation that Trump is a disgusting pig, I would refer everyone back to Steele Dossier, pp. 34-35 (at the end). This episode lends those allegations credibility to the extent that it shows Trump did, in fact, consider Cohen his goto hush money specialist and hot mess cleanup guy.

    Indeed, at this point, we should all just re-read the damn thing to to bottom every week anyway, because something new always jumps out at you. (Such as, for example, it suddenly hitting me that “Source E” is likely Felix Sater, which, given the likelihood Mueller has an arm on him, is bad news for Trump.

  81. 81.

    Bill Arnold

    @Adam L Silverman:

    There is no pee tape. I keep telling you all this.

    If the Stormy Daniels revelation (and the Wolff book bit you cited) didn’t cause you to readjust your certainty on this, I’m now quite curious about what you know and how you know it. And about what exactly you mean by “There is no pee tape”. :-)

  82. 82.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: My response would be “thank you!”

    I don’t think mine are even willing to admit it to themselves, and that makes me even more angry.

  83. 83.

    JohnO

    @debbie:

    I have voluntarily withdrawn from just about everything and everybody on the racist side of the fence among my family and friends. 2017 was a very painful year. I had never held a vote against anyone personally in my life, but The Boy King was a bridge too far for me.

  91. 91.

    Mnemosyne

    @germy:

    Another mafia bust-out, Christianist style. I bet there’s a scandal hanging over her head so she wants to cash in while she still can.

  92. 92.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    I’ll trade you for the one with the woman who discovers she’s a necrophiliac while, um, mid-act. I can never un-read that one.

  94. 94.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SiubhanDuinne: @FlipYrWhig: This, and the resulting abortions, all sealed away with NDAs, is what Rick Wilson has intimated several times he tried to get the news media to bite on during the primaries in 2015-2016 and that they all refused to do so.

  95. 95.

    Adam L Silverman

    @schrodingers_cat: I do not know. I taught a single inservice course of an ICE Field Office back in 2012 for a former student of mine (he was one of Deputy Supervisory Special Agents in Charge). That’s the closest I’ve ever gotten, except when flying into and out of the country, to immigration enforcement.

  100. 100.

    Adam L Silverman

    @p.a.: She didn’t have sex with him for money. What is being alleged is that the President’s people paid her off to keep word about them having sex getting out in the news and being confirmed during the campaign.

  101. 101.

    Waratah

    I cannot seem to bring up John’s comments on his last post is anyone else having problems?

  102. 102.

    Cacti

    Trump being a sleaze is already well known. What I’m really curious about is this:

    Did Dotard report this bribe as a business expense or launder it through his charity? If so, you have potential NY State and Federal tax fraud.

    Hey, it brought down Al Capone.

    Along those lines, did “Stormy Daniels” pay tax on her hush money? Bribes are not a category of exempt income.

  103. 103.

    Mnemosyne

    Man, I can’t help wondering how all of the Christianist preachers who reassured their flocks that Trump was totally going to come to Jesus any second while Hillary was going to rot in hell for all eternity for being a liar are selling this to their flocks right now.

    I would have to Google it because my cousin who used to post all of that shit on Facebook mysteriously stopped doing it a few months after the inauguration. ?

  105. 105.

    Ken

    @Bill Arnold: Here’s the way I put it together:

    1. Every accusation the Republicans make against Democrats in general, and the Clintons or Obama in particular, has been projection.

    2. One of the more lunatic accusations out there is that Hillary Clinton is running a child slavery and cannibalism ring out of a pizza parlor. (Or something along those lines.)

    3. Combining 1 and 2 tells us that the actual “pee tape” is… ?

  107. 107.

    RedDirtGirl

    @hueyplong: I got a button maker last Xmas and have been having a ball making my own. But I bought a great one recently that says:
    Fuck Trump
    And Fuck You For Voting For Him.

  110. 110.

    cain

    @debbie:

    Other than playing Words With Friends with them and knowing when one of them is hospitalized (or something similar), I haven’t spoken to them in more than a year. By now, it’s irreparable, I’m afraid.

    I’m so sorry to hear this.. also fortunate I have a pretty much progressive set of family members.

  111. 111.

    Gvg

    Does anyone remember some here having pointed out that when news of Trumps Russian connections were about to become news finally, the Billy Bush grab em by the Pussy tape dropped and sucked all the oxygen out of a Russian story that wasn’t proven?
    I now think it’s curious that when he is finally being called racist by the press and some of congress, we have a more conventional scandal drop. Frankly I don’t care about consensual sex or money. We need to stick to the important stuff which is not having too much fun ragging on Trump or his looks or virility.

  113. 113.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gvg: Yes. The Clinton campaign and surrogates were all set to hit the news shows on Friday night and again on Sunday. Then two things happened. The first was Wikileaks dumped another tranche of emails. And someone sent Farenthold the Access Hollywood tape. No nock on Farenthold. He contacted NBC, confirmed the validity of the tape, and did his story. The questions are who sent him the tape? And why that person chose midday on that Friday to do so?

  115. 115.

    trump's latest tax plan

    If you think this’ll take down Trump, good luck. He could barbeque a toddler in the oval office and Trump voters would defend it. They know he’s terrible and they don’t care. It’s just about pissing off the libtards at this point.

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