LOS ANGELES—Almost three years after Stormy Daniels sued him and his former boss, Donald Trump, over a 2016 “hush money” deal, Michael Cohen apologized to the AVN Hall of Famer directly, in an interview on the February 8 edition of his podcast, Mea Culpa.
The podcast episode “Stormy Daniels Is Not Afraid,” which may be accessed at this link, marked the first time the former legal foes have spoken to each other, not only since the lawsuit, but ever. Cohen has said that even when he was negotiating the 2016 “hush money” deal he spoke only to Daniels’ then-lawyer, Keith Davidson.
Cohen himself put up the cash for the $130,000 payoff to Daniels in 2016 to keep her quiet over a sexual encounter with Trump 10 years earlier. Trump later reimbursed him, but Cohen was charged with campaign finance violations over the payment, and was sentenced to three years in prison. But he was released in July of 2020 due to COVID risk in prison and is currently under home confinement. His sentence officially ends in November of this year.
Trump, as president, never faced charges over the Daniels payoff. In theory, now that he is out of office, a prosecution of Trump could now move forward. But according to federal prosecutors who spoke to The Associated Press last week said that the United States Attorney’s office in Manhattan — which holds jurisdiction over the case — appears to have no intention of proceeding with a case against Trump.
Nonetheless, Trump still faces investigations and possible prosecution at the state level, over allegations of financial misdeeds, from both the New York State Attorney General, and the Manhattan District Attorney. Whether such cases would involved the Daniels payoff is unclear, however.
Though her 2018 lawsuit against Trump was dismissed in early 2019, Daniels continues to pursue a defamation case against Trump.
"He doesn't get to bully me again," Daniels told Cohen in the podcast interview. "I have nothing left to lose, I've already lost everything so I'm taking it all the way.”
She told Cohen that she has lost friends as well as romantic relationships, including a separation from her husband, as a result of fallout from the case, telling Cohen “I'm probably going to die alone because of this.”
Cohen apologized to her for his role in the case, telling Daniels, "I'm sorry for the needless pain that I put you through. Thank you for speaking out and thank you for giving me a second chance."
Photo by Showtime The Circus / Wikimedia Commons
