Michael Cohen balked at giving hush-money to porn star Stormy Daniels, but abruptly changed his mind after a 2005 video of Donald Trump talking about groping women surfaced in October 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported.
A day after the "Access Hollywood" recording surfaced, Cohen, who was Trump's personal lawyer, told a rep for the porn star, who alleged she had an affair with Trump, he was open to a deal, the Journal reported, citing an unnamed source.
Within days, the porn actress signed a nondisclosure agreement that gave her $130,000 for her silence. Cohen resisted the hush-money deal when it was first floated in September 2016, the Journal reported.
Federal prosecutors in New York view the "Access Hollywood" tape as a trigger that spurred Cohen to bury potentially damaging information about his boss, as they investigate whether the payment should have been disclosed by the campaign, the Journal reported.
The Journal noted in a conversation Cohen secretly recorded with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, Cohen said of the payment: "It wasn't for the campaign. It was for him," referring to Trump, the Journal reported. The tape was one of several seized in an April raid of Cohen's law office and home.