Porn star Stormy Daniels said she and her lawyer Michael Avenatti were “vindicated,” following the guilty plea of President Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
“Michael and I are vindicated, and we look forward to the apologies from the people who claimed we were wrong,” Daniels said in a statement to NBC News.
The statement comes after Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts Tuesday afternoon — five counts of tax evasion from 2012 to 2016, one count of making a false statement to a financial institution, one count of willful cause of unlawful corporate contribution, and one count of excessive campaign contribution on Oct. 27, 2016.
[More: Trump’s ‘bad week’: Manafort found guilty, Cohen enters plea deal]
He admitted Tuesday that he was instructed by a candidate for federal office to make a $130,000 payment to an individual in an attempt to silence the person — a payment which aligns with Daniels’ case. Cohen did not name Trump.
Daniels has been involved in a legal battle with Trump over an alleged extramarital affair. Cohen paid her $130,000 in October 2016 exchange for her silence on the affair, but she filed a lawsuit earlier this year claiming the nondisclosure agreement she signed should be nullified because Trump didn’t sign it.
Cohen also confessed he made an illegal contribution of $150,000. Former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims she had a sexual relationship with Trump, was paid $150,000 by the publisher of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc., in order to keep her quiet about the affair.
Investigators were homing in on the payment to McDougal to determine if the $150,000 broke campaign finance laws, and whether Cohen conspired with American Media Inc. to pay McDougal and then not run the story about her affair with Trump.
Prosecutors told the judge the payments were to prevent details emerging about “alleged affairs with the candidate.”
Trump has denied the affairs with both women. Cohen’s sentencing date is scheduled for Dec. 12.
