Watchdog group: DOJ should investigate porn actress payment
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A nonprofit watchdog group has asked the Justice Department and the Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether a secret payment to an adult film actress made prior the 2016 presidential election may have violated federal law because Donald Trump did not list it on his financial disclosure forms.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington lodged the complaint on Thursday. They say Trump attorney Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment may have been a loan to Trump, and if so, needed to be disclosed. And they noted that Special Counsel Robert Mueller may also want to investigate the incident because of "a similar pattern of potential blackmail" in personal matters involving Trump.
Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claimed in a lawsuit filed this week that the $130,000 payment made by Trump's attorney Michael Cohen as part of a nondisclosure agreement was to ensure she didn't share details of an affair with Trump.
