- Michael Cohen apologized to Stormy Daniels in an upcoming episode of his podcast. the AP reported.
- Cohen and Daniels openly discussed their involvement with former President Donald Trump.
- Daniels said his sexual encounter with Trump was “the worst 90 seconds of my life”.
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Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen interviewed porn star Stormy Daniels and apologized for his role in trying to cover up his claims on behalf of former President Donald Trump.
Daniels was a guest on an upcoming episode of Cohen’s podcast, called “Mea Culpa”, the Associated Press reported.
Cohen and Daniels have a long history: in 2018, it was revealed that Cohen paid Daniels $ 130,000 – whose real name is Stephanie Clifford – as part of a confidentiality agreement about his 2006 affair with Donald Trump.
Doubts arose as to whether the money was paid out of Trump’s campaign fund, in violation of the campaign finance law.
Trump initially claimed to have no knowledge of Daniels and stepped back via Cohen, who told The Wall Street Journal in 2018 that “President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as Ms. Daniels.”
But three months later, during a call to “Fox & Friends”, Trump blurted out that Cohen represented him in the “Stormy Daniels business”.
In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance reform laws and admitted in court that he used a $ 500,000 credit line to finance Daniels’ payment. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
“I participated in this conduct, which for my part took place in Manhattan, with the main purpose of influencing the election,” Cohen told the judge, according to The New York Times.
During the hour-long podcast, the AP reported, Cohen apologized to Daniels for the “unnecessary pain” that got her through.
“Both of our stories will forever be linked to Donald Trump, but also to each other,” said Cohen. “Thanks for giving me a second chance.”
During the interview, Daniels referred to his sexual encounter with Trump as “the worst 90 seconds of my life, for sure, because it made me hate”.
She told Cohen that while she did not feel physically threatened by Trump, she considered whether or not she would be able to “overcome it”, the AP reported.
Daniels also said that the infamy she gained from the secret money scandal allowed her to go to “places I could never go”.
However, according to the AP, she said that “if I could just wave a magic wand and get everything back to the way it was before, I would do it for sure”.
Daniels is currently in the middle of his second defamation suit against Trump. A previous defamation case she opened against the former president was dismissed in 2018, and she was ordered to pay nearly $ 300,000 in court costs.
Cohen is recording the podcast while under house arrest after being released from an upstate New York prison in July because of concerns about COVID-19.
The episode is due to be released on Monday, February 8, at 9 pm.