Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has cast doubt on former President Donald Trump’s denial of an alleged sexual relationship with adult film actress Stormy Daniels, quipping to CNN, “you don’t pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you.”
Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels a week and a half before the 2016 election to remain silent about her alleged relationship with Trump. Daniels subsequently recounted her encounter with Trump in a hotel suite to Anderson Cooper and “60 Minutes,” claiming they had sex after meeting at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006.
Trump has consistently denied having an affair with Daniels, and his legal team has threatened to sue her for violating a non-disclosure agreement. However, Romney, a vocal Trump critic who was the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, told CNN Tuesday that he believes Daniels’ story.
“I think everybody has made their own assessment of President Trump’s character,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju outside the Capitol. “And so far as I know, you don’t pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you.”
The alleged affair and the hush-money payment to Daniels are central to the case brought against Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has accused Trump of violating New York’s law against falsifying business records. On Tuesday, jurors heard testimony from David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, who stated that he had promised Trump during his presidential campaign to purchase potentially damaging stories about him to prevent their publication.
The Hill has reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment on Romney’s remarks.
