Trump offered financial incentive to Stormy Daniels for her silence

Former president Donald Trump’s lawyers offered Stormy Daniels a “financial incentive” to refrain from disparaging Trump after the bombshell silence-the-money verdict.

The silent trial resulted in “guilty” verdicts on all 34 criminal charges, for which Trump is currently scheduled to be sentenced in November — but which Trump is appealing.

But according to a letter obtained by MSNBC Rachel MaddowTrump’s team tried to prevent Daniels from disparaging Trump heading into the election by offering him a settlement in a separate case:

In a separate case from the trial of silence, Daniels was ordered to pay Trump’s legal fees after losing a defamation case she brought against him. About two months after the silent trial, Trump’s lawyer told Daniels’ representative that the former president would agree to a lower payment if she agreed not to make any derogatory comments about Trump.

“We disagree that a payment of $620,000 would be full satisfaction of the three sentences,” Trump’s lawyers said in a July letter obtained by Maddow from Daniels’ lawyer.

“However, we may agree to resolve these matters for $620,000, provided that your client agrees in writing not to make public or private statements regarding any alleged past interactions with President Trump, or defamatory or disparaging statements about him, his business and/or any affiliates or your suitability as a candidate for president,” the letter continued.

Daniels’ attorney declined the proposal, Maddow said. Daniels’ lawyer told MSNBC that they eventually reached a settlement on $627,500, but she did not agree to remain silent.

Maddow abandoned her report on Wednesday night’s edition of MSNBC Everything with Chris Hayesduring which she revealed the detail that a Trump spokesperson misidentified the source of the letter as an “Iranian hack”:

MADDOW: — relating to any alleged past interactions with President Trump or defamatory or disparaging statements about him, his company and/or any affiliates or his suitability as a candidate for president.

So we will get less than we believe she owes, more than $30,000 less than we previously demanded, if Stormy Daniels signs an agreement now to not talk about Trump, to not talk about having sex with him before, which was the that we pay. for before, and to say nothing – say something bad about him now running for president.

Stormy’s lawyer has repeatedly said no to signing any type of NDA. You saw her natural reaction at that moment saying “no way”. So he said “no, no, no” to any kind of NDA.

And then look, Chris, he got this email from Trump’s lawyer, quote: I just spoke to my client, who would be Donald Trump, and co-counsel. The case could be settled for $635,000. No mention of an NDA.

So the way this happens is, hey, we think she owes $650,000. Okay, we’ll get $620,000 if she also signs an NDA. No to NDA, ok, fine. I spoke to Trump, so it will be $635,000.

Stormy’s lawyer told us they finally reached a settlement on $627,500, which is what Stormy paid and she never signed anything.

Now, I will say that we sent questions about all of this to Trump’s lawyer in Florida, who was handling these negotiations. He didn’t respond. He forwarded our email to the Trump campaign. Instead, they gave us an answer.

Their response was quite unexpected. They told us, oh, these documents are part of the Iranian invasion. Quote: These alleged documents were obtained as part of an illegal foreign hacker attack against President Trump and his team. We are working with authorities to determine the legal repercussions for those likely to commit federal crimes by posting and using material stolen by a terrorist group – by opponents of terrorist regimes. Daniels was held responsible for having to pay President Trump on top of the money she owed him as a result of his mistakes.

Now, parts of that statement are factually and legally inexplicable, but that’s what they told us. We went back to them again, thanking them but asking them about the demand for silent money, specifically. They just reiterated that statement.

As I said, we received these communications directly from Stormy Daniels’ attorney, after speaking with Stormy Daniels herself. There was no hacking involved. We did not obtain them through any hack or leak of any hacked document.

There was a breach of the Trump campaign as recently as last month. The Justice Department has charged three Iranians with hacking into the Trump campaign in May, stealing emails and documents and then trying to turn them over to the media and Biden’s campaign.

Some emails between Trump’s lawyers and Stormy’s lawyers about these negotiations recently appeared online, in a report on Substack. Stormy Daniels and her attorney told us they know nothing about this.

But we didn’t get them from any Iranian hacking operation or from any leak of any Iranian hacked material. And so, putting aside the diversion of Iranian hackers and their threats about this and other things, the bottom line here is that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is currently awaiting sentencing for crimes involving a secret cash payment he made to the star porn Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election to stop her from talking about him and specifically about having sex with him.

And now, just before the 2024 election, Trump has once again demanded that Stormy Daniels sign an agreement not to talk about him, offering to withdraw thousands of dollars from her account if she did so. And you know, maybe this time, Trump learned his lesson about not laundering it through his businesses, but he’s basically trying to do the same thing again.

I also have to tell you, Chris, just one last point. We reached out to the New York District Attorney’s office about this. This is the office that prosecuted Trump in the initial hush money case, and they – they have not made any comment to us on this matter.