DONALD Trump was directly involved in attempts to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels in February, in a bid to stop her from discussing their affair.

Explosive reports in The Wall Street Journal today quote sources familiar with the events as saying Mr Trump instructed his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to seek a restraining order against the former adult film actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

At the President’s request, made in February this year, Mr Cohen sought a confidential arbitration to compel Ms Clifford to abide by a nondisclosure agreement she signed in October 2016, the newspaper claims.

And Mr Trump reportedly told his lawyer to work directly with his son Eric to co-ordinate the legal response.

Direct involvement of the president has not previously been reportedly and indicates Mr Trump remained involved in elements of his company’s operation.

The report contradicts repeated statements made by the White House, Mr Trump and representatives of his business interests.

The directive regarding Ms Clifford reportedly came after Mr Trump and his advisers caught wind that Ms Clifford planned to give an interview to describe her sexual encounter with the president.

Eric Trump, together with his brother Donald Junior, runs the Trump Organisation in his father’s absence.

The Wall Street Journal claims Eric tasked a company lawyer to sign off on arbitration paperwork.

Overnight, the President declined to comment about whether he directed Mr Cohen to pay off Ms Clifford in exchange for her continued silence.

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” he told reporters.

In March this year, the Trump Organisation denied any involvement in arbitration proceedings with Ms Clifford.

Mr Cohen has previously described the payment of $US130,000 ($A181,000) to Ms Clifford just before the election in 2016 as “a private transaction” between him and the former porn star.

The newspaper reports that in February this year, Mr Trump told Mr Cohen to enforce the nondisclosure agreement and indicated he would for legal expenses.

“I’ll take care of everything,” Mr Trump said, one of the people familiar with the conversation said.

In March, Ms Clifford sat down for an extensive and explosive interview with 60 Minutes in the US, which drew an audience of 21 million people.

The President claimed the nondisclosure agreement was designed to “stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair”.

In August, his former lawyer Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to violations of election lawyers, related to payments made to Ms Clifford and a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal.

During his plea deal (he will be sentenced in December) Mr Cohen said Mr Trump had told him to silence Ms Clifford and make a hush payment to Ms McDougal, who also alleged an affair, “for the principal purpose of influencing the election”.

Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York and now a lawyer for Mr Trump, said after the plea that Mr Cohen lacked credibility and denied any wrongdoing by the president.