President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE’s former attorney Michael Cohen was originally opposed to paying adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with Trump, but changed his tune after the “Access Hollywood” tape emerged in October 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

A day after the emergence of the tape, in which Trump can be heard talking about kissing and groping women without their consent, Cohen told a representative for Daniels that he was open to a deal, the newspaper reported.

Days later, Daniels reportedly signed the nondisclosure agreement that paid her $130,000. Federal prosecutors in New York now see the recording as what triggered Cohen to arrange the agreement with Daniels, according to The Journal.

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Some legal experts have argued that the payment, made before the 2016 presidential election, violated campaign finance laws as an undeclared "in kind" contribution. Trump and his attorneys have denied that the payment was a violation.





Trump in April denied knowledge of the payment, saying “no” when a reporter aboard Air Force One asked if he knew about it. But in May, Trump’s current attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000.

The following morning, Trump took to Twitter to defend the payment.

“Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll (sic) in this transaction,” he wrote.

Trump's legal team later sought to clarify that he compensated Cohen, but only found out later what the payment was for.