(Newser) – In mid-February, Stormy Daniels' manager announced her client believed that despite her non-disclosure agreement she was now free to tell her story about her alleged affair with Donald Trump—and she did so at the end of March in a 60 Minutes interview. The Wall Street Journal is now out with a report that says something else was percolating in February: an alleged attempt by President Trump to ensure Daniels' silence via that agreement. Sources say Trump placed a call to then-lawyer Michael Cohen and instructed him to seek a restraining order against her by way of the arbitration terms set out in the agreement. Trump reportedly told Cohen to coordinate that effort with Eric Trump, who then engaged a Trump Organization staff attorney to sign off on the necessary paperwork.

The nut:

"Direct involvement of the president and his son in the effort to silence Ms. Clifford hasn’t previously been reported. The accounts of that effort recently provided to the Wall Street Journal suggest that the president’s ties to his company continued into this year and contradict public statements made at the time by the Trump Organization, the White House and Mr. Cohen."

The Journal got no comment from the White House or the Trump Organization, but it cites an earlier statement it received from Jill Martin, the Trump Organization lawyer involved in the paperwork. The terms of the non-disclosure agreement necessitated the involvement of an attorney licensed in California; Martin is one, and she said she participated in an "individual capacity." Daniels, for her part, ignored the restraining order.

(Read more Stormy Daniels stories.)