Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski Corey R. LewandowskiHow Trump can win reelection: Focus on Democrats, not himself Trump Jr. distances from Bannon group, says he attended 'single' event Bannon, three others charged with defrauding donors of 'We Build The Wall' campaign MORE on Friday night dismissed a report that a lawyer for President Trump arranged a six-figure payment to a former adult-film star a month before the election to prevent her from discussing a sexual encounter with Trump.

Lewandowski pointed to denials by both the film star, Stephanie Clifford, and a White House lawyer after The Wall Street Journal reported that the attorney arranged a $130,000 payment for Clifford as part of a nondisclosure agreement before the 2016 election.

"So I don't know why this is a news story," Lewandowski said on CNN.

Lewandowksi said he had "only heard what's been reported in the last couple of hours, which is, the White House has said this is an allegation which was talked about prior to the election that was shot down, and she has said there's no truth to this."

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The Journal cited sources close to Clifford who said that she and Trump had a sexual encounter in 2006, a year after he married Melania Trump Melania TrumpThe Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - You might want to download TikTok now Warning label added to Trump tweet over potential mail-in voting disinformation New Melania Trump statue replaces one that burned to the ground in Slovenia MORE.

Michael Cohen, a former attorney representing the Trump Organization and now the president's personal lawyer, said Trump "vehemently denies" the encounter. Cohen called the allegations "outlandish" but did not directly comment on the nondisclosure agreement allegation.

However, Cohen sent a statement signed by Clifford under her stage name, Stormy Daniels, denying the encounter as "completely false."

Lewandowski said that in "normal journalism world" a story with denials by two key sources would not be reported.

The former campaign head acknowledged CNN host Chris Cuomo's point that the story had been picked up by outlets owned by GOP mega-donor Rupert Murdoch and must have been vetted.

Lewandowski said that media have made "factual errors on many occasions" and that he "doesn't understand why this is still a story."