NEW YORK — Porn star Stormy Daniels met with Manhattan prosecutors investigating Donald Trump on Wednesday as their long-running investigation into the former president nears a possible indictment.
Daniels’ lawyer Clark Brewster confirmed the meeting in a tweet. He did not say whether happened in person or online.
“At the request of the Manhattan DA’s office Stormy Daniels and I met with prosecutors today. Stormy responded to questions and has agreed to make herself available as a witness, or for further inquiry if needed,” Brewster said.
Brewster could not immediately be reached by the New York Daily News. A spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is central to the hush money scheme prosecutors are believed to be exploring with a grand jury.
Her meeting with prosecutors came as ex-Trump fixer Michael Cohen was expected to finish testifying before the grand jury hearing evidence against the former president. He first appeared before the grand jury impaneled in January on Monday and is believed to be among the final witnesses prosecutors have summoned in their investigation as it winds down.
On his way in, Cohen took swipes at lawyers for Trump and said he looked forward to answering questions posed by New Yorkers hearing evidence against his former boss.
The longtime Trump fixer served federal prison time for the 2016 hush money payment to Daniels, which he said was intended to buy her silence about an alleged sexual tryst with Trump in 2006.
In his 2018 guilty plea to campaign finance crimes and other charges, Cohen said the $130,000 payment was made at Trump’s direction to influence the outcome of the presidential election.
Cohen told lawmakers in 2019 that he borrowed the money through a home equity line of credit, transferred it to an LLC, and then wired it to Daniels. He said Trump and his real estate business paid him back in installments of monthly checks with interest.
When she testified at her ex-lawyer Michael Avenatti’s unrelated federal trial last year, Daniels took issue with the sexual encounter at Lake Tahoe golf tournament being described as an “affair.”
“Because it was not romantic,” Daniels said. “I don’t consider getting cornered coming out of a bathroom to be an affair.”
The DA has been investigating Trump and his business dealings for three years. In addition to Cohen and Daniels, prosecutors have recently called longtime Trump aides like Kellyanne Conway and Hope Hicks for questioning in the DA’s downtown offices.
Grand jury proceedings are confidential, and Manhattan prosecutors have not said what the panel is examining. Sources connected to the case say the DA is considering charging Trump with falsifying business records — based on how he logged the payback to Cohen to the tax man — and covering it up to hide a second crime, which is a felony.
Legal experts previously interviewed by the Daily News said the legal theory prosecutors may be exploring has never been tried in court.
On Monday, a lawyer consulting Trump in the probe, Joe Tacopina, said the former president would not accept an invitation to testify before the grand jury, which he received last week. Prosecutors typically extend the courtesy when nearing a charging decision.
