Cohen negotiated $1.6M settlement for GOP donor who allegedly impregnated Playboy model: report

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal lawyer, negotiated a $1.6 million settlement for a top Republican fundraiser who faced allegations that he impregnated a Playboy model, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Cohen made the payment on behalf of Elliott Broidy, who is currently a deputy finance chair for the Republican National Committee (RNC), the Journal reports.

Broidy, a Los Angeles-based venture capitalist, has acknowledged the relationship, which he characterizes as “consensual.”

“I acknowledge I had a consensual relationship with a Playboy Playmate,” Broidy said in a statement to the Journal. 

“At the end of our relationship, this woman shared with me that she was pregnant. She alone decided that she did not want to continue with the pregnancy and I offered to help her financially during this difficult period,” he added.

Cohen is also a national deputy fundraising chair for the RNC and arranged the payment over two years in quarterly installments as part of a deal preventing the woman from disclosing the relationship, the Journal reports.

Cohen, whose offices in New York were raided on Monday by FBI agents working on a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, declined to comment.

The contract also prohibits the pursuit of what the woman said were impending legal charges against Broidy and claims that Broidy paid her for a sexual relationship that lasted one to two years, a source told the Journal.

In the deal, Broidy denies the woman’s claims and also agrees not to seek further legal retribution.

Broidy added that he retained Cohen’s services to strike the deal due to Cohen’s prior relationship with Keith Davidson, the unnamed woman’s attorney.

“Mr. Cohen reached out to me after being contacted by this woman’s attorney, Keith Davidson. Although I had not previously hired Mr. Cohen, I retained Mr. Cohen after he informed me about his prior relationship with Mr. Davidson,” Broidy said.

The Wall Street Journal report comes as Cohen faces scrutiny for a payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential race.

Cohen admits to paying Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, $130,000 in 2016 to stay quiet about an affair she claims she had with President Trump in 2006. Cohen has said Trump did not instruct him to make the payment.