(CNN) - Stormy Daniels, the porn star who allegedly carried on a sexual affair with Trump 10 years before he ran for the presidency, reportedly almost went public right before the election because a payment she was expecting from Trump's lawyer hadn't arrived.
That revelation is one of a series of new allegations from The Wall Street Journal that suggests Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, held back a 130,000-dollar payout because he couldn't get a hold of Trump during the last days of the campaign.
That's different than what Cohen has previously said.
Last month, he admitted to paying $130,000 out of his own personal funds to Daniels.
But in a statement, he said:
Neither the Trump organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly.
Stephanie Clifford is Stormy Daniels' real name. But The Journal said Cohen told friends he complained that after the election, he had never been reimbursed.
"Michael Cohen was clearly not the source of the funds if he was mad that he was not going to be reimbursed after the election," said Paul Ryan with the watchdog group Common Cause.
The Wall Street Journal also says the bank used to wire the money flagged the transaction as suspicious and reported it to the Treasury Department.
The paper said the money was paid out 12 days before the election, leading to questions about whether it could be considered a campaign contribution.
Common Cause, which filed a complaint earlier this year with the Federal Election Commission, says if the new allegations are true, they are a huge problem for the president.
"There are two important facts in The Wall Street Journal article today. No. 1: Michael Cohen apparently missed his initial deadline to pay Stormy Daniels her hush money because he could not get in touch with Donald Trump,” Ryan said. “Now, this underscores our allegation in our January complaint that this was all about the election and that Mr. Trump, now President Trump, was involved in all of this."
As for Stormy Daniels, she continues to show up for performances and do interviews, always careful to sidestep any question concerning Trump.
But this exchange with erotic photographer and director Holly Randall reveals Daniels still has a story to tell:
I haven't lied about anything. I haven't misled anyone. There is a common misconception that I leaked this and it wasn't me. And eventually, hopefully, I'll be able to tell my side -- not for any sort of gain other than I want to be able to defend myself.
Copyright 2018 CNN. All rights reserved.
