© 2026 ABC News

Trump's one-time fixer paid $130,000 to Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign to allegedly keep her quiet about an affair she claimed to have had with Trump. The former president has denied an \"affair\" and his attorneys have framed the funds as an extortion payment.

\"You'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You'll have to ask Michael,\" Trump told reporters on Air Force One in 2018, denying knowledge of the payment.

\"PHOTO:
ABC News
PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen talks Trump investigation on Good Morning America.
>

But the Manhattan district attorney's office has been investigating whether Trump falsified business records when the Trump Organization allegedly reimbursed Cohen for the payment and then recorded the reimbursement as a legal expense.

Cohen served prison time after he pleaded guilty to federal charges that included campaign finance violations related to the hush payment. Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, noted Wednesday that when federal prosecutors charged Cohen they said that Trump -- identified in court records as Individual 1 -- directed Cohen to make the $130,000 hush payment, after which his reimbursement to Cohen was falsely logged in the Trump Organization's records, according to prosecutors.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, met with prosecutors Wednesday over Zoom after former Trump advisers Hope Hicks, Kellyanne Conway and several other witnesses testified recently.

Prosecutors also invited Trump last week to testify in the probe -- the clearest indication yet that they're nearing a decision on whether to indict him.

No current or former U.S. president has even been indicted for criminal conduct.

ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

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