One America News Network on Monday retracted an article that said former President Donald Trump once had a lawyer Michael Cohen had an affair with an adult movie star Stormy Daniels.
A March 27 article by the conservative news outlet cited a 2018 post on X by a user who claimed to have received information from Daniels’ then-lawyer, Michael Avenatti. The article, citing Avenatti, alleged that Cohen and Daniels had been in a relationship since 2006 and that Cohen had “concocted” a hush-hush plan to extort money from the Trump Organization in the run-up to the 2016 election.
“To be clear, there is no evidence that Mr. Cohen and Ms. Daniels were involved, and no evidence that Mr. Cohen ‘concocted’ a scheme to extort the Trump Organization before the 2016 election,” OAN said. statement Monday.
The network said it pulled the story from “all websites” and “all social media.”
“This withdrawal is part of a settlement with Michael Cohen. Mr. Avenatti has denied the allegations,” the statement said. “OAN apologizes to Mr. Cohen for any harm the publication may have caused him.”
Trump begged not guilty 34 felony counts alleging he falsified business records related to hush money he paid Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. She denied having an affair with Daniels. The trial began this month; both Cohen and Daniels are expected to testify.
In a statement on Monday, Cohen denounced the retracted story’s claims.
“Before the elections, the idea that I will make 130,000 dollars, which I did not even keep for myself, by forcing the person whom I have always supported and believed in to be the president, is not absurd. It’s just stupid,” Cohen said.
Cohen’s attorney said the retraction was a vindication for his client.
“This result is an acquittal for Michael Cohen. He faced severe consequences for telling the truth. With this action, he made it clear that those who slander him will face their own consequences,” Danya Perry said in a statement.
Daniels also denied the allegations, OAN said in a statement on Monday. An attorney for Daniels did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Avenatti, who is currently unaffiliated, is serving imprisonment of the fraud scheme, OAN denied the allegations, which it called “completely fabricated, untrue and false,” in a statement through a paralegal included in an update to its story on April 4.
Tony Seruga, the author of the post that forms the basis of the article, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening.
OAN rollback comes after networking settled the defamation suit The voting machine company settled out of court with Smartmatic, according to a filing this month. Network two years ago settled the defamation suit With a pair of Georgia election workers accusing the network of allegedly committing fraud during the 2020 presidential election.