<p class="title">Adult film star Stormy Daniels, in the midst of a publicity tour fuelled by past allegations of a 2006 sexual relationship with a then-married Donald Trump, said in a statement today the alleged affair never occurred.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A lawyer for Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, confirmed the statement was authentic but didn't offer any further details.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The statement comes at a curious time for Clifford, who is scheduled to appear following the president's State of the Union address on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"</p>.<p class="bodytext">In recent weeks she has changed production companies, given a television interview and promoted strip club appearances with a risque play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer, has denied there was any affair.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Clifford's allegation, first made in 2011 and then again a month before the election, went mostly unnoticed until The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Cohen brokered a USD 130,000 payment to Clifford to keep her from publicly discussing it.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A week after that report, In Touch magazine printed a 5,000-word interview it conducted with Clifford in 2011 but never published after Cohen threatened the tabloid with a lawsuit, The Associated Press has previously reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In that interview, Clifford described a single sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, when he was recently married to his third wife, Melania, as well as a subsequent years-long relationship with the reality TV star. The magazine said it corroborated her account with friends and said she passed a lie detector test.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In her statement today, Clifford said she wasn't denying the affair because she was paid "hush money," but rather "because it never happened."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Neither Cohen nor Clifford has addressed whether she was paid USD 130,000, or if so, why.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A publicist didn't respond to questions about the statement today.</p>
<p class="title">Adult film star Stormy Daniels, in the midst of a publicity tour fuelled by past allegations of a 2006 sexual relationship with a then-married Donald Trump, said in a statement today the alleged affair never occurred.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A lawyer for Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, confirmed the statement was authentic but didn't offer any further details.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The statement comes at a curious time for Clifford, who is scheduled to appear following the president's State of the Union address on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"</p>.<p class="bodytext">In recent weeks she has changed production companies, given a television interview and promoted strip club appearances with a risque play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer, has denied there was any affair.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Clifford's allegation, first made in 2011 and then again a month before the election, went mostly unnoticed until The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Cohen brokered a USD 130,000 payment to Clifford to keep her from publicly discussing it.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A week after that report, In Touch magazine printed a 5,000-word interview it conducted with Clifford in 2011 but never published after Cohen threatened the tabloid with a lawsuit, The Associated Press has previously reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In that interview, Clifford described a single sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, when he was recently married to his third wife, Melania, as well as a subsequent years-long relationship with the reality TV star. The magazine said it corroborated her account with friends and said she passed a lie detector test.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In her statement today, Clifford said she wasn't denying the affair because she was paid "hush money," but rather "because it never happened."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Neither Cohen nor Clifford has addressed whether she was paid USD 130,000, or if so, why.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A publicist didn't respond to questions about the statement today.</p>