By July 22, 2016, Davidson was urging Howard to involve Trump’s then-fixer, Michael Cohen, in the negotiations. Following the finalization of the McDougal story contract, Davidson and Cohen talked about Stormy Daniels’ story due to the uproar surrounding the Access Hollywood tape.
By October 2017, Davidson and Cohen had come to an understanding, despite Cohen’s persistent payment delays, which Davidson believed were an attempt to “kick the can” until the election.
At some point, Cohen declared, “I’ll just do it myself,” but Davidson “assumed” that Trump was the one who was funding it.