Article snippet: Michael Cohen has acknowledged using his private funds shortly before the 2016 election to pay $130,000 to a porn actress who had once claimed to have had an affair with Trump. “In a private transaction in 2016, I used my own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Ms. Stephanie Clifford,” Cohen said in a statement emailed to ABC News, referencing the actress also known as Stormy Daniels. Cohen’s statement, first reported by the New York Times, came in direct response to a Jan. 22 complaint filed by watchdog group Common Cause with the presidential campaign, or whether the campaign reimbursed Cohen for the expense. “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,” Cohen said. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.” Cohen said he has filed a response to the Common Cause complaint, calling the allegations “factually unsupported and without legal merit.” Vice President Mike Pence has called the affair and payment allegations “baseless.” While Cohen’s statement Wednesday tackles the election law issues, the president’s longtime close advisor added little to the larger question – why he made the payment in the first place. In January, the Wall Street Journal first reported on the payments to Daniels, an actress who alleged she had an a... Link to the full article to read more