President Trump’s longtime former fixer reportedly told actor Tom Arnold that he also helped the Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr. get out of an awkward situation involving intimate photographs.
Citing “a recorded conversation reviewed by Reuters,” the British news agency reported Tuesday that Michael Cohen told the comedian that the president of Liberty University had told him someone had “personal” photographs that normally would be “between husband and wife.”
Cohen got involved in 2015, months before Mr. Falwell delivered a key endorsement of Mr. Trump, a man who had been doing poorly with, and had few historic ties to, the Republicans’ white evangelical base. Citing a “source familiar with Cohen’s thinking,” Reuters said the two events were unrelated.
The Falwells wanted to keep “a bunch of photographs, personal photographs” from becoming public, Cohen told Mr. Arnold, according to Reuters.
“I actually have one of the photos,” he said, calling it “terrible” without specifying further.
The source told Reuters the person holding the photos, who had been demanding money, destroyed them after his attorney talked with Cohen in a visit to Florida. Cohen reportedly told the photo owner’s lawyer that his client was committing a crime and that the Falwells would call in law-enforcement if his demands didn’t cease.
Mr. Falwell did not comment to Reuters, and the British news agency could not determine the identity of the attempted blackmailer.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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