A women’s rights lawyer tried to solicit cash from donors and media outlets for women who accused President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, a new report said Friday.
Attorney Lisa Bloom offered to sell the alleged victims’ stories to TV outlets and wanted to pocket a portion for herself as a commission, The Hill reported.
She persuaded a donor to pay off one accuser’s mortgage and tried to get a fat six-figure payment for another woman who eventually declined to come forward even after she was offered as much as $750,000, the website reported, citing Bloom’s clients as sources.
Bloom told one prospective accuser that political action committees supporting Hillary Clinton were also contacted as part of the effort, though details about that connection were scarce.
In a statement to The Hill, Bloom acknowledged she engaged in discussions to get cash for women who made or thought about accusing Trump before last year’s election.
“Donors reached out to my firm directly to help some of the women I represented,” said Bloom, whose clients have included women who accused disgraced ex-Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and serial perv Bill Cosby.
Bloom, the daughter of noted women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred, said she wasn’t pressuring the women to come forward, just trying to help them relocate or arrange security if they felt in danger after going public.
She would not identify any of the donors.
Bloom also said a standard part of her contracts required women to pay her commissions as high as 33 percent if she sold their stories to media outlets.
“Our standard pro bono agreement for legal services provides that if a media entity offers to compensate a client for sharing his or her story we receive a percentage of those fees. This rarely happens. But, on occasion, a case generates media interest and sometimes (not always) a client may receive an appearance fee,” she said.
“As a private law firm we have significant payroll, rent, taxes, insurance and other expenses every week, so an arrangement where we might receive some compensation to defray our costs seems reasonable to us and is agreed to by our clients,” Bloom added.
Bloom told The Hill she had no contact with Clinton or her campaign, but declined to address any contacts with super PACs that supported the Democratic presidential nominee.
One client she helped was New York City makeup artist Jill Harth, who filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Trump in 1997 and then withdrew it under pressure.
She asked Bloom to represent her in the fall after hearing Trump describe her allegations against him as false, and became a vocal critic of Trump.
“I consider myself lucky to have had Lisa Bloom by my side after my old lawsuit resurfaced. She advised me with great competence and compassion,” Harth told The Hill.
Bloom later set up a payment for Harth for photos she allowed the media to use, and also raised $2,300 from a GoFundMe.com page.
Bloom also arranged for a donor to make a larger contribution — less than $30,000 — to help Harth pay off the mortgage on her Queens apartment, the website reported.
Another woman, who was not identified at one point demanded $2 million to tell her story.
Bloom reportedly offered a six-figure sum, but the woman, who supported Trump, backed out.
Bloom said the donor money was never intended “to entice women to come forward against their will. Nothing can be further from the truth. Some clients asked for small photo licensing fees while others wanted more to protect their security,” she said.
Harth charged that during a January 1993 meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump shoved her against a wall and groped her.
More than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct or assault, prompting a handful of Democratic lawmakers to call for his resignation and a larger number demanding a Congressional probe.
The president says they are all liars.