(CNN) The legal and political storm around Stormy Daniels -- and her allegations that she had an extramarital affair with President Donald Trump in the mid-2000s -- just keeps growing.
On Wednesday night we learned that Jill Martin, a lawyer for the Trump Organization based in Los Angeles, filed a document as the attorney representing "EC, LLC," which Daniels' lawsuit says stands for Essential Consultants, in an arbitration case seeking a restraining order against the porn star filed last month. Essential Consultants is the name of the LLC formed by Trump personal lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen and from which Cohen made a $130,000 payment to Daniels 11 days before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about her alleged relationship with Trump.
Martin's involvement directly contradicts Cohen's previous assertion that "neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford." (Daniels' real name is Stephanie Clifford.) In response to the revelation that Martin was in fact involved in the Daniels' proceedings, the Trump Organization released a statement to CNN saying she was doing so in her private capacity not as an official attorney in Trump world.
"The Trump Organization is not representing anyone and, with the exception of one of its California based attorneys in her individual capacity facilitating the initial filing ... the company has had no involvement in the matter."
Which, OK.
The problem for Cohen and Martin -- and, yes, Trump -- is that the latest news tie to the Trump Organization is part of a broader pattern regarding the payment to Daniels. Let's walk through what we now know -- including the Martin news.
Anyone of these things -- in isolation -- might not raise eyebrows. But taken together? Here's what you have to believe if you believe the current version of the story:
Trump's longtime personal fixer took out a home equity line of credit to make a $130,000 payment to a porn star alleging an affair with Trump. Cohen created a LLC in a state legendary for its lack of corporate disclosure to make the payment, despite the fact that he didn't believe Daniels' story. He went to considerable lengths to keep Daniels from breaking the hush agreement, including filing suit against her in court -- and using a senior member of Trump Organization's legal team to do so.
Is that exactly what actually happened? Maybe. But it seems to strain credulity -- and cry out for a more fulsome response from Trump. If past is prologue, we won't get one.