To pay Stormy Daniels (real name: Stephanie Clifford) $130,000 in 2016, "Cohen scraped up the money through a home-equity line of credit. Until Trump's tax law took effect this year, taxpayers could deduct as much as $100,000 in interest paid on such loans and credit lines, no matter how they used the money. Now the deduction is only for loans used for home improvements. (Cohen has said he's renovating his family's apartment.)
Says "James Harbert, an employment lawyer in Chicago, 'It's not ordinary practice for a lawyer, without the knowledge of his client, to make a payment to someone for nondisclosure.' Also not customary: paying from your own wallet. 'That's extraordinary—more in the nature of a gift.' And it's not [tax] deductible.
Note: summary underneath the title in print: Nondisclosure agreements may be hush-hush, but they still have to be reported as income
(b) In quotation 1: "Cohen has said he's renovating his family's apartment."
I did not know it until today when I read this article. It is bank fraud (a federal felony) to lie to a bank (a federally insured one, but all in US are federally insured, by FDIC) to obtain a loan.
(c) There is no need to read the rest of this article, which is not new -- of course hush money is taxable.