The FBI is investigating the hacking of scandal-dogged Republican operative Elliott Broidy, The Daily Beast has learned. Three sources familiar with the investigation said the FBI has questioned multiple witnesses about the hack, which stole thousands of emails and allegedly resulted in scores of stories that embarrassed Broidy and snarled his business dealings. The hack appears to have released a deluge of shocking stories about Broidy…

One Wall Street Journal story—which Broidy’s people believe to be based on stolen emails—showed he agreed to pay $1.6 million in a non-disclosure agreement to Playboy Playmate Shera Bechard who became pregnant while having an affair with him. According to the Journal, the deal barred the Playboy Playmate from revealing she had ever been with Broidy. It was set for her to be paid in quarterly installments over two years…

The story connects Broidy to another man who is no stranger to scandal, Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen. Both men were on the RNC finance committee at the same time, and Cohen reportedly helped set up the deal to pay off the Playmate. The lawyer for the Playmate was Keith Davidson—the same lawyer who helped set up the non-disclosure agreement between porn star Stormy Daniels and then-candidate Donald Trump in the final days of the 2016 campaign. The Wall Street Journal reported that both Trump’s payment to Stormy Daniels and Broidy’s payment to Shera Bechard were made through Michael Cohen’s Essential Consultants LLC.