Donald Trump’s advisers believe they have the perfect response to the Manhattan prosecutors who are badgering him about a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels — but the former president is doing everything he can to avoid using it.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is carefully assembling its case against the former president, arguing that the $130,000 payment to Daniels in 2016 constitutes violations of election and business records laws. However, two sources who are familiar with the situation, say that numerous Trump advisers — including at least one of his attorneys — have informed him over the past few months that he’d have a stronger case if he contends the payments had nothing to do with the election, Rolling Stone reports. His advisers have instead told him he should argue that the payments were entirely meant to prevent conflict with his wife, Melania Trump.

But if the District Attorney’s Office is to bring charges, it must, according to New York law, prove that defendants have falsified records in order to cover up a second crime. For Trump’s case, District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is allegedly trying to prove that the paperwork detailing Trump’s reimbursement of his former fixer Michael Cohen amounted to an attempt to cover up an illegal campaign contribution. But by casting the payments as marriage-related, Trump’s advisers hope to remove any basis for the felony charge Bragg is allegedly considering.

This is a tricky situation for Trump that could become unpleasant for him. It may leave him with the troublesome aspect of having to explain why he willingly spent a six-figure sum to prevent Melania from hearing about an alleged sexual encounter with Daniels — something that he has spent years claiming never happened.

“The [former] president seems reluctant about taking this approach,” one of the two sources told Rolling Stone. “I hope that changes.” Both sources spoke anonymously in order to discuss private deliberations with the former president.

Daniels, whose name is actually Stephanie Clifford, says she and Trump had a brief sexual tryst in 2006 after meeting at a celebrity golf tournament. Melania was preggers with Barron at the time. Trump has continually denied there’s any truth to Daniels’ detailed — and sometimes lurid (ugh) description of the encounter. He even repeated his denial Tuesday on Truth Social. “NEVER HAD AN AFFAIR. This is old news!”

And this has definitely been a sore subject for the ex-president. During his time in the White House, his top aides were more than aware of how worried he was about Melania’s anger over Daniels’ accusations.

“He at one point called me, after the Stormy Daniels news broke, to ask if we [in the first lady’s office] would be responding to her allegations — and I could tell he was trying to take my temperature to see if his wife was pissed off,” Stephanie Grisham, a former senior official in the Trump administration told Rolling Stone. “He never, ever called me to ask if the East Wing was going to respond to something. Never. And he never did again. It was just so out character for him to do that thati it was clear he was trying to see if his wife was pissed. Our East Wing was known at the time for putting out statements that would shock or anger the West Wing, and for this one, since it was a very personal topic, it was clear he was testing the waters.”

Grisham realized Melania was indeed “pissed” about the situation. “I don’t think we ever did put” out a statement about Daniels, Grisham said regarding Melania Trump’s office. “Mrs. Trump would always say to me: ‘This is his problem. This is his problem.'”

It’s reported that Bragg has impaneled a grand jury, and has sought to question a number of former Trump campaign officials, Trump Organization employees, and National Enquirer staff, according to a report from The New York Times. This inquiry is just part of a mountain of legal woes Trump now faces as he begins his 2024 presidential campaign. New York Attorney General Letitia James is still conducting a civil investigation into the Trump Organization’s alleged fraud in valuing assets. Then there are his troubles in Fulton County, Georgia, where prosecutors are reportedly on the edge of announcing whether Trump will be charged for allegedly pushing the Georgia secretary of state to commit election fraud. And of course, Merrick Garland brought special counsel Jack Smith on board to investigate the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his efforts to hold on to classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his home.

But even if Trump’s advisers somehow manage to convince him to relent and admit the payments were indeed an effort to avoid angering his wife with humiliating headlines about an affair, it’s not clear at this point if it would clear him of any legal worries.

“The fact that the false statements in this case relate to payments to hide an extramaritial affair, while not a legal defense to a potential charge, nonetheless could be considered by prosecutors as a circumstance weighing against potential charges — and would certainly be considered by the judge at sentencing, when the judge considers the seriousness of the offense,” Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecuter who isn’t involved in this case, told Rolling Stone.

Michael Cohen made the payment to Daniels in October 2016 just as she was preparing to discuss the alleged affair with several media outlets. In his memoir, he writes that Trump’s decision to implement the hush money stemmed largely from his worry over Melania’s reaction to potential public allegations of an affair. Cohen wrote Trump said the $130,000 check was “a lot less than I would have to pay Melania.” Obviously this is a reference to divorce.

So yes, this is embarrassing for Trump and kind of funny. I think this is the definition of being between a rock and a hard place.