President Trump said Thursday that the payments his personal lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels were aimed at keeping her from making “false accusations” that she and Trump had an affair, and insisted that campaign funds were not used to make that $130,000 payment, Washington Examiner reported.
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According to Washington Post:
Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and a recent addition to President Trump’s legal team, said Wednesday night that Trump made a series of payments reimbursing his attorney Michael Cohen for a $130,000 settlement with an adult-film actress — despite Trump’s assertion last month that he was unaware of the payment.
“The president repaid it,’’ Giuliani told Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity.
Trump “didn’t know about the specifics of it, as far as I know. But he did know the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this, like I take care of things like this with my clients,” Giuliani said. “I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along. These are busy people.’’
According to President Trump, it wasn’t ‘hush money’ to cover-up an affair but part of an agreement to stop telling falsehoods about an affair. Trump maintains that the affair never took place and that he was more-or-less being blackmailed by Daniels.
Also noteworthy about this recent development: According to Trump he repaid the money with his own funds and the President himself says that it was not related to his campaign. Take a look:
Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
…very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
…despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
As Written By The Washington Examiner:
Some in the press are accusing President Trump of lying after his new lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said Trump reimbursed his other attorney, Michael Cohen, for a payment he made to porn actress Stormy Daniels but without knowing why he was reimbursing Cohen.
In early April, Trump said definitively that he didn’t know about his lawyer’s payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. But when Giuliani said Trump reimbursed Cohen without knowing the details, the journalists on social media were quick to say that’s proof Trump was lying.
