President Trump, in a series of tweets Thursday, ignored his previous claims that he was unaware his personal lawyer paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels and confirmed repaying Michael Cohen the money, arguing it’s “common among celebrities and people of wealth” and that no campaign money was used.
“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 ,” the president wrote in the first of three tweets about the payment, revealed Wednesday by Rudy Giuliani.
The president was reacting to Giuliani’s stunning revelation to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday that the president reimbursed Cohen for the payment made less than two weeks before the 2016 election to buy her silence about a sexual affair she alleged she had with Trump in 2006.
For months, Trump and the White House have denied the claims of a tryst and knowing anything about Cohen’s payment to Daniels.
Last month, Trump was asked while aboard Air Force One about the $130,000 payment and responded, “No.”
Asked in March if Trump knew about the payment, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “There was no knowledge of any payments from the president, and he’s denied all of these allegations.”
In the tweets, Trump made his most extensive comments so far about the Daniels matter.
” These agreements are 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) ,” he wrote. “The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair 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.”
Giuliani, the former New York mayor who recently joined Trump’s legal team, was adamant that no campaign money was used.
“I’m giving you a fact that you don’t know,” Giuliani said. “It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violation. They funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it.”
He also said Trump was unaware of the specifics about the Cohen payment.
“He didn’t know about the specifics of it as far as I know, but he did know about the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this,” he said.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, are challenging the validity of the nondisclosure agreement because they say Trump never signed it.
They have also sued Cohen and the president for defamation.
Avenatti told CNN on Thursday morning that he was left “stunned” and “speechless” by the revelation of the payment and Trump’s knowledge of it.
“There has been lie after lie told to the American people relating to this transaction, the agreement, the payment,” he told CNN’s “New Day.” “The president of the United States standing on Air Force One and stating that he knew nothing about the agreement, nothing about the payment. We now know that was an absolute lie … and I think it’s an absolute disgrace.”
Andrew Herman, an attorney specializing in campaign finance law, said Giuliani’s argument that the payment was unrelated to the campaign appears to be “pretty far-fetched.”
“Certainly, the argument that the government will make is that the $130,000 payment from Michael Cohen to Daniels was a loan to the Trump campaign to keep these allegations secret obviously and then Trump paying Cohen back would be a campaign expenditure” he told the Associated Press, adding the loan and expenditure should should have been disclosed to the Federal Election Commission.
Common Cause, the watchdog group that has filed complaints with the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission over the payment, said Giuliani has put the president in “legal peril.”
“Rudy Giuliani … put President Trump in legal peril for ‘knowing and willful’ violations of campaign finance law,” Paul Ryan, the association’s vice president for litigation, said in a statement. “Giuliani seemingly thought he was doing President Trump a favor – but instead made Trump’s legal problems much, much worse.”
