President did nothing wrong: White House

WASHINGTON • Donald Trump said hushmoney payments made to two women claiming affairs before the 2016 U.S. election came from him and not from campaign funds.

The payments were not illegal, said the U.S. president Wednesday, as he came out boldly against his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

In a plea deal Tuesday, Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws over the payments. Cohen claimed he had facilitated both payments at the “direction” of Trump and that it was an attempt to “influence” the 2016 election — buying the women’s silence before the vote.

Cohen’s admission came on the same day that Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was found guilty of eight charges of tax and bank fraud. He has refused to seek a plea agreement and faces up to 80 years in jail.

Discussing both cases, Trump wrote on Twitter, “I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. ‘Justice’ took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to ‘break’ — make up stories in order to get a ‘deal.’ Such respect for a brave man!”

He added, “Michael Cohen plead[ed] guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime.”

Those violations centre around payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels (US$130,000) and Playboy model Karen Mcdougal (US$150,000). Trump has denied having affairs with the women.

Trump’s position on the payments has changed a number of times since they became public. First he denied knowledge of them, then his lawyer Rudy Giuliani admitted they occurred.

Speaking to Fox News Wednesday, Trump gave his fullest response yet to Cohen — admitting the money eventually came from him but denying any wrongdoing.

He said of the payments, “They weren’t taken out of campaign finance. That’s a big thing. That’s a much bigger thing. Did they come out of the campaign? They didn’t come out of the campaign, they came from me.”

Trump also said, “In fact my first question when I heard about it was did they come out of the campaign, because that could be a little dicey.”

Trump said he learned of the payments “later on”, casting doubt on exactly when he became aware the money had been paid to the women.

Exactly how the money was paid will still be an issue. Corporations are not permitted to contribute to campaigns and money intended to influence an election must be reported to federal authorities.

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said: “The president has done nothing wrong, there are no charges against him.”

Asked if Trump lied to the American people when he said he didn’t know anything about hush-money payments to women, Sanders said that was a “ridiculous accusation.”

In his defence, Trump also tweeted, “President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!”

In 2010, the Federal Election Commission fined Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign US$375,000 for various violations, including accepting US$1.4 million in contributions over the legal limit for individual donors. But it found no indication that the candidate was aware of the infractions.

The court cases of Manafort and Cohen resulted from the work of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russia’s attempts to sway voters in the 2016 election, including hacking Democrats’ emails, whether the Trump campaign may have cooperated, and if the president himself obstructed justice in investigating both.

Trump denounced the probe again Wednesday on Twitter as a “witch hunt.

Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, said Wednesday that his client had information “that would be of interest” to Mueller.

Cohen also initially denied making the payments to the women or that Trump had any knowledge of them. But he changed his story as prosecutors closed in. Davis, his attorney, told CNN of Cohen, “There has been an evolution in his loyalty toward Donald Trump.”