Trump acknowledges he repaid lawyer for ‘Stormy’ hush money
President Donald Trump acknowledged Thursday he repaid his personal lawyer for hush money given to porn actress Stormy Daniels after claiming previously he didn’t know about the payments. But the money, paid just before the 2016 election to stifle her claims of an affair, “had nothing to do with the campaign,’’ the president tweeted.
Trump said his attorney Michael Cohen received a monthly retainer, which he used to pay the actress to sign an agreement not to talk about her allegations and thus “stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair.’’
Trump’s tweets outlining the arrangement came after Rudy Giuliani, one of his new attorneys, said Wednesday that Trump reimbursed Cohen for $130,000 paid to Daniels. During an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,’’ Giuliani said the money to repay Cohen had been “funneled ... through the law firm and the president repaid it.’’
Asked if Trump knew about the arrangement, Giuliani said: “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, like I take care of things like this for my clients. I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along. These are busy people.’’
Speaking on “Fox and Friends’’ Thursday, Giuliani said Trump didn’t know all the details until “maybe 10 days ago.’’ While stressing that Trump denies the relationship, he said Cohen may have seen $130,000 as “cheap.’’
“They said it wasn’t true,’’ Giuliani said. “However, imagine if that came out on October 15, 2016, in the middle of the last debate with Hillary Clinton. Cohen didn’t even ask. Cohen made it go away. He did his job.’’
The comments contradicted statements made by Trump several weeks ago, when he said he didn’t know about the payment to Daniels. Giuliani later suggested to The Wall Street Journal that while Trump had repaid the $130,000, Cohen had settled the payment to Daniels without Trump’s knowledge at the time.
Giuliani’s revelation appeared to take many in the West Wing by surprise. In briefings and media appearances, White House aides have sought to avoid staking out a clear position on the matter, directing reporters to Trump’s own comments. And the way Giuliani announced details — on live television and imprecisely — raised fresh worries about the president’s uneven legal team. But it was no accident.
“Of course’’ this is a strategy, said former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who led Trump’s presidential transition before being fired.
“You know, there’s an old saying in the law, ‘Hang a lantern on your problems.’’’ Christie said on ABC. “So he comes in, he knows that there’s been different stories being told about this payment and how it was made. So the fact is that Rudy has to go out there now and clean it up. That’s what lawyers get hired to do.’’