TRUMP REVEALS PAYMENT TO REIMBURSE MICHAEL COHEN

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s financial disclosure for 2017 has confirmed that he reimbursed $100,000 to his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, an apparent reference to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Cohen had paid Daniels $130,000 in 2016 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. The disclosure has proven false his earlier claims that that was his money and that he had never been reimbursed by Trump or his organisation.

Information about the repayment to Cohen, an amount stated as a range from $100,000 to $250,000, was included in a footnote in the 92-page disclosure Trump’s lawyers filed with the office of government ethics, which in turn referred the payment to the deputy attorney general Rob Rosenstein.

The note said that “you may find the disclosure relevant to any inquiry you may be pursuing regarding the president’s prior report that was signed on June 14, 2017”. That disclosure had not included repayment to Cohen and questions were raised if it was deliberately concealed.

The note did not amount to a finding of a wrongdoing, according to lawyers cited in news reports.

The issue of the payment has acquired importance, with Cohen facing possible bank fraud charges and violation of election laws because of it. His office and homes were raided in April by the FBI, who l ooked f or documents related to the payment.

Trump himself has changed his position on the payments. He has denied the affair, and first claimed he had no knowledge of the payment.

A reporter had asked Trump: “Did you know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels?” Trump had said, “No.”

When pressed why Cohen made that payment if there was no truth to Daniels’ allegations, Trump had said, “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen.”