Trump: I DID know about £96k payment to porn star
DonAlD Trump has admitted he reimbursed his personal lawyer who paid £96,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her claims of an affair.
The US President changed his story on the controversy yesterday after his new lawyer – former new York mayor Rudy Giuliani – revealed Mr Trump had reimbursed the payment to the porn star.
In a series of tweets, the President said personal lawyer Michael Cohen was reimbursed through a monthly retainer to stop what Mr Trump called ‘false and extortionist accusations’ about the alleged sexual encounter in 2006.
He insisted such a ‘non-disclosure agreement’ was ‘ very common among celebrities and people of wealth’. Amid claims that the payment may have breached laws covering election campaign finances, Mr Trump said no campaign money was used to reimburse Mr Cohen, calling it a ‘private agreement’.
The President had previously insisted he knew nothing about the $130,000 Mr Cohen paid Miss Daniels – whose real name is Stephanie Clifford – to ensure her silence shortly before the 2016 election. Mr Cohen has claimed he paid Miss Daniels, 39, out of his own pocket and was never recompensed by either Mr Trump or his election campaign. The Trump camp shifted its stance when Mr Giuliani revealed Mr Trump had in fact repaid Mr Cohen.
Mr Trump ‘didn’t know about the specifics of it’ and ‘probably wasn’t aware’ at the time that Miss Daniels was being paid hush money, Mr Giuliani said. ‘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. I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes
‘Serious, serious problem’
along. These are busy people.’ Mr Giuliani further contradicted Mr Cohen by insisting the lawyer knew that Mr Trump would eventually pay him back when he paid off Miss Daniels.
Mr Giuliani said that he understood Mr Trump repaid Mr Cohen in a series of postelection transactions that could have stretched into this year.
legal experts expressed disbelief that Mr Trump would not have been told why his lawyer was paying out so much money. Some said any lawyer would have regarded it as his duty to keep his client informed.
Mr Giuliani said Mr Cohen didn’t silence Miss Daniels to avoid embarrassment for the Trump campaign, but to ‘save’ the tycoon’s marriage. He added: ‘I think he was trying to help the family. And for that, the man is being treated like some kind of villain.’
Miss Daniels’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said Mr Giuliani may have dropped the President in even deeper legal danger.
He said Mr Trump may be guilty of money laundering, campaign finance violations and fraud by paying Mr Cohen back in small increments over the course of several months. He added there would be a violation of campaign finance laws if Mr Trump and Mr Cohen structured the payment ‘in a way to avoid detection or in an effort to make it appear to be something that it was not, namely, a retainer payment as opposed to $130,000 reimbursement’.
Mr Avenatti said: ‘That’s a serious, serious problem. It’s a violation of federal law. It’s a criminal act to do that.’