Trump admits paying to silence porn star
Disclosure exposes president to claims of lying amid media reports his lawyer’s phone was tapped
Donald Trump admitted reimbursing his lawyer $130,000 in hush money paid to the porn star Stormy Daniels, as it was reported that the FBI had tapped the lawyer’s phones. The US president said the payment was intended to “stop false and extortionist accusations”, stressing that the money did not come from his campaign. The payment was made through his lawyer, Michael Cohen, who, it was claimed by US media, was wiretapped for weeks before an FBI raid.
DONALD TRUMP admitted reimbursing $130,000 (£95,500) in hush money paid to the porn star Stormy Daniels by his personal lawyer, as it was reported that the lawyer’s phones were monitored by the FBI.
Mr Trump said the payment was a “private agreement” intended to “stop false and extortionist accusations about an affair,”, stressing that the money did not come from his presidential campaign. The payment was made through his lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Last night, NBC News reported that Mr Cohen’s phones were monitored for weeks before the FBI raided his home, office and hotel room in early April.
There was at least one phone call from Mr Cohen to the White House. The FBI kept a log of numbers Mr Cohen called, and which called him, but did not listen to the conversations, according to the report. Mr Cohen is under investigation, partly over the payment to Ms Daniels, and the FBI sought documents relating to that in the raids.
Mr Trump had previously publicly denied knowledge of the payment. But yesterday Rudy Giuliani, a member of his legal team, confirmed the president paid back Mr Cohen from one of his own accounts over several months.
In all, he transferred to Mr Cohen $470,000 (£345,000) when “incidental expenses” were included. The disclosure appeared to be aimed at extricating Mr Trump from potential legal jeopardy amid suggestions the payment by Mr Cohen to Ms Daniels could constitute an undeclared, excessive, and illegal campaign donation.
Individuals are limited in how much they can donate to a campaign but, if it was ultimately a case of Mr Trump donating to his own campaign, that would not be a violation.
However, the revelation opened up Mr Trump to claims that he had previously lied publicly about who made the payment. A month ago, Mr Trump was asked on board Air Force One whether he knew about the $130,000 given to Ms Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford.
In televised comments, the president replied “No”, adding that he did not know why Mr Cohen made the payment, or where he got the money. Mr Giuliani revealed that the president had reimbursed Mr Cohen during an interview on Fox News on Wednesday. He added that Mr Trump “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.” After Mr Giuliani’s comments, the president confirmed on Twitter that Mr Cohen had been “reimbursed” for making a nondisclosure agreement with Ms Daniels.
Such agreements were “very common among celebrities and people of wealth,” he added. Mr Trump said that “money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll [sic] in this transaction”.
Mr Giuliani said: “It wasn’t true [the affair]. 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 [Mr Trump]. Cohen made it go away. Cohen thought $130,000 was cheap. He did his job.” He said the repayment by Mr Trump “removes the campaign finance violation. Some time after the campaign is over, they set up a reimbursement, $35,000 a month, out of his [Mr Trump’s] personal family account”.
Michael Avenatti, Ms Daniels’s lawyer, said: “We predicted months ago that it would be proven that the American people had been lied to about the $130,000 payment and what Mr Trump
knew, when he knew it, and what he did in connection with it.”
♦ A prisoner at Guantánamo Bay has been sent back to his native Saudi Arabia to serve out the nine years left of a 13-year sentence, making him the first to leave the US base in Cuba since Mr Trump took office. Ahmed Mohammed al-darbi pleaded guilty to charges stemming from an al-qaeda attack on a French oil tanker.