Oversight chair: Lawyers for Trump gave false information

WASHINGTON — Federal ethics officials believe President Donald Trump’s lawyers provided false inf ormation about t he $130,000 payment to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels after she alleged she had sex with Trump, the chairman of the House oversight committee said Friday.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said internal documents from the Office of Government Ethics described that Trump’s personal lawyer, Sheri Dillon, and former White House attorney Stefan Passantino provided false information and “evolving stories” about the payment.

Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations connected to the payments.

The Trump Organization paid Cohen $420,000 in monthly installments of $35,000 throughout 2017, after Cohen sought reimbursement for the hushmoney payment to Daniels and other expenses, according to court documents.

Cohen previously said the Trump Organization didn’t reimburse him.

At first, Dillon told the ethics officials that Trump didn’t owe Cohen any money and said that she confirmed with Trump that Cohen wasn’t owed any money in 2016 or 2017.

After Trump tweeted in May 2018 that the hushmoney agreement was paid using a monthly retainer agreement, the ethics officials went back to Dillon and were told that all the payments were “in connection with legal services,” according to the letter.

Passantino made the same argument, saying the payments were for legal fees charged on a monthly basis.