TRUMP ADMITS: YES, I PAID THE PORN STAR
Amid 'payday,' it's pray day at White House ’Fess on $tormy mess after Rudy’s TV reveal
Contradicting his earlier denials, President Trump said that porn star Stormy Daniels was paid off by his lawyer Michael Cohen, and that no campaign funds were used. Rudy Giuliani said Trump used his own money.
President Trump — hours after tweeting about his hush money payoff to a porn star — led a ceremony Thursday at the White House celebrating the annual National Day of Prayer.
The commander-in-chief hailed his efforts to protect religious freedom and signed an executive order to create “a White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative” that would focus on helping faith-based and community organizations address poverty and issues of religious freedom.
“I will always protect religious liberty. We have been doing it. We have been doing it,” the president said in the Rose Garden. “And my administration has spoken out against religious persecution around the world, including the persecution of many, many Christians.
“What is going on is horrible, and we’re taking action. We are taking action.”
The president also took a shot at his predecessor, Barack Obama, and claimed that more people are saying “Merry Christmas” since he took office.
“One nation under God. So important. And we say it. A lot of people, you know, they don’t say it. But you know what? They’re starting to say it more, just like we’re starting to say, ‘Merry Christmas’ when that day comes around,” he said.
“You notice a big difference between now and two or three years ago?” Trump added. “It was going in the other direction rapidly. Now it’s straight up.”
First Lady Melania Trump was notably absent for the event.
President Trump on Thursday admitted for the first time that he knew about the $130,000 inn hush money paid to porn vixenn Stormy Daniels — contradicting his previous denial that he knew anything about the payoff.
“Mr. [Michael] Cohen, an at-ttorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA,” the president tweeted in lawyerly prose devoid of his usual capital letters and multiple exclamation points.
He was responding to the stunning admission his new lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, made on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel show the night before, acknowledging that Trump had reimbursed Cohen, his longtime lawyer and fixer, for the payment.
Giuliani on Thursday dropped another bombshell in an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” where he said Daniels was paid to clam up because the presidential election was weeks away.
“Imagine if that came out on October 15, 2016, in the middle of the, you know, last debate with Hillary Clinton,” he said.
For months, Trump and the White House have denied the tryst and that the president knew anything about the payment. Last month, Trump replied, “No,” when asked aboard Air Force One if he knew about the $130,000.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday defended the president’s denial during her daily press conference.
“As Mayor Giuliani stated, and I’ll refer you back to his comment, this was information that the president didn’t know at the time but eventually learned,” she said.
In Thursday’s tweets, the commander-in-chief explained in detail how the payment was made.
“These [nondisclosure] agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth,” Trump’s post said.
“In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair.“
He added, “Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll [sic] in this transaction.”
Sol Wisenberg, a defense attorney who was a deputy independent counsel during the Ken Starr special-counsel investigation of Bill Clinton, said Giuliani’s comment “obviously increases the president’s exposure to potential campaign-finance violations, but it also makes him look terrible.”
“I don’t understand the Giuliani strategy,” he added. “Maybe it’s been too long since he’s been in the criminal-justice field.”
Giuliani’s surprise admission seemed to leave Hannity — an avid Trump supporter — momentarily stunned, as he did not immediately follow up.
“I’m giving you a fact that you don’t know,” Giuliani said. “It’s not campaign money. No campaign-finance violation.”
In the nondisclosure deal, Daniels agreed to clam up about the alleged 2006 fling. She and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti — who told CNN he was “stunned” and “speechless” over Giuliani’s remarks — have sued to get out of the agreement.
Meanwhile, Giuliani said Thursday there was an even chance that special counsel Robert Mueller would subpoena Trump in order to compel him to testify in the Russia probe.
“I think it’s 50/50,” Giuliani told ABC News. “But I got to prepare for that 50 percent.”