In a television interview that appeared to contradict President Donald Trump’s prior statements, Trump’s new lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said Wednesday night that Trump had repaid Michael Cohen for the $130,000 he facilitated to Stormy Daniels in 2016.
“It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violation,” Giuliani told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “[They] funneled through a law firm, and then the president repaid it.”
Later, Hannity returned to the topic, asking Giuliani to “clarify” what he was talking about.
“I was talking about the $130,000 payment, the settlement payment” Giuliani said bluntly, explaining, “That was money that was paid by his lawyer — the way I would do, out of his law firm funds, or whatever funds, it doesn’t matter — and the president reimbursed that over the period of several months.”
Rudy Giuliani says Trump knew about “the general arrangement” that Michael Cohen “would take care of things like” porn star payments and Trump repaid the $130,000 that Cohen paid to Stormy Daniels. pic.twitter.com/8TuSfwe5qM
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) May 3, 2018
Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, had facilitated the payment in connection with a 2016 settlement agreement signed by Stormy Daniels, the adult film star whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford.
Asked aboard Air Force One on April 5 about whether he even knew about the payment, Trump simply said, “No.” Asked why Cohen made the payment, Trump said, “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael.”
EXCLUSIVE: @MichaelAvenatti responds to Rudy Giuliani claiming Trump repaid Stormy Daniels hush money. pic.twitter.com/d56nAQVKoS
— The Last Word (@TheLastWord) May 3, 2018
Asked whether Trump knew about the payment at the time, Giuliani said, “He 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 — like I take care of things like this for my clients. I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along. These are busy people.”
Michael Avenatti, Daniels’ lawyer in two pending lawsuits against Trump, responded on Twitter, saying, “Mr. Trump stood on AF1 and blatantly lied. … This should never be acceptable in our America.”
https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/992213948232556544
Thanks, Rudy, for helping finish chump off!
https://twitter.com/TheBeatWithAri/status/992172881672097792
https://twitter.com/TheBeatWithAri/status/992176741249667072
https://twitter.com/TPM/status/992141654537723904
Robert Mueller filed a request for 70 blank subpoenas involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Mueller ain’t playing with these mofos…………..
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/992134382986186752
https://twitter.com/CourthouseNews/status/992131956707127296
Serving up the cheeto
https://twitter.com/politiCOHEN_/status/992130946953564160
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/992131926218694656
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/992106857656438784
https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/992108769185353728
Trump LIED on President Obama about wiretapping his phone. But the feds did wiretap his lawyer. KARMA JUST serving it UP!
Sips 🍷
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/992093255134199808
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/992087126853410816
Chimp NEVER heeds any advice. He stays stuck on stupid.
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/991997209595006977
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/992089553795084288
https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/992063333405634560
https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/992061676123033602
https://twitter.com/politvidchannel/status/992033863344910337
https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/992051087673880576
https://twitter.com/grantstern/status/992007844051464192
https://twitter.com/ECMcLaughlin/status/992049144301731840
https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/992015378762096640
https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/992016351429582849
https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/991877905377411073
https://twitter.com/costareports/status/991883505033342977
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/991503385705795585
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/991878895795408899
https://twitter.com/rudepundit/status/991890674797686785
Those white, clinging to our guns, MAGA folks believe him. And of course the complicit racist GOP
https://twitter.com/funder/status/991862774954430467
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/991886508985606145
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/991885897212809216
Yep, he will gset his 15 minutes in front of the cameras, and then….PUFFFFFFFFF!
https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/991881038497398784
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/991881299324489729
https://twitter.com/DrDenaGrayson/status/991854274228506624
https://twitter.com/EdKrassen/status/991854366213726208
https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/991868699228258304
You can’t make this ISH up, folks! Rudy Giuliani on Fox News spilling his guts. He can’t stfu. Just lock him up already!
LOL The clowns are spilling out of the car.
Seriously, these folks need to be taken care of with the quickness.
https://twitter.com/BrianKarem/status/991869847729471494
https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/991878849536262144