Donald Trump and his legal team — led in part by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — just left the liberal “witch hunt” of the president scrambling for answers.
Trump reimbursed his personal lawyer for $130,000 in money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election, Giuliani said Wednesday. The mainstream media jumped on the story, saying that it appears to contradict the president’s past claims that he didn’t know the source of the money.
They were wrong.
In fact, the whole exchange actually left Trump exonerated — because it completely killed the idea the payment was financed by the Trump campaign, the reasoning behind Special Counsel Robert Mueller-inspired FBI raid on Michael Cohen’s office. It also hurts Daniels’ case, because her lawyer had claimed the payment Cohen made to her was financed illegally.
During an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Giuliani said the money to repay Michael Cohen had been “funneled … through the law firm and the president repaid it.”
Asked if Trump knew about the arrangement, 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.”
Giuliani later told The Wall Street Journal that while Trump had repaid the $130,000, Cohen had settled the payment to Daniels without Trump’s knowledge at the time.
Guiliani’s revelation seemed aimed at reducing the president’s legal exposure.In a phone interview with “Fox and Friends” last week, Trump said that Cohen represent him in the “crazy Stormy Daniels deal.”
The White House referred questions to the president’s personal legal team.
Giuliani,an ex-U.S. attorney who joined Trump’s legal team last month, said the president had repaid Cohen over several months. He also said the payment “is going to turn out to be perfectly legal” because “that money was not campaign money.”
Giuliani also described the payment to Daniels as “a very regular thing for lawyers to do.” He made the statements to Fox News star Sean Hannity.
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, has claimed — without evidence — she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, and was paid to keep quiet as part of a nondisclosure agreement she is now seeking to invalidate. The White House has said Trump denies having a relationship with Daniels.
Cohen had said previously: “Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly.” He notably did not include the president personally.
Asked about Cohen’s denial, Giuliani said that he didn’t know whether Cohen had made the payment without asking Trump but that he had “no reason to dispute that.”
Law firms advance expenses for clients as a matter of course, and so there’s nothing improper about a lawyer covering a particular payment and then being reimbursed for it.
If Cohen or Trump establishs that discussions with Daniels over the payment long predated his run for office, that could help them with the argument that the money was a personal rather than political expense.
Trump himself discussed the situation —
Mr. Cohen, an attorney, 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. These agreements are…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
…very common among celebrities and people of wealth. 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,……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
…despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. 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 in this transaction.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018