In a startling revelation, Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on Wednesday that the US president repaid his personal attorney $130,000 in a deal made just before the 2016 election to keep porn star Stormy Daniels quiet about her tryst with the president, directly contradicting Trump's statements about the hush money.
Trump previously told reporters that he was not aware of the payment and that he didn't know where Michael Cohen had gotten the money from.
Giuliani made the revelation during an appearance on Fox News Channel's ‘Hannity’. He also said that the payment "is going to turn out to be perfectly legal" because "that money was not campaign money".
File image of Stormy Daniels. AP
The former New York City mayor and US attorney said the money to repay Cohen had been "funnelled... 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".
Meanwhile, Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti is calling for "serious consequences" for Trump after Giuliani’s revelation. He said on Wednesday: "This is a stunning revelation. Trump evidently has participated in a felony and there must be serious consequences for his conduct and his lies and deception to the American people".
Contradictions in Trump’s statements
The comments contradict statements made by Trump several weeks ago when he said he didn't know about the payment to Daniels as part of a nondisclosure agreement she signed days before the presidential election.
Asked aboard Air Force One whether he knew about the payment, Trump said flatly: "No." Trump also said he didn't know why Cohen had made the payment or where he got the money.
In a phone interview with ‘Fox and Friends’ last week, however, Trump appeared to muddy the waters, saying that Cohen represented him in the "crazy Stormy Daniels deal".
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, says she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, months after his third wife gave birth to his youngest child, and was paid to keep quiet as part of a nondisclosure agreement she is now seeking to invalidate. She has also filed a defamation suit against Trump after he questioned a composite sketch she released of a man she says threatened her to stay quiet. The White House has said Trump denies having a relationship with Daniels.
Cohen had said previously: "Neither the Trump Organisation nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with 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 if Cohen made the payment without asking Trump but that he had "no reason to dispute that".
Storm over hush money
The revelation from Giuliani came as Cohen was under escalating legal pressure. He is facing a criminal investigation in New York, and FBI agents raided his home and office several weeks ago seeking records about the nondisclosure agreement. Daniels' lawsuit over the hush deal has been delayed, with the judge citing the criminal investigation.
File image of Rudy Giuliani. Reuters
The payment to Daniels has raised numerous legal questions, including whether it was an illegal campaign contribution and, now, loan.
Law firms advance expenses for clients as a matter of course, and so there's nothing inherently improper about a lawyer covering a particular payment and then being reimbursed for it.
In this case, though, the client who apparently reimbursed the expense was running for president and the money was paid just days before the election, raising questions about whether Cohen's law practice was functioning as a vendor for the campaign and whether the expense was, therefore, an unreported campaign expenditure. If so, that could be legally problematic.
A key question is timing. If Cohen or Trump could establish 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.
"It obviously increases the president's exposure to potential campaign finance violations, but it also makes him look terrible", said Sol Wisenberg, a defence attorney who was a deputy independent counsel during the Starr special counsel investigation into President Bill Clinton. "I don't understand the Giuliani strategy," he added. "Maybe it's been too long since he's been in the criminal justice field."
Trump bracing for multiple-front legal battle
According to a New York Times report, Trump on Wednesday hired the Washington lawyer who represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment, a sign that the White House sees no immediate end to its legal problems.
The new lawyer, Emmet T Flood, will replace Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer who persuaded Trump to cooperate with the special counsel for the first year of its investigation, the report said.
"I've done what I came to do in terms of managing the White House response to the special counsel requests," Cobb told CNN. "I'm extremely grateful to the president and Chief Kelly for the opportunity to serve my country."
With inputs from AP
Updated Date: May 03, 2018 10:34 AM