Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The New York Post reports:
President Donald Trump’s new lawyer Rudy Giuliani says the president repaid attorney Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump had told reporters that he was not aware of the payment and that he didn’t know where Cohen had gotten the money.
Giuliani made the revelation during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity.” He also says the payment “is going to turn out to be perfectly legal” because “that money was not campaign money.”
The Washington Post reports:
Trump told reporters several weeks ago that he didn’t know about the $130,000 payment to Daniels as part of a nondisclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 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. Giuliani, who joined Trump’s legal team last month, said the president had repaid Cohen over several months, indicating the payments continued through at least the presidential transition, if not into his presidency.
Holy hell. Rudy Giuliani just admitted on Fox News that Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen the $130,000 for the Stormy Daniels payoff.
— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) May 3, 2018
Giuliani was, perhaps, not Trump’s best lawyer pick of all time. https://t.co/9y2YK7NGQN
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) May 3, 2018
Never thought I’d ever want Rudy Giuliani to keep talking.
— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) May 3, 2018
Two ramifications of the Giuliani statement:
(1) Cohen is not guilty of a campaign finance violation, since Trump is allowed to spend without limit on himself;
(2) If Trump didn’t report the spending, that could be a campaign finance violation.— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 3, 2018
Which raises the question: why announce this? The obvious answer is that Trump wants to protect Cohen so that Cohen can’t be turned against him. But I’ll be curious to see the explanation.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 3, 2018
Rudy Giuliani, who is joining Trump’s legal team, just admitted on national TV that Trump paid the $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels after weeks of Trump denying it & dodging the question. pic.twitter.com/ZUdxzOFgb1
— jordan (@JordanUhl) May 3, 2018
Giuliani says Trump’s payment to Stormy Daniels was legal because it didn’t come from campaign funds.
On Cohen, Giuliani says, “[Trump] knew he would take care of things like this — like I take care of this stuff with my clients, I don’t burden them with every single thing.” pic.twitter.com/ZFgjNtCbnY
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 3, 2018
Brace for Rudy Giuliani to be fired in 3… 2… 1…
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) May 3, 2018
Seems like this Hannity interview with Giuliani will usurp Hannity’s interview with Roy Moore as the most self immolating of the Trump era https://t.co/0b51EZfnAp
— Elise Jordan (@Elise_Jordan) May 3, 2018
BREAKING: Contradicting president, Giuliani says Trump repaid Michael Cohen for $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels.
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 3, 2018
Rudy Giuliani just basically admitted that Trump obstructed Justice. He told @FoxNews that Trump fired Comey because Comey wouldn’t say that he wasn’t a target of the investigation.
— Ed Krassenstein ? (@EdKrassen) May 3, 2018
Immediate reaction from Michael Avenatti to Rudy Giuliani's comments. pic.twitter.com/wI3fe6Wc2k
— Red T Raccoon (@RedTRaccoon) May 3, 2018