Donald Trump fired off tweets Thursday morning trying to explain his way out of a situation created by his newly-hired lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, in an interview with Sean Hannity on Monday night (above).
In a discussion about the $130,000 hush money paid by Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to silence porn star Stormy Daniels over her affair with Trump, Giuliani stated that Trump paid the money back to Cohen in installments.
Transcript HERE.
Giuliani's statement contradicted statements by Trump aboard Air Force One on April 5, when he told reporters that he had no knowledge of the payment.
The NYT reports: “In an interview with The New York Times shortly after his Fox News appearance, Mr. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and longtime Trump confidant who recently joined the president's legal team, said that he had documentation showing that Mr. Trump had personally made the payment. Mr. Giuliani indicated that the goal was to conclusively demonstrate that there was no campaign finance violation involved.”
The paper adds:
“That removes the campaign finance violation, and we have all the documentary proof for it,” he said. Mr. Giuliani added that when the initial payment was made, Mr. Cohen did it “on his own authority.”
“Some time after the campaign is over, they set up a reimbursement, $35,000 a month, out of his personal family account,” Mr. Giuliani said. He added that over all, Mr. Cohen was paid $460,000 or $470,000 from Mr. Trump through those payments, which also included money for “incidental expenses” that he had incurred on Mr. Trump's behalf.
Trump addressed the developments first thing Thursday morning, on Twitter.
Tweeted Trump: “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……..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,………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.”
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
But these tweets don't sound like Trump, do they….
Trump's new lawyer Flood is writing his tweets to clean up the mess of his other new lawyer, Giuliani .We'll see how long that works.
“Ms. Clifford.” https://t.co/x1J10Py8jI
— Michelangelo Signorile (@MSignorile) May 3, 2018
Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti reacted to Giuliani's statement:
“It's an absolute disgrace,” said Avenatti to Don Lemon late Wednesday night. “And I am disgusted by it. And every American regardless of their political persusasion, you should be disgusted by what has happened in connection with the lies you have been told over the last three months about this payment. You should be disgusted by the fact that the President of the United States stood on Air Force One on video and audio and stated lies to you relating to this $130,000 payment.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGlv_FLSuIw
Avenatti also called in to MSNBC:
