In a Wednesday statement which promises to keep White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders busy for the next few news cycles, former New York City Mayor and recent addition to Trump’s legal team, Rudy Giuliani, told Fox’s Sean Hannity that President Trump reimbursed his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, $130,000 which Cohen paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Giuliani, paradoxically in his new capacity as Trump’s lawyer, says that the payment was “perfectly legal” and that it was “not campaign money,” meaning that the payment did not violate campaign finance law.
“Funneled through a law firm, and the president repaid it,” Giuliani said, adding “He didn’t know about the specifics of it but he did know about the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this.“
Giuliani says Trump repaid Cohen the $130,000 used as hush money for Stormy Daniels pic.twitter.com/pqNtZthgwf
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) May 3, 2018
Where it gets complicated for Trump is that Cohen told the New York Times in February that he paid $130,000 to Daniels out of his own pocket, and that neither the Trump Organization or the Trump Campaign had anything to do with the 2016 transaction.
“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,” Cohen told The New York Times. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.”
Following the report, nonprofit watchdog group Common Cause filed a complaint with the DOJ and the Federal Election Commission claiming that the payment to Clifford violated campaign finance laws because it was an “unreported in-kind contribution to the president’s 2016 campaign.“
So with Cohen paying Daniels, and Trump paying Cohen, viola – no problems! Right?
Well no: here’s the rub…
April 5, 2018:
“Mr. President, did you know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels?”
President Trump: “No”https://t.co/o037RGsfu0— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) May 3, 2018
14. White House and Justice Department reporters right now…. pic.twitter.com/7iDGZOPL4T
— Yashar Ali
(@yashar) May 3, 2018
And now, thanks to Giuliani, Trump will have no choice but to give yet another “explanation” for why the official narrative has just broken down which means more angry tweets and out bursts, and who knows, maybe more chemical false flag attacks by Assad to justify another airstrike or two on Syria.
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