Rudy Giuliani threw a wrench in the Stormy Daniels saga Wednesday.
He admitted on Fox News that President Trump personally reimbursed Michael Cohen, his personal lawyer, for the hush money funneled to Daniels to in 2016.
“That money was not campaign money,” said Giuliani told Sean Hannity. “It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violation.”
“They funneled the payment through [Cohen’s] law firm,” Hannity replied.
“Funneled it through the law firm and the president repaid it.”
Giuliani’s words contradict Trump’s statements. Trump previously said that he had no idea that a payment was made. Cohen also said previously that he was never reimbursed.
Hannity asked about the discrepancy and Giuliani tried to backtrack. He insisted that the president “didn’t know about the specifics of [the payment], 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.”
Cohen is currently under federal investigation. Last month, Cohen’s home and office were raided. If he truly made the payment on his own with no input for Trump, it could be construed as a campaign finance violation.
Admitting that Trump knew about the payment doesn’t absolve him of difficulties. The left will argue that Trump made the payment to help his campaign, and therefore he should have declared it.
“We predicted months ago that it would be proven that the American people had been lied to as to the $130k payment and what Mr. Trump knew, when he knew it and what he did in connection with it,” Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti wrote on twitter
“Every American, regardless of their politics, should be outraged…by what we have now learned. Mr. Trump stood on AF1 and blatantly lied. This followed the lies told by others close to him, including Mr. Cohen. This should never be acceptable in our America. We will not rest until justice is served.”
The matter has become more serious than it seemed at first.
(Source: Fox News)