Giuliani says Trump repaid lawyer for $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels
In a sweeping interview on Fox News Wednesday night, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said President Donald Trump had repaid his lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election.
“It’s going to turn out to be perfectly legal; that money was not campaign money,” Giuliani, Trump’s new lead attorney regarding issues related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
“Sorry, I’m giving you a fact now that you don’t know,” Giuliani continued, before saying that the payment was “funneled through a law firm, and then the president repaid it.”
The news directly contradicts Trump’s statements last month that he had no knowledge that Cohen had paid Daniels. Reporters aboard Air Force One had asked whether Trump knew about the payment, to which the president replied: “No.”
“You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen,” Trump said when pressed on the issue. “Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael.”
The White House declined to comment to HuffPost.
Giuliani said Trump paid Cohen a retainer of $35,000 “when he was doing no work for the president” and insinuated that that fund was used for reimbursements. Such retainers are typically paid monthly, although it’s unclear what contract Trump had with Cohen.
“I said that’s how he’s repaying it, with a little profit and a margin for paying taxes, for Michael,” he continued.
When Hannity asked if Trump knew about the details of the payments, Giuliani backtracked slightly, saying that the president “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. I take care of things like this for my clients,” Giuliani said. “I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along. These are busy people.”
Giuliani joined Trump’s legal team last month. John Dowd, Trump’s former top lawyer, resigned in March after repeatedly butting heads with the president over how cooperative he should be with Mueller.
Dowd had urged Trump to reject any sit-down interview but grew increasingly worried that his client would ignore his advice.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
