President Trump on Wednesday denied that campaign funds were ever used to arrange hush money payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with him prior to the 2016 presidential election, a day after his personal attorney Michael Cohen told a federal court he made both payments at the direction of then-candidate Trump.
In an interview set to air Thursday, the president told Fox News he knew of the payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal “later on,” but claimed they were not funded by his campaign.
“They didn’t come out of the campaign, they came from me,” Trump said, noting that he previously admitted to having knowledge of the payments in a tweet he sent earlier this summer. At the time, the president said Cohen “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” with Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford).
“The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,” Trump had tweeted, reiterating that “money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no role in this transaction.”
[Opinion: Cohen’s plea could land Trump in the witness chair]
But Cohen told federal prosecutors on Tuesday that both payments were made “in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office.” The 51-year-old Manhattan attorney pleaded guilty to eight counts, including two campaign finance violations, in order to avoid a lengthy jail sentence.
Cohen’s plea agreement did not indicate he is currently cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation, nor did it prohibit him from future cooperation on matters involving the president or his associates.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Wednesday said the developments surrounding Cohen have had no impact on the administration’s day-to-day operations, and the president has no plans to adjust his midterm campaign strategy.
“The White House is focused on the same things we were when we got here,” she said, after repeatedly “stating that the president has done nothing wrong, there is no collusion and there are no charges against him.”
Trump said he immediately asked his legal team upon learning of Cohen’s plea deal on Tuesday if campaign funds were used to make the payments.
“My first question when I heard about it was, ‘Did they come out of the campaign?’ Because that could be a little dicey,” Trump said.
The president’s outside attorney Rudy Giuliani told reporters Wednesday morning that he and Trump were reviewing their options. Trump self-funded much of his White House bid in 2016, possibly complicating his claim that payments to Clifford and McDougal were not made by the campaign.
Trump also said Wednesday that President Barack Obama “had a massive campaign violation,” but was able to get off with a fine “because he had a different attorney general and they do it a lot differently.” The president has regularly criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Obama’s 2008 campaign was fined nearly $400,000 by the Federal Election Commission after officials provided inadequate notice about contributions they had received totaling more than $1.8 million. Trump said his predecessor “easily settled” in a tweet earlier Wednesday.
