Don McGahn, the Trump campaign finance lawyer and current White House counsel, was not consulted by President Trump about the payments made to women ahead of the 2016 election in exchange for their silence about alleged affairs with Trump, according to a report Wednesday.
Even though he was never questioned about it by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team over the course of three interviews, McGahn is prepared to tell federal prosecutors in New York about what he knew regarding the payments, a source told Bloomberg News. That’s where Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion from 2012 to 2016, one count of making a false statement to a financial institution, one count of willful cause of unlawful corporate contribution, and one count of excessive campaign contribution on Oct. 27, 2016.
The campaign finance violations pertained to payments Cohen made to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. They were paid per the direction of the “candidate” so they would not discuss the affairs before the election.
Prosecutors could argue McGahn’s lack of knowledge about the payments show Trump was aware they were illegal and intentionally concealed them, the report notes. However, Trump’s legal team may claim it indicates Trump was not aware they concerned the campaign.
Trump has maintained that no campaign funds were used in the payments to the women. “They didn’t come out of the campaign, they came from me,” the president said in an interview with Fox News set to air on Thursday.
[Opinion: Cohen’s plea could land Trump in the witness chair]
