President Trump was familiar with the $130,000 payment made by his personal lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels months before he rejected having any knowledge of the payment in April, according to a new report.
It’s not certain exactly when Trump learned of the payment, which was made in October 2016 just before the election. However, he was aware of the payment and that it had successfully prevented the allegations of an extramarital affair from coming public when he denied knowing about it in April aboard Air Force One, the New York Times reports.
On Wednesday, Giuliani told Fox News host Sean Hannity that Trump reimbursed his personal lawyer Michael Cohen $130,000 for a hush money payment to Daniels — appearing to contradict Trump’s statements.
Giuliani told the Wall Street Journal later Wednesday that his comments on Fox News were not at odds with Trump’s because Trump was “probably not aware” of the payments at the time.
Trump tweeted Thursday that Cohen “received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign.”
According to the Times, Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was aware that Cohen was being reimbursed since last year via a $35,000-per-month retainer.
Right before the 2016 election, Cohen paid Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, the $130,000 through a shell company and signed a nondisclosure agreement with her so she could not discuss her alleged extramarital affair with Trump more than a decade ago. Daniels filed a lawsuit earlier this year, claiming that it should be nullified because Trump didn’t sign the NDA.
Daniels expanded the lawsuit to include Cohen, who she says defamed her for insinuating she has lied. Earlier this week, she also filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump for suggesting she lied as well.
In response to the New York Times report Friday evening, Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti said that “any claim that Mr. Trump had only recently found out about the payment is complete nonsense.”
