White House press secretary Sarah Sanders first learned President Trump reimbursed his personal attorney for his payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels during a Fox News interview Wednesday night, suggesting senior communications officials were left in the dark about the president’s involvement in efforts to silence Daniels.
“The first awareness I had was during an interview last night,” Sanders said Thursday, a day after former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now a member of Trump’s legal team, made the shocking revelation during an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
[Related: Kellyanne Conway unaware of Stormy Daniels payment when she was Trump campaign manager]
But Sanders rejected the idea that she and other White House offiicals were “blindsided” by Giuliani’s television appearance.
“I’m not a part of the legal team and wouldn’t be part of those discussions,” she said, when asked if she was “caught of guard.”
“The White House press office wouldn’t coordinate with the president’s legal team,” she later added. She answered several questions on Thursday by saying those questions were best posed to Trump’s team of personal lawyers, since White House officials are not handling the issue.
Giuliani told Hannity on Wednesday evening that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 he paid to Daniels, in a series of $35,000 installments. Giuliani explained that even Trump just learned about the reason for those payments about 10 days ago, which explained by Trump said in April he had no knowledge of Cohen’s payments to Daniels.
Asked during an Air Force One trip on April 5 if he knew about the payment to Daniels, Trump had responded: “No.”
“You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen,” the president added.
Nearly a month before Trump referred reporters to Cohen, Sanders had said during a White House briefing that she and Trump had spoken about the payment to Daniels and her claim of an affair.
“There was no knowledge of any payments from the president,” Sanders said on March 7. “He has denied all these allegations.”
