The lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels said the American people have been “lied to” after Rudy Giuliani claimed President Trump repaid his personal lawyer Michael Cohen the $130,000 he gave to Daniels as part of an agreement for her silence about her alleged affair with Trump more than a decade ago.
“I have to tell you, I am rarely, as your viewers know, rendered speechless,” Michael Avenatti told MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell over the phone. “But I am absolutely speechless at this revelation and this admission.”
Avenatti said that the apparent confession confirmed what he has long believed, but that he wasn’t expecting the revelation to emerge during an interview on national television.
“The American people have been lied to about this agreement, about the $130,000, about the reimbursement, and this is consistent with what we have been saying now for months, that ultimately was going to be proven and ultimately was going to come out,” Avenatti said. “We just didn’t know that Rudy Giuliani was going to go on the Sean Hannity show and admit it on national television. But make no mistake about it, justice needs to be served as a result of this, and we are going to work morning, noon, and night to ensure that that is exactly what happens.”
Avenatti said there are many other criminal aspects of the payment that will be taken into account as well, such as felonies and money laundering issues.
“And that’s before we even get to the significant criminal aspects of this payment now,” Avenatti said later. “There may be potential campaign finance violations, felonies, there may, in fact, be money laundering issues, there may be bank fraud issues. This is a very, very serious matter that deserves the attention of the American people, regardless of your political persuasion, period.”
In a separate interview, Avenatti reiterated his past prediction that Trump will not serve out the remainder of his term.
“This opens the Pandora’s Box if you will into serious, serious issues for Donald Trump,” Avenatti said in a subsequent interview on CNN. “I said it weeks ago, I’m going to say it again, Mr. Trump will not serve out his term. No way, no how. He will be forced to ultimately resign. This is a bombshell.”
The comments come shortly after Giuliani told Hannity that the money given to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, had been repaid by Trump.
“Funneled through a law firm, and the president repaid it,” Giuliani said of the payment and referencing Essential Consultants LLC, the firm Cohen created in October 2016 to pay Daniels out of his own pocket.
Cohen paid Daniels the $130,000 through the shell company just before the 2016 election and signed a nondisclosure agreement with her so she could not discuss her alleged extramarital affair with Trump. Daniels filed a lawsuit earlier this year, claiming that it should be nullified because Trump didn’t sign the NDA.
Giuliani’s admission appears to contradict what Trump has said about not knowing about the $130,000 payment.
Avenatti said he hoped the American people, after hearing Giuliani’s disclosure, were “outraged” regardless of political affiliation.
“You deserve to be told the truth by your president and the people that stand at the podium at the White House briefing station or podium at the White House briefing conference, press conference, and answer questions,” Avenatti said. “I don’t care what your political persuasion is, that’s what you deserve as an American citizen. This is an outrage what has gone on here.”
