Rudy Giuliani told Fox News on Wednesday night that President Donald Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen for $130,000 Cohen paid Stormy Daniels not to go public with her account of an affair with Trump prior to the 2016 election. Trump confirmed Giuliani’s account in a series of tweets on Thursday morning, stating that Cohen was reimbursed for the payment by Trump via regularly monthly retainer payments. Trump said his campaign was not responsible for the payments.
Giuliani said in a Fox News interview Wednesday that Trump personally reimbursed Cohen, who made the payment to Daniels a few days ahead of the election “on [Cohen’s] own authority.” Giuliani is a recent addition to Trump’s legal team.
“It’s not campaign money,” Giuliani said.
Trump backed up Giuliani’s account.
“Mr. Cohen, an attorney, 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 between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “These agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels).”
“The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair,” he continued. “Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll [sic] in this transaction.”
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The White House initially declined to comment on the Giuliani interview, but Trump tweeted about it Thursday morning. He asserted the non-disclosure agreement Cohen made with Daniels is typical of celebrities and wealthy people, and reiterated Giuliani’s assertion there was no campaign money involved. He said the money came out of Cohen’s regular monthly retainer and was used to reimburse Cohen for addressing allegedly “extortionist” claims by her made about then-candidate Trump.
