The former New York mayor revealed that Trump repaid attorney Michael Cohen for Stormy Daniels hush agreement.
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By Thursday morning, damage control was underway.
Trump on Twitter tried to bring attention back to the argument that such a payment would not be a violation of campaign finance law.
“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. “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,” the president continued on Twitter. “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.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who has been forced into clean-up mode on a regular basis, went on “Fox and Friends” to argue that the furor was misplaced.
“I think this is a distraction and a distraction to the American people, and I think it’s a real disservice to them about not hearing a lot of great things taking place in the administration,” Sanders said.
She declined, however, to elaborate on Giuliani’s statements.
“Mayor Giuliani is part of the president’s legal team. He has got visibility and insight into this issue. He has spoken about this at length both last night and this morning,” she said. “I would refer you back to his comments, particularly given the fact this is ongoing litigation. This is something we at the White House can’t comment on and I would refer you to his comments as well as the president’s tweets from earlier this morning.”
Giuliani, meanwhile, did another round of interviews — but may have caused even more trouble.
The core argument of Giuliani’s media appearances was that there was no campaign money involved in the payment to Daniels and therefore there would be no campaign violation.
But during a Thursday morning interview with “Fox & Friends,” Giuliani alluded to the idea that campaign considerations played into the October 2016 payment to Daniels.
“Imagine if that came out on October 15th, 2016, in the middle of the, you know, last debate with Hillary Clinton,” Giuliani said. “Cohen didn’t even ask. Cohen made it go away. He did his job.”
The pre-election payment to Daniels has become a subject of a criminal investigation into Cohen, whose residences and office were raided by the FBI last month.
The details of the payment, and whether and when Trump knew about it, have important legal implications. A payment intended to protect his campaign from political damage could be a violation of campaign finance law. As a candidate, Trump was permitted to spend an unlimited amount of his own funds on his campaign, but such sums should have been reported to the Federal Election Commission.
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In a separate interview later Wednesday, Giuliani insisted his disclosure about Trump’s reimbursement of Cohen was no gaffe and that it was discussed with Trump in advance.
“He was well-aware that at some point when I saw the opportunity, I was going to get this over with,” Giuliani told the Washington Post, adding that he discussed the issue with the president “probably 4 or 5 days ago.” The former U.S. attorney said he didn’t think he was at risk of being fired over his comments.
“No! No! No! I’m not going to get fired,” Giuliani told the Post. “But if I do, I do. It wouldn’t be the first time it ever happened. But I don’t think so, no.”
Giuliani’s comments suggested that federal prosecutors in New York who are investigating Cohen were likely already aware of the repayment from Trump, and that Trump’s involvement was likely to become public at some point anyway.
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- Discussion
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The Giuliani damage control begins https://t.co/ezoaRr6kME
— Ben Weyl (@benweyl) May 3, 2018
WH aide is bewildered this AM by Giuliani but says many on staff now feels like they’re not in control of the situation. Aide says POTUS and Giuliani are “running” their own strategy and have a generational rapport and shared grievances/perspectives….
— Robert Costa (@costareports) May 3, 2018
Giuliani on Fox re Stormy Daniels, still makes it sound campaign-related: “Imagine if that came out on Oct 15, 2016 in the middle of the, you know, last debate with Hillary Clinton…Cohen didn’t even ask. Cohen made it go away. He did his job.”
— Emily Stephenson (@ewstephe) May 3, 2018
It's going to take a lot to convince me this is 4D chess and not just a bunch of people stepping on rakes. https://t.co/YUSEcgk9cy
— Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) May 3, 2018
It doesn’t sound like Guiliani and Trump are on the same page. There is a pattern here of Trump seemingly agreeing with people and when they act on that agreement he seems like he “forgot” he agreed to it. I’m starting to wonder if the guy even listens to people when they are talking. The only thing he seems to hear is flattery. When it is advice or strategy he goes suddenly deaf.
Guiliani willingly and with his eyes wide open stepping into this. He is an old fool. Or getting senile.
For his next headline TV appearance as the Oval Office's top "war consigliere," Rudy Giuliani will douse himself with a gas can and light himself on fire, live on camera.
Wouldn't be worse than his last one.
— John Schindler (@20committee) May 3, 2018
When the FEC brings down the hammer on all of this it is going to be UGLY. A bloodbath, I have no doubt.
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) May 3, 2018
This Rudy self-destruction on live TV reinforces one of my oldest truisms about politics: It's not the tough interviewers that get you in trouble; it's when you are with the friendlies (Sean Softballs here) that you screw up because you feel too comfortable.
— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) May 3, 2018
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