Late last night, Rudy Giuliani shocked viewerswhen he revealed during an interview with Sean Hannity that President Trump had, in fact, reimbursed his personal attorney Michael Cohen for a $130,000 "hush money" payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, saying the president "didn't know about the specifics" but that he was aware "of the general arrangement."
For a moment, the entire Washington political establishment held its breath. After all, it sounded as if Giuliani had just contradicted a statement that Cohen had made both during an interview with the New York Times and during court testimony - and could leave him exposed to a perjury charge. After flying into damage control mode, Giuliani later suggested that while Trump had repaid the $130,000, Cohen had made the payment to Daniels without Trump's knowledge at the time.
The statement could also rebound on the president: Trump himself had also repeatedly denied having any knowledge of it, meaning that, in addition to possibly putting Cohen in legal jeopardy, Giuliani - Trump's brand new lawyer - had seemingly risked ensnaring his boss in the controversy as well.
So this morning, President Trump himself weighed in to clarify Giuliani's statement, providing some of his most detailed comments yet about the lawsuit brought against him and Cohen by Daniels.
Trump/Giuliani.
On April 5:
Q Mr. President, did you know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels? THE PRESIDENT: No. No. What else?
May 2:
Giuliani: "He didn't know about the specifics of it, as far as I know. But he did know about the general arrangement,.."
As Trump explained in a series of tweets, Cohen was paid through a private retainer agreement, and the money to pay Daniels was presumably taken from these payments, not from payments made by Trump's campaign.
"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. These agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth," Trump tweeted.
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. These agreements are.....
Trump added that these types of agreements are "very common" among rich people and that Daniels' violation of the NDA was clear-cut and that she would eventually be forced to pay up in arbitration.
"In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for...