Rudy Giuliani Basically Confirms That Trump Knew About the Stormy Daniels Hush Money

Did he, or didn’t he? Over the last few months, Donald Trump has denied having an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels — and any involvement in the hush money she was paid by his attorney Michael Cohen. However, according to Rudy Giuliani, not only did the president know about the $130,000 payment, he paid it back.

In an interview with Sean Hannity, who it was recently revealed is also represented by Trump’s attorney, Rudy made the claim that the POTUS reimbursed Michael in a series of payments. “The settlement payment, which is a very regular thing for lawyers to do. The question there was, the only possible violation there would be, was it a campaign finance violation?,” he said on the show. “That was money that was paid by his lawyer, the way I would do, out of his law firm funds or whatever funds, doesn’t matter. The president reimbursed that over a period of several months.”

When the host reminded the former New York mayor that Trump has denied any involvement and claimed his attorney acted on his own, Rudy attempted to back track. “I don’t know. I haven’t investigated that. No reason to dispute that. No reason to dispute his recollection,” he said, before calling Michael a victim. Right…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66tZuQw_Sr4

In 2016, Stormy was paid $130,000 in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement, preventing her from speaking about her 2006 affair with the former Apprentice host. (Before signing the NDA, Stormy did sit down for an exclusive interview with In Touch about her relationship with Trump, which you can read here.) Today, Stormy is suing Trump for defamation and to invalidate the agreement because Trump never signed the document.

“She believes it’s important that the public learn the truth about what happened,” Stormy’s attorney Michael Avenatti said on TODAY, per NBC News. “I think it’s time for her to tell her story and for the public to decide who is telling the truth.” The lawsuit also accuses Trump’s attorney of threatening the adult film actress to keep quiet. “To be clear, the attempts to intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and ‘shut her up’ in order to ‘protect Mr. Trump’ continue unabated,” the suit reads. “On or about Feb. 27, 2018, Mr. Trump’s attorney Mr. Cohen surreptitiously initiated a bogus arbitration proceeding against Ms. Clifford in Los Angeles.”

Deal of the Day

Only $12! — (And No One Will Know They Aren’t Designer) View Deal

Unexpectedly, Trump finally confirmed knowledge of the payment via Twitter following Rudy’s confession. “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,” he explained. “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 in this transaction.”