Rudy Giuliani is doing the media rounds this morning and the liberal website ThinkProgress (and others) are pointing out he may have just made things worse for himself, the president and Michael Cohen.
At issue is an interview he gave on “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning where he contradicted himself during the interview and ends up accidentally tying the payment from Cohen to Stormy Daniels to the campaign.
At the beginning of the clip, transcript via ThinkProgress, Giuliani argued that payment was made for purely personal reasons:
“This is for personal reasons. The was the president had been hurt personally, not politically, personally so much — and the first lady — by some of the false allegations. That one more false allegation six years old, I think [Cohen] was trying to help the family. For that he’s treated like some kind of villain.”
Giuliani added that the $130,000 payment was “to save not so much their marriage, as much as their reputation.”
But at the end, Giuliani flip-flopped and tied the payment to political considerations:
“Imagine if that came out of October 15, 2016, in the middle of the last debate with Hillary Clinton? Cohen made it go away. He did his job.”
Watch here:
The reaction:
Rudy just admitted the Cohen payment was an illegal $130,000 in-kind contribution. Any congressman or senator who did this would be charged with a federal crime. https://t.co/Mf7iX6eN4h
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 3, 2018
Giuliani says the payoff had nothing to do with the election and then, at 4:50, says it was entirely because of the election:https://t.co/hhhHPDEgTV
— Adam Davidson (@adamdavidson) May 3, 2018
Giuliani defended the payment made to Daniels this morning on Fox & Friends, saying it had to happen because otherwise the story would have broken right before the election. He's explicitly tying the payment to the campaign. Again, a Trump lawyer opened his mouth & made it worse.
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) May 3, 2018
Rudy Giuliani this morning: "Imagine if that came out on October 15th, 2016, in the middle of the last debate with Hillary Clinton…Cohen made it go away. He did his job" https://t.co/wVUXtHUSXS
— Elise Jordan (@Elise_Jordan) May 3, 2018
But later on, in an interview with Maria Bartiromo, he again said the payment was solely for personal reasons:
On Fox Business, Rudy Giuliani discusses Stormy Daniels payment, says it was meant to protect Trump's reputation from false allegations.
Then says, "Would Tom Brokaw have paid it, if it kept his reputation?"
(Sorry about the bad video quality…) pic.twitter.com/T6EOYX720Z
— Melanie Schmitz (@MelsLien) May 3, 2018
***
Related:
Media and libs giddy as Kellyanne Conway's husband drops 'heavy shade' on latest from Trump-Cohen-Giuliani-Daniels https://t.co/HftLr2viMM
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 3, 2018
Trump CLARIFIES Rudy Giuliani's Stormy Daniels revelation https://t.co/6QWnpnfUpD
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 3, 2018
Rudy Giuliani to Sean Hannity: President Trump DID reimburse Michael Cohen for the $130,000 hush money payment https://t.co/MRDSzIUKbD
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 3, 2018
Join the conversation as a VIP Member