In response to Rudy Giuliani’s revelation last night that Donald Trump did indeed reimburse Michael Cohen for the $130,000 Stormy Daniels hush money payment, the president took to Twitter this morning in an attempt to clean things up a little bit:
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…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
…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,……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
…despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. 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.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
Yeah … that’s not President Trump writing this:
"Sent from my lawyer's iPhone" https://t.co/DYxXuYvhcG
— Ed Bott (@edbott) May 3, 2018
But this is different than what Giuliani said last night:
The stories keep changing! What will the explanation in the next episode? https://t.co/s0z7OyH513
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) May 3, 2018
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Trump may have just put Cohen back in the spotlight, too:
Doesn't this throw Cohen back under the bus? If the compensation was just his retainer, then Cohen gave $130k. https://t.co/BVpkQD0WIz
— Jason Inofuentes (@tnofuentes) May 3, 2018
SO.
The pro-Trump argument is that Cohen was on retainer to handle whatever came up. He used that retainer to pay off Daniels.
But then why did he say he knew nothing about it?
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) May 3, 2018
And this won’t end things by any means:
In that case, you were probably legally required to disclose it. But because you didn't, we're asking the Department of Justice to investigate. https://t.co/WiRkJaIxTK
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) May 3, 2018
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Related:
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
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