Washington sources reported that President's legal aid Rudy Giuliani has said US President Donald Trump repaid his personal lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 settlement with porn actress Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public about her affair with Trump before the 2016 election. Meanwhile the former New York Mayor Giuliani's statement on Fox News appeared to contradict Trump, who said he did not know about the payment made by Cohen to Daniels ahead of the presidential election.
Moreover Trump has denied Daniels' claims of an affair in 2006. Giuliani said no campaign finance was used in the payment. Furthermore Cohen's $130,000 payment to Daniels just before the election could count as an illegal contribution to President Trump's campaign. However, Giuliani said that when the initial payment was made, Cohen did it "on his own authority".
Accordingly Giuliani said that Cohen had
"settled several problems for" Trump, and that the payment related to
them. Another person familiar with the payment confirmed that that was the
mechanism used to repay Cohen. Further Michael Avenatti, Daniels' lawyer, said
on Twitter that Giuliani's comments amounted to an admission that the President
had lied to the American people about whether he was aware of the hush payment.
