President Donald Trump tried to clean up the mess from Rudy Giuliani’s self-immolation on Fox News in a series of Thursday morning tweets.
Giuliani, who joined Trump’s legal team last month, admitted to Fox News host Sean Hannity that the president had repaid $130,000 to longtime attorney Michael Cohen for a hush money payout to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
“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,” the president began, in what appears to be a carefully crafted statement.
“These agreements are,” he added, “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,” the president 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.”
Image by Marc Nozell via Flickr and a CC license