Last night, Rudy Giuliani casually confirmed to Sean Hannity that Michael Cohen was repaid by none other than Donald Trump for the $130,000 in “hush money” which was supposedly given to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with the president.
Since Trump has spent months denying both the alleged affair and his knowledge of Cohen’s payment, this admission was shocking and seemed like a foolish flub on Giuliani’s part.
However, it seems that the president is now willing to play along with this story. Early Thursday morning, Trump took to Twitter and told everyone that Cohen’s reimbursement did not come from campaign funds, and asserted that the $130,000 payment was simply to prevent Daniels from making “false and extortionist accusations.”
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
Basically: the payment was made, Cohen was reimbursed, and the affair allegations hold absolutely no weight.
Giuliani attempted to roll back his bold claims during a Fox &Friends segment on Thursday, claiming that Trump was technically unaware of the Daniels payment until very recently. Apparently, the $130,000 sum was simply chump change to someone as wealthy as Trump (*cue eye-roll*).
“He didn’t know the details of this until we knew the details of it, which is a couple weeks ago ― maybe not even a couple weeks, maybe 10 days ago,” Giuliani says. “Remember when this came up ― October 2016 … I don’t want to demean anyone, but $135,000 seems like a lot of money — it’s not, when you’re putting $100 million into your campaign. It isn’t pocket change, but it’s pretty close to it.”
#RudyGiuliani: “The President had been hurt personally – not politically, personally, so much, and @FLOTUS, by some of the false allegations, that one more false allegation, 6 years old, I think, he was trying to help the family.” pic.twitter.com/xZzE1MVct7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 3, 2018
Giuliani also came to the defense of Michael Cohen, saying, “I think he was trying to help the family … And for that, the man is being treated like some kind of villain. And I think he was just being a good lawyer and a good man.”
Frankly, most of these new “truths” seem like flimsy attempts at half-lies, where the kernel of truth is still omitted — but only just. Trump is now admitting that he was at least somewhat complicit in the payments made to Stormy Daniels, but is still denying the affair itself. However, this half-truth may not save Trump and his cohorts from legal ramifications.
These old dudes better hope they don’t get their carefully-crafted “truths” mixed up, or they’re definitely going to wind up in a web of their own making.