Trump reimbursed Cohen the $130,000 payment to Daniels

Now look at these three headlines:



Yes, Fox News says "expenses". But, let's look at the article to which that headline belongs, something a Trumpette might not do:

In a wide-ranging interview on Fox News' "Hannity" on Wednesday night, Rudy Giuliani told host Sean Hannity that President Donald Trump reimbursed his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, $130,000 that Cohen paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

"That money was not campaign money," said Giuliani, a recent addition to Trump's legal team who is also a former mayor of New York City and Republican presidential candidate. "It's not campaign money. No campaign finance violation."

"They funneled the payment through [Cohen's] law firm," Hannity said.

"Funneled it through the law firm and the president repaid it," Giuliani said.

  Fox News

I bet Trump is glad he hired Rudy.

But Giuliani later clarified for Fox News that the money Trump paid to Cohen was for unspecified "expenses," and that the president was unaware that money would be going to Daniels.

Hannity must have caught the SNAFU.

"I said, 'That's how he's repaying it, with a little profit and a little margin for paying taxes,'" said Giuliani, who added that Trump "didn’t know about the specifics of [the payment], as far as I know, but he did know about the general arrangement that Michael would take care of things like this. Like I take care of things like this for my clients. I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along."

[...]

After Giuliani's appearance on "Hannity," sources familiar with the matter told Fox News that Trump did in fact repay Cohen the $130,000 Cohen paid to Daniels, over several months.

While the source did not know why Trump said he had no knowledge of the payments in the Air Force One gaggle, the source confirmed that the president knowingly paid Cohen back.

The net effect of the disclosure, the source said, is that it takes any potential Federal Election Commission violation off the table as Trump paid the money from his personal funds. The argument here is that if Trump paid the money himself, there was no illegal campaign contribution.

Which is actually the smart thing to do. That would have been illegal. Paying Stormy Daniels to keep her mouth shut may be sleazy, but it's not illegal.

Giuliani said Cohen told the president that he had incurred the expenses on Trump’s behalf and they required repayment. The former mayor said Trump was not aware that the expenses included a $130,000 payment to Daniels.

Oh, right. And he didn't ask what he was repaying Cohen $130,000 for, or why he should pay it in installments instead of outright.

Oh, but wait. That's not all the brilliant Giuliani admitted:

Giuliani said that Trump had dismissed Comey because "Comey would not, among other things, say that [Trump] wasn't a target of the [Russia] investigation. He's entitled to that. Hillary Clinton got that [during the email investigation.] And he couldn't get that.

"You can't blame the president for feeling, 'I am not being treated the same way [Clinton was]," Giuliani said.

How do these people get by in life?

Here's The Hill:

“There probably were other things of a personal nature that Michael took care of for which the president would have always trusted him as his lawyer . . . and that was paid back out of the rest of the money, and Michael earned a fee out of it.”

[...]

"[Trump] didn’t know about the specifics of it as far as I know, but he did know about the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this," [Giuliani] said.

When Hannity returned to the payment later in the interview, Giuliani clarified its nature.

“That was money that was paid by his lawyer, the way I would do, out of his law firm funds or whatever funds, it doesn’t matter. The president reimbursed that over a period of several months,” Giuliani said.

[...]

Giuliani's remarks also appeared to contradict comments Cohen made taking responsibility for the payment, a point Hannity pressed on Wednesday night, saying he “distinctly” remembered that Cohen had made the payment on his own without discussing it with Trump.

“I don’t know, I haven’t investigated that. No reason to dispute that, no reason to dispute his recollection,” Giuliani replied.

“The fact is, just trust me, they’re going to come up with no violation there,” he said. “The payment was perfectly legal, all documented."

  The Hill

Lovely.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised. This is a guy who thinks he can negotiate an end to a Special Prosecutor's investigation.

"He fired Comey because Comey would not — among other things — say that he wasn't a target of the investigation," Giuliani said.

"He fired him and he said, 'I'm free of this guy.' "

The statement is sure to be of interest to special counsel Robert Mueller, who has been investigating Trump for potential obstruction of justice.

Oh, most definitely.

And he'll be especially interested in this (from CNN):

Later, Giuliani told The Washington Post he had spoken to the President far in advance about publicly discussing the reimbursement, and said he doesn't expect to be fired. He said his remarks on Hannity were approved by Trump.

  CNN

Emphasis mine.

The stupid. It hurts.

"Remember October 2016, hardly will recall any of that in detail. I don't remember it clearly either," Giuliani said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Don't worry. I'm sure Mueller's team will refresh your memory.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

"I have to tell you — I am rarely, as your viewers know, rendered speechless — but I am absolutely speechless at this revelation and this admission," Daniels's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell.

  The Hill