President Trump directly contradicted himself Thursday, as he admitted for the first time that he reimbursed his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The stunning admission, which was delivered in a string of morning tweets, repeated some of what former Mayor Rudy Giuliani told Fox News the night before.
“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 nondisclosure agreement,” Trump tweeted, referring to a contract that bars Daniels from publicly discussing claims she had sex with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006.
Trump said “these agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth,” and insisted the pact was facilitated to “stop the false and extortionist accusations” made by Daniels. The adult film actress is suing Trump for defamation over his vehement denials of her steamy claims.
Also Thursday, NBC News reported that federal investigators logged the phone calls of Cohen in the weeks before they raided his Manhattan home, office and hotel room last month.
It’s unclear what information was uncovered from the log of phone calls known as a “pen register.”
NBC News initially reported the feds had wiretapped Cohen and intercepted at least one phone call between the longtime Trump fixer and the White House.
But hours later, the news channel corrected the story to say investigators did not obtain a wiretap, but rather a call log.
Giuliani, who recently joined Trump’s legal team and has been on a media blitz over the past 24 hours, argued that reports of a phone tap were bogus.
“We don’t believe it’s true. I keep hearing different stories from different sources,” Giuliani told the Daily News.
A former Manhattan U.S. attorney, Giuliani railed against federal prosecutors in the Cohen case.
“The attorney general should step in and put these people under investigation,” Giuliani told The News.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe, but the mayor insisted that didn’t matter. “Even if Jeff is recused he’s still responsible for the rule of law in this country,” Giuliani said. “He could really redeem himself by doing that.”
Federal prosecutors have already revealed they obtained “covert” search warrants on multiple email accounts belonging to Cohen. There’s no mention of a wiretap in the highly-redacted court filings.
Prosecutors would have to convince a judge that Cohen was using his phone to commit a crime in order to listen in on calls.
“Obtaining a wiretap on an attorney is so highly unusual that in my nine years as a federal prosecutor I can’t recall anyone obtaining one on a working lawyer,” former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti told The News. “It would have had to be vetted at the highest level of the DOJ.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday she could not confirm the NBC report.
She said she was unsure of when Trump and Cohen last spoke, adding she’s not privy to Cohen’s work with the President.
Cohen is under investigation for potential campaign finance violations over the Daniels hush payment. He has also drawn the attention of special counsel Robert Mueller, who’s probing possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government.
Giuliani stunned political pundits when he went on Fox News Wednesday night and revealed that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the Daniels payoff.
The announcement surprised White House aides, as Trump has previously denied knowing anything about the payment, which was issued 11 days before his election.
Giuliani stressed Wednesday that the money did not come from the campaign, which he said would be the only way it could have violated campaign finance laws.
But government watchdogs disagree.
“Trump’s knowledge (of the payment) puts him on the hook,” Common Cause lawyer Paul Ryan said. “If it’s known, it has to be disclosed, and if it was known and not disclosed that’s a criminal violation.”
Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, agreed with that assessment.
“Mr. Trump evidently has participated in a felony, and there must be serious consequences for his conduct and his lies and deception to the American people,” he said.
Trump gave reporters in early April a curt “no” when asked whether he knew about the payment to Daniels, answering other questions with, “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen.”
With Christopher Brennan, News Wire Services
