President Donald Trump on Thursday defended the $130,000 given to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels as hush money, saying that nondisclosure agreements are “common among celebrities and people of wealth” and that none of the money came from his campaign.
According to NBC News, in a series of tweets, the President offered some of his most extensive comments to date on the payment by Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, which Daniels alleges was to buy her silence about an alleged affair with Trump years ago.
“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 very common among celebrities and people of wealth,” Trump tweeted.
“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. 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.”
Trump’s tweets came just hours after Rudolph Giuliani, one of the President’s lawyers, revealed in an interview on Fox News that the President had reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Daniels, which was made just weeks before the 2016 presidential election.
However, the revelation contradicted Trump’s previous claim that he had no knowledge of the payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One last month whether he knew about the payment to Daniels, Trump flatly replied, “No.” He was also asked if he knew where Cohen got the money to make the payment to Daniels. “I don’t know,” he replied.
When asked if he has set up a hush fund for Cohen to use Trump didn’t give an answer.
Meanwhile, Clifford is suing to void the nondisclosure agreement with Trump and Cohen.
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