Rudy Giuliani details Trump's Stormy Daniels repayment scheme, fails to clear him of campaign violations


After telling Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday night that President Trump repaid his lawyer Michael Cohen for having quietly "funneled" $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels in October 2016 to secure her silence about a purported affair with Trump, Rudy Giuliani elaborated on the repayment scheme to various reporters, arguing that the details clear Trump of any campaign finance violations.
"Some time after the campaign is over, they set up a reimbursement, $35,000 a month, out of his personal family account," Giuliani, a new addition to Trump's legal team, told The New York Times. In total, Trump reimbursed Cohen $460,000 or $470,000 for the Daniels payment, which Cohen made "on his own authority," and other "incidental expenses," Giuliani said, adding that he was "not clear that" Trump knew about the Daniels payment at the the time.
Giuliani told The Washington Post that Cohen knew he would get paid back eventually. "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," he said. Trump and he had discussed disclosing Trump's repaying Cohen, and "he was well aware that at some point when I saw the opportunity, I was going to get this over with," Giuliani added. He told The Wall Street Journal that Trump was "very pleased" with the Hannity interview, because "we finally got our side of the story."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The admission that Trump repaid Cohen "removes the campaign finance violation," Giuliani told the Times, but campaign finance experts disagreed. If Cohen paid Daniels without being reimbursed to protect Trump during the campaign, that would likely be an illegal campaign contribution; if Trump paid him back, it could be considered an unreported campaign loan; and "Giuliani suggesting it was funneled through the firm as legal fees," Larry Noble at the Campaign Legal Center tells the Post, "is evidence of an intent to hide the source, which could make it knowing and willful, which is criminal."
"Everyone in Trump world will see this as a total unforced error and further affirmation that hiring Rudy wasn't the best idea," a Trump adviser tells the Post.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
AI hallucinations are getting worse
In the Spotlight And no one knows why it is happening
-
Social media: How ‘content’ replaced friendship
Feature Facebook has shifted from connecting with friends to competing with entertainment companies
-
The Alien Enemies Act
Feature President Trump is using a long-dormant law to deport Venezuelans. How does it work?
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
-
Trump blames Biden for tariffs-linked contraction
speed read The US economy shrank 0.3% in the first three months of 2025, the Commerce Department reported
-
Trump says he could bring back Ábgego García but won't
Speed Read At a rally to mark his 100th day in office, the president doubled down on his unpopular immigration and economic policies
-
Canada's Liberals, Carney win national election
Speed Read The party of Prime Minister Mark Carney beat Conservative Pierre Poilievre thanks in part to Trump's trade war