Rudy Giuliani says Trump repaid Stormy Daniels hush money

last updated 3 May 2018

During an interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, Rudy Giuliani said President Trump reimbursed his lawyer, Michael Cohen, the $130,000 he paid adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about an affair she said she had with Trump in 2006.

Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and one of the newest members of Trump's legal team, told the Fox News host that the money was "funneled" through a law firm, and Trump "knew the general arrangement" but not the "specifics." The money was "paid by his lawyer the way I would do it," he continued, "out of his law firm funds or whatever funds, it doesn't matter, and the president reimbursed that over a period of several months."

Hannity said he "distinctly" remembered Cohen saying "he did it on his own," to which Giuliani responded, "He did?" Quickly, Giuliani added, "Look, I don't know, I haven't investigated that, there's no reason to dispute his recollection." Trump has said he knew nothing about Cohen's payment to Daniels. Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell he was rendered "speechless" by Giuliani's admission.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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