Rudy Giuliani and President Trump are deciding bold new strategies together — and leaving the rest of the Trump team in the dark in the process, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
Giuliani, who recently joined Trump's legal team for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation, decided to reveal Wednesday night that the president reimbursed attorney Michael Cohen for a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The disclosure was based on a private plan that he and Trump concocted, the Post reported Thursday.
Trump's new outside counsel appeared on Fox News on Wednesday and shocked host Sean Hannity by describing how the president paid Cohen $130,000 to reimburse him for a payment to Daniels, who received money to stay silent about an alleged affair with Trump. Trump had previously denied that he knew anything about the arrangement.
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While pundits wondered whether Giuliani had imperiled Trump's plan to continually plead ignorance, Giuliani told the Post that Trump was in on the plan all along. "He was well aware that at some point when I saw the opportunity, I was going to get this over with," said Giuliani. Giuliani was apparently the only lawyer Trump entrusted with the information — White House counsel Don McGahn, Russia investigation attorney Emmet Flood, and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders were all reportedly caught off guard by what they heard in the Hannity interview.
Giuliani has reportedly urged Trump to tackle the legal dilemma head on, making statements before information can trickle out to media outlets. Trump confirmed the revelations via Twitter on Thursday, insisting that no campaign finance laws were violated. Read more at The Washington Post.
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