President Trump said Thursday he didn’t know about his lawyer’s $130,000 payment in 2016 to Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who said she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump.
Asked by reporters on Air Force One if he knew about attorney Michael Cohen’s payment to Ms. Daniels, the president answered, “No.”
When reporters asked the president why Mr. Cohen made the payment in October 2016, Mr. Trump replied, “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael.”
The president said he didn’t know where the money came from. Mr. Cohen said he used his own money.
Ms. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said the payment was to keep her quiet about her brief affair with Mr. Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in 2006. The payment came about two weeks before the presidential election.
Her attorney, Michael Avenatti, tweeted in response: “We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump’s feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath.”
Mr. Avenatti also told CNN he plans to refile Monday a motion to depose Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen. A judge had rejected it as “premature,” a judgment Mr. Avenatti says is now not the case.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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