President Trump’s senior counselor Kellyanne Conway tried Sunday to clarify Mr. Trump’s previous comments that he did not know of a six-figure payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Ms. Conway said Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One last month he didn’t know of his lawyer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 hush-money payment to Ms. Daniels, who’s real name is Stephanie Clifford, at the time of the payment.
“When the president said ’no’ on Air Force One, he was saying he didnt know when the payment occurred,” Ms. Conway said on CNN’s State of the Union.
“He found out about it after the fact.”
“His attorney had discretion over funds and made the best call that he could,” she added.
The attempt to clarify the president’s denial comes after The New York Times reported Friday Mr. Trump knew months before his exchange with reporters about the payment.
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In April, a reporter asked Mr. Trump, “Do you know where he got the money to make that payment?”
“No, I don’t know,” the president responded.
But former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani who joined the president’s legal team last week, broke news Wednesday and Thursday that Mr. Trump had reimbursed his attorney for the payment over the course of several months.
Mr. Giuliani, though, was adamant Sunday during an interview with ABC’s “This Week” that the payment was not in violation of campaign finance laws.
“If it could be for any other purpose… it cannot be a campaign contribution. Now this was for another purpose — to protect him, to protect his family,” Mr. Giuliani said.
The porn star signed a nondisclosure agreement and received the money in October of 2016 in exchange for not coming forward with her story of an alleged affair with Mr. Trump in 2006.
Ms. Daniels appeared on Saturday Night Live, warning the president, “A storm’s a comin’ baby.”
Her attorney, Michael Avenatti, said his client’s appearance on Saturday Night Live doesn’t undermine their case to get her NDA dissolved and there’s evidence the payment constituted a campaign violation since it was never reported.
“It is obvious… to the American people that this is a cover up, that they are making up as they go,” Mr. Avenatti said on ABC. “They don’t know what to say because they lost track of the truth.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, California Democrat, weighed in on Twitter Sunday, saying Mr. Trump knew he violated the law with the payment.
“While President Trump can’t be charged with lying to the American people, his false statements about hush money payments can be used as evidence that the President knew he was violating campaign finance laws. False statements are often powerful proof of a consciousness of guilt,” said Mr. Schiff.
American lawyer and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said the president may have had a bad week, but Mr. Giuliani is correct that the $130,000 payment could have been made for a number of reasons.
“Motives are complicated. The money may have been payed for a variety of motives,” Mr. Dershowitz told NBC’s Chuck Todd.
“It is a close case on whether or not there is any violation of any election laws, but if they are violations, they don’t seem to be very substantial,” he added.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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