Donald Trump admits to paying Stormy Daniels $ 130,000
Struggled by pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with him, US President Donald Trump radically deviated from strategy Thursday, admitting to having spent $ 130,000 to keep her silent.
Until then Mr. Trump assured to know nothing of these $ 130,000, paid by his personal lawyer to the blonde and busty woman of 39 years, who has taken legal action to invalidate this confidentiality agreement.
The deal between Michael Cohen and Ms. Daniels was negotiated a month before the presidential election won by Mr. Trump.
The alleged sexual relationship dates back to 10 years earlier, to a time when Donald Trump was already married to his current wife, Melania.
In a justification rolled out in the form of tweets, Mr. Trump explained Thursday that such a payment was common in the world of public figures. And that it had not been taken from the financing of his electoral campaign, which would have been illegal.
"Mr. Cohen, a lawyer, received a monthly advance on fees, (...) which had nothing to do with the campaign team, under which he concluded, with reimbursement, a private contract between two parties ”, he wrote.
“These (confidentiality) agreements are very common among celebrities and wealthy people. In this case, it is in full force, ”he continued.
Attempted "extortion"
According to the president, the purpose of this transaction was to “put an end to the false accusations” of Stormy Daniels, whom he accuses of seeking to “extort” money from him.
Donald Trump spoke directly on this issue for the first time on April 5 aboard the presidential plane Air Force One. Asked if he was aware of Mr. Cohen's payment to Stormy Daniels, he replied, "No".
When asked why the lawyer made this payment, Mr. Trump replied: “You have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my lawyer ”.
"Do you know where he got the money to make this payment?" a journalist had asked him again. “No, I don't know,” he had said.
The tight turn taken by the White House in this embarrassing case was initiated Wednesday evening by Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York whom Mr. Trump has just recruited to energize his team of lawyers.
To everyone's surprise, Mr. Giuliani claimed on Fox News Wednesday night that Mr. Trump had reimbursed Michael Cohen the $ 130,000, appearing to contradict previous statements by the president.
"This money paid by his lawyer (...) the president reimbursed it over a period of several months", said Mr. Giuliani, referring to a "perfectly legal" payment.
Trump "lied"
According to Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Trump paid Mr. Cohen between 460,000 and 470,000 dollars to reimburse the sum paid to the actress as well as "secondary expenses".
Stormy Daniels' flamboyant lawyer Michael Avenatti reacted quickly, accusing Mr. Trump of having "openly lied."
"We predicted months ago that it would be proven that the American people were deceived about the payment of the $ 130,000 and what Mr. Trump knew, when he knew it," he tweeted.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied any presidential lies, claiming that Mr. Trump only learned he had reimbursed the lawyer for the $ 130,000 after his denials in Air Force One.
On Thursday, Giuliani conceded that his shattering revelations had taken White House advisers by surprise.
"It was popular that they were," the lawyer told CNN. “The president is my client, I don't talk to them”.
Mr. Giuliani protested a perfect understanding with Mr. Trump, assuring that there was "not the thickness of a sheet of cigarette paper" between the president and him.
The Stormy Daniels case turned into a legal saga, with two lawsuits launched by the actress while Mr. Cohen had his office raided by FBI investigators.
On Thursday, NBC also reported that the FBI had a detailed list of the lawyer's phone calls, but he was not wiretapped.
In addition to the appeal against the confidentiality agreement she signed, Stormy Daniels sued Mr. Trump last Monday in New York.
