Rudy Giuliani was in the midst of a softball interview with Sean Hannity when he admitted that Trump knew about the Stormy Daniels payment and that they laundered it through Michael Cohen’s law firm.
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Hannity: Isn’t that closer to the mandate than Michael: Michael Cohan?
Giuliani: That money was not campaign money, sorry. I’m giving you a fact that you don’t know. It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance.
Hannity: They funneled it through a law firm.
Giuliani: They funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it it.
Hannity: There’s no campaign finance law.
Giuliani: Zero. Everybody was nervous about this from the very beginning. I know how much money he put into that campaign and I said 130,000, they could do a couple of checks for 130,000. When I heard his retainer of 130,000 he was doing the work for the president. That’s how he’s repaying it with a little profit in the little margin.
Hannity: The president how much did he know about this?
Giuliani: He knew he would take care of things like this, like I take care of this with my clients, I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along.
Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, immediately tweeted:
1/2. We predicted months ago that it would be proven that the American people had been lied to as to the $130k payment and what Mr. Trump knew, when he knew it and what he did in connection with it. Every American, regardless of their politics, should be outraged…
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 3, 2018
2/2. …by what we have now learned. Mr. Trump stood on AF1 and blatantly lied. This followed the lies told by others close to him, including Mr. Cohen. This should never be acceptable in our America. We will not rest until justice is served. #basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 3, 2018
Trump and Cohen conspired to commit fraud
Trump not only knew about the payment, but he intentionally tried to cover-up his repayment to Cohen by funneling the money through the law firm via a series of smaller payments. Thanks to Rudy Giuliani’s inability to keep his mouth closed, we now know that this was not only a campaign finance violation but also a felony act of fraud.
Rudy Giuliani was sitting comfortably with Sean Hannity, and he disclosed information that he was not even asked about.
Giuliani screwed up and the result is that we now have a better idea what Mueller’s team found that led to the Michael Cohen raid. It might end up being Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, not Russia, that brings down Trump.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
