The day after President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani unexpectedly admitted on cable news that his client had reimbursed Trump lawyer Michael Cohen for the payout to Stormy Daniels, he was roundly criticized for having gone off the reservation and compromising the White House. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
In fact, Giuliani, a bare-knuckles brawler in the rings of both politics and litigation, was laying down a marker. The former New York mayor is sending a clear message to Special Counsel Robert Mueller: It’s been more than a year; show your cards. Put up or shut up.
Giuliani was showing his cards when he explained that Trump had personally covered the $130,000 payout to Daniels. Cohen was on retainer, and apparently empowered to take care of these kinds of situations without telling Trump, thereby insulating his boss. This might not be pretty, or the kind of thing a Mitt Romney would do, but it’s not illegal.
Journalists howled that Giuliani had gotten in front of the White House, that the comms team was blindsided by his revelation. But he was only getting out in front of the truth, and maybe he didn’t tell the White House staff because he didn’t want it to leak before he had a chance to tell the story first. Maybe he wanted this to be an explanation, not an admission.
Did Trump Lie on Air Force One?
A criticism of Giuliani’s revelation, which he offered without even being asked about it, is that it proves Trump lied on Air Force One when he said he didn’t know anything about the payment to Daniels. But the facts don’t bear this out. According to his attorney, Trump knew nothing of the payout at the time it was paid, and even while repaying it was not aware exactly what Cohen had fixed. Giuliani says Trump only found out he paid for the Stormy silence 10 days to two weeks ago.
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05.17.2024