The revelation threatened to engulf Trump in one of the most tawdry and legally damaging scandals of his presidency, and on Thursday provoked astonished reactions from ethics experts.
Daniels’ lawyer called the revelation “stunning” and said: “This is not about sex … this is about a cover-up.”
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and now one of Trump’s lawyers, revealed on Wednesday night that Trump reimbursed his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, for the $130,000 he paid to Daniels.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 – months after his wife, Melania, gave birth – and was paid to stay silent as part of a non-disclosure agreement she is now seeking to invalidate.
Trump had told reporters on Air Force One last month that he did not know about the $130,000 payment to Daniels – made by Cohen days before the 2016 presidential election – or the source of the money.
But after Giuliani said on live television on Wednesday that Trump had indeed reimbursed Cohen for the payment, the president reversed his position in an extraordinary sequence of tweets – just hours before leading a national day of prayer at the White House.
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