Donald Trumps newest attorney Rudy Giuliani was a special guest on This Week with George Stephanopoulos Sunday to clarify a couple of issues that have been hovering over the former New York mayors head — specifically the payment made to Stormy Daniels to keep her from coming forward about her alleged affair with the President.
In the 22-minute interview with Stephanopoulos, Giuliani gave awkward and uneasy answers as he tried to smooth things over from the past week in regards to the Daniels scandal. During an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News last week, Giuliani said that Trump repaid Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment to Daniels in regards to the alleged affair which Trump denies. Trump defended Giuliani saying that he is a “great guy” but got his facts wrong. He continued to say that Giuliani just started his job as his attorney and still is “working hard” to learn his subject.
Giuliani backpedaled on his comments and said he was unsure of the timeline of these payments. He did say that the payment was a legal matter and that it did not violate federal campaign finance rules.
He added that he never thought $130,000 was a “real payment” and referred to it as a “nuisance payment.
Giuliani said, “I dont like saying this, but its not a great deal of money ― $1.3 million is a great deal of money. Thats the kind of money you would think of as a settlement. If I saw $130,000, I would never think it was to settle a substantial claim against my client.”
RelatedDonald Trump: Rudy Giuliani Still “Learning”; Stormy Story Has Not Changed
In other interviews with news outlets, Giuliani said that Cohen complained about not receiving the reimbursement for the Daniels payment after the 2016 campaign to which he brushed off as a rumor. Stephanopoulos said, “You stated it as fact.” Giuliani responded, “Well maybe I did. I dont know. How do you separate fact and opinion?”
In addition to the Stormy Daniels scandal, the interview also covered the Robert Muellers Russian investigation to which Giuliani said that the President would possibly take the Fifth Amendment if he is subpoenaed to testify.
Giuliani said that they dont have to “comply with a subpoena.” He adds, “Hes the president of the United States. We can assert privilege other presidents [have].”
Watch the full interview below.
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