What Campaign Finance Lawyers Are Saying About Giuliani's Stormy Comments
"They funneled through a law firm, and the president repaid it," Giuliani told Hannity last night, setting off a storm of debate over the $130,000 payment. We've rounded up some observations from campaign finance lawyers.
May 03, 2018 at 12:03 PM
7 minute read
The original version of this story was published on National Law Journal
Rudy Giuliani speaks at a Federalist Society convention in Washington in 2007. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ NLJ
Rudy Giuliani was defiant Wednesday night on Sean Hannity's Fox News program, telling the host something he did not know: President Donald Trump repaid his lawyer Michael Cohen for his $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
“They funneled through a law firm, and the president repaid it,” Giuliani said. Up until that point, Trump had denied knowing about the payment, which silenced Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, from talking about her alleged affair with Trump. Clifford, represented by Michael Avenatti, is suing Trump over that nondisclosure agreement.
Giuliani's acknowledgement set off a firestorm of controversy, raising questions about whether Trump lied to the public about denying knowing about the payment and whether the payment itself violated campaign finance laws. Giuliani, who's on leave from Greenberg Traurig to work for Trump, said Trump repaid Cohen, a Trump Organization lawyer, over several months. Giuliani and Trump both denied the money was campaign-related.
Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
➤➤ And then there's George Conway, the Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz lawyer and husband of White House aide Kellyanne Conway. George Conway, of counsel in the firm's litigation department, on Thursday tweeted a link to Federal Election Commission guidance he clearly viewed as applicable to the $130,000 payment and Trump's reimbursement. According to the guidance, any gift or loan meant to influence an election is “considered a contribution from the donor to the campaign, subject to the per-election limit and reportable by the campaign.” Conway occasionally has used his Twitter account to rebut some statements or positions of Trump administration officials.
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