Obama ethics chief: Giuliani revelation could mean Trump filed false financial disclosure

Former President Obama ethics chief Norm Eisen on Wednesday said that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s (R) revelation that President Trump reimbursed his attorney for a payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels could mean that Trump filed a false financial disclosure.

{mosads}

Eisen said the revelation that the president repaid Michael Cohen may prove “that Trump broke the law by failing to disclose the loan from Cohen on his federal presidential financial disclosures.” 

Whoa, Rudy may just have proven our @CREWcrew complaint that Trump broke the law by failing to disclose the loan from Cohen on his federal presidential financial disclosures. Those are filed under criminal penalty for false statements, 18 USC 1001. https://t.co/1W1BP4RvIT

— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) May 3, 2018

Eisen’s remarks come hours after Giuliani, who has joined the president’s legal team, contradicted a previous statement  by the president, who had said he was not aware of the payment to keep Daniels quiet about an alleged affair. 

Giuliani told Fox News host Sean Hannity that the payment was “perfectly legal” and did not break campaign finance laws.

“It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violation. They funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it,” Giuliani said.

He went on to say that the president was not aware of the specifics of the payment. 

“He didn’t know about the specifics of it as far as I know, but he did know about the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this,” Giuliani said.

“That was money that was paid by his lawyer, the way I would do, out of his law firm funds or whatever funds, it doesn’t matter. The president reimbursed that over a period of several months,” he continued. 

Trump on Thursday defended the payment in a series of tweets, noting that Cohen received a monthly retainer that was “not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign.”

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 

…very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,……

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018

…despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018