CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman joined "CBS This Morning" to discuss what may be the legal strategy behind Giuliani's comments and how this revelation affects claims that the payment does not violate federal campaign finance laws.
"This is the strategy. I, Rudy Giuliani, probably think that the Southern District of New York has a great deal of information from its seizure of documents from Michael Cohen, so I, Rudy Giuliani, advise the president that we need to clean this up because in my mind, as a lawyer as I look at all this, this was all legal because it was your private funds that paid back Michael Cohen over a period of time from retainers. So I'm going to go on Sean Hannity, friendly forum, and I'm going to clean it up for you. It was a disaster….In my opinion," Klieman said.
A question that has been raised since Cohen's $130,000 payment to Daniels first came to light is whether it violates federal campaign finance laws. Cohen claims Mr. Trump never knew about the payment and allegedly got a home equity loan to pay it on his behalf.
"Well first of all, that's unethical on the part of a lawyer in the New York Bar. You can't pay off a settlement out of retainer funds and not have your client know you're signing a contract in his name, let alone with an alias," Klieman said. "But then we have to look back at the John Edwards case and look, is this an in-kind contribution to a campaign by Michael Cohen, whether or not it is paid back later on in increments by Donald Trump? And then if it's alone, was there any interest paid? No financial disclosure forms ever showed the loan."
Is there a legal strategy behind Rudy Giuliani's comments about the Stormy Daniels payment?
/ CBS News
A startling admission by Rudy Giuliani Wednesday leaves President Trump facing new legal questions about whether he knew about an attempt to silence Stormy Daniels. The president's new lawyer says Mr. Trump repaid the $130,000 that attorney Michael Cohen gave to the adult film star after an alleged affair.
This revelation contradicts the president's past statement that he was unaware of Cohen's payment. According to Giuliani, Mr. Trump did not know about the specifics of the arrangement.
CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman joined "CBS This Morning" to discuss what may be the legal strategy behind Giuliani's comments and how this revelation affects claims that the payment does not violate federal campaign finance laws.
"This is the strategy. I, Rudy Giuliani, probably think that the Southern District of New York has a great deal of information from its seizure of documents from Michael Cohen, so I, Rudy Giuliani, advise the president that we need to clean this up because in my mind, as a lawyer as I look at all this, this was all legal because it was your private funds that paid back Michael Cohen over a period of time from retainers. So I'm going to go on Sean Hannity, friendly forum, and I'm going to clean it up for you. It was a disaster….In my opinion," Klieman said.
A question that has been raised since Cohen's $130,000 payment to Daniels first came to light is whether it violates federal campaign finance laws. Cohen claims Mr. Trump never knew about the payment and allegedly got a home equity loan to pay it on his behalf.
"Well first of all, that's unethical on the part of a lawyer in the New York Bar. You can't pay off a settlement out of retainer funds and not have your client know you're signing a contract in his name, let alone with an alias," Klieman said. "But then we have to look back at the John Edwards case and look, is this an in-kind contribution to a campaign by Michael Cohen, whether or not it is paid back later on in increments by Donald Trump? And then if it's alone, was there any interest paid? No financial disclosure forms ever showed the loan."
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