and so that was one of the things that i wanted to put to him. and so, as you said, i asked about the $130,000 payment, did he know about it. he pretty flatly said no. so the significance of that, barbara, seems to be, according to mr. avenatti, stormy daniels lawyer, who says, our case just got that much better. we very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of mr. trump s famed lack of knowledge concerning the $130,000, as he stated on air force one. what is the significance of donald trump alleging or claiming that he had no idea about the agreement in terms of the case avenatti is making to invalidate the nda? well, this is a great example of why lawyers tell their clients not to speak publicly about matters in litigation. because this statement can be used as an admission by president trump that if he didn t know about the agreement and he is one of the principle parties to the agreement, then that feeds right into stormy daniels theory that this agreement is null
no. did you ever set up a fund of money the president did not answer that last question about setting up a fund. michael cohen s attorney released a statement saying, quote, this is an accurate assessment of the facts. this is exactly what i have been saying all along. michael cohen made the payment to protect the reputation, family and business. it had nothing to do with the election. meanwhile, stormy daniels lawyer says he s, quote, ecstatic over the president s remarks. we waited patiently and lo and behold, christmas has arrived. the president s comments on air force one are serious for him, serious for michael cohen. how can you have an agreement when one party claims that they don t know anything about the agreement? these guys are making it up as they go along. they don t know what to say day in in and day out and our case just got a whole lot better. in addition to the argument that there s no agreement, if
trump has broken his silence on porn star stormy daniels. on his way back from west virginia, the president denied knowing about the $130,000 payment his attorney, michael cohen, made to daniels just days before the 2016 election. did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? no. no. then why did michael cohen make it if there was no truth to her allegations? you would have to ask michael cohen. michael is my attorney and you would have to ask michael. do you know where he got the money to make that payment? no, i don t know. did you ever set up a fund of money he could draw from? the president did not answer that last question about whether he ever set up a fund from which cohen could draw. in just a moment, we ll talk to catherine lucy of the associated press who asked those first two questions of the president. stormy daniels has said the payment was hush money to keep her silent about an alleged sexual affair with trump in
on hiring, and we are really seeing sort of an emboldened president or as some people say, an unshackled president, perhaps, trying to do things his way. unshackled is the word sarah palin used when the 2008 campaign ended. so it elicits all sorts of reactions in me. but let me ask you about an unshackled president in the context of his legal exposure in the stormy daniels sort of back and forth. and let me ask you about sarah huckabee sanders contention that the president had prevailed in an arbitration. that seems inconsistent with what the president said today, is that he had no knowledge of any agreement with him. if he had no knowledge, how can a spokeswoman claim that he had known nothing about it? and i think that arbitration decision is not going to hold up. we ve got a matter now pending in court where the position of stormy daniels is to invalidate this agreement altogether. and so i think in light of this admission, and even the position that michael cohen has taken,
administration executive involved in deals in kazakhstan and russia. it is a project cohen worked on with former trump associate felix sader who on wednesday testified behind closed doors at the senate intel committee. now to president trump breaking his silence on the stormy daniels story. here is nbc news national correspondent peter alexander. president trump breaking his silence about stormy daniels and the world s most talked about about hush money payment. did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? that payment, less than two weeks before the 2016 election, made by his lawyer, michael cohen. so why did cohen pay if the president has denied having an affair with the porn star?