MEDIAWATCH: A Stormy News Day

The release of American prisoners in N Korea, denuclearization talks, and major discussion on trade with China, became also-ran items  in media around the world on Thursday, May 3. As the latest revelations in the Stormy Daniels affaire took over.

JOHN WAGNER writes in the Washington Post

President Trump said Thursday that his longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, was reimbursed through a monthly retainer for the $130,000 payment made to porn actress Stormy Daniels to stop what Trump called “false and extortionist accusations” about a decade-old affair.

In an extraordinary series of morning tweets, the president confirmed that Cohen entered into a non-disclosure agreement with Daniels, which Trump called “very common among celebrities and people of wealth.”

Trump stressed that no campaign funds were used to reimburse Cohen, calling it a “private agreement.”

“Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction,” Trump wrote.

Trump’s explanation on Twitter came the morning after Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and recent addition to Trump’s legal team, acknowledged for the first time that Trump had repaid Cohen — despite Trump’s assertion last month that he was unaware of the payment. Giuliani made the comments on the  Fox News Channel.

In his tweets Thursday morning, Trump was silent on whether he knew about the payment scheme to Cohen as it was happening.

Trump “didn’t know about the specifics of it, as far as I know,” Giuliani told Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity on Wednesday night. “But he did know the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this, like I take care of things like this with my clients. I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along. These are busy people.’’

Later, Giuliani said in an interview with The Washington Post that when Cohen paid the settlement to Daniels, he knew he would eventually get paid back by Trump, as he was reimbursed for other expenses.

Giuliani said it was his understanding that repayment from Trump came in a series of transactions after the election that he believes were completed in 2017, but could have included a reimbursement in 2018.

In the non-disclosure agreement, Daniels agreed to remain silent about Trump and a brief affair she says she had with him in 2006 when they met at a Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament. She has since filed suit to get out of the agreement and spoken out publicly with her alleged dalliance with the now-president.

Campaign finance watchdog groups have filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission and Justice Department alleging that the then-secret payment amounted to an illegal campaign expenditure.

During a fresh round of television interviews Thursday, Giuliani repeated Trump’s assertion that the affair never happened, claiming that Daniels was out for money and television exposure.

“The money was paid because of the embarrassment in an allegation like this,” Giuliani said on Fox Business Channel. “It’s more damaging to the person who’s innocent because no one ever forgets it.”

Giuliani also said Cohen did not tell Trump about the payment when it was made to Daniels in October 2016 — saying it would have been awkward if it came out around the time of a debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“Of course he didn’t talk to the presidential candidate then, because the man wouldn’t have remembered,” Giuliani said.

Giuliani said that the payout was relatively small compared to the money Trump was pumping into his own campaign.

“I think when Cohen heard $130,000, he said, ‘My god this is cheap,’” Giuliani said during a separate appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday.

“Cohen made it go away. He did his job,” Giuliani said.

Daniels’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, said Thursday that Trump had defamed his client with his latest tweets, particularly with his assertion that she was making “extortionist” accusations.

“I think there’s no question that he’s defaming my client,” Avenatti said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“These guys are making it up as they go along,” he said. “They are in full panic mode. They do not know what to do.”

Avenatti also predicted that Trump will not serve out his term.

Giuliani took several shots at Avenatti on Thursday morning, claiming Daniels’s attorney was seeking to make money and get a job as a legal commentator on television.

“He’s going take that money and jump in the next ambulance,” Giuliani said.