US President Donald Trump today said he did not know that his attorney had paid USD 130,000 to an adult film star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from going public about an alleged affair with him.
"No, no," Trump told reporters, responding to a question if he knew about the USD 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, who is claiming that she had an affair with Trump.
The money was paid by his attorney Michael Cohen days before the 2016 presidential election so as to prevent Daniels from going public. Trump has denied all such allegations of having an inappropriate relationship with her.
"Well, you'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. And you'll have to ask Michael Cohen," Trump said when asked why Cohen made those payments if there was no truth to her allegations.
"No, I don't know. No," he said when asked if he knew where Cohen got the money to make that payment.
In a recent interview, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said that the payment was intended to keep a lid on allegations of a sexual encounter with the president.
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Cohen has acknowledged having made the payment to her. He says that he made the payment from his personal account.
In a tweet, Michael Avenatti, her lawyer, said, "We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr Trump's feigned lack of knowledge concerning the USD 130,000 payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath".
"Good (actually GREAT) things come to those who wait!!! The strength of our case just went up exponentially. You can't have an agreement when one party claims to know nothing about it," he tweeted.
According to The New York Times, Trump's comments could create a predicament for him and his legal team. The case is based on the notion that the confidentiality agreement is invalid because Trump was not a party to it.
"By saying he was not aware of the agreement, Mr. Trump appeared to confirm that argument, which would mean neither party is legally bound by it, thus potentially paving the way for Ms Clifford to break her silence without consequences," the daily said.