Today, Donald Trump was questioned on Air Force One about whether he knew about the $130,000 payment his attorney, Michael Cohen, made to Stormy Daniels. Trump, in a 30-second clip, sucked all the air out of his case. In fact, he has now opened up his attorney to a whole world of hurt by basically insinuating that Cohen acted alone in paying her off while pretending to be representing Trump. It is not a good situation for anyone. And oh, this may also mean that the NDA may is going to get thrown out. Whoopsie!
MELBER: We begin with breaking news from Air Force One, President Trump just spoke out on the record about Stormy Daniels. In a moment, I will have the first live reaction from Daniel's attorney. Trump speaking to reporters, he is denying that he made this now infamous $130,000 payment to her or that he knows where it came from.
(CLIP)
MELBER: Paid for Stormy Daniels for that secret NDA agreement. You also heard by implication the President denying that he knows where his long-time lawyer got the $130,000 to make this famous payment...and that takes this story right now in a new direction. Because up until this hour, Donald Trump personally had no denied that he made this payment. Quite the opposite, since Trump joined the case against Daniels, seeking millions of dollars. Michael Cohen never said whether Donald Trump reimbursed him for the payment. So the President, there on Air Force One just added more questions and more suspicions to this very unusual story. Let's get right to it here with the first response to this news is Stormy Daniels lawyer, Michael Avenatti. I appreciate you coming on The Beat, here on a night when I know you're in big demand. The first legal question to come out of this, if Donald Trump didn't make the statement and doesn't know where the payment came from, does that call into question if there was a valid agreement in the first place?
AVENATTI: First of all let me say Merry Christmas to you. Because it's a very Merry Christmas here in our camp. This is what happens when you have an undisciplined client. We waited for Christmas and lo and behold it's arrived. The statements that Donald Trump made on Air Force One are serious for Donald Trump and serious. Cohen, these guys are making it as they go along and our case just got a whole lot better.
Merry Christmas, indeed!
