Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani released a statement correcting the comments he made Wednesday as President Trump's lawyer that sparked confusion and countless headlines in the mainstream media.
Here's what happened
In an interview Wednesday with Sean Hannity on his Fox News show, Giuliani revealed that the president had reimbursed his lawyer Michael Cohen for the $130,000 that he admitted he paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election.
“That was money that was paid by his lawyer,” Giuliani explained to Hannity, “the way that I would do, out of his law firm funds, or whatever funds, doesn’t matter – the president reimbursed that over a period of several months.”
This was troublesome for the president because he had told reporters in early April that he didn't know about the payment, and he didn't know where Cohen had obtained the money for the payment.
On Thursday, a statement was released from the president's official Twitter account explaining Giuliani's comments.
“Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer," the statement read, "not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA.”
"He'll get his facts straight"
Trump hinted that a statement from Giuliani was to be released Friday when he spoke to reporters.
"Rudy is a great guy," the president said, "but he just started a day ago, but he just started a day ago, but he really has his heart into it, he's working hard, he's learning the subject matter. And he's going to be issuing a statement too."
"So Rudy knows it's a witch hunt," he continued, "he started yesterday, he'll get his facts straight, he's a great guy"
Here's video of Trump's comments about Giuliani:
"My understanding of these matters"
Later, Giuliani released a statement in an email correcting his comments further. "This is intended to clarify the views I expressed over the past few days," the statement read."
"These are my views," he said. "There is no campaign violation. The payment was made to resolve a personal and false allegation in order to protect the President’s family. It would have been done in any event, whether he was a candidate or not."
"My references to timing were not describing my understanding of the President’s knowledge," he continued, "but instead, my understanding of these matters."
"It is undisputed that the President’s dismissal of former Director Comey – an inferior executive officer – was clearly within his Article II power," the statement concluded. "Recent revelations about former Director Comey further confirm the wisdom of the President’s decision, which was plainly in the best interests of our nation."
