President Donald Trump on Thursday said no campaign dollars were used in a "private agreement" between his lawyer Michael Cohen and porn star Stormy Daniels, describing it as part of a contract aimed at stopping her from making "false and extortionist accusations" about an affair.
"Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll (sic) in this transaction," Trump wrote in one of a series of early morning tweets.
The president's tweets addressed a question raised weeks ago about whether he knew about the nondisclosure agreement reached between Cohen and Daniels.
Asked aboard Air Force One last month whether he knew about the payment, Trump said flatly: "No." Trump also said he didn't know why Cohen had made the payment or where he got the money.
In a phone interview with "Fox and Friends" last week, however, Trump appeared to muddy the waters, saying that Cohen represented him in the "crazy Stormy Daniels deal."
The White House referred questions to the president's personal legal team.
They follow up on statements by his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, Wednesday night that Trump reimbursed Cohen the $130,000 he used to pay Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Giuliani, who joined the president's legal team last month, told Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity that monies were "funneled ... through the law firm and the president repaid it."
Giuliani's assertion seemed to contradict Trump's repeated position that he didn't even know about the payment, let alone admit that he reimbursed his attorney for it.
Giuliani told The Wall Street Journal later Wednesday that the president was "probably not aware" of the payment at the time Cohen made it.
Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and ex-U.S. attorney, joined Trump's legal team last month.
Material from The Associated Press was used in preparing this report.
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