Rudy Giuliani issued a clarification Friday about comments he made over the weekend regarding President Trump and Stormy Daniels in what has been a wild week of media appearances from him.
“This is intended to clarify the views I expressed over the past few days,” said Giuliani at the outset, saying that his description of the tick tock of the Stormy Daniels payments timeline had only been his previous understanding. “My references to timing were not describing my understanding of the President’s knowledge, but instead, my understanding of these matters.”
Giuliani also reiterated that the payments to the porn star were not a campaign violation but had, in fact, been offered to “resolve a personal and false allegation in order to protect the President’s family,” adding that “it would have been done in any event, whether he was a candidate or not.”
JUST IN: Rudy Giuliani issues statement "intended to clarify the views I expressed over the past few days." https://t.co/IjJDf0JZaQ pic.twitter.com/5HUS1HMIED
— ABC News (@ABC) May 4, 2018
While Giuliani said there was no daylight between him and Trump on the legal strategy, the president pivoted away from him Friday morning during remarks at Andrews Air Force Base.
“When Rudy made the statements — Rudy’s great — but Rudy had just started and wasn’t totally familiar with everything,” said Trump.
“We love Rudy, he’s a special guy,” the president added. “What he really understands is, this is a witch hunt. He understands that probably better than anybody … but when he made certain statements, he just started yesterday.”
The walk back follows Giuliani’s freewheeling interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday which now looks like a significant misstep, rather than a grand legal maneuver. In the 40-minute Q&A, Giuliani said that Trump had reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 payment he gave Stormy Daniels in October 2016. Hannity reacted with surprise when the former mayor said the money had been “funneled” to Cohen through a law firm.
During an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning, Giuliani suggested that everything was on track, and that the purpose of the disclosure was to show that the payment had been a personal matter and not a campaign finance violation.