Trump admits hush money paid to two women by ex-lawyer Cohen came from him, but says payments were not illegal

In an interview with Fox News, US president Donald Trump has strongly denied using election campaign funds to make “hush payments” to two women who say he had affairs with them, the BBC reports.

However, Trump did admit that the payments came from him personally. Two days ago, his former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to violating laws during the presidential election and indicated he did so at Trump’s direction.

“They came from me. And I tweeted about it. But they did not come out of the campaign,” he says, adding that he only found out about the payments “later on”.

However, Cohen earlier made a statement under oath saying Trump had instructed him to make the payments. In July, Cohen released audio of him and Trump allegedly discussing one of the payments.

Back in April, Trump was asked by a reported if he had any knowledge of where Cohen got the money to make a hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, and he said “I don’t know.” In May, Trump officially disclosed a payment to Cohen between USD 100,000 and USD 250,000 for expenses incurred in 2016.

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