Donald Trump discloses payment made to lawyer who paid ‘hush money’ to porn star Stormy Daniels

Donald Trump has officially revealed that he made a reimbursement to his personal lawyer, who paid Stormy Daniels hush money over claims she slept with the President.

Trump’s financial disclosure showed that he reimbursed Michael Cohen for unspecified ‘expenses’, with no mention of a payment to porn star Ms Daniels.

In a footnote on page 45 of his 92-page disclosure, Trump said he reimbursed Mr Cohen for expenses ranging from 100,001 US dollars to 250,000 dollars (£73,000-£184,000).

The report said the President did not have to disclose the payment but was doing so ‘in the interest of transparency’.

While the disclosure did not specify the purpose of the payment, Mr Cohen has said he paid 130,000 dollars (£95,000) to Ms Daniels in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election to keep her from going public about her allegations that she had sex with the married Mr Trump in 2006.

The head of the nation’s ethics office questioned why the President did not include this in his previous year’s sworn disclosure and passed along his concerns to federal prosecutors.

DONALD TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE – MORE ANALYSIS FROM YAHOO UK:

Donald Trump’s unprecedented first year in the White House in numbers
Trump presidency ‘most unethical in modern history’, report finds
‘Donald Trump is not racist, just confused’ says ex-wife Ivana
From golf trips to Syria: 12 tweets that have come back to haunt Donald Trump
‘I’ll beat Oprah’: Donald Trump says 2020 presidential race against Winfrey would be ‘a lot of fun’

Writing to to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, David Apol, acting director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), said: ‘I am providing both reports to you because you may find the disclosure relevant to any inquiry you may be pursuing.’

Mr Apol wrote that he considers Trump’s payment to Mr Cohen to be a repayment on a loan and that it was required to be included in Trump’s June 2017 disclosure.

Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Fox News that the President was ‘fully aware’ of the disclosure and ‘endorsed the strategy’.

He said: ‘We wouldn’t do it without him. He’s the client, after all, and has tremendous judgement about things like this.

‘And I think it – that the OGE, the Office of Government Ethics, basically agreed with us that it has been fully disclosed.

‘I have a little disagreement with them, but it’s a petty one. I don’t believe it had to be disclosed at all.’

However, ethics experts say that if that payment was knowingly and wilfully left out, Trump could be in violation of federal ethics laws.

Virginia Canter, a former ethics official in the Clinton and Obama White Houses, said: ‘This is a big deal and unprecedented.

‘No President has been previously subject to any referral by (Office of Government Ethics) to DOJ as a result of having failed to report an item on their public financial disclosure report.’

Mr Giuliani gave interviews earlier this month saying the President had reimbursed Mr Cohen in a series of payments after the campaign was over.

Ms Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said that Trump’s disclosure ‘proves that the American people were deceived’.

He added: ‘This was NOT an accident and it was not isolated. Cover-ups should always matter.’

The White House has consistently denied claims that the President had an affair with Ms Daniels.