Last month on Air Force One, Trump denied any knowledge of his fixer Michael Cohen’s $130K payoff to Stormy Daniels. This week, Rudy Giuliani revealed that Trump had reimbursed Cohen, which suggests strongly that Trump was aware of the payoff.
The Trump fluffers on Fox News tried to square that circle by claiming that maybe the notoriously cheap Trump allowed Cohen to disburse a $130K payment without knowing to whom it was going or for what purpose. But today, Trump denied that he said he didn’t know about Michael Cohen’s payoff to Stormy Daniels:
WATCH: President Trump denies he once told reporters he didn't know about the Stormy Daniels payment.
"You take a look at what I said … You go take a look at what we said." pic.twitter.com/MNFgs1CRO5
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 4, 2018
He’s a liar, of course — it’s on video and everything. But why is he lying about this particular thing now? My guess is that it’s related to the since-retracted revelation yesterday that Michael Cohen’s phone was tapped. First NBC said the phones were tapped, meaning agents could listen in to conversations, and that a White House call was intercepted. Later, NBC walked that back, claiming other sources said call logs only were monitored.
Trump ain’t taking any chances. Maybe the lines were tapped, maybe they weren’t, but Trump knows he talked to Cohen about Daniels. He knew about the payoff — the cheap bastard doesn’t even pay legit vendors, so he’s not rubber-stamping outgoing mystery money. He’s afraid he’s on tape discussing Daniels with Cohen. So, what choice does he have now except to lie about what he said just a few weeks ago, even though it’s on video?
Gaslighting worked on Trump’s marks during his career as a real estate scammer and licensing schemer. It worked on his wives, at least for a while. It works on his stupid base, and fellow elected Republicans at least pretend to his face to believe Trump’s lies. The mainstream media has proved willing to choke down a tray of bullshit sandwiches too. Looks like Trump will test the full limits of their credulity.