Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen said Wednesday that he used his home equity line of credit to send hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels so that he wouldn’t have to explain the payment to his wife.
“The reason that I used the home equity line of credit as opposed to cash that I had in the same exact bank is because I didn’t want my wife to know about it,” Cohen said at a House Oversight Committee hearing. “She handles all of the banking, and I didn’t want her coming to me and asking, ‘what’s the $130,000 for?'”
Cohen described the scheme in an exchange with Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL).
“I didn’t want to have to explain to her what that payment was about,” he said, before reiterating that he sent the $130,000 to Keith Davidson, a lawyer for porn actress Stormy Daniels. The payment was meant to keep Daniels from talking about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in the 2000s.
Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment, but Cohen said that “the goal was to keep [Trump] as far away from it as possible.”
When Rep. Kelly asked who could corroborate details surrounding the payment scheme, Cohen replied: “Keith Davidson, [Trump Org CFO] Allen Weisselberg, President Trump.”
Watch the exchange here:
Cohen: I used home equity line of credit for the Stormy Daniels hush payments because I didn't want my wife to know about them pic.twitter.com/DCnGrQ1x35
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) February 27, 2019
