WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump’s failure last year to disclose that he repaid his lawyer Michael Cohen for Cohen’s pre-election payout to Stormy Daniels has been referred to the Department of Justice. The Office of Government Ethics determined Wednesday that Cohen’s payment to Daniels, which Trump repaid last year, constituted a loan that should have been reported on the president’s June 2017 financial disclosure form. Trump’s newest outside lawyer Rudy Giuliani finally admitted that Trump had repaid Cohen in a Fox News interview earlier this month. In a Wednesday interview with HuffPost, Giuliani continued to insist that Cohen’s payment to Daniels ― which he previously described as the settlement of a nuisance claim ― was fully aboveboard. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed a complaint with the OGE and the Justice Department in March asserting that Cohen’s payment to Daniels constituted a loan to Trump, filed a second complaint Wednesday.

Source: Huffington Post May 16, 2018 22:30 UTC