Trump lawyer in hush money case slams NBC host for ‘being petty’
“You are petty!” Trump attorney slams NBC host for asking how the ex-president classified the Stormy Daniels’ hush money payment as legal fees in his personal records
- Trump’s personal attorney, Joe Tacopina, went berserk during an interview Sunday morning when he spoke about the Manhattan district attorney’s case against his client
- Accused NBC host Chuck Todd of being “petty” by asking why Trump’s personal ledger didn’t detail what Cohen’s legal costs were at the time
- Trump was not indicted this week because the grand jury did not convene, despite reports he would be arrested in the Stormy Daniels hush money case
Donald Trump’s attorney in the Stormy Daniels hush money case tore up NBC host Chuck Todd during a furious clash Sunday morning over how the former president classified the payment in his personal information.
Joe Tacopina accused Todd of being “petty” and claimed that Trump was unaware of his attorney at the time that Michael Cohen paid Daniels during the 2016 campaign to remain silent about their sexual encounter a decade earlier.
The disagreement in NBC’s Meet the Press interview left Todd wondering why Trump wasn’t “telling the truth.” His personal ledger is that the “legal fees” he paid to Cohen at the time were actually compensation for paying Daniel’s settlement with hush money.
This set off Tacopina, who began representing former President Trump earlier this year.
Donald Trump’s personal attorney Joe Tacopina flew into a rage during an interview Sunday morning when he spoke about the Manhattan district attorney’s case against his client for allegedly paying back his then-lawyer Michael Cohen for a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels
Tacopina accused NBC host Chuck Todd of being “petty” by asking why Trump’s personal ledger didn’t detail what Cohen’s legal costs were at the time
“But what should he put in his personal ledger?” Tacopina wondered. “Seriously, what would he put in his personal ledger? “Uh, hush money payment for, uh, quiet, uh, an affair I claim I never had so my family won’t be embarrassed.” Is that what he should put in his ledger? There’s nothing wrong with…”
“What about the truth?” Todd intervenes. “You keep saying, what should be in the ledger? Would it be the truth?’
“Chuck, could you ever put a four-paragraph sentence in a ledger?” joked the lawyer.
“You’re a little narrow-minded looking at this now because there’s no reporting requirement,” Tacopina added. “You can put whatever you want in your personal ledger.”
Trump claimed last weekend that he expected to be arrested Tuesday in connection with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s case involving the 2016 payments.
House Republicans insist Bragg is overstepping his jurisdiction as a Manhattan DA — saying he should keep his focus on prosecuting crime in New York City rather than pursuing “politically motivated” cases.
However, the grand jury did not convene this week and no charges were filed, despite several reports claiming action was imminent.
Trump’s lawyer claims his client denies allegations of a sexual relationship with Stormy Daniels — he has also called the $130,000 hush money an “inconvenient payment” that rich or famous people sometimes use to make a distracting situation go away
Trump’s counsel claims he was unaware Cohen was making the payment, though the ex-president’s former attorney says he was instructed to give the money to Daniels in exchange for her silence on the affair.
Cohen is a star witness in Bragg’s case, even though sources tell the DailyMail.com that he is having trouble convincing the grand jury to press charges.
Tacopina explained that the payment Trump made to Cohen was not improper on the part of the former president.
“It was legal fees billed by Michael Cohen, who initially handled this himself, with his own money,” he explained to Todd. “Literally took out a loan, fixed it without the president knowing, came back and then billed four times the amount paid off over the course of a year.”