Trump didn’t inform McGahn of hush-money payments in 2016: report

President Trump did not consult his campaign’s finance lawyer about hush-money payments made shortly before the 2016 election, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Donald McGahn, who is now White House counsel, expects to be questioned by federal prosecutors in New York about his knowledge of the payments, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, adding that if McGahn didn’t know about the payments then prosecutors could argue that it’s evidence Trump was trying to conceal them.

{mosads}McGahn has reportedly been cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to eight felony charges, including violating campaign finance law by arranging payments during the campaign to two women who say they had affairs with Trump years ago. Cohen implicated the president in the crimes, saying he made the payments at the direction of Trump.

Trump on Wednesday denied that he had knowledge of the payments at the time and falsely claimed that they were legal.

During an interview on Fox News he said the payments “didn’t come out of the campaign.”

“It’s not even a campaign violation,” Trump said, adding that he didn’t know about the payments until “later on.”

Last month Cohen released a tape on which Trump and Cohen discuss buying the story of former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006, in order to keep it from being published.