Donny Deutsch: Cohen Told Me Rudy ‘Doesn’t Know What He’s Talking About’

Michael Cohen is “very frustrated” by claims that Rudy Giuliani made in a Thursday press blitz about hush money payments Cohen doled out during the 2016 presidential campaign, MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch said Friday.

Deutsch, appearing on Morning Joe, said he’d spoken to Cohen about Giuliani’s revelation that President Trump reimbursed the $130,000 Cohen paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about her alleged sexual relationship with Trump.

“I spoke with Michael Cohen yesterday and his quote about Giuliani was: He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Deutsch said.

“He said look there’s two people that know exactly what happened, myself and the President and you’ll be hearing my side of the story,” Deutsch continued. “And he was obviously very frustrated with what had come out yesterday.”

Giuliani’s marathon press tour complicated the previous public stances of both Cohen and Trump’s team. According to Giuliani, Trump repaid Cohen through a $35,000 per month retainer. While Giuliani argued the funds were unrelated to the campaign and therefore not a violation of campaign finance law, he also acknowledged that it would have been damaging if news about Trump’s affair had come out weeks before Election Day.

Cohen, whose financial dealings are under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York, had initially claimed he made the payments out of his own pocket without Trump’s knowledge.

As recently as early April, Trump claimed he had no knowledge about how Daniels was paid. On Thursday, he acknowledged giving Cohen a monthly retainer to “stop the false and extortionist accusations” made by Daniels.