'By God, he's a loyal friend!': Dem strategist ridicules Trump lawyer's claim porn actress money came from his own pocket

A fairly skeptical Anderson Cooper panel looked askance at the claim by President Donald Trump's personal lawyer that he paid porn actress Stormy Daniel's $130,000 out of his won pocket and that it had nothing to do with his highest profile client.

Reacting to the late report from the New York Times in which Michael Cohen issued a statement to the paper stating, "Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with [Stephanie] Clifford [Daniels’ legal name], and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly. The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone,” the panel didn't appear surprised.

"Last we heard of Stormy Daniels she was on a 'Make America Horny Again' tour, I believe," host Cooper began. "The porn actress who allegedly had an affair, I guess, or an encounter with President Trump. It's not clear if the Make America Horny Again' tour is continuing, we don't have any more information and we'll try to figure that out. But does it make sense that Michael Cohen would pay out of his own pocket? "

"The question is: what was the payment for then? This is all sorts of disgusting and bizarre," CNN regular Maria Cardona contributed.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala then put the whole thing in perspective.

"Can I just say that this is the best infrastructure week ever?" Begala quipped. "I'm just so glad that we're focused on rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges."

"I tend to believe him," Begala continued. "Because this is going into a legal proceedings. The  FCC is not actually court, but it could be in court soon enough, and Cohen's a good lawyer. By God, he's a loyal friend, but there was a similar situation. Remember, John Edwards, the senator from North Carolina, who ran from president? There was a lawyer friend of his who spent more than that, trying to hide the Senator Edwards' affair that came out. So it's not crazy in the context of a campaign and deep loyalty like that."

Watch the video below via CNN: