A retiring Republican lawmaker expressed support for a congressional investigation into the manner by which President Donald Trump repaid his personal attorney for hush money paid to an adult film star shortly before the 2016 election.
Both Trump and attorney Michael Cohen have previously insisted the then-candidate played no role in a $130,000 payment made to Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels.
In a Fox News Channel interview this week, however, Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani dropped a bombshell by announcing the president has since repaid Cohen for the expenditure.
U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Penn., said he believes it would only be fair for his party to launch an investigation to get to the bottom of the controversy.
“I think there is certainly a role for Congress,” he said.
Dent urged fellow Republicans to consider the same situation under a Democratic administration.
“Let’s put the shoe on the other foot,” he said. “If a Democratic president had paid off a porn star to keep quiet while he was president, I suspect we’d have oversight hearings, and I suspect there should be some oversight hearings to get to the bottom of this.”
He continued by exposing perceived Republican hypocrisy, suggesting that if the same situation played out with another party in the White House, “we’d be waving a bloody shirt right now.”
