White House counselor Kellyanne Conway Kellyanne Elizabeth ConwaySpecial counsel investigating DeVos for potential Hatch Act violation: report George and Kellyanne Conway honor Ginsburg Trump carries on with rally, unaware of Ginsburg's death MORE said on Sunday that President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE meant he was unaware of his lawyer's payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels at the time it occurred when he previously denied knowing about it.

Conway during an appearance on CBS’s “Face The Nation” sought to clarify Trump’s initial comments last month that he was unaware of the payment. She also rejected the notion that the money qualified as a campaign contribution.

“This was a private matter, had nothing to do with campaign funds,” Conway said.

ADVERTISEMENT

The White House has come under scrutiny in recent days for its changing story about whether Trump knew that his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement in the weeks before the 2016 campaign.

Trump said aboard Air Force One in April that he was not aware that Cohen had paid Daniels, and said he did not know where the money came from.

However, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s new attorney in the Russia probe, said on Fox News last week that the president reimbursed Cohen for the money and was generally aware of the arrangement.

On Sunday, Conway disputed Giuliani’s characterization that the payment was a “campaign expenditure.”

“I don’t know why anyone would say that. I would not characterize it that way,” she said, adding that the matter never crossed her desk while she was serving as Trump’s campaign manager in 2016.

Conway said that Trump gave Cohen authority to use funds that “had nothing to do with the campaign” as he saw fit.

She added that Trump's tweets on the matter, in which the president said he paid Cohen a monthly retainer that was used to cover the payment to Daniels, emphasize that it was a private agreement, and not related to the campaign.

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, is suing Trump and Cohen to be released from the nondisclosure agreement, which bars her from speaking about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. She claims the agreement is void because Trump never signed it.

In addition, she has filed lawsuits against both men for defamation.