Corey Lewandowski, a close political adviser to President Donald Trump who is facing scrutiny over his business interests, denied after a speech in Cleveland on Thursday that he is actively working with an Ohio-based payday lending company.

But the denial only came when Lewandowski was pressed by reporters — not by audience members who demanded answers during the City Club of Cleveland’s time-honored Q&A session.

The New York Times reported this week that Lewandowski’s new consulting firm was pursuing a contract with Community Choice Financial. The link raised eyebrows, because days earlier Lewandowski had used an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press to urge Trump to fire Richard Cordray, the former Ohio attorney general who — as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — has a role in regulating the payday lending industry.

The call to dump Cordray came out of nowhere — in response to a question about the ousting of White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus — and prompted host Chuck Todd to ask whether Lewandowski had a client or business interest affected by federal financial regulations.

Lewandowski, who was Trump’s first campaign manager, said then that he did not. On Thursday, he danced around pointed questions from two City Club attendees.

Asked by one questioner if Community Choice is one of his clients, yes or no, Lewandowski dodged by saying that, regardless of Cordray’s status as CFPB chief, “I don’t make one dime on that decision.” He then went on to bash Cordray, who is being mentioned as a potential Democratic candidate for governor in Ohio if he leaves the federal agency.

A few minutes later, another audience member pressed Lewandowski to directly answer the Community Choice question and another he had sidestepped. Lewandowski got testy in his response: "If you want to have a discussion back and forth, we can do that, but let me tell you how that works. When you get the podium, you get to talk as long as you want."

Several in the crowd groaned loudly as Lewandowski again declined to answer definitively.

Afterward, Lewandowski took questions during a 20-minute meeting with reporters. Asked then about Community Choice, Lewandowski began with his “I haven’t been paid a dime” line.

Pressed further, Lewandowski acknowledged that the payday lender was a client of his previous firm, Avenue Strategies, but said a draft contract between Community Choice and his new firm, Lewandowski Strategic Advisors, was never executed. “Correct,” Lewandowski replied when one reporter asked if that meant the company was not currently a client of his new firm.

But has he offered advice to Community Choice?

“I give advice all the time to all kinds of people,” Lewandowski said. “I give advice — free advice — all the time. And when people call me, you know what I do? I answer their telephone calls.”

Pressed once more on whether he was a consultant to the company, Lewandowski bristled. “I could do it in a different language if you’re having a hard time with English, but here’s what I’m telling you: They were a client under my previous firm. I left the firm in May.”