Sen. Mike Rounds had a curious answer to why President Donald Trump allegedly signed off what has been widely reported as hush money payoffs to adult film star Stormy Daniels, while in office.

During an appearance on CNN’s New Day, host John Berman asked the Republican Senator from South Dakota what to make of claims that Trump signed off on checks in the Oval Office, checks that appear to have exposed Mr. Trump to criminal allegations in the Michael Cohen investigation led by the Southern District of New York.

Berman noted that Cohen has revealed specific dates that reimbursement checks for hush money payments occurred on the same day that President Trump met with Angela Merkel, and another day he hosted the senators to talk about tax cuts. “This is a jarring juxtaposition, he’s conducting business with porn stars as he’s conducting business,” Berman noted, asking “Are you concerned about this?”

Rounds provided the most charitable answer possible, saying that “most of us are concerned when you have a president working through personal matters,” before adding”this president loves his family and think it has as much to do with trying not to have public discussions about something that is, for him, a private matter that he didn’t want to have discussed with his family.”

So Rounds reasoning for why the president signed off hush money payments to an adult film star with whom he is alleged to have an extra-marital affair was because of love and loyalty for his wife and family. Got it.

Watch above via CNN.

Edit note: the original version of this post incorrectly identified Mr. Rounds as a member of the House of Representatives and not a Senator. The post has been updated accordingly.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]