Washington D.C: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders came to the defence of President Donald Trump on Thursday, after his conflicting statements about the hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels put a question mark on his credibility.

Sanders told press that the President initially did not know about the payment to Daniels but came to know later, which led to the conflicting claims, reported CNN. "This was information the President didn't know at the time, but eventually learned," Sander said at the daily press briefing.

The Lies

President Trump has vehemently denied the affair with Stormy Daniels and followed it by saying that he didn't know about any payment made by his attorney Michael Cohen in return for her silence on the alleged affair.

Trump repeated his lack of knowledge of any monetary deals, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his press secretary said the same thing. His lawyer, Michael Cohen himself put forward the story that he paid the whole amount to Daniels out of his own pocket as a reflection of his love for the Trump family.

But to the amazement of Americans and others around the world, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told an astonished News Anchor Sean Hannity on Fox Channel that Trump had indeed reimbursed Cohen for the payments to Daniels -- and he did so, according to Giuliani, in some peculiar and imprecise series of monthly payments.

This bombshell was followed by the president, in a series of tweets, admitting to reimbursing Cohen for payment to Daniels and defended himself saying Cohen received a monthly retainer for it which had "nothing to do with the campaign." He explained that the agreement "was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair."

Sanders, on her part, said she came to know that Trump had learned of the reimbursement, during Giuliani's interview. On being pressed about the credibility of information provided by the White House, the spokeswoman said, "We give the very best information we have at the time."

Daniels has been locked in a legal battle with President Trump, seeking to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement she and Cohen had signed more than a decade ago. In her lawsuit, the adult star challenges the validity of the hush agreement contesting President Trump's knowledge about it. The adult star says the deal was not valid because the U.S. President "never signed it himself".

But the biggest fall out is the damage to the credibility of the Trump Presidency: why, should the public believe anything Donald Trump says after he so obviously misled the public on this subject of wide public interest? (With Agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 04, 2018 05:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).