OVER A BARREL, AND WEARING ONE:

[T]he more significant revelation came when Giuliani said that it took Trump four months or more to pay the bill. Think of it as one of those 90-days same-as-cash deals that merchants with excess goods offer so they can generate enough immediate cash to pay their bills.

Trump lawyer Michael Cohen "funneled it [the $130,000] through a law firm and the president repaid it," Giuliani said, speaking with Trump's advance knowledge.

"You're going to do a couple of checks for $130,000," Giuliani said.

Why didn't Trump pay with a single check, as any mere multimillionaire could be expected to do? Giuliani didn't say, and the entertainer Hannity didn't ask even though his show appears on Fox News.

Some reporters and pundits cited the multiple payments as potential violations of the federal Cash Transaction Report rules on payments of more than $10,000. But those rules don't apply to checks and do not apply to payments for services.

Then came the real news, however much unintended, by Giuliani. His very next words:

"When I heard Cohen's retainer of $35,000 when he was doing no work for the president, I said that's how he's repaying--that's how he's repaying it with a little profit and a little margin for paying taxes for Michael."

"The president reimbursed that over a period of several months," Giuliani said.

That makes clear that the hush money paid to keep the porn star silent just before voters went to the polls was a loan from lawyer Cohen to Trump. No such loan is disclosed in either Trump's ethics filings or campaign finance filings. That might cause legal problems for Trump and Cohen, though keep in mind that "might" implies doubt.

There might also be federal gift tax violations, depending on the fine print of the transactions.

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