DONALD Trump says reimbursement to his personal lawyer for money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels was done through a monthly retainer and “had nothing to do with the campaign”.

On Twitter, Trump said Michael Cohen received a monthly retainer “from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA”.

He added that the agreement “was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair”.

The president’s tweets came after Rudy Giuliani, one of his lawyers, said on Wednesday that Trump reimbursed Cohen for $130,000 (£95,000) in hush money to Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election. That appeared to contradict the president’s past claims that he did not know the source of the money.

During an appearance on Fox News Channel’s Hannity, Giuliani said the money to repay Cohen had been “funnelled ... through the law firm and the president repaid it”.

Asked if Trump knew about the arrangement, Giuliani said: “He didn’t know about the specifics of it, as far as I know. But he did know about the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this, like I take care of things like this for my clients.”

The comments appeared to contradict statements made by Trump weeks ago, when he said he didn’t know about the payment to Daniels as part of a non-disclosure agreement she signed days before the presidential election.

Giuliani later suggested to The Wall Street Journal that Cohen settled the payment to Daniels without Trump’s knowledge at the time.

Guiliani’s revelation seemed aimed at reducing the president’s legal exposure but experts said it raised a number of questions, such as whether the money represented repayment of an undisclosed loan or could be seen as reimbursement for a campaign expenditure.

Asked aboard Air Force One last month whether he knew about the payment, Trump said flatly: “No.”

He also said he didn’t know why Cohen made the payment or where he got the money.

In a phone interview with Fox and Friends last week, however, Trump appeared to muddy the waters, saying Cohen represented him in the “crazy Stormy Daniels deal”.

Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and ex-US attorney who joined Trump’s legal team last month, said the president had repaid Cohen over several months. That indicates the payments continued through at least the presidential transition, if not into his presidency. He also said the payment “is going to turn out to be perfectly legal” because “that money was not campaign money”.

No debt to Cohen is listed on Trump’s personal financial disclosure form, which was certified on June 16, 2017.

Giuliani also described the payment to Daniels as “a very regular thing for lawyers to do”. Daniels’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, called the comment “a stunning revelation”.

“Mr Trump evidently has participated in a felony and there must be serious consequences for his conduct and his lies and deception to the American people,” he said.

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, says she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 and was paid to keep quiet as part of a non-disclosure agreement she is now seeking to invalidate.

She has also filed a defamation suit against Trump after he questioned a composite sketch she released of a man she says threatened her to stay quiet.

The White House has said Trump denies having a relationship with Daniels.