Advice of Counsel: CBS News is reporting that Donald Trump was in the room when the decision was made to pay off the porn actress Stormy Daniels. When word of the payment first went public, Trump denied knowing anything about it.

Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen told ABC News, “Nothing at the Trump organization was ever done unless it was run through Mr. Trump.”

Trump now says payments to Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal were made because of bad advice from Cohen.

Contrary to what Cohen told prosecutors, Trump tweeted yesterday, “I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law.”

Although Cohen says the payments were made to benefit Trump’s presidential campaign, the President says they were not.“I did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, if they even apply, because this was not campaign finance,” Trump wrote.

The feds say that payments made to benefit a campaign are exactly that, campaign finance.

Trump has been complaining that Cohen made up stories to get a plea deal, and now he’s claims former national security adviser Michael Flynn ws forced to do the same. Trump tweeted, “They want to scare everybody into making up stories that are not true by catching them in the smallest of misstatements. Sad!”

But Wait, There’s More: The feds are investigating whether President Trump’s inaugural committee misspent some of its money.

The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office is also examining whether some  donors gave money in exchange for influence and access to the new administration, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal.

High Finance: After demanding $5 billion from Congress to build his southern border wall, President Trump claimed yesterday that Mexico is paying for the wall after all. The President tweeted that just by the money the US saves on his new Nafta deal, “MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!”

Callous Disregard: In a rebuke to President Trump and his tight relationship with Saudi Arabia, the Senate voted by a wide margin yesterday to end US support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. The vote was 56-41.

It’s only a message, though. The House is unlikely to approve the measure this year.

After the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Senate has become increasingly restive about support for the war. Thousands of people have died in the conflict that has turned into a humanitarian disaster as civilians starve to death.

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez said, “We cannot sweep under the rug the callous disregard for human life and flagrant violations of international norms the Saudis are showing.”

The Roundup: In an incident bound to bring more scrutiny to the treatment of migrants, a 7-year-old girl from Guatemala died of dehydration and shock after she was taken into Border Patrol custody last week. — French police yesterday found and killed the gunman who opened fire killing three people at an outdoor Christmas market Tuesday night in Strasbourg. — Russian agent Maria Butina, 30, who cozied up to political conservatives and the National Rifle Association, pled guilty yesterday to a single charge of conspiring to act as a foreign agent. She admitted being part of an organized effort to influence US politics and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. They couldn’t resist a girl who loves guns.

The Obit Page: Michael Paul Smith, a former letter carrier who created the imaginary town of Elgin Park on the website Flickr, has died at age 67. Smith created little buildings and streets with vintage model cars. His imaginary town became an internet sensation. Smith knew he was fatally ill with pancreatic cancer and wrote his own death announcement. It said he had “moved permanently to Elgin Park.”— Jazz singer Nancy Wilson, who described herself as a “song stylist,” has died at age 81. Her biggest hit was in 1964 with “(You Don’t Know) How Glad I Am.”

Chinese Takeout:A man in San Lorenzo, Calif.who tried to break into a closed Chinese restaurant through the grease vent became trapped for two days. Firefighters had to cut away sheet metal to rescue him. The intruder had come for the Peking Duct.

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