From Los Angeles —

Stormy Watch: President Trump’s new lawyer Rudy Giuliani blurted out in an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity that Trump repaid the $130,000 attorney Michael Cohen paid in hush money to the porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Although Trump previously denied an affair with Daniels, or knowing anything about the payment, he paid the bill, according to Giuliani.
Trump admitted it this morning on Twitter. “Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth.”
The legal question for both Trump and Cohen is whether campaign money was involved, but Giuliani said it wasn’t. “It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violation.”
He also said, “Everybody was nervous about this from the very beginning. I wasn’t. I knew how much money Donald Trump put into that campaign, and I said, ‘$130,000?’ He could do a couple of checks for $130,000.”
Giuliani later told the NY Times, “Some time after the campaign is over, they set up a reimbursement (for Choen), $35,000 a month, out of his personal family account.” He added that Cohen was paid a total of $460,000 or $470,000 by Trump, which also included money for “incidental expenses.”
The White House Mess: As yet another of his lawyers resigned yesterday, President Trump protested on Twitter over the Russia investigation. “There was no Collusion (it is a Hoax) and there is no Obstruction of Justice (that is a setup & trap).” He also threatened the Justice Department — again.
White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who has been the one dealing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, says he’s retiring to be replaced by a Republican layer who represented Bill Clinton in his impeachment. Trump is under pressure to talk to the Special Counsel … that’s the “setup & trap” he’s talking about.
Trump also complained that Justice won’t turn over documents to Congress. “A Rigged System – They don’t want to turn over Documents to Congress. What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal ‘justice?’ At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!” That might mean firing Mueller or people in the Justice Department.
EJ Dionne writes in The Washington Post that, “Taken all together, the emerging stance of Team Trump is that any effort to question Trump about his true intent in trying to derail an investigation into himself is inherently illegitimate. It’s nothing more than a “setup & trap,” an “intrusion” on his powers. Trump is under no obligation to account for any of it.”
Black Lives: Two black men arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks while waiting for a friend without ordering have settled with the city for $1 each and a promise from the city to put $200,000 into a program for young entrepreneurs.
The Gridiron: The kickoff is one of the most violent plays in football and NFL.com reports that the league is considering changes to the rules. If the owners vote in favor, the two-man wedge will be eliminated and the kicking team will not be allowed a running start. If it happens, expect fewer kickoffs returned for a touchdown.
Beans: As trade tensions escalate between the US and China, Bloomberg news reports that China appears to have completely stopped buying US soy beans, a major blow to farmers. The chief executive of the  world’s largest oilseed processor told Bloomberg that, “Whatever they’re buying is non-U.S.,” Bunge Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Soren Schroder said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “They’re buying beans in Canada, in Brazil, mostly Brazil, but very deliberately not buying anything from the U.S.”
The Obit Page:  Magazine designer Art Paul, who created Playboy’s signature tuxedoed bunny head logo, has died at age 93. Paul said it took him just 30 minutes to create the logo that now appears on everything from underwear to keychains, bed sheets, and perfume. It’s portrayed in some way on the cover of every issue of the magazine. “You can do pretty nice things in half an hour,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2014.
KFC: The Boy Scouts of America is changing the name of its program for older kids to “Scouts BSA” to accommodate the girls who are now allowed to join up with the boys. The Girl Scouts organization is not happy to have the competition, but they still have the cookies.

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