US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said the new addition to his legal team, Rudy Giuliani, will soon “get his facts straight.”

Mr Trump, speaking to reporters overnight, suggested that Mr Giuliani had misspoken about reimbursements to the president’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, for payments to porn star Stormy Daniels as part of a nondisclosure agreement.

Mr Trump said Mr Giuliani “is a great guy but he just started a day ago.”

He said the former New York City mayor is “learning the subject matter.”

The president added that “virtually everything” reported about the $US130,000 ($173,000) payment were wrong. He did not elaborate.

Mr Giuliani said this week that Mr Trump knew about Mr Cohen’s 2016 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels and that Mr Trump had repaid Mr Cohen through monthly retainers.

Mr Trump had previously denied knowing about the payments but admitted a day ago on Twitter that Mr Cohen was reimbursed for the payment.

Mr Trump denied that his comments amounted a change in tune from the White House.

“We’re not changing any stories. All I’m telling you that this country is right now running so smooth and to be bringing up that kind of crap, and bringing up witch hunts all the time, that’s all you want to talk about,” he said.

Asked Friday about his previous comments on Air Force One when he responded “no” to a question asking if he knew about the Daniels payment, Trump said: “Excuse me, excuse me. You take a look at what I said. You go back and take a look. You’ll see what I said.”

Within hours, Mr Giuliani put out a statement clarifying his remarks about payments to Daniels.

He again stressed his belief that the $US130,000 payment made by Mr Trump’s personal lawyer was not a campaign violation. That is a judgment some legal experts have disputed.

Mr Giuliani also stressed that payment to Daniels in October 2016 was made not because of the presidential campaign, but to “protect the President’s family” from a “false allegation.” Earlier this week, Mr Giuliani said Daniels’ allegations could have affected the campaign, saying: “Imagine if that came out on October 15, 2016, in the middle of the last debate with Hillary Clinton.”

Mr Giuliani said that his “references to timing” were to his own “understanding of these matters.”

He did not elaborate.

TRUMP WOULD ‘LOVE TO’ SPEAK TO ROBERT MUELLER
It came as Mr Trump said he would “love to” speak to special counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia probe but tells reporters he wants to ensure he’d be “treated fairly.”

Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn, Mr Trump again expressed interest in consenting to an interview.

The president says, “I would love to go. Nothing I want to do more.”

But he says he needs to “find that we’re going to be treated fairly because everybody sees it now and it’s a pure witch hunt.”

Mr Giuliani has warned Mr Trump against sitting down for an interview with Mr Mueller and has suggested the president needs to place limits on his level of co-operation.