and says he will do anything to protect Trump..

but it doesn’t mean she is telling the truth.

0_O

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/02/14/longtime-trump-attorney-says-he-made-130000-payment-to-stormy-daniels-with-his-money/

i see a lot of media outlets running with his claim like its true.
diligent journalists should be skeptical of everything these folks say...especially after blatantly lying and denying any payment even took place at all.

we should know by now...the actual truth is usually a lot worse than what these folks "admit" to. the only reason he is even "admitting" this is because a watchdog group filed an fec campaign finance complaint after noticing a $130k+ transaction on the trump campaign financials. cohen is most likely just saying it was a personal payment to cover up an fec violation (which is why he denies the campaign or trump org had anything to do with it).

so he pretty much confirmed the uncovered shell company llc he started was used for the payment. now theyre gonna dig into those financials and find that the $130K+ campaign filing was indeed that payment (which they deny). so you have a campaign law violation. and now you have prosecutors pouring through the lawyers financials (and shell company financials) and they will prolly uncover all kindsa money laundering from his dealings with trump. most or all pertaining to his practice in ny state jurisdiction...so no federal pardon.

when its all said and done...nothing might happen to trump (aside from just getting voted out). but him becoming president might be the worst thing to happen to EVERYONE ELSE around him lol.

or killed off.

Lawyers are billing people for the paperclips they use. I'm supposed to believe he paid $130k without billing someone? Haha

His statement leaves it open to who repaid him. Could be Trump himself.

in that exact amount. Or, more likely, they had a pre-designated "pay off the prostitute" fund.

.

which lawyer pays for something and doesn't get reimbursed.

The question is whether Trump was reimbursed by the campaign, which seems likely based on the January 2017 transaction where the campaign paid Trump Tower LLC $130,888 for "rent".

To me, Cohen's acknowledgement seems like a desperate attempt to get the Trump team on the same page/get their stories straight. In my opinion, it probably won't work and Cohen will be testifying about this at some point in the near future.

Popcorn.gif

sophisticated than that.

Firms regularly give back fees for business. I have suppliers I regularly call on behalf of the charities I am invovled with and ask them to give and they don't mind giving an amount that bears some relation to the fees I spend with them.

If I give you millions of dollars of business, you wouldn't mind eating 100ks of thousands of costs to keep that business.

The scandal though is that this runs amok of campaign finance laws because this was in essence a 100k donation to the Trump campaign.

Tax laws as well.





**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Do you think that, if it can be established that Cohen paid the money on Trump's behalf (nevermind the campaign), it might still run afoul of campaign finance laws since Trump was a candidate at the time (he has been perpetually one since at least 2015)? I don't know enough about hard money/campaign finance law
to know.

But if not, I'm really not sure how it'd be possible to tie Cohen's transaction to the campaign (and therefore construe it as a campaign contribution).

But even still, the gift tax or other tax evasion angle is interesting, though for all we know I suppose, it's possible Cohen paid gift or other taxes on the 130k, right?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/02/14/we-know-that-stormy-daniels-got-paid-we-still-dont-know-if-the-payment-violated-the-law/?utm_term=.c3e2421caf65

"The first question, the one that Cohen’s statement tries to settle, is whether this counts as a campaign contribution. Obviously if money paid to Daniels had been routed through the campaign, then that would have been a campaign contribution. But that’s not the only way in which the payment would qualify as a contribution.

“It goes beyond the question of well, did it go through the campaign,” Noble said. “If it’s for the purpose of influencing the election, it’s a campaign contribution. The question here is, was it done for the purpose of the election?”

“Evidence that it was is, for one thing, the affair was about 10 years old at the time and all of a sudden about a month before the election they allegedly decide to pay her to not talk about it,” he added.

However, that’s not necessarily proof that the payment was a campaign contribution. Remarkably, if Cohen as part of his duties at the Trump Organization regularly made similar payments to other people in the same context — if, that is, he regularly paid tens of thousands of dollars to women to buy their silence — it would suggest that this particular payment might simply be business as usual and not related to Trump’s electoral efforts.

“If there was a history of these type of contributions, donations or gifts to Donald Trump from whoever gave it, then you might say, ‘Well, it’s just another gift that they were giving,'” Noble said.

This has come up before. Former U.S. Senate candidate Jeffrey Bell (R-N.J.), who died this week, was once investigated by the Federal Election Commission after receiving gifts from his mother that might have exceeded federal contribution limits, Noble said. If a candidate’s mother gives him $50,000 a month regularly, a $50,000 gift right before the election may not violate campaign finance laws. If Trump regularly asked Cohen to pay out money and Cohen did, it’s potentially the same sort of thing."

What is your gut instinct why Cohen has acknowledged this in this way?

he couldn't hide. Sounds like he is trying to get ahead of stories of something that might be considered illegal by being proactive and framing it as something that is legal.

That's why I doubt he was paid directly back. If he had done something clearly illegal I think he wouldn't have copped to doing it.


What I always wonder about stories like this is if someome paid Stormy 130K to be quiet, why can't someone payer 260k or 500k to talk?




>What is your gut instinct why Cohen has acknowledged this in
>this way?
>
>


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

... create an incentive system that cancels all her risk (which I've often wondered myself).

Because otherwise if they just immediately paid her the money (even in amount greater than the hush money) to talk, I assume all that money might be subject to lawsuits due to the NDA violation (obviously I'm speaking generically, outside the current context where the NDA might now be invalid).

But still your point stands, as it would seem they could craft an outcome where she is paid a small amount upfront, with a guarantee of further monies after the NDA violation lawsuit is resolved (and legal assistance during).

Why make shit hard? Like buying drug w/ your credit card.

Trump breaks the law and gets away with again. After Trump's time in office ends I never want to hear outrage from the right about politicians committing crimes or moral conduct unbefitting of an elected official.

She thinks it may free her to talk about the whole thing.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/373851-stormy-daniels-believes-she-is-free-to-talk-about-trump-affair

Also, she's going to be here performing this weekend. LMAO!

http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/02/14/porn-star-stormy-daniels-cashing-in-on-trump-fame-with-visit-to-florida-strip-club/

She actually used to live here. A few years back, she & her husband had a domestic incident and she got arrested.

then realized it was stripping/dancing.

I thought she was about to go HAM.

.

the perfect gift to Melania.

If this is true, I have to wonder how big this person's book deal will be.

im sure someone will pay her plenty to talk though

She could have the entire thing recorded & put it out thru Vivid Video. His supporters will do backflips to excuse him, anti-45ers will be outraged and everything will continue just as it has been. The only catch would be if they determine that there is a campaign finance violation.

I also think Melania knew what she was getting into. She's probably salty that it's so public though.

ever

trump is known to have been friendly with the clintons before and they sure hate the clintons. it impacted hillary a lot more than it impacted him.

dont see him having to deal with any criminal charges directly. im 100% sure he is willing to throw anyone and everyone under the bus to save himself.

if the economy completely crashes i guess that would increase his chances of not being re-elected. can't hope for that.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/14/politics/stormy-daniels-michael-cohen/index.html

Does trump have to choose between admitting he is the beneficiary of the NDA in order to enforce it (thus violating campaign finance laws) or letting her speak and tell her story?


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

believe him, and the media will eventually move on. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Unless she has video...

beyond the fact that it's funny.

and the women will say “well, all men cheat”

Melania is a saintly woman and much more classy than Michelle Obama for letting a man be a man and cheat in peace.

that won't matter to his supporters though

"Melania won't emasculate her man for being a go-getter the way that Amazonian Michelle would have. She had Barry's balls in her back pocket."

Someone actually made this post in a comment section.

These folks are too far gone. I want to believe these types are trolling but this type of shit just makes me wonder if America is gone.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/russian-trolls-flood-twitter-after-parkland-shooting-n848471


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

until you turn on fox news...