Trump played key role in coordinating hush money payments to affair partners Daniels, McDougal

[Anonymous]

Trump’s brief respite from his various investigations into his behavior is over.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/415961-trump-played-key-role-in-coordinating-hush-money-payments-to-daniels

President Trump was heavily involved during his presidential campaign in silencing the stories of women who claimed to have extramarital affairs with him, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal that contradicts repeated denials from Trump.

Federal prosecutors have gathered evidence that Trump worked with his friend and media executive David Pecker to use the National Enquirer tabloid to buy the silence of adult-film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, according to interviews the Journal had with three dozen people with knowledge of the transactions.

Trump was allegedly involved in nearly every step of the process to prevent Daniels and McDougal from publicizing their stories and worked with his longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to coordinate the deals.

[Anonymous]

Wheee, another felony to throw on the pile.

[Anonymous]

Klassy!

[Anonymous]

Trump was allegedly involved in nearly every step of the process to prevent Daniels and McDougal from publicizing their stories and worked with his longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to coordinate the deals.

This is the big new piece that hadn’t been reported before. The original reporting the Hill is cribbing from is in the WSJ. This link worked for me even though I don’t have a subscription. It’s worth checking out the whole thing.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-played-central-role-in-hush-payoffs-to-stormy-daniels-and-karen-mcdougal-1541786601?emailToken=336b17cbb9b33a07c162bbe38b8f801651x1Mhu7YaxIEWAW0WIcRx+3CJKGJm6dzrrbVKcZ34IpGLZePajPdrXZyEwi5I5dYDOloTano/2e/l6rQn070Fv97GZbAZur3+3kwxk0ATlzmX2nlTZm708he0IwpnBbygOgLOSpxJ0W+wZbviDxKeTyzSHTG90WWCFThE3rw10%3D&reflink=article_copyURL_share

[Anonymous]

Everyone already knew this, din't they? But can Trump be thrown in Jail for this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone already knew this, din't they? But can Trump be thrown in Jail for this?

These are the felonies that Cohen named him as the co-conspirator in, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone already knew this, din't they? But can Trump be thrown in Jail for this?

These are the felonies that Cohen named him as the co-conspirator in, right?

Yes, but he cannot be charged and GOP is not interested to check him - house is our only hope.

[Anonymous]

These f*cking guys

Lock them up, lock them up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These f*cking guys

Lock them up, lock them up

+1

[Anonymous]

McConnell’s got Trump’s back. Trump’s not worried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone already knew this, din't they? But can Trump be thrown in Jail for this?

These are the felonies that Cohen named him as the co-conspirator in, right?

Yes, but he cannot be charged and GOP is not interested to check him - house is our only hope.

No one’s really tested that, and only Felony Trump needs to answer for his crimes.

[Anonymous]

So, question: the story for months has been about Cohen turning on Trump to save himself. But by virtue of the plea bargain, the so-called "draft indictment" does not get filed (not sure what that means, filing would happen before grand jury right? but wouldn't you have to have a grand jury indictment for Cohen to plead guilty to, since federal crimes?). Could this actually be a way of protecting Trump? Just more of the same old same old as opposed to something that really cannot get hosed down?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McConnell’s got Trump’s back. Trump’s not worried.[/quote

Right, if the judge (Senate) is corrupt then it doesn't matter if the prosecutor (House) manages to make a case.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a pretty major violation of campaign finance law, right? Just add it to the list of pending Trump felonies.

According to the report, prosecutors have obtained evidence showing then-candidate Trump’s role in transactions that allegedly violated campaign finance law. Some of that evidence has come through the cooperation of Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen and in documents obtained in FBI raids of Cohen’s home, office and hotel room last April.

Among the new anecdotes revealed by the Wall Street Journal:

In 2015 after announcing his presidential run, Trump met with AMI CEO David Pecker — a longtime friend whose company owned the National Enquirer — and asked him how Pecker could help the campaign. Pecker, according to the Journal, offered to use the magazine to kill the stories of women who sought to come forward with allegations about affairs with Trump.
When McDougal was thinking in May 2016 about going public about her alleged affair with Trump, her attorney Keith Davidson reached out to an executive at AMI, according to the Journal. The exec and Pecker then tipped off Cohen, who in turn told Trump, prompting Trump to call Pecker for assistance.
Trump was kept up to speed about developments in the McDougal situation, which included AMI first refusing to buy her story for that much because she didn’t have documents backing it up, but then offering her the $150,000 contract because she was also in talks with ABC News about coming forward.
Pecker studied campaign finance law as his company negotiated buying the rights to McDougal’s story, according to the Wall Street Journal:

[Anonymous]

Everyone with half a brain knew this forever.