The 2016 presidential election represented many historical firsts. It was the first time a major party elected a woman as its nominee. It was the first time a nominee boasted he could shoot someone on a major thoroughfare and not lose any votes. It was the first time a candidate for office asked a foreign adversary to hack his opponent’s email account. And, of course, it was the first time someone running for president had his lawyer pay a porn star six-figures to cover up an alleged affair.
Obviously, that last item refers to one Donald Trump and one Stormy Daniels—who Trump has denied having an affair with—and a payment that, like so many things, the ex-president has never faced any consequences for. And he still might not, though his chances of avoiding the consequences just got significantly worse.
The New York Times reports that the Manhattan District attorney’s office was scheduled to begin “presenting evidence to a grand jury” about Trump’s role in the 2016 hush money scheme on Monday, “laying the groundwork for potential criminal charges against the former president in the coming months, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” According to the paper, the jury was recently selected and witness testimony will start shortly, “a clear signal that the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, is nearing a decision about whether to charge Mr. Trump.”
One of those witnesses is reportedly David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer. His testimony could be of particular consequence, as the Times notes, due to an agreement he struck in 2016 to watch out for potentially damaging stories about Trump and ensure they never saw the light of day. For instance, in August of that year, American Media, Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer and the company Pecker was CEO of at the time, paid $150,000 to secure the rights to the story of former Playboy model Karen McDougal—who alleged also she’d had an affair with the then Republican nominee—and never published anything. (Trump has denied having an affair with McDougal.) Two months later, Daniels was in talks about the possibility of selling her rights to the tabloid, but this time things were different.
As the Times notes:
According to the Times, prosecutors have sought to interview Howard and Trump Organization employees Jeffrey McConney and Deborah Tarasoff before the grand jury, noting that while McConney and Tarasoff “were not central players, they helped arrange for the Trump Organization to reimburse Mr. Cohen for the $130,000 he paid Ms. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.”
Meanwhile, Michael Cohen—who pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations, bank fraud, and tax evasion, and said he arranged the payments at Trump’s direction—has apparently been happy to tell investigators what he knows about the hush money matter. (According to the Times, Cohen was at the district attorney’s office earlier this month meeting with prosecutors, and “is expected to return for at least one additional interview with the prosecutors in February.”)
As for what would have to happen to indict Trump:
As the Times points out, a conviction is in no way “a sure thing,” and one need look only to the many instances over the last several years where it seemed obvious Donald Trump should go to prison for something—or at least be indicted—and he wasn’t. On the other hand, the DA’s office recently scored a guilty conviction for the Trump family business, so perhaps the tides are turning.
Follow-up question: How do you sleep at night?
We assume the answer is: “Like a baby ever since I had my conscience removed.”
Marianne Williamson injects some much-needed comedy into the 2024 race
By virtue of reportedly considering jumping in. Per NBC News:
In 2019, while on the campaign trail, Williamson asked her followers to use their minds to stop a powerful hurricane that had already killed multiple people, tweeting: “The Bahamas, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas…may all be in our prayers now. Millions of us seeing Dorian turn away from land is not a wacky idea; it is a creative use of the power of the mind. Two minutes of prayer, visualization, meditation for those in the way of the storm.”
Nothing to see here, just the Speaker of the House suggesting a con man Congressman should have more power than the president of the United States
Elsewhere!
Republicans Are Only Getting Sneakier With Their Antiabortion Proposals (VF)
2024 Looks Very Dark for Senate Democrats (Intelligencer)
COVID-19 still a global health emergency, says WHO (Politico)
$5.4 billion in COVID aid may have gone to firms using suspect Social Security numbers (The Washington Post)
Will the Vicious Killing of Tyre Nichols Give Congress the Political Will for Police Reform? (VF)
New York Republicans want George Santos gone. They know just the person to help. (Politico)
The GOP effort to equate Biden and Trump on classified documents is working (The Washington Post)
Tesla car battery “spontaneously” catches fire, requiring 6,000 gallons of water to put it out (NBC News)
Marie Kondo Has “Kind of Given Up” on Being Neat (The Cut)
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
"payment" - Google News
January 31, 2023 at 06:19AM
https://ift.tt/fOUQlrI
Report: Donald Trump Could Actually Be Criminally Charged for the Stormy Daniels Hush Money Payment - Vanity Fair
"payment" - Google News
https://ift.tt/fKMmAL9
https://ift.tt/dqwfX2r
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Report: Donald Trump Could Actually Be Criminally Charged for the Stormy Daniels Hush Money Payment - Vanity Fair"
Post a Comment