Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, said on Tuesday that he had paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to a pornographic-film actress who had once claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump.
In the most detailed explanation of the 2016 payment made to the actress, Stephanie Clifford, Mr. Cohen, who worked as a counsel to the Trump Organization for more than a decade, said he was not reimbursed for the payment.
“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Mr. Cohen said in a statement to The New York Times. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.”
He declined to answer several follow-up questions, including whether Mr. Trump had been aware that Mr. Cohen made the payment, why he made the payment or whether he had made similar payments to other people over the years.
Pop quiz.
Have any of you ever hired a lawyer?
And if you did, was there EVER a time that the lawyer offered to pay for something on your behalf without billing you for it later.
I have only hired a lawyer a few times in my life, but in my experience they are all about billable hours.
So you can bet your house that if Cohen paid off Stormy Daniels, he recouped those losses with his next retainer.
And taking this a step further does ANYBODY believe that Trump, who is notorious for not paying his workers, is willing to pay shut up money to somebody that he does not desperately need to shut up?
No, this is obviously bullshit.
And the fact that they are spinning it so hard means that this story is terrifying them.
P.S. By the way, Cohen is also shopping a supposedly "tell all" book that he claims will set the record straight, and to rebut the Michael Wolff book.
Which means the flood of bullshit is just beginning.
Update!
Aha!Cohen says Trump campaign was not "a party to the transaction." But that's not the law. If $130k hush money payment to Stormy Daniels was made "in cooperation, consultation or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate’s campaign," it violated fed election law. https://t.co/ytfPHiwv5T— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) February 14, 2018
So @CNN just wrote this sentence: "Trump has been skeptical about the intelligence assessment that Russia meddled ever since he was first briefed on the issue during the presidential transition."
ReplyDeleteThat's GREAT—given his first comprehensive briefing on this was on August 17, 2016.
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/963604340287164416
American Spies Get Fooled by the Kremlin Again
Deletehttp://observer.com/2018/02/nsa-spies-seeking-shadow-brokers-secrets-fooled-by-kremlin-new-york-times/
Eric Trump Said Family’s SoHo Hotel Relied On “Good Demand From Russians”
Deletehttps://thesternfacts.com/eric-trump-said-familys-soho-hotel-relied-on-good-demand-from-russians-a17f98cbec03
Watch this before it's too late. Click on the cc for subtitles. Putin is trying like hell to get this off Youtube, Instagram. Send it to everyone you know, post it everywhere you can. Download it before it's pulled.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQZr2NgKPiU
Last week, a 25-minute video published by Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny alleging a new link between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign made headlines around the world. Now the Russian government wants it scrubbed from the internet—so much so that it is taking steps that could block millions of its own citizens from using YouTube or Instagram.
The video was released last Thursday and accused Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Prikhodko—a top foreign policy official—of having been a conduit between the Kremlin and Oleg Deripaska, an oligarch linked to the Trump campaign. In making his case, Navalny mined the autobiography and Instagram feeds of Nastya Rybka, a Russian model and escort who claims to be Deripaska’s mistress. Drawing on video and audio Rybka posted that captured her, Deripaska, and Prikhodko relaxing on a yacht while the two men discuss US-Russia relations, Navalny’s video alleges that Deripaska hosted Prikhodko for a secret meeting at sea in the company of several female escorts. Deripaska immediately denied the claim and threatened to sue media outlets reporting on it, assailing the video as a “planned campaign aiming to damage my reputation.”
The day after the video’s publication, Deripaska won a court injunction requiring it—along with six other videos and 14 Instagram posts—to be taken down. The court, in Deripaska’s native Krasnodar region, found that the posts violated his right to privacy and ordered that they must come down.
As a result, Roskomnadzor—Russia’s communications regulator—added the YouTube videos and Instagram posts to its list of prohibited websites, giving internet providers until Wednesday to blacklist the URLs. But, as Russian news startup the Bell explains, many Russian internet providers don’t have the technical ability to selectively block particular URLs. To comply with the Roskomnadzor order, they’ll instead have to block access to YouTube and Instagram entirely—unless the owners of the offending posts opt to delete them independently.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/02/russia-is-trying-to-bury-this-video-and-they-might-shut-down-youtube-to-do-it/
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deletemust have been a very bad comment.
DeleteIt goes to show that everyone has a stake in Donald Trump. He's about to do it Putin style and make oligarchs of people here in the United States. This Cohen guy is trying to protect his investment.
ReplyDeleteWish someone WOULD put a stake in that vampire Drumph
Delete1:52, i'll do it. just get me past the secret services.
DeleteRussia has Sarah Inkkk busy now! ;( )
DeleteTrump is "frantic" about Obama portraits - feels he's being upstaged. Making staff drop everything & reach out to artists - wants "multiple sculptures."
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/RogueSNRadvisor/status/963108567376015360
Trump's will never surpass President Obama's because he is not physically attractive!
DeleteGet the artist that made those lifelike flabby nude statues of him last year!!!!!
Deleteevery president gets a portrait. space cadet bone spurs is very envious of President Obama. people LIKE Obama and what he did for this country, and by now trump knows he's hated by every one but his dimwitted followers.
DeleteI'll leave this expert opinion here for you:
ReplyDeleteTed Lieu
✔
@tedlieu
Legal standard for fed election law is not whether a person pays from personal funds. An in-kind contribution is any "expenditure made by any person in cooperation, consultation or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate’s campaign." Cohen is in big trouble. https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/963601375501410304 …
10:38 PM - Feb 13, 2018
Cohen is trying to insulate Trump by insisting that he made the $130,000 payout without Trump’s knowledge or involvement. But Congressman Ted Lieu, an Air Force JAG officer with a law degree, has sleuthed out that all Cohen has done is confess to having committed a crime. Here’s how Lieu spelled it out on Twitter: “Michael Cohen admits he paid $130k in hush money to Daniels during presidential campaign to cover up her affair with @realDonaldTrump. That smells illegal. Looks like a massive in-kind contribution.”
DeleteLieu then added “Legal standard for fed election law is not whether a person pays from personal funds. An in-kind contribution is any ‘expenditure made by any person in cooperation, consultation or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate’s campaign.’ Cohen is in big trouble.” In other words, Cohen’s desperation move didn’t even help Trump here, and instead it appears to have made things even worse.
http://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/crime-attorney-confessed-trump/7927/
So is Trump, heres a small portion of payables in late 2016, seems like somebody was trying to mask the transfer of $130,000 + the cost of setting up an LLC in Delaware:
Deletehttps://imgur.com/a/d3lUi
I wish i got $130,000 for NO REASON, from this guy I don't even know. Hey, That's possible, anything is possible, right?
ReplyDeleteRight! I'm gonna go buy my attorney a cup of Starbucks, and see if he can pitch in $150,000 for my grandkids' college funds.
DeleteStay tuned. I'll report back.
Actually $130K for not having sex with Trump. Pay us all.
DeleteRead Josh Marshall's latest piece on that in Talking Points Memo. He makes very good points. Cohen is really not his lawyer, he's is Mafia Captain. Check it out. Anything to kiss the boss's ring and show your loyalty. I knew alot of those guys when I was young (the difference in those Italians and these goons was a sense of honor).
ReplyDeleteAside from which retard paid the hooker.It appears that the dotard and his tiny pal, did indeed cheat on his wife.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day ,more lies and deceit .
The stench is getting unbearable! eeew.
Nasty people.
Stormy Daniels tells friends she’s ‘free to talk’ after Michael Cohen breached their contract
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/stormy-daniels-tells-friends-shes-free-talk-michael-cohen-breached-contract-report/
I so hope she talks loud and clear about her relationship w/Trump. I want more 'facts' out there about the jerk!
DeleteWhy Trump Will Never Condemn Wife-Beating: 'Men Don't Like Women On The Streets Making Demands'
Deletehttps://crooksandliars.com/2018/02/why-trump-will-never-condemn-wife-beating
Porn star who alleged Trump affair: I can now tell my story
DeleteStormy Daniels, the porn star whom President Donald Trump’s personal attorney acknowledged paying $130,000 just before Election Day, believes she is now free to discuss her alleged sexual encounter with Trump, her manager told The Associated Press Wednesday.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, believes that Trump attorney Michael Cohen invalidated a non-disclosure agreement after two news stories were published Tuesday: One, in which Cohen told The New York Times that he made the six-figure payment with his personal funds, and another in the Daily Beast, which reported that Cohen was shopping a book proposal that would touch on Daniels’ story, said the manager, Gina Rodriguez.
“Everything is off now, and Stormy is going to tell her story,” Rodriguez said.
https://www.apnews.com/7511e7654b2f476489be235327843280
you can bet the religous right will find an excuse for trump's fucking around. Pat Robertson said it was all right for a man to cheat on his wife if she is ugly. must be his excuse.
Delete“A DEATH MATCH”: AS KELLY TWISTS, A CHAOTIC SEARCH FOR A NEW CHIEF OF STAFF ENGULFS THE WEST WING
ReplyDeleteDifferent factions are pushing their own candidates: Javanka wants Cohn, Hannity pushed Wayne Berman, Trump wanted Mulvaney or Barrack. But who would take the job?
ith the Rob Porter scandal into its eighth day and showing few signs of abating, Donald Trump is seriously mulling replacing his chief of staff, John Kelly, three sources close to the White House said. In recent days, Trump has floated names like White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and longtime friend Tom Barrack, a real-estate developer. Meanwhile, factions inside and outside the White House are lobbying Trump to go with other potential choices. The battle to decide who could replace Kelly has reopened the deep fissures in Trump’s divided West Wing. One adviser to the White House referred to the current atmosphere inside the administration as a “death match.” With Kelly’s truthfulness about the former White House secretary widely questioned, few believe he can survive, but he may twist for a while.
The situation remains fluid. Last night, for instance, three Republicans told me that Trump had offered the job to Gary Cohn. But in a conversation with Sean Hannity yesterday, Trump said he had not chosen Cohn, a person close to Hannity told me. Another source said Republicans have warned Trump that choosing Cohn, a New York Democrat, would cause a backlash in the party.
One reason why Kelly still has a job is simply that it’s been so difficult for Trump to find a qualified person who actually wants to be chief of staff. Mulvaney and Barrack have indicated they aren’t interested. “Mulvaney doesn’t want it. His goal is run for governor or land a corporate gig,” speculated one White House adviser. “And his thinking is, if you’re Trump’s chief of staff, you stain yourself for the future.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/as-kelly-twists-a-chaotic-search-for-a-new-chief-of-staff-engulfs-the-west-wing
Isn’t Mulvaney already stained as T-Rump’s budget director???!!
DeleteAre we sure he didn't get "reimbursed" in some way? The language seems like weasel words - not reimbursed by "Trump Campaign" or "Trump Organization".
ReplyDeleteMaybe he was reimbursed by Putin, or Bannon, or a family member acting in a personal capacity - not officially as part of the Campaign or Organization. Or maybe he won a pass for free stays at Trump Hotels? Or maybe he is being blackmailed for going along with some earlier Trump scheme?
I do not believe that he paid for it from his own pocket AND is willing to look like such an idiot if there isn't something in it for him!
I, too, think the guy is on the take! He'd never pay her off w/o the thought of reimbursement from someone within the Trump klan! Matter of fact, he's just like Trump - a liar!
ReplyDeleteTrump surrounds himself with idiots - even his lawyer is a dope.
ReplyDeleteJosh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has some interesting backstory about Cohen and his relationship to Trump.
ReplyDeletehttps://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/who-will-rid-me-of-this-meddlesome-stormy-the-michael-cohen-story
Trump team’s plan to buy porn star’s silence just blew up in their faces
ReplyDeleteTrump team’s plan to buy porn star’s silence just blew up in their faces
By Kaili Joy Gray |
FEBRUARY 14, 2018
The payment to keep Trump's alleged affair a secret did not pay off. Instead, it highlighted the dangerous security issues of an administration in eternal crisis.
...If Trump’s inner circle is quietly paying off people who have dirt on him, legal or not, it means the president of the United States could be the target of blackmail in the future.
https://shareblue.com/trump-teams-plan-to-buy-porn-star-stormy-daniels-silence-just-blew-up-in-their-faces/
Trump’s lawyer just made the Stormy Daniels affair much more interesting
DeleteAs Trump scandals go, the Stormy Daniels affair — what I’ve decided to call The Perfect Stormy — is one of those that could only happen to this president. It now appears that it’s more than just a smarmy story, because laws may have been broken.
This story has bad sex, hush money, a creepy factotum being sent to take risks on Donald Trump’s behalf, and perhaps campaign finance violations. If the Russians were somehow involved, it would have everything.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/02/14/trumps-lawyer-just-made-the-stormy-daniels-affair-much-more-interesting
Porn star "Stormy Daniels" believes she is now free to talk: AP
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/porn-star-stormy-daniels-believes-she-is-now-free-to-talk-ap/
Shooter is at large after shooting up a high school in Parkland Fld. on Valentine's Day. Thank all the peeps that support bad gun laws and do nothing to protect children in America.
No other country shows so much hate and neglect to their children.
At least 20 people may have been injured, but that number may be as high as 50 people, according to Dan Booker, a fire chief from a nearby city. Many of those injured are students who were shot, Booker said.
Delete“It’s still an active scene,” he said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2018/02/14/school-shooting-reported-at-florida-high-school
Great Britian has a no gun law. their children don't have to be afraid to go to school. Scottland has a lot of knifing every year, but you can't kill 20 kids with a knife. some how these people aren't killed in bed every night. the gun people here are nuts.
DeleteDid Trump’s lawyer just implicate the president in the Stormy Daniels payment?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/02/14/trumps-lawyer-confirmed-the-stormy-daniels-payment-whats-conspicuously-absent-any-denial-that-trump-was-involved/
Notice the word parsing:
ReplyDeleteTrump campaign
Trump Organization
Never mentions:
Trump
Trump family
Trump PAC
RNC
Time to review bank records for $127k to $150k payments by any Trump connection. Why a higher end range? Cohen would not do anything without getting a piece of the action / payoff for hus risk.
PMom_GA
Like from the Trump for President Campaign to Trump Tower Commercial LLC for $130,000 plus the approximate cost of setting up an LLC in Delaware in December 2016?
Deletehttps://imgur.com/a/d3lUi
Now just have to see where the money from Trump Tower Commercial LLC went, was it to Cohen or did they stupidly put it directly in Stormy's LLC?
i paid a small fortune just to set up my will. my sister's and brother's kids will be so sad i left my entire closet of comics to a friend's child. they can't touch my burial fund, either-it goes straight to the funeral home. thank for tought lawyers.
ReplyDeleteMy nephew's and niece aren't getting squat either. I'm sure they'll be kissing up to me in 10-15 years, hoping I'll put them in my will. Not a chance. I'm ignored now and I'm not stupid enough to fall for the last minute schmoozing. I know scoflaws and deadbeats when I see them and being family doesn't blind me to their worthlessness. I just hope the one that actually graduated and has a job marries a nice girl so I have someone to leave the few family pieces of jewelry to. If not, I'm selling off everything and living a life of luxury before I go. What little I have will go to various charities and organizations after my expenses are paid off. Even my medical proxy is NOT a member of my family. I sure wouldn't trust them. If they were in my will they'd be eager to pull the plug.
DeleteDaniels says Cohen's public admission voids her NDA and she's free to talk about everything and she *IS*. I imagine she's weighing offers right now.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait.
I'm sure Trump and Company are already starting the smear machine to try and make everything she says "fake news" but we know that if the public is going to believe anyone, they are going to believe her and lap up every sordid detail about Trump in bed.
Let's see if the Evangelicals continue to give Trump that "Mulligan."