Trump had his attorney Michael Cohen pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130k in hush money

[AndyinPA]

Bull shit.

But wouldn't this be some kind of violation of campaign contribution laws (such as they are)? Didn't someone who was paying hush money for John Edwards get into trouble for this?

What kind of lawyer would do that? How stupid would he have to be?

I'm not a lawyer, but surely this can't be remotely like standard procedure. What the hell does he have on these people who fall on their swords for him? Remember the lawyer who said he tweeted that stupid tweet when 45 seemed to be confessing to obstruction?

[NMgirl]

Hey, could happen. I mean, how on earth could Donald Trump ever get his hands on $130K in untraceable cash to pay Cohen back?

Off Topic

How, in fact, does one gather together $130k in cash Would Stormy have to declare it on her taxes Is it a tax deductible expense for...someone

[NMgirl]

But wouldn't this be some kind of violation of campaign contribution laws (such as they are)? Didn't someone who was paying hush money for John Edwards get into trouble for this?

What kind of lawyer would do that? How stupid would he have to be?

I'm not a lawyer, but surely this can't be remotely like standard procedure. What the hell does he have on these people who fall on their swords for him? Remember the lawyer who said he tweeted that stupid tweet when 45 seemed to be confessing to obstruction?

I don't think Michael Cohen functions as a lawyer as most people think of lawyers. He does deals, for himself and others, mostly shady-as-hell-deals.

Edit: Michael Cohen went to Cooley Law School. Never heard of it, have you? That's because it is about as low as you can go in terms of law schools, and that's saying something.

Congressman Ted Lieu:

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.

[Sterngard Friegen]

This could also be a money laundring violation.

[Turtle]

[Somerset]

LOL here we go...

The bullshit about him paying the $130K aside, now he's admitting that a payment was made

[RTH10260]

Wow! Where do I find a lawyer who is willing to pay people out of his own pocket? Not that I've done anything that anyone would blackmail me for, but if I had a lawyer who was willing to pay hush money out of his own pocket, I might start.

For good friends and clients one does what's needed. The cash comes back thru hours charged to the client, no extra questions asked for line item "working on a deal".

[Sterngard Friegen]

I sure hope Cohen tells that to the special counsel and his investigators. Cohen is yet another slimy character who deserves to see the inside if a prison.

[Slim Cognito]

Wow! Where do I find a lawyer who is willing to pay people out of his own pocket? Not that I've done anything that anyone would blackmail me for, but if I had a lawyer who was willing to pay hush money out of his own pocket, I might start.

For good friends and clients one does what's needed. The cash comes back thru hours charged to the client, no extra questions asked for line item "working on a deal".

I don't get how he (Cohen) thought this angle would make things better.

[RoadScholar]

You could probably find $130K in the sofa cushions at Trump Tower.

[Gregg]

From the comments at the Washington Post article, a very perceptive thought

BillEPilgrim
9:07 AM EST
Careful, with your headline and opening graph here you're not accurately reporting what he said. He didn't say he used his own money to pay her, he said "I used my own personal funds to facilitate a payment".

This carefully-worded phrase by a lawyer leaves all sorts of room for interpretation that it was a payment someone else was making that he "facilitated". He also doesn't deny that he was reimbursed for the payment, only that he wasn't reimbursed by two specific organizations that he names.

Facilitated implies acting as a go-between, and then the question is a go-between from who to whom? We know the answer to the second of those, now we just need to know the first.

So, maybe Cohen used his own money to make the payment and then Trump personally reimbursed him. Still fits with his statement, doesn't it?

[ZekeB]

You could probably find $130K in the sofa cushions at Trump Tower.

I don't think Trump has the liquid cash that he'd like us to believe he has.

[Mikedunford]

From the comments at the Washington Post article, a very perceptive thought

BillEPilgrim
9:07 AM EST
Careful, with your headline and opening graph here you're not accurately reporting what he said. He didn't say he used his own money to pay her, he said "I used my own personal funds to facilitate a payment".

This carefully-worded phrase by a lawyer leaves all sorts of room for interpretation that it was a payment someone else was making that he "facilitated". He also doesn't deny that he was reimbursed for the payment, only that he wasn't reimbursed by two specific organizations that he names.

Facilitated implies acting as a go-between, and then the question is a go-between from who to whom? We know the answer to the second of those, now we just need to know the first.

So, maybe Cohen used his own money to make the payment and then Trump personally reimbursed him. Still fits with his statement, doesn't it?

Yes. Particularly since he did say that he wasn't reimbursed by the "Trump Organization" or the campaign, but says nothing about whether or not he was reimbursed by Trump.

[Gregg]

The real shame is, he paid a porn star $130K and apparently didn't even get to do her himself.

[Volkonski]

Well done, Mr. Cohen. Stormy had faded from the headlines over the last few days. Now she is back and above the fold as well.

Melania must be loving this.

[RoadScholar]

The real shame is, he paid a porn star $130K and apparently didn't even get to do her himself.

Well, she always wanted to go down in history.

[AndyinPA]

The Stormy Daniels and Rob Porter stories are having a little more traction than most of the outrages out of the White House every day. It's about time something did.

[voxpopuluxe]

Well done, Mr. Cohen. Stormy had faded from the headlines over the last few days. Now she is back and above the fold as well.

Melania must be loving this.

Wait long enough and it will always be Stormy again.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Well done, Mr. Cohen. Stormy had faded from the headlines over the last few days. Now she is back and above the fold as well.

Melania must be loving this.

Wait long enough and it will always be Stormy again.

Who says there isn't climate change!!??

[Kendra]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... 5413f55618

You might notice there is one main Trump-related entity that Cohen doesn't deny was “party to the transaction” or reimbursed Cohen, and that's Trump. It's also noteworthy that Cohen uses the word "facilitate" -- a word that seems to leave open to the possibility that the chain doesn't end at the use of "my own personal funds."

It's difficult to dismiss either as a coincidence, given Cohen is a lawyer and has carefully parsed his comments throughout this situation. He has regularly offered what seemed to be denials but didn't totally deny the details of what the Journal had reported.

[Foggy]

My friend in Rawly, on the Facebook -

Dearest friends, FB friends, clients, ex-clients, and colleagues,
This is to provide you notice that at NO time will I be paying $130,000 from my own personal funds to a porn star you had or didn't have sex with....I am NOT that kind of lawyer.

John McNeil, Esq.

Yeah, he's kind of a spoil sport.

[AndyinPA]

[Slim Cognito]

Well done, Mr. Cohen. Stormy had faded from the headlines over the last few days. Now she is back and above the fold as well.

Melania must be loving this.

It gives her an excuse to dodge the old fart on Valentine's Day.

[much ado]

I like this Washington Post article title:

We know that Stormy Daniels got paid. We still don’t know if the payment violated the law.

I bet it did. How long will it take to find out?

[Volkonski]

Interesting twist in the Stormy story.

AP Politics
✔
@AP_Politics

Porn star who alleged Trump affair: I can now tell my story:
http://
apne.ws/46jLqRu

12:40 PM - Feb 14, 2018

— Stormy Daniels, the pornography 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.