New York DA revives investigation into Trump’s hush money payments to Stormy Daniels
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg to present evidence of $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016
David Smith in Washington
@smithinameric
Mon 30 Jan 2023 20.41 GMT
Prosecutors are to present a grand jury with evidence about hush money payments made by Donald Trump, the former US president, to adult film actor and producer Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign, it was reported on Monday.
The surprise move by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney in New York, revives a long-running investigation that appeared to be drifting and raises the threat of criminal charges, adding to Trump’s already daunting legal troubles.
The report from the New York Times newspaper came two days after the ex-president became the first candidate to hit the 2024 election campaign trail, delivering speeches in the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Daniels, who was born Stephanie Clifford but professes to prefer her stage name, claims to have had sex with Trump in Nevada in 2006 when he was already married to Melania Trump. He denied the allegation but in 2016 his longtime fixer Michael Cohen made a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels, which Trump reimbursed.
Cohen later pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance violations linked to his role in the hush money payment and alleged that it was made “in coordination with, and at the direction of” Trump. Cohen, who spent time in prison, recently disclosed that on 17 January he met Manhattan prosecutors investigating the matter.
The Times reported on Monday that witness David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer, a tabloid that helped broker the deal with Daniels, was seen entering a building in Lower Manhattan where the grand jury has been empaneled.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... y-new-york
trump (convicted felon, defamer, insurrectionist, contemnor, and rapist - $537M)
trump (the former guy)
Philly Boondoggle
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trump (the former guy)
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
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trump (the former guy)
Soon to have a new thread?
trump (the former guy)
Nicolle Wallace/Deadline WhiteHouse had a great breakdown/discussion on this today, with Michael Cohen at the table and other great panel members. Worth queuing up and watching IMHO. I'd so like to know the things Cohen knows but can't tell us yet
??? I've never seen addressed on the cable shows, it seems apparent (alledged?) that tfg and his accountants expensed Cohen's *reimbursements* as legal expense (or something else), but in my limited experience in a small company with little legal expenses that at the end of the year ALL THE LAWYERS get a 1099. Period.
Thoughts?
??? I've never seen addressed on the cable shows, it seems apparent (alledged?) that tfg and his accountants expensed Cohen's *reimbursements* as legal expense (or something else), but in my limited experience in a small company with little legal expenses that at the end of the year ALL THE LAWYERS get a 1099. Period.
Thoughts?
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trump (the former guy)
His kids don't have copies of the pee tape. Or the paper trail of money laundering.
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Lawyer warns there will be a 'hellish price to be paid' if attorneys take on Trump as a client
Tom Boggioni
January 21, 2023
Any attorney thinking about taking on Donald Trump as a client should think twice about the repercussions both professionally and financially after the former president and his lead attorney in a federal court case were hit with an almost million-dollar sanction on Friday.
Labeling a suit filed by attorney Alina Habba at Trump's request against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as "frivolous," U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks was unsparing in his ruling.
Writing Trump and his attorney have demonstrated a "pattern of abuse of the courts" that "undermines the rule of law" and "amounts to obstruction of justice," he then added, "Here, we are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose."
According to legal experts who spoke with Bloomberg, lawyers should think long and hard if Trump approaches them because they believe he will walk away from the latest legal setback "unscathed" and unafraid to file similar lawsuits in other legal venues.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-lawyers-2659291601/
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trump (the former guy)
Question: Did the clock of Statute of Limitation stop inbetween while the case was getting Cohn in front of the judge? Did it especially stop for the former guy? Or does the DA have fresh evidence that he can revive the investigation thru to a new court filing aginst the FL senior?
trump (the former guy)
There is no Statute of Limitations in the court of public opinion. Sorry, Donny.
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trump (the former guy)
(original: HuffPost)Journalist Reports Pro-MAGA GOP Insiders Secretly 'Can't Wait Until This Guy Dies'
Ed Mazza
Tue, January 31, 2023 at 9:43 AM GMT+1
Many Republican officials don’t want Donald Trump around ― but they’re also too afraid to publicly challenge him, according to Atlantic journalist McKay Coppins.
“They all wanted him gone, but nobody wanted to confront him directly,” Coppins said Monday on CNN. “There is just this fear that if they go after him or if they try to rally around somebody else they’ll spark a backlash from his base.”
He explained on CNN and in his latest report on The Atlantic that party insiders are hoping something happens to remove Trump from the scene, such as an indictment.
But there’s also another secret hope among those silent anti-Trump Republicans.
“You have a lot of folks who are just wishing for [Trump’s] mortal demise,” former Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) told Coppins, according to his report in The Atlantic. “I want to be clear: I’m not in that camp. But I’ve heard from a lot of people who will go onstage and put on the red hat, and then give me a call the next day and say, ‘I can’t wait until this guy dies.’”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/journalist-s ... 57134.html
trump (the former guy)
Profiles in Courage right thereMany Republican officials don’t want Donald Trump around ― but they’re also too afraid to publicly challenge him, according to Atlantic journalist McKay Coppins.
“They all wanted him gone, but nobody wanted to confront him directly,” Coppins said Monday on CNN. “There is just this fear that if they go after him or if they try to rally around somebody else they’ll spark a backlash from his base.”
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trump (the former guy)
I remember there was a tape that Cohen had of a conversation with tfg discussing the pay off and how it would be paid. Cohen cut tfg off while he was incriminating himself.
Oh Lordy!! I hope there are tapes!!
ETA that may have been the Playboy model’s payoff
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/24/politics ... index.html
Oh Lordy!! I hope there are tapes!!
ETA that may have been the Playboy model’s payoff
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/24/politics ... index.html
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trump (the former guy)
Did they have any written agreements that would supercede any oral discussion?
But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
As round and round we run;
And the truth shall ever come uppermost,
And justice shall be done.
- Charles Mackay, "Eternal Justice"
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trump (the former guy)
Stormy Daniels: Thanks for just admitting that I was telling the truth about EVERYTHING. Guess I'll take my "horse face" back to bed now, Mr. former "president".
BTW, that's the correct way to use quotation marks.
Tim Walz’ Golden Rule: Mind your own damn business!
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trump (the former guy)
My thoughts, Kendra:Kendra wrote: ↑Mon Jan 30, 2023 8:06 pm Nicolle Wallace/Deadline WhiteHouse had a great breakdown/discussion on this today, with Michael Cohen at the table and other great panel members. Worth queuing up and watching IMHO. I'd so like to know the things Cohen knows but can't tell us yet
??? I've never seen addressed on the cable shows, it seems apparent (alledged?) that tfg and his accountants expensed Cohen's *reimbursements* as legal expense (or something else), but in my limited experience in a small company with little legal expenses that at the end of the year ALL THE LAWYERS get a 1099. Period.
Thoughts?
First we have to assume that tfg and his accountants play by the rules. I think that it is a stretch to assume that under the ordinary course of business that they actually do play by the rules unless they are cornered.
Second is the fact that 1099 forms are not required to be sent to corporations. Only sole proprietors, partnerships, LLCs, and estate/trusts must receive them. It is quite possible that Cohen and/or his firm was incorporated as a professional corporation.
Third is that 1099 forms are not required for "reimbursements." It is certainly plausible (but need to consult with lawyers) that a lawyer will advance funds on behalf of a client for a valid legal purpose. Then the lawyer asks to be reimbursed for those advanced funds. The 1099 is for legal services, so if Cohen did not bill for legal services or they were billed separately from the hush money, there would be no particular reason to prepare a 1099 for the 130K.
I have seen many, many invoices from lawyers over the years. I guess because they fall into the hands of the enemy (like clerical personnel or administrative sorts or CPAs ) these invoices are quite cryptic. Generally I see initials of people performing work, billing rate, hours, date of work performed, and a pithy description like, "researched contract issue," or "phone call with Jones re Baxter." I would assume that a more detailed description might compromise privilege.
Edited to add: Occasionally over the years a client needed to go on extension but is unavailable to make out a check to accompany the extension. I have advanced the extension payments personally so that he is not socked with interest and penalties for late payments. (Not tens of thousands of dollars, mind you!) Anyway I am repaid promptly by the client. Those are considered reimbursements, and are not included on the 1099 that I received from my client for my accounting services.
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go." O. Wilde
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trump (the former guy)
The legal problems he is going to have though are different. It's an illegal campaign contribution if the company paid it, which it did. It's also possibly a tax crime if the company wrote it off as a business expense, which again, I think it did.
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You don't have to consent, but I'm gonna tase you anyway.
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trump (the former guy)
Philly Boondoggle
trump (the former guy)
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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trump (the former guy)
"The Ukraine War - it's all crisis actors!"
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(original: INSIDER)Trump says he has more lawyers working for him than even 'the late great gangster' Al Capone did
Cheryl Teh
Tue, January 31, 2023 at 10:24 AM GMT+1
Donald Trump on Monday compared his legal predicament to that of mobster Al Capone's.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that he has "more lawyers" working for him than Capone did.
Trump appeared to laud the mob boss, calling him the "late great gangster, Alphonse Capone."
Former President Donald Trump on Monday declared that he has more lawyers than the mobster Al Capone did.
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that he has "more lawyers" working for him "than any human being in the history of our Country, including even the late great gangster, Alphonse Capone!"
In the post, Trump also baselessly accused the authorities of "Weaponization, Targeting, and Unprecedented Harassment."
It's unclear if Trump does have more lawyers than Capone. Capone, the Prohibition-era mobster, was convicted in 1931 on tax evasion charges.
Trump's critics have previously drawn comparisons between Trump and mobsters.
In August, former FBI official and MSNBC columnist Frank Figliuzzi likened Trump and his allies to the Mafia.
Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer turned critic, said in September that he thinks Trump's downfall will resemble Capone's. "Like the Al Capone effect, you're not going to get him on murder, extortion, racketeering. You get them on tax evasion," Cohen said on MSNBC's "Deadline White House."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-m ... 23835.html
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trump (the former guy)
"You see, the mob takes the Fifth." - tfg, known mobster, 2018
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
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trump (the former guy)
oh, but NOW he "knows" why people plead "the 5th"raison de arizona wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:35 pm "You see, the mob takes the Fifth." - tfg, known mobster, 2018
castigat ridendo mores.
VELOCIUS QUAM ASPARAGI COQUANTUR
VELOCIUS QUAM ASPARAGI COQUANTUR
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trump (the former guy)
https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/statu ... 5766712320
Chris Murphy@ChrisMurphyCT
It will likely get little to no attention today that the current front runner for the Republican presidential nomination just told his supporters to start arming themselves for a civil war to overthrow the government in the case he loses.
Just Trump being Trump! So quirky!
2:19 PM · Feb 2, 2023
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