There’s something about the legal mess Trump is in up in Manhattan that has been overlooked. I think it’s worth examining because this whole thing is so “Trumpy” it falls into the “it goes without saying” category BUT is actually at the root of how Trump committed crimes to hide the fact he’d paid Stormy Daniels to keep her mouth shut about their 2006 encounter at that Nevada celebrity golf tournament. If Trump wasn’t such a cheap bastard he’d have simply paid Daniels out of personal funds, gotten the NDA signed and that would have been the end of it. However, he tried to get out of paying in the first place!
Daniels, as folks have learned whether they wanted to or not was a top porn star for one of the top companies back in 2006. Like many in that business (and to many people’s surprise) she was bright and hardworking and envisioned a day when she’d no longer be performing in front of the camera. Perhaps not even writing and directing. Her real dream was to earn enough to buy a small ranch/farm and some horses. She’s an equestrian and had hoped to attend Texas A&M after high school and one day become a vet. She’d even earned an academic scholarship but it didn’t cover full living expense and incidentals. That’s how she wound up being an exotic dancer and you know where all that led.
Whatever. Trump wanted “repeats” and dangled the chance of a spot on Celebrity Apprentice but Daniels had him figured out and that never happened. She returned to the adult business but by 2011 wasn’t (so I gather) the hot commodity she’d been. However, some of her pals in the biz were aware of the tryst with Trump. At one point porn actress Alana Evans was on the phone with Daniels and Trump as he tried to talk her into “joining them” for… You get the idea. The gals in the biz talk and it seems some stringer/writer for an obscure gossip magazine got wind of it in 2011. They were going to write about it one way or the other so Daniels agreed to be interviewed.
No one really noticed at the time. As I said it was a low circulation publication and Trump’s playing around on spouses wasn’t exactly breaking news. Hell, at times he’d played up his “exploits” himself! The whole thing was forgotten. It was just another in a long line of sexual indiscretions of Trump’s, at least until 2015 and his decision to actually run for President. So begins the timeline you’re familiar with and which I wrote about earlier today. This CNN article briefly lays out key dates for what’s to follow here.
Trump and Cohen had their meeting with AMI (parent company of The National Enquirer) head and longtime Trump pal David Pecker. While Trump and Pecker had had a mutually beneficial run touting Trump’s “playboy” image this terrible trio knew as a Presidential candidate all that old stuff would be bad new if it got dragged back up and dominated multiple news cycles. So as part of a two-pronged strategy Pecker started looking for bad/embarrassing news to suppress/kill. Stuff like that 2011 In Touch article for example but AMI didn’t own In Touch back in 2011.
It’s generally thought for most of the campaign Trump never actually expected to win. His candidacy was part of a long-term strategy to have his own media “empire”, I guess some combination of FaceBook, Twitter and his own media channel so he wouldn’t have to rely on NBC and The Apprentice. Then in the fall things were actually close. However, Trump got his very own October Surprise when the Access Hollywood tape went public on Oct. 7, 2016. It looked like Trump was toast. Even the establishment was exploring ways to move him aside and he reportedly considered doing so but some, especially Steve Bannon convinced him to stand firm. Rudy was part of this group and knew full well his old pals in that rouge portion of the FBI (both current and former agents) were ready with dirt of their own on Hillary.
Still, in this environment one more scandal would have been it for sure. Trump confirmed things were locked up tight with Karen McDougal the prior month but there was another problem lurking. Stormy Daniels had gotten inquiries even prior to the Access Hollywood tape about that 2011 article. She was living that quiet life on a rented ranch she’d dreamed of and wanted no part of the spotlight. Given the threat she alleges in that parking lot back in 2011 after the In Touch article she was worried about her and her daughter’s security. We’ve learned she was interested in an NDA with Trump so he could be assured she’s stay quiet, and that there would be no more threats. At least from his people. And some money to ensure she could beef up protection if needed if others came round.
That’s why she had attorney Keith Davidson working for her and after Access Hollywood he went into overdrive. Got in touch with his contact at The Enquirer and before you knew it Cohen was in the loop. At that point the McDougal story would have been really bad, but the Daniels story? Not a “wholesome” (the way Hefner promoted them) Playmate of the Year but a freaking PORN STAR would have been a disaster. They needed to come up with a FAST payoff to Daniels, enough to get her to jump at the money and sign.
Which brings me to the overlooked part in all this. Trump is a notorious cheapskate. He’s spent a lifetime nickel and diming people, stiffing contractors, defaulting on loans and even stiffing his lawyers on legal bills. If one looks at various threads of communications that took place that October it’s clear there was no quick deal made. Negotiations seemed to drag a bit. and then when it seemed like there was a deal Pecker balked at paying Daniels, complaining he’d never been reimbursed for the payouts to McDougal and that doorman with the “love child” story – some $180k in total. He told Cohen he wasn’t Trump’s bank and to look elsewhere for the money.
Daniels had grown impatient and it seems both on The Enquirer’s end and on Cohens she was ready to take her story public. Trump wasn’t about to tell Weisselberg to cut a check to Daniels, or even withdraw that much in cash and hand it to her in a briefcase. Hence Cohen hastily arranging that home equity loan and paying Daniels and getting her signature on the NDA. The hasty way it all came together was how the whole thing eventually unraveled!
Here’s the thing though. The actual payoff wasn’t made until Oct. 27. By then it was close enough to the election that Trump appears to have had thoughts of being able to string Daniels along until AFTER the election. One can debate the actual context but Cohen spoke about a conversation with Trump where the latter said if it all came out after the election it wouldn’t matter. Especially if he lost. One could credibly argue that as President-Elect Trump could have said “so what?” Knowing Trump as we do I can easily see him being that brazen. I’ll bet you can too.
My point is that he knew, and I mean KNEW that if Daniels spoke out prior to election day (Nov. 8) he would lose and “bigly.” However, once the polls closed on election day Daniels would no longer have any leverage and he could save $130k! THAT my friends is pure Trump. I find it easy to believe he got notions in his head he could string Daniels along, promising payment was “coming soon” until after the election. Then tell her to go pound sand after election day whichever way things went.
Trump’s problem of course is that despite the blonde hair and blue eyes with the huge fake rack look Daniels was never, ever a bimbo. He thought he was dealing with some run-of-the-mill assembly line Fox News window dressing blonde and instead was dealing with one tough and savvy woman. The fact that as late as it happened Cohen scrambled to find a fast way to pay Daniels is proof enough for me that Trump had decided to try and get out of paying her a dime. Cohen however believed Davidson and Pecker whos seems let him known in no uncertain terms he had at most a day or two and then it would be too late.
Trump had to be furious, and likely snarled at him to just get it done and they’d sort out the accounting later. Well, they did tend to the accounting and because the whole thing was so rushed they f**ked it up and committed crimes. And now Trump is on trial for those crimes. Yet IF when told about Daniels and Pecker refusing to cover the cost of an NDA he’d told Cohen and Weisselberg to create some shell company to handle the transaction it might have taken years, if ever for the whole thing to be discovered. But as I said, even if someone uncovered it before Trump was ever sworn it at that point it wouldn’t have mattered.
There’s nothing illegal about a rich and or famous person paying someone to keep a sexual dalliance quiet. Or even getting a bit creative to hide what had been done. As long as you don’t break any laws, like tax laws or campaign finance reporting. Trump could have quietly handled this and it’s unlikely in the flood of other Trump news it ever would have come out. But noooooooooo! Being the cheap ass bastard he is he tried to get out of paying in the first place. And made things worse by committing financial crimes.
It really is kind of funny when you think about it. Trump being Trump is why he’s on trial.
Exactly! Daniels was playing multi-dimensional chess and he was playing tic-tac-toe. She timed her payment demand perfectly to leverage the Access Hollywood tape leak, and for trying to stiff her he ended up paying Cohen quadruple the amount. To top it off, he built and ensnared himself in a trap that next week could produce a criminal conviction. I keep thinking we’re living a Twilight Zone script written by the gods.
Point man of the rouge portion of the FBI ..
Or did you mean “rogue” ?
It’s the cover-up that gets criminals in trouble.
So typically Trump. A cheap@$$ thug. And worse,,I believe the Cohen recording says Donnie Boy didn’t care about Melania wouldn’t care* but he somewhere along the line he decided being president would be good for business and $$$$$$$ because with Trump it is always about the money.
* I suspect there was,an agreement that he could screw anyone he wanted to. She was probably relieved when he wasn’t insisting on her to perform. And he sounds like he is terrible in bed said it was over in 5 minutes.
Pride cometh before a fall.