You wrote it fine. In 1971 the current campaign finance Las was adopted. If a campaign receives anything of value, it must be reported. The hush money payments weren't. If they had reported it, no violation of the law, but the intent of the payoff would be exposed. Keep in mind, AMI's David Pecker was involved. He has received immunity for cooperating (that is now in jeopardy over the Bezos deal). It's not just Cohen's word. Alan Weisselberg & Pecker also handed over documents & testimony.
No. Even personal funds would be illegal if he indicated he wanted her paid off because he was worried it would negatively influence the election. I’d the last part can’t be proven, then no crime most likely.
As it relates to paragraph 1, yes. It's not just Cohen's word. They have the testimony of Weisselberg too. They set up the repayment of the payoff via a fake "retainer" agreement. It was a way to hide the purpose of the payments. Also, as to the checks presented by Cohen as proof in this week's testimony are proof because the fake retainer agreement stipulated 12 checks in the amount of $35,000. There were actually 11 checks, but one check was $70,000 that covered 2 months. That check was signed by Trump, Jr & Weisselberg. It's in the SDNY Cohen documents. If anyone actually goes to read the document, the hush money part starts around point 30. In Cohen's allocution before the court where he pleaded guilty, he also said the payments were at the direction of Individual 1 (Trump). Allocutions are reviewed & approved by prosecutors. Same rules that govern what prosecutors can put in charging documents & plea deals also govern allocutions.
He's not going to be prosecuted. It will be up to Congress & there's no circumstance where Trump would be convicted by the Senate.
Seems odd to write a check for a payoff and leave a paper trail. Just an opinion. Seems like thats the last thing one would do to cover something up.
I really don't know. There are civil & criminal penalties for campaign finance violations. Civil penalties are given when there is no intent to hide the offense. The thing that would make Trump's penalties criminal is that he tried to cover it up with the fake retainer agreement.
Trump isn't very smart, tbh. I would guess they felt the true nature of the checks would be hidden by claiming they would be for the fake retainer agreement.
Crooks never think they are going to get caught. See Nixon tapes or Clinton lying under oath or Madoff. Lol. Seems I remember on the tape recording where Trump/Cohen are discussing the "payments", Trump mentions cash. I suspect the CFO, who has been doing shady financial shit like this all the way back to Trump's daddy, thought he could hide monthly payments for "legal services". Cohen getting caught was never considered.
I think the hard thing is going to be proving that he thought it was going to hurt his campaign. He will just say he was trying to protect his family or something like that.
I regards to the paper trail, I don't think Trump ever considered the possibility of Cohen flipping on him at any point or under any circumstance. I guessing Trump was thinking he had a loyal dog.
Can you not be trying to protect your family while running for president? I think it's going to be hard to prove. Jmo
Then he's even more stupid than we thought for hiring him if that's remotely true. I've not seen nor heard anything like this. Not saying there isn't. I just haven't seen a single thing about it. One thing that tells me that maybe there's nothing to that is don't you think that fact would be tweeted multiple times per day ever since Cohen started cooperating? I mean, the truth doesn't stop him from running off at the mouth, & I've yet to see this speed from Twitter. Also, if that's true, there goes that "only the best people" bullshit. Along with the deal master being unable to secure a deal. On about anything. He's a bullshit artist's bullshit artist.
Sure. But you wouldn't be having unprotected sex all over the place, at least once with a porn star, if you gave a shit about your family in the 1st place.
Most wouldn't but Trump does. It's hard to say he doesn't give a shit about his family based on how close they all are.
Love ya, my man, but I'll never understand all the willingness to give the benefit of the doubt in any situation and/or the unquestioning defense of this man. I'll just never understand.