Stormy Daniels has violated her non disclosure agreement by talking to 60 minutes. I believe that President Trump can now sue her for millions. Can a lawyer reading this please enlighten us all?
3
This savvy woman would make a much better president than DT.
2
Are you really surprised that Trump dated a porn star or a model while he is married to his third wife? Does anybody really care with all the other issues we have in the country like illegal immigration, infrastructure and the economy?
5
Jenna Jameson, another popular adult film star, as saying that “the left looks at her as a whore and just uses her to try to discredit the president.” (Washington Post)
Dear Stormy,
I am a 70 year old widow, grandmother and retired teacher from “the left”. I’ve been “left” all my life and so is my family and virtually everyone I know. I am speaking for them as well as myself. We, from the “left,” do not look upon you as a “whore” and we could not care less about Donald Trump’s sex life. Everyone knows what he is. But after reading Jenna Jameson’s comment I just had to write to tell you this is not about Trump. You are a hero and a role model for young women today because you are standing strong and refusing to be shamed by a culture that has been pushing women around and terrorizing them for centuries. I hope this is changing. I believe it is changing. I know you are part of that change.
Yes! The world is ready for you. We are ready for you. So good luck and blessings on you and your family, and all your pretty horses. Thank you for standing up against bullys. Thank you brave lady.
I love your smile. And your attitude.
18
The threat in the parking lot is totally believable and consistent with the MO of Trump and his pals. Cohen should be disbarred for the illegal campaign contribution. Even better, he should be forced to be deposed under oath-- then disbarred once he's had to tell the truth about Trump.
4
No surprise about the threat directed at Ms. Clifford. Par for the course and all part of how a crime family operates.
13
Movietone News from the NYT:
Trump has sex with porn stars.
Facebook monetizes your data.
I can't believe the public is surprised by any of this.
5
I am just trying to work out the math. Donald Trump had unprotected sex with Stormy Daniels. She’s acted in at least 275 adult films. Let’s be conservative and suppose that means she had sex with an average of two different men per film, or 550 men in total. Again being conservative, let’s assume they each had 20 different sex partners, and that’s 11,000 people. I’m pretty sure that most adult films depict unprotected sex, including lots of high risk activities. That adds up to an astounding risk of infection for Donald Trump, so much so that I don’t think I would even stand near him unless I was wearing a full wetsuit.
15
Yep, this is "tabloid-ready". And yet here it is. Go figure.
Never mind that she's an unapologetic opportunist and he's a classless and vile buffoon who's lied and cheated and thieved his entire pathetic and wildly deranged existence. Follow the money.
7
who cares, he is a great president
3
Can't think of a single great thing he has done. Congress got tax reform done because their donors were breathing down their necks. He personally shows no leadership rather succumbing to the view of who last whispered in his ear.
Please inform why you think he is great.
5
Is the NYT tired of this absolute nonsense yet?
I thought after the Bill Clinton debacle we over this sort of thing.
"While I know the media is enjoying speculation & salacious gossip, Id like to remind people there’s a minor child who’s name should be kept out of news stories when at all possible."
2
I don’t care about the sex. I do care if the pres is paying people off to silence them. Don’t you?
18
I don't remember when Bill Clinton's personal attorney claimed to have paid off Monica Lewinsky to keep her mouth shut and didn't report it as an illegal campaign contribution. Did that happen?
Maybe we should ignore criminal activity unless it's alleged of Democrats, eh, Joe?
12
Father of minor boy should have known better!
1
Here I think is one of the most intriguing sentences in the story. In describing the man who threatened her and her daughter, "Ms. Clifford said that she can remember the man’s face to this day and would recognize him immediately."
Does this mean that she's about to identify this person?
8
The real question is why didn't Anderson Cooper buy her breakfast?
8
Gloria doesn't like to spend her money.
Because the Trumpers would've cried bribery by the Fake News mainstream press, and blah-blah-blah.
5
Look at the cover photos of the video. She sits smiling, President Trump is shown yelling and angry. Anything else needed to show the NYT's bias? No longer the moist trusted name in journalism; you're a joke!
2
I believe her anytime over compulsive liar Trump.
13
My wife an I work in the healthcare industry and have had many conversations regarding Mr. Trumps erratic and often bizarre behavior. Although much of it may be attributed to his obvious personality disorder, we had discussed the possibility of tertiary syphilis as one of many other differential diagnoses. Unprotected sex with a porn star? Let's see those lab results. Even if they are negative, it's an obvious fail of a basic intelligence test.
12
Clinicians do not assess people for diagnostic reasons without a face-to-face conversation. Your armchair diagnosis should be limited to conversations at your BBQ.
4
Chelsea Handler has suggested this for months; he has all the symptoms.
5
The real question is why anyone would go to bed with either of these people.
6
So Trump was cheating on both his wife, Melania, and his mistress, former Playmate of the Year Karen McDougal.
Too bad he doesn't put as much energy into doing his job. But I understand now why he's always taking R&R down at Mar a Lago.
10
The story of their one-night stand is really much ado about nothing. Had they just let Daniels tell her story to that publication that's one step removed from supermarket tabloid, no one would care. Trump has always been an unapologetic womanizer; no surprise there. That Trump's people threatened her into staying quiet, is thuggish. Cohen will likely take the fall for this since it appears to have been his doing. But, can we trust a president whose standard operating procedure is to lie?
9
Yes,yes...but have you seen her movies?
Donald Trump "You remind me of my daughter".
Was that BEFORE or AFTER sex?
BOTH Daniels and McDougals' accounts are so similar, it would be hard to believe the same man didn't do them...
There is a BIGLY chance they are telling the truth, believe me... SAD!
9
The Times has sunk to the level of the National Inquirer. Daniels consented to sex with Trump. This is a private matter and is between Trump and his wife.
Concentrate on real issues like North Korea and Iran.
8
How about we consider violation of campaign contribution laws? Most of us can consider morwvthan one thing at a time.
9
Paying someone to not report a crime is well above the level of the National Inquirer.
10
Actually part of the story is that the National Enquirer “fished” the story to squash it before the election and that Cohen may have paid Ms Daniels using RNC campaign funds.... Also, threatening mothers with babies for telling on Trump is a crime, especially if the so called person behind the threat is 45...
The much-touted 60 minutes "interview" with Stormy Daniels last night was short and sweet. No big deal because it wasn't actually an "affair" as much as a one-time thing. As the rest of the 60 minutes segment showed, it wasn't so much that they got together as it was that a)she was threatened by someone in person in 2011; and b) she was bought off for her silence right before the 2016 election. That's the legal impact of Stormy's issues with Donald Trump. Much more revealing was the 10-month "love affair" that Karen McDougal shared with AC on CNN - which included many trysts and a showing of Trump Tower to McDougal while Melania was purportedly absent. So, there's a real distinction between the two women's experiences - and whomever else he might have been with during that fate year in 2006 when Melania gave birth to Barron and its incumbent nursing, vaccines, and other adjustments to being a mother. If Donald has talked this out with Melania, at least let's hope he was truthful for once. Otherwise, the morass just gets muddier from a personal standpoint - while it's already enmired in bribery and other legal implications.
4
Nothing new about Trump being a Lothario. Apart from the potential illegal election campaign contribution of the hush money and physical threat to Daniels, what struck me the most as extremely bothersome and disgusting is Trump's wont to compare his daughter Ivanka to women he fornicated with (McDougal also referred to this). This is deviant and has Freudian underpinnings.
13
If the president and his lawyers are paying off people who are probably blackmailing him, why would that not be a compromising case of removing security clearance from them or am I missing something here. There is no way theaw is not broken in all this hush money payment and NDA evading campaign finance rules.
1
I love all the comments from Republicans, reminding the Democrats of JFK & Bill Clinton. Well, JFK was a bit before my time and yes I do remember Clinton very well. What I remember is an investigation that lasted years, inquiry into campaign finance violations, impeachment proceedings & the relentless talk of family values, morality & Christian values. I could have cared less about JFK & Clinton (but you sure did) nor do I care about Trump’s infidelities. Clearly your morality & sacred Christian values only apply to Democrats & people not of your kind & certainly not yourselves. Let the hypocrisy, bigotry, lies & basic lack of humanity continue and see what your Lord & Savior Jesus Christ thinks of you all at the pearly gates.
18
Jeff,
They are all in on the grift.
They too know that it all is just an act to cudgel people with.
2
On ABC Sunday Morning a panelist opined that he could not understand why this and similar sex stories about Trump had not turned away his Evangelical supporters. Possibly, the reason is that Evangelicals hate the standard media obsession with sex more than they dislike anything Trump comes up with. Makes sense.
2
60 Minutes has a distinguished history of serious news coverage. Its disappointing to see it morph into another tabloid organizations. Please leave it to Ken Starr to investigate the sex lives of politicians. Anderson Cooper disgraced 60 Minutes and himself .
4
Thats your opnion. Many others will disagree. Many think this story and its possible campaign contribution violations are a salient development in bringing trump down. (Insert crossed finger emogi here) We know that is possibility. There are some other facts we dont know yet, alluded to by the attorney. There is something very fishy here, given trump's complete twitter silence.
12
So only the sex lives of Democrats should be investigated, is that what you're saying?
4
And intimidating threats are also of little concern?
3
To think of all the press ink spilled and broadcast tape unspooled on this tawdry one-night stand and a pseudo "spanking". What a massive waste. It had been wrongly billed as a long-running affair and has received so much attention while so much else really matters but gets far too little. Maybe Cohen technically violated some federal election law but... so what? Trump and his gang have broken big law after big law, and he has done so much to sink this democracy, that the news media must decide where to focus its necessarily limited resources.
4
It's such a comforting thought to realize that the president of the United States employs goons to threaten women with whom he's had an affair, and then engages in half-hearted denials of his relentless tawdry behavior. Ms. Clifford is completely credible, as is her lawyer. Trump, on the other hand, appears to be unfazed by her accusations, probably because he is so accustomed to mistreating women and then denying that they even exist. Two things should transpire: Melania should divorce him posthaste, take as much money as she can, and run; and Trump himself should resign from office and return to Manhattan where he can resume his life of ordering cement and not paying his contractors.
13
She is a great marketer of her brand. Her value is skyrocketing and the media just buys into it. No one cares who Trump slept with last decade.
6
No one cares who Trump slept with. They do care when his lawyers start paying off people for their silence and threatening them.
7
You buy this stuff hook line and sinker. She is playing this situation perfect. Who backing her financally? No one?
3
I applaud Stormy Daniels and her attorney Michael Avenatti for refusing to play victim and bravely take on this illegally elected President of the United States of America.
12
I think many comments here
are missing a key point of this scandal. It’s not really the money or the sex that is disturbing. This woman’s life was threatened by some goon related to Trump’s campaign. Let me repeat- Stormy Daniel’s life was threatened by someone connected with Trump’s campaign- while she was in public with her child. That is the part that is most frightening.
13
Agreed. This story is more than a salacious sex act.
We should care about the relationship between the president and Ms Daniels because of the threat if she blabbed as you point out but ALSO because of the following:
— the possible fraud and breach of the campaign finance laws BY COHEN AND TRUMP when Ms Daniels was paid $130,000 to silence her right before the election;
— the potential for BLACKMAIL by other state actors because of Trump’s creepy and illegal acts
— and we should care that the president is a MORALLY BANKRUPT individual who entirely lacks a moral compass.
History will not be kind to this president. History will not be kind to his cynical supporters in Congress. And finally, history will not be kind to the American citizens who voted for him and who continue to stand with him.
6
No proof. Just her claim.
2
Not entirely. Also significant is the payment of hush money in a manner that violates the campaign contribution laws. And for that there is more evidence than the word of a frightened mother.
1
Trump's base will not care, even a tiny little bit.
4
I believe Stormy Daniels - another in the long line of women mistreated by Trump. Sure, it started sleazily enough: Trump, a married senior with a newborn dangles an orange carrot by offering to bring an adult entertainer onto Celebrity Apprentice - and has unprotected sex with the porn actress (not caring he potentially exposes Melania to STDs).
If course, Trump doesn't deliver on his offer, and when competing to become POTUS, he has woman physically threatened, and later paid off to be silenced - likely with campaign funds since Trump never uses his own money to pay for anything.
The holier-than-thou GOP, especially evangelicals, should be making a far bigger deal about this. And to think they treated President Obama so shabbily.
11
Lets assume Stormy Daniels was telling the real story.
When was the last time, if ever, 60 Minutes interviewed a pornography star on the most notable news show in the world on prime time TV?
While the story may be compelling gossip, it certainly doesn't rise to the level of 60 Minutes walking into the realm of pornography for any reason whatsoever.
3
May be because it is the first time a President of the United States of America is involved in a blackmail/payoff situation with a porn actress?
10
money is to be made.
Trump said he'd sue them all. That is what he should do. Get him on the oath stand et him be his normal self. Let the court trash his lying self and then .......well it will be tweeted about as fake news that he is a known liar and that he ...... Oh why is the USA such a failed empire?
Nero and Rome seem such distant memories.
1
Stormy Daniels is vitally important, not because of what she has said about bribes and dishonesty. We would have gotten bribes and dishonesty from a Hillary Clinton Presidency as well.
It's important because it shows just how willing evangelical Christians are willing to compromise their integrity in pursuit of the three G's (God, Guns, and Gays). White, conservative, Christian males can do no wrong.
Donald Trump was right when he said he could murder someone and get away with it. Evangelicals would be singing his salvation before the body had even gone cold.
6
Stormy Daniels? Stephanie Clifford? Whoever and whatever this woman is - she's got my respect. Full stop.
I only wish that I was in a position to shell out $130,000 to any woman that I happened to have sex with at some previous point in my life. Now there's the rub. And she wasn't even attracted to DJT!
If there's a turkey in this tale it's not Ms. Clifford.
As Karl Marx noted, history does repeat itself. The first time as tragedy. The second time as farce. If Marilyn Monroe was tragedy this has got to be farce!
3
Glad Trump & Cohen are being pursued by a bulldog lawyer, Avenatti. But in this report, 60 Minutes didn't exactly "establish" evidence that Ms Clifford was actually threatened (let alone threatened by Cohen & the Trump Organization.) Mere hearsay - yet news of this purported "threat" makes the front page.
1
Funny that the NYT felt compelled to mention she was wearing "business attire", as if the reporter were expecting more tawdry attire consistent with her job as a sex worker. Would the author likewise expect food service workers to wear their work uniforms to a televised interview? Perhaps the NYT needs reminding that sex work is the result of male desire and sense of entitlement, and not the product of fallen women who desire to fully inhabit the role of temptress in all aspects of their lives. Stephanie Clifford is an individual beyond the moniker "porn star".
7
Fake News Media's hypocrisy seems to have forgotten something:
"But publicly humiliating anyone for consensual adultery is draconian, and wrong." - New York Times, Dec. 19, 1998
3
It's remarkable how you could so thoroughly miss the point if, in fact, you watched the interview. Ms. Daniels stressed repeatedly that the sex was consensual. The sex isn't the issue. The issue is that she's being made out a liar by Trump and his thug attorney, who made what might have been an illegal campaign contribution to shut her up in conjunction with an unenforceable contract that Trump didn't sign. Additionally, she alleges a thuggish physical threat delivered in a parking lot, again thoroughly believable given Cohen's and Trump's notorious history.
4
How will Donald and Melanea explain these charges of sexual exploitation, infidelity and abuse to their youngest son? The child is just entering puberty which is stressful enough on its own without his having to contend with his parents' sordid behavior and the jeers and cruelty of his school mates.
4
Maybe they could ask the Clintons how they explained the issue to Chelsea.
2
Her interview was a big nothing burger. There has to be more given how freaked out Trump and Cohen have been.
2
Watch the interview. Stormy Daniels is both credible and sincere. It is poetic irony that a porn star appears to have more ethical integrity and courage than does the sitting president of the United States. The issue is not the sexual indiscretion, or the prurient details. More seriously, what did Trump and his lawyer do to silence and intimidate these women.
10
Stormy stated that she asked trump if he thought that talking about himself in the way that he does was effective? No mention of that in recaps. trump is delusional.
I see even the Trump loyalists can read a New York Times story.
None of them seem to be troubled by a man cheating on his wife, and assail Ms. Daniels almost unanimously, and give Trump a pass on his behavior.
Which says all you need to say about Trump loyalists.
5
Hillary gave Bill multiple passes on his indiscretions, not to mention attaching and mocking the very women he slept with.
The liberal left seems to have a selective memory. Break out the blue dress!
3
@ George. Hillary is his wife. Are you and the Trump loyalists his women?
2
Bill Clinton chased an intern in the Oval Office. At least Trump just messed with models and porn stars!
1
Mr. Cohen is now showing himself to be either naive in the extreme, or simply circling the wagons to protect himself against Trump's more nefarious behaviors.
Nowhere did she imply in the interview that Mr. Cohen arranged the purported threat against her.
That is an assumption Mr. Cohen has made, and threatening a defamation suit on that basis would seem, to me anyway, to be grounds for his disbarment.
If I were a judge, I would slap Mr. Cohen down as fast as I could reach the gavel.
4
I don't care who he has sex with, but I do care, a lot, that that person's life was allegedly threatened on his behalf to protect his reputation.
5
I hate to quote Trump and his spokespersons on anything, but I must say that after all the hype that interview was a big "nothingburger." The threat accusation had already been made; there was absolutely nothing new (except that her daughter was with her). I kind of expected that, but still disappointing.
So...she lied three times about the one-night "affair" and is now telling the truth. Okay. And the reason she lied three times was because she was threatened in a parking lot by a mysterious man whom she told no one about, including the police. Okay. And she doesn't really have an NDA, although she cashed the 130k check. Okay. And this isn't about the money, the porno actress is simply defending her reputation between strip club appearances. Okay.
5
.....about that $130k....campaign contribution laws, anyone?
1
I just think about Melanie learning while she was expecting he never stopped being a pig. Her life has gone from 5th Avenue to one public humiliation after another. Some say she knew what she was getting into with him but love being blind, she couldn’t have imagined the nightmare that awaited her. As a wife and mother I just feel bad for her. How can she look at him?
3
Why is she talking now ? What fear now ?
2
Now that it’s public she has protection .
If you’ve never been threatened or afraid of physical harm ( like myself , Ms . Daniels) you have no right to comment .
One makes decisions to be safe . Whether or not you understand is irrelevant .
2
Trump's lawyer's, Michael Cohen’s lawyer, Brent Blakely (yes, Trump's lawyer's lawyer), charged that Clifford made “false and defamatory statements” during the “60 Minutes” interview, specifically when she claimed that she was threatened in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011 not to discuss her relationship with Trump. Blakely said, “In truth, Mr. Cohen had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any such person or incident, and does not even believe that any such person exists, or that such incident ever occurred,”
Clifford did not say that Cohen had anything to do with the threat. Equally important, how can Cohen have an opinion on whether there had been a threat. Does he believe that no one ever threatens people whose actions they don't like?
5
If the Trump presidency were workshopped in a fiction class it would long since be called out as unbelievable and impossible and the pages deleted. And never has the word 'base' carried so much meaning and weight.
4
I'm no Trump supporter and find him repugnant but honestly, why does anyone care about this story?
Trump had an affair 6 years ago and tried to hide it. Is this not the operating model of every politician (or every male) who is caught in the same situation.
I really don't care what he did with this woman 6 years ago. There are much bigger issues to be concerned about with Trump and this is one does not even make my honorable mention list.
The only reason this is getting any play by the Dems is because it makes the GOP and especially the evangelical Christians who support Trump look like complete hypocrites. News flash, the GOP and evangelical Christians have long since abandoned any claim to being the party of morals, spirituality, and ethics.
1
Senator John Edwards was subjected to a jury trial for lying about a consensual adulterous affair and allegedly using campaign contributions to quash the story. Let's apply the law equitably.
6
There was really never a reason for Stormy to come out and tell her story, she got her $130,000, but now realizes she undersold her story and she wants more. However, she could have easily stayed mum, their would have been no reason for the President to call her a liar, or anything. Anything right now happening to her, she purposely brought upon herself for nothing more then the dollar ($$$). That's all this is about.
3
What about trump ? All he cares about is the dollar . And has no inhibitions against hurting others to get it
4
If he really does sue her for $20,000,000, I’ll bet there’s at least a million of us who’d give her $20 to cover the cost! Wouldn’t that be fun!
6
I'm no Trump fan, but Anderson Cooper was way too easy on Daniels and her attorney, who both tried to take the moral high ground by saying they were trying to get the truth out. Why is it important for people to know that Trump and Daniels had sex one time? And, where is the moral high ground in taking $130,000 not to tell her story, and then telling it anyway? And Daniels said she remained quiet to protect her daughter from learning about the salacious affair, and yet now she's shouting it from the roof top. Huh? Daniels sees this publicity quite simply as an opportunity to make money, an objective that surely Trump can respect.
The real troubling meaning of this story is that we have a president whose sordid personal and business life makes him a target for black mail.
4
I believe Stormy but calling this "an affair" is pushing it. I found that the Definition of a love affair is : a romantic attachment or episode between lovers.
This was no "affair" this was a one night stand by two people seeing what was in it for themselves.
2
Anderson: you forgot to ask Ms Clifford one question:
How in the world did you find a lawyer who worked on political campaigns for Rahm Emmanuel and Joe Biden to take your case?
2
get on line at the payout window!
I, too did not have sex with President Trump in 2006 or 2007, as I am sure he will confirm.
therefore, according to precident, I will accept a payment to keep quiet about it, with funds routed through a secretive corporation established just for the purpose by the President's own lawyer, and executed by people using false names, such funds being untraceable as to their origins but still legal tender in the United States.
and, I am willing to accept such payment (in unmarked, used bills of random serial numbers) and keep my mouth shut about it, all for the bargain rate of just $129,999!
but wait - there's more!!
if you act now, I will also exonerate the President's current and former lawyers, their spouses, and their own lawyers, plus lawyers Doe # 1 through 46 and Roe # 1 through 57!
there's nothing like a bargain rate for the buying of unnecessary silence about something which never happened, so you have to act fast because this fantastic offer can't last!
operators are standing by!
7
I guess I am a slow learner.....I do not get the impression that Stormy Daniels has struck any "kind of deal" for her silence. WHAT silence? When? Where?
It’s simple. She feels she was coerced into a deal for her silence. Later she had the courage to break that silence. As a result the public has more information about the character and methods of Trump.
3
I hope the media goes full investigation on the person who threatened her. She stated she would be able to identify him if she saw him. Then, once they find him, begin pulling the string until you get to the source.
That's the person I want identified.
7
Most Americans made up their mind about trump way before ms Daniels told her side of the story last nite. Judging by the comments I’ve read so far, most either hate trump or hate democrats. But what is obvious is the hatred being generated by our citizens. I can only say that responsibility rests largely on conservatives shoulders. Joe McCarthy, Jesse helms, Strom Thurmond, Richard Nixon, David duke, Murdoch, Steve bannon, Donald trump. The Clinton haters, the liberal haters the religious right who pray on Sunday then hate those who are different. Trump is going down and when he does this country needs to stop hating each other and rebuild this society or we will be doomed to Italian political theater which is what trump is all about.
4
Trump doesn't really mind this. It just his way of conditioning the Republicans. He is making them swallow this. Then he will make them swallow the affair with McDougal. Then he will make them swallow the trade war. Bit by bit, he forces the Republicans to abandon their "principles", lose their self respect and become the sycophants he knows they can be. Then they will do anything he wants because without him, they're nothing. They are half the way to be completely converted. Once converted, like Pavlov's dogs, he will curse them and they will wag their tails in an effort to please.
6
Trump is not the last sleaze ball president or politician we will see, nor is he the most corrupt. I can't help but reflect that had Obama done anything similar, and when Clinton did do something similar, how they as Democrats (would have in Obama's case) was in Clinton's case, called to the carpet by Congress and the Senate for inappropriate behavior. Yet this Republican led Congress and Senate continue to give Trump a pass for all his wrong doing merely because he's a Republican. I hope the young people who marched against gun violence vote these hypocrites out of office. Shameful.
6
Ms Daniels presented as an amoral, self serving person with an eye on the main chance. Her description of the one sexual encounter was consistent with what has long been know of Trump, an amoral, over entitled man who is not in the least self aware despite being pathologically self involved.. What did not come of the much advertised interview was any new information. To call this an "affair" patently ridiculous. It was a business arrangement which did not come to fruition, he dangled, she angled, and not much happened. Meh!
3
Will Mueller confirm Stormy’s status as Russian operative? Hope so.
1
Clinton was impeached for far less. Don't you just love that Republican double-standard? The best Congressional majority money can buy.
8
If Trump goes after her, America should crowdfund her legal defense fund.
9
I only watched to see Anderson C⊙⊙per.
3
Trash news & president are the new norm.
Our country has sunken to a new low on every social front.
Hardly on the way to being great as we sink lower on a spiral to oblivion.
2
Stormy Daniels' account was chilling and only further corroborates what a reprehensible, sleazy, psychopathic individual Donald Trump is.
He tells her she reminds his of his daughter and then has sex with her! He first denies having an affair with her while his third wife is recovering from having their baby and calls Stormy a liar. He or his fixer lawyer send some thug to threaten her and her baby in a parking lot!
Don't say there weren't plenty of warning signs about Trump's seriously disturbed character during the 2016 presidential campaign. One of the most telling statements:
"You know what else they say about my people? The polls, they say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s like incredible."
Trump is correct. It is "incredible" that the Republican Party continues to support, enable, and even abet Trump's deranged and dangerous behavior.
The GOP wasn't always this way. I found a quaint article in The Guardian from 2016 where a number of key Republicans express their concern and worry about Trump being their candidate. They were right.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/07/donald-trump-leaked-reco...
What changed? Who is behind the scenes prodding GOP leaders to now dismiss, excuse, and cheer every ugly statement and destructive action? And why?
8
Oh, the tapestry of lies he weaves!
It's not about the sex, it's about the cover up.
And now, Mueller has real ammo to go after Cohen for an illegal campaign contribution. Cohen's criminal liability just sky rocketed. Leverage over Trump's personal attorney will certainly help any investigation with regard to Russia, etc.
7
Anderson Cooper had an opportunity to put her more on the spot and didn't.
So she came out of the bathroom and he waS sitting on the bed. And you had sex with him.
Yes.
Did you want to?
No. But it was consensual.
What he should have asked is "why would you do that if you didn't want to?".
That said, Trump is unworthy for the office.
With or without the Stormy story.
2
Ya gotta love the humor of The Times. Right next to this article extolling the heroism of a fragile mother mustering the courage to stand up against tyranny, The Times runs an article extolling the tough, ambitious uber woman who has carved out a career pandering to the puerile instincts of the lesser sex [gender].
Stephanie uses a fake name to sell fake sex. But, there is no reason to believe she is anything but the real deal. No reason whatsoever.
2
In the end it will be lawyer Michael Cohen that will be the loser.
5
I recall Betsey Wright, deputy chair of the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign, coining the term bimbo eruption.
It would seem to have more currency than ever with this salacious dog in the White House.
2
did you have sex with him?
yes
did you want to have sex with him?
no. but I wasn't a victim. it was consensual
the unasked questions:
so then why did you have sex with him?
did you think if you had sex with him you would in some way profit from it?
golddigging porn star. zero credibility. next, move on.
Move on request denied. We'll keep checking into the constantly lying president who paid hush money at the height of a campaign to keep this story from coming out.
6
From now on I will refer to these years as The Porn Administration.
4
What low level have we, as a nation, sunk to? Why are we even debating Trumps lack of qualifications (experience or otherwise) for the office he currently OCCUPIES? There are so many brilliant people in this nation. So many men and women who possess the moral and ethical standards that would truly make our nation great. We have never been a great nation over all. We have been successful occupiers and have made riches unimagined, but we have never been great in the true sense of the word. Now with this horrible icon in the top office in the land, we are on international display as being morally weak and all the flaws we have been working to get rid of have been magnified 200X. Personally speaking, it is the hardest time in my old life to call myself a citizen of this nation. If it were not for the kids of this nation who are openly vocal and march against the greed and evil dispassion that grip our nation today, I would have given up hope long ago. Let's start by being real with ourselves and get rid of not only this presidency and all administration it has installed, but also deal with the money in politics! Get targeted money completely out of our political system. Take the special perks out of our system and begin monitoring our representatives as if our nation depended upon it! This may well be one of the greatest moments in the history of this nation!
4
She also seems to have a stronger vocabulary than the president.
Not a very high bar, but... he is after all the President of the United States.
7
oh that Mr. Trump! He does like to keep us entertained. I couldn't think of a better story line for episode #164 of this down and dirty reality show that the American public has wandered into. My favorite part was when she recounted that Trump said she reminded him of his daughter Ivanka. This 'show' can't end soon enough, and hopefully will not be renewed.
4
So who is paying her to come forward now? Who is paying her monumental legal fees? They were careful to make it known that it wasn't 60 Minutes.
2
No Trump tweets about Stormy. Interesting. Says it all. He's more afraid of her than Rocket Man, HRC, and Comey.
4
What we are missing here is the comparison of what got President Clinton in trouble. It was not about lying under oath about the Lewinski affair as much as It was lying about the Paula Jones case which occurred before he was President. Clinton testified under oath that it never happened. Jones was able to provide provocative details of Clinton's exposed "parts." And yes Paula Jones was most likely "funded" by the opposition.....so the tables are turned and the Dems have picked up the strategy.
Why is DJT denying the whole incident? If it never happened why was a NDA necessary?
The question is ...will Trump be subject tp questioning about this,under oath? The issue of campaign laws being violated may force that issue. It will be a repeat of the Clinton impeachment......on the other side of the aisle. This won't happen unless the tide turns in the 2018 election. Like the Clinton impeachment it would be might be a weak platform on which to start impeachment. But a lying President does pose security issues that rise to high crimes and misdemeanors.
The "smart" thing for DJT would be to admit to the incident with Daniels and get the lying thing off the table.
2
I thought she stayed silent because she signed a nondisclosure agreement.
1
Let's find out who threatened Stormy Daniels in the parking lot.
Offer him a huge payment and immunity to come forward and tell his story.
Then let's see where that leads.
5
Why has the Trump campaign not been prosecuted for campaign finance violations in connection with the Stormy affair? Cohen's explanation is laughable and there is plainly a case against the Trump campaign.
6
1.) Trump may have committed election fraud by Cohen’s payment of $130,000 to Ms Daniels several weeks before the election to silence her.
2.) Threatening Ms Daniels with bodily harm or death if she blabs is a crime.
3.) Mr. Trump’s prior creepy and illegal behavior can be used by other state actors to blackmail him, thereby putting our country at grave risk.
4.) Mr. Trump’s piggish behavior is an inside look at his morally lacking character— the president of the USA.
These are the real issues. These are the reasons American citizens should care about this story, not the salacious details of an affair.
7
I remember hearing or reading someplace that Melania was absolutely sick to her stomach the night that the Electoral College results gave the election to her husband, Trump. Now we know why; she knew what what was coming. She knew all this stuff would come to light eventually. And in turn cast a big spotlight and many questions about what she, a woman, a wife, a mother and a first lady should do about it.
It's an absolutely unenviable position for anyone to be in and her husband put her there and he cowardly makes her stand or fall all on her own to deal with it.
Now before you start making Clinton comparisons, remember that Hillary was always an incredibly strong and savvy person and Bill and her had a real marriage, despite his transgressions. It wasn't some old man searching out models to pick for photo op marriage. And Bill and Hillary stuck with it and grew. Not condoning what Bill did. Just admiring the strength of both of them in resolving their conflicts.
Trump's ability to emotionally support someone however is like asking your cat to start a charitable foundation for mice.
8
Whatever happened to the idea that a person's word was his or her bond? If someone agrees to do something (or not do something) that should be the end of it. I do not condone the affair, by any means, and had she spoken out about it without signing the non-disclosure agreement I would be in her corner completely. As it is, she has shown herself to have little if any more honor than Mr. Trump.
Stormy Daniels conjured up the mysterious man who allegedly threaten her and her then-infant daughter in a parking lot only after she got hit with a lawsuit for violating the terms of her non-disclosure agreement. She will now claim the non-disclosure agreement is invalid because she signed it under duress, even though the alleged threat occurred years before she signed the non-disclosure agreement. If the court finds the non-disclosure is valid, she will be liable for millions of dollars. Her actions prove she does she did not feel threaten before the lawsuit was filed.
2
This was all a pretty much big nothing. I would rather see news about a class action that included ALL the women DJT paid off or made sign off with NDRs to protect the privacy of his private parts.
This is both a women's issue and a national security one...a philanderer who is not in public office, is answerable to his family and his community, and the participants in his philandering. An elected official who represents the U.S. is answerable to us all.
I hope Stormy wins her suit, but the excited headlines don't change anything.
To those giving Trump a mulligan because he gets your bidding done. Character matters, and at some point there will be a reckoning. You've given away the most valuable thing you had going for yourself, the pitch that family, religion and character were important. Now that you have crossed that line there is no going back from it. You may feel you are winning for now, but the damage done will extend well beyond the next few years. Voters will not forget and neither should you.
Trump's (lack of) character makes him vulnerable to blackmail. Just ask Putin how that works.
4
A very interesting question is whether the payment to Daniels constitutes a violation of campaign finance laws. I hope it is a violation of campaign finance laws among other things!
2
Trump’s lawyer, Mr. Cohen, is as bad at lying as is Mr. Trump. He wants us to believe that he spontaneously decided to draw up non-disclosure agreement involving Mr. Trump and Ms. Clifford using assumed names), to prevent Ms. Daniels from discussing an affair that he alleges never happened. Further, he wants us to believe that his decision to do this was in no way connected to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and that it is a mere coincidence that he chose, out of the blue, to contact Ms. Daniels' attorney with a hush money agreement shortly after the Access Hollywood tape became a scandal that was threatening the Trump campaign. In fact, Mr. Cohen claims that he never informed Mr. Trump of the NDA that has a signature line for Mr. Trump to sign (under an assumed name) -- a lie that Mr. Trump and his administration attempted to maintain until his press secretary let it slip that the she had been briefed on a recent arbitration action to enforce the agreement on behalf of Mr. Trump, which she described as a victory for the president.
But wait, there's more! Mr. Cohen says he decided to finance the hush money with his own home equity line and transfer the money to Ms. Clifford just because he is a big fan of Donald Trump the man who never had an affair, not Donald Trump the presidential candidate who was his client who pays him to defend against his many scandals. Never mind that he communicated the completion of payment from his Trump Organization email account. . . .
5
She said, he said... The longer this story kept on going, her price tag will go up substantially, regardless her age.
1
I watched the 60 Minutes interview of Ms. Daniels and came away thinking that she wants things both ways. On one hand, she by her own admission is "no victim." She prided herself on being a shrewd business woman, albeit in a seedy industry.
But on the other hand she now claims undo pressure and a misunderstanding of the terms of her non-disclosure agreement. It seems that the only thing she really misunderstood was how much more money she could make with a book deal that this agreement now prevents.
Let's be clear, when she signed the NDA no one thought Trump would actually be president, so 130k seemed like a good payday. Now it looks like a pittance and she wants out.
At the end of the day her lawyer and Trump's lawyer will probably negotiate a settlement. Ms. Daniels will make more money from interviews, but will have to agree not to release tapes or other evidence about what a creep the president is. Trump will deny everything, both will claim victory and poor Melania will re-read her prenuptial agreement very carefully.
2
Neither Daniels nor Muller will ultimately take down Trump. The voters will, if they choose to. Vote. That cannot be said enough.
3
It may have been a crime for Mr. Cohen to pay off Ms. Daniels when he did, the way he did; I don't know. But I have a request, and it is that the Mueller investigation not touch it. It's outside the scope of his brief, and it would be much too much like Ken Starr going after Bill Clinton. Let's hope the focus stays on the campaign and Russian interference.
1
There is nothing to fear from Trump's twitter finger nor tongue twisting slurs and threats.
3
What if this is the tip of the iceberg? There seems to be a lot of evidence pointing to Trump ties with Russian gangsters and Russian government thugs. What happened to Trump's rape trial?
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/donald-trump-rape-lawsuit-dropped...
7
Hopefully, the young woman who was reportedly raped will come back and tell her story in public, regardless of the consequences.
I'll personally contribute to her legal defense fund if she does so.
4
It's sort of amazing, watching various and sundry Trumpists accus us lefties of being obsessed with sex.
FYI from Liberal Central, we couldn't care less about Donald Trump's semi-pathetic sex life. We care about stuff like his sex life maybe opening him up to Russian blackmail, the bizarre way he simultaneously lies and brags about his sex life in ways that make him look like a very dangerous person to have as President, his bullying a lot of women, and his cronies helping him cover things up by suppressing the news.
Oh, and the likely violation of campaign finance law.
14
Let's not forget the Access Hollywood tape and the 19 women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct.
Trump got away with bragging about molesting women by loudly denouncing his accusers as liars and threatening to sue. (Many Trump supporters shamelessly jumped on board, threatening and smearing these women.)
It is now laughable to pretend that Trump did not serially cheat on his wife, serially abuse women and then launch an organized campaign of lies and cover-ups to deceive the American public and get elected.
15
We know he’s cheated on his first two wives, and seems to have also cheated on the third wife. He’s a rake, beyond question.
1
Wow. Stop the presses. Married man has sex with woman not his wife. Once. Come on, I'm a Democrat, but this is ridiculous. People, let's move on.
6
It's not the sex.
It is the endless lying.
It is the payoffs.
It is the Russian money-laundering.
It comes down to an in-the-gutter character we now have in the Oval Office.
3
This is not about the sex. Which from all accounts was terrible for Stormy. This is about a campaign paying hush money to keep her silent and then threatening her if she didn't.
4
This is not about an affair, but about how the timing made the hush money an illegal campaign contribution.
3
Forgive me for pointing the obvious but if this had been Obama he would have been impeached the second the Storm blew in.
15
The question for every American is, who is telling the truth and who is lying? Who do you trust in your gut? The President or the Porn Star?
1
Porn star. She was clear. Non equivocating unlike Trump who has a long history of lying and admitting to lying.
Yep, I believe Stormy.
2
Q: Where are all the Republican Christians now?
A: Making hypocrites great again!
16
I want to know what Pence has to say.
14
Trump’s modus operandi has long featured lawsuits against any and all people who he believes wronged him in some way. It is a form of bullying that often frightens the alleged wrongdoer into capitulating and leaving Trump alone. It is a tactic he learned from Roy Cohn, arguably the single slimiest attorney ever to have the ear of a client. Cohn’s mantra: destroy, pulverize, obliterate, bully, threaten, initimidate.
That’s Clifford’s case in a nutshell. Her lawyer produced some pretty incriminating evidence last night that Michael Cohen was doing Trump’s bidding in trying to silence the porn star with the election looming, with the threats emanating from the Trump Organization’s Office in the eponymous phallic symbol Donald erected for himself in Manhattan for all the world to see.
Showing once again how one man and his paid cronies are slithering creatures from the swamp of crude narcissism.
26
CNN and Fox have joined the ranks of The National Enquirer. NYT needs to stay out of that space, it is full.
10
Trump is outclassed by porn stars and playmates. Their voice is more credible and sympathetic. A pathetic litany of outrageous philandering, lies, and cover-ups. This is the man we have to negotiate on nuclear arms, deal with climate change, wars, ... this is the leader of the free world?
27
I doubt that you would find many people in the UK, or in Europe overall, who would accept that Trump is the leader of the free world. We don't want a leader who publicly humiliates those who disagree with him, who treats women like dirt, who shuts his eyes and ears (but not his mouth) to the anguish and determination of children pushing for greater gun control and so much more.
3
Just see how much Trump has debased the Presidency. Now many commentators are saying "oh its no big deal that Trump had sex with a couple of easy virtue ladies..." maybe, but what about deceiving his wife? What about all the lies and the bullying? Oh but they say Melania Trump is no better, she must have known what kind of a man she was marrying, So is this what the US Presidency has come to? sex with porn stars and Playboy bunnies and lies and deception? And we all used to laugh at the Italians for electing Burlosconi the clown!
21
Is there anyone out there that can recommend a good divorce attorney for Melania?
10
I'll wager there will be no trouble filling that lawyer's position, as opposed to "Hubby's" current job opening issues.
1
We are now told of mafia-style treathening. What will we learn next? Of a murder?
10
The Russian collusion thing went off the rails and now has implicated Democrats in various types of criminality.
Democrats are now relegated to pinning their hopes on a stripper who can testify she had sex with Trump once, over a decade ago, and thinks he’s a nice guy.
Sad.
3
Let's wait to hear what Trump's former colleagues and other witnesses say before we conclude the "Russian collusion thing went off the rails."
It's true, the investigation train is overloaded with evidence, so the rails are carrying a heavy load.
In any case, lack of candor regarding multiple extramarital affairs are a good impeachment basis in a Republican majority house, right?
3
Ken, name one Democrat? and how did that race go two weeks ago that Trump and every Republican had won by big margins for decades just go?
3
No, the majority of Americans are waiting for Muller to finish his investigation before we believe Trump can be vindicated. He’s acting like a guilty mobster in his tactics to discredit the investigation, and getting plenty of help from the GOP in Congress. Trump’s history of mendacity shows only a fool would trust his word.
As for the women accusing Trump of sexual misconduct, threats, harassment by lawyer, and coverups, that’s a phenomenon that has nothing to do with Russia, and everything to do with Trump’s moral degeneracy. He’s a rake and a bully.
2
Proud to be an american?
#calexit
9
"...i thought to myself, ""geeee, here we go.....i put myself in a bad situation and now i have to do this.""" Really, Stormy? These are the thoughts of an empowered, in-control woman who was not attracted to Trump and did not want to sleep with him? Where is the empowerment there?
These thoughts seem a little incongruous to me....unless she was looking down the road at a big payday.
This was a non-event to me. No surprise regarding Trump, and after hearing this account I am mystified by Stormy's sudden celebrity status. Essentially, "I went to his room, I spanked him, he wanted to sleep with me, I thought ewwww, and I slept with him." 12 years ago. Huh?
5
Women have always, and will always, leverage what they have for something they want. She wanted more career options. What's wrong with that? Nothing.
Most wives men choose have done more or less the same thing, but shrouded in the veneer of political acceptance.
Meanwhile, the Donald shows a long-term capacity for self-delusion and sleazebag behavior.
This is about Trump's suitability, not Ms Daniels'.
1
i am disgusted by the whole deal, he is a slimy horrible man and this is what our country is listening to. We have so much more going on and this jerk of a President seems as if he is Teflon. His supporters don't care how horrible and vile he is or as dangerous as he is. God bless us all!
10
So......Trump had consensual sex with somebody 10 years ago. Wow.
Story of a lifetime.
9
And hush money was paid during a campaign for president.
Dude, it's a story. Of a lifetime? For some involved, you bet.
8
Hush money isn't illegal. Dude.
So the US has come to this.
A porn star has more credibility and is much more likely to be telling the truth than a sitting President. Trump lies without compunction to cover his immoral personal and business behavior.
Disgusting.
23
Spot on. Donald J. Trump is wholly unfit for the job of White House janitor, let alone the Presidency. Mendacity. Coverups. Bullying. Illegal campaign contributions or expenditures. Criminal threatening. And the list could go on.
2
Ms Clifford is all about the money. She still gets up on stage and shakes her money maker.
The only difference now is that she stands to make more money than ever before.
She strips for a living and does porn movies. This is no suburban mon with misgivings about her past.
This is a professional hustler out to make a buck. At least Trump went with a pro unlike Bill Clinton.
7
There are images that are impossible to remove from the mind. Maybe after her "Sixty Minutes" interview, Stormy could change her soubriquet to "Spanky."
5
I watched the 60 Minutes segment, and felt, afterwards, "Who Cares?" Well, I know the Christian Right SHOULD care (given I believe Stormy's story), but they elected #45, so they obviously knew he had been married three times and had had extramarital affairs when they voted for him. We all knew he was a womanizer with low regard for women. I was hoping for something that would really SHAKE the faith #45's base has in him! Something that would make them want to load their guns with vitriol. But, these days, a porn star who claims to (consensually) have spent one night with THE DONALD--who cares? Melania, maybe ( especially when wanting to shelter son Baron from such news/gossip.) There are SO many Trump actions that need to be questioned! Stormy is a distraction, and Trump is a master of distraction! While the nation was glued to 60 Minutes, he was probably completely eliminating the EPA or the Department of Education (well, he accomplished that by putting DeVos in charge), or some other social welfare agency. Ha! The joke is on us, and Stormy probably got paid by both CBS and Trump!
8
I agree and that was very well said. You hit all the high points. Keep up your comments.
Stormy evidence confirming that the POTUS is channeling Tony Soprano.
7
Tawdry Sideshow--60minutes would serve Public better if covered "How To" Devour Electoral College that has Devoured Humanity.............
3
Get used to it. We had to put of with years of media trash on Bill Clinton.
5
I don't see how Melania would not immediately file for divorce. Whatever their arrangement is, having unprotected sick with someone who appears to have a lot of sex, even if outside her acting career, would put Melania's health and that of her family at risk. Clearly that would be a ground to void the prenup.
This is not a sex scandal it is about violation of election laws and thuggish behavior. So all like all other scandals, it is not the underlying action but the coverup.
18
I wonder what Melania thinks of this?
10
Really? I wonder what *Ivanka* thinks of this! Imagine knowing that your father had sex with a woman after remarking that she reminds him of you. Ye gods.
1
What has happened to the dozen plus woman who have accused trump of sexual impropriety? Were they payed off and threatened as well? How many people has this man bullied and silenced over the years? This president taints us all.
16
I hope the Times (or some other news or law enforcement organization) has already arranged for a police sketch artist to work with Ms. Clifford, as a first step in delineating the connection between the man in the parking lot and Donald Trump.
Separately, we haven't heard much lately about how pastor Pence is feeling about his pants-dropping boss. As I understand it, Trump's new baby was having its diaper changed at the same time that he was "pulling his pants down a little" as a way to flirt with women at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
8
Like the dog treat ad says: "I smell bacon..."....coming from the swine who inhabits the White House and all the little piglets at the Congressional trough.
3
With this and the McDougal story, the NYT, CNN, and other mainstream liberal media have completed their descent into the sewer of tabloid journalism. This story is the definition of "salacious" and is not "all the news that is fit to print."
2
WRONG! Then candidate Trump paid hush money and had his hired goon threaten Ms. Daniels with physical harm. This person is now the POTUS. This is ABSOLUTELY news.
1
Not a shred of evidence re the goon. She never mentioned it to
anyone else.
1
Not a tweet, a squeak or a squawk from the "statesman" who wanted Hillary locked up, had people removed from his events, berates his Secretary of State and AG on twitter, degrades the FBI, wants to obliterate N Korea, cant stand people who disagree with him, hates people who are different from him, cant stand people of other religions or countries, has derogatory names for others and the list goes on. Hde wont listen to his lawyers, staff or advisors. But between an adult film professional and a Russian president they have the guy on mute. He cannot get himself to say a word against Stormy or against Russia for a major cyber attack into the elections, the power and water grid and social media. This is the leader of the "most powerful nation on earth" ? A porn star has him under control??? Well what are you waiting for? Get a few more in the WH and let's move on with life and tackle things that really matter before the world starts laughing at you.
9
His head is still reeling from being called unattractive on national TV.
3
For all of the decades-long reporting about DT being a so-called "germaphobe," I find it rather interesting--but not surprising--that, according to Stormy Daniels, they had unprotected sex. So, is either DT is--and has been--lying about being a germaphobe, or Stormy Daniels engaged in fabrication.
For some strange & perplexing reason, I'm going to place my money on DT absolutely NOT being what he has claimed he is and/or has been over the years.
In such a circumstance as aforementioned, I would think that this one instance might dictate that he not throw caution to the wInd.
5
He probably is a germaphobe about all things except for sex. He seems contradictory like that.
1
I have far more confidence in the integrity and truthfulness of the porn star than the President of the United States.
What has become of America?
13
i'm trying to imagine how trump would react if hillary clinton was president and 60 minutes (or breitbart, or infowars, or anybody) reported that she had once had a fling with a male porn star. and that she had paid to cover it up weeks before the election. i'm trying to imagine how sean hannity would react. how mitch mcconnell would react. how america would react. i believe it would be just a little bit louder than the reaction is today.
27
But, Hillary isn't President, is she?
The main point here is for Mueller to get Trump to testify and lie under oath. About sex with Daniels or treason with the Russians. Unlike wirh Bill Clinton, there ARE underlying crimes in both of these cases.
8
So for the 2020 election and debates, will Stormy and Karen have front-row seats? How about Trump's other 20 accusers right behind them?
8
Trump is going to learn that a lifetime's worth of Roy Cohn legal tactics will someday run out of road.
13
The next big march on Washington should be by genuinely Christian men, women and children demanding the resignation of a president, and by complicity, a vice president, who are destroying the already weakened moral foundations of American society and corrupting its children. I am not just speaking of flagrant sexual immorality and marital infidelity, but of bearing false witness, covetousness and greed, theft by unethical business practices, worship of mammon, overweening pride and arrogance. And he is unrepentant. There is nothing in this powerful rich man's life that upholds the Ten Commandments and the Christian personal and social virtues taught and modeled by Jesus. For America's Christians to accept and respect him as their highest government representative weakens the moral authority of the church in the lives of all our citizens. When will Christians and all people who uphold and endeavor to live by moral principles march to save our country?
13
Amen. Tell it, sister!
2
She certainly is far more credible and articulate than the traitor in the White House.
18
When will this “tabloid Presidency end? Not soon enough!!!
13
So we have the Donald. We have a porn star. And the sleaziest person on 60 minutes? Stormy Daniels lawyer. Simultaneously saying “ we won’t be bullied and “ ask people who’ve opposed me if I bluff!!”
I’m betting trump had the affair 12 years ago. I’m betting Daniels thought may as well cash 130k as Hillary’s going to win anyway. And now that he’s an unpopular president, the lawyer convinced her he can get her 3 million bucks. So the “ I was threatened but too afraid to go to police, but not too afraid to work out” line was manufactured.
Think after watching that segment, everyone needs to take a shower. Nobody is clean there.
3
I believe her and I care not one whit that she slept with Mr Trump!
6
Who you gonna believe, a porn star or our president? The porn star of course. She has more integrity.
15
While it's highly unlikely that a porn actress and I would ever be best friends, I find her credible and relatable. I am betting that many women who might have been doubters do as well and will register their disgust with Republicans at the polls this November.
11
How can we trust a man that does think trough the risks and consequences each time he has an itch?
2007 he has an itch on Stormy Damiel, 2017 he has an itch on Kim Jong-un! is he going with his itch this time the same he deal with his itches before !!!!!
There is a pattern of no risk management when he reacts to his impulses !!!
5
I get that the mainstream media for covering the story of a porn star seeking fame and fortune. CBS is an entertainment news desperate for ratings to sell commercials, but why does a reputable organization like the NYT waste the ink to print this story?
2
What could we have been thinking? All Trump needs is a good spanking!
7
Porn times and porn media are going crazy. There are so many newsworthy events happening in the world, instead our porn media decides to focus on something that happened over 10 years ago. Pathetic. Bill Clinton stained the office while he was holding the office. It is disgusting to see our media going wild and uncontrolled. I trust North Korean media more, at least they have journalistic integrity.
1
A "presidential" style of governing based on the wannabe Soprano model . Pathetic!
6
Unprotected sex with a porn star. There's a good chance the President lost his "personal vietnam" way before this encounter.
7
More Sunday night distractions for America. Now they can sleep-walk back to work on Monday morning with a mind full of nothingness. Only a nuclear explosion will wake them up, and even that may be problematic. As for the actual story, no one beats the Clintons for intrigue, corruption, black operations and self-dealing. This is small beer. Even if this story is true, which otherwise seems highly dramatized, at least she was apparently paid. Clinton expected free supplication and services from unpaid interns, and then had the audacity to ask taxpayers to pay for his defense and operations. Of course, in Washington, you have to have some dirt on you, or no one will trust you. Or at least, you wont get into the big league like Bush. Otherwise, imagine Putin in such predicaments? You may appreciate his intelligence.
9
Nice try.
5
But no Clinton is president, isn't it now, so let's focus on the mobster-in-charge. And I would seriously debate the self-serving part...
3
"no one beats the Clintons for intrigue, corruption, black operations and self-dealing" sounds just downright silly given the current occupant of the White House who ignores the emoluments clause, refuses to release his taxes, embraces nepotism and the family enrichment while in office.
7
I believe her.
36
Steph., I do not think you are honest.
The script for Stormy and prelude to 60 minutes was written by the operatives of the Democrats and anti-Trump media.
10
NTY Times: don't you think this post reads like one of those Russian trolls we hear about all the time?
15
Which fortunately is not controlled by your bosses in the Kremlin.
8
Here's the part I don't get: If, as Trump and Cohen claim, there never was a sexual liaison, then what did they pay her off to keep quiet about? Maybe I watched too many Godfather movies, but my understanding is that you pay somebody off when either you want something to happen or when something actually happened that you don't want people to talk about. I don't remember any scenes in which Don Corleone said "We didn't kill anybody. Go pay Vinnie $130,000 to keep his mouth shut about it."
Of course, this approach follows the script to the letter with Trump's twisted thinking: Refusing to release tax returns that have nothing in them that shows business dealings with Russia... Apologizing for the Access Hollywood tape that isn't his voice... Shredding of White House visitor logs that contain no names of anyone who shouldn't have access to the Oval Office... Furious over a recused Jeff Sessions not being able to fire Robert Mueller from an investigation into Russian collusion that never happened...
And now hush money paid to women he never had sex with. No wonder he bankrupted a casino.
60
A very trashy, tawdry exchange, and a low point for "60 Minutes", but focus on what is important - the payoff money. Where did it really come from? Follow the money. And, not hoping for an impeachment -- who would want Pence? Flip the House. Make this president a truly impotent lame duck.
29
I would always believe the word of a porn star who conveniently timed her disclosure 12 years after the "fact," violates a non disclosure, and sees she may be able to make more money now that she was paid 12 years ago. Far more interesting however, is the liberal hypocrisy here, over those who backed Bill Clinton. Clinton had sex with a hired intern, who worked for him, and then Bill lied about it.
9
Good work, comrade. Keep trotting out that old war horse Bill Clinton. Repeat: it’s always about the Clinton’s and “liberal hypocrisy.” But next time be sure to mention Benghazi. Keep it up so long as we have our dupe as POTUS!
- Vlad
13
Conservative pointing out hypocrisy of liberals. That's rich.
9
And was impeached for that lie.
6
I can't believe that the main point of discussion here is whether Ms Daniels is a moral person and whether she is fit to be a mother!!
Why are the words of someone from the sex industry less of value than those of a man who is a proven racist, has a number of sexual cases against him, is a self declared molester, treats women with little or no respect and has systematically (and publicly) cheated on his wives? Whether Ms Daniels has had tens or hundreds of sexual encounters is neither here or there.
The point is that TRUMP LIES! LIES! LIES!
Get off your moral thrones and look at what is right instead of this holier than thou attitude.
58
I find it interesting that so many are discrediting Ms. Clifford here. We know little about her other than she is a porn star. Trump on the other hand, we have had ample time to observe his behavior. He is a bully, a liar, a cheat, and an alleged sexual criminal. But, she's the liar here?
Sane, intelligent people only have to observe Trump for a while to determine that in any question of credibility, Trump has to be dead last.
57
It's not important whether Trump had an extra marital affair with a porn star or not! Given the fact that Trump being a shameless, bottomless egomaniac with no self discipline, no dignity, he would be having another affair right now if he had lost the presidential election. The whole point is that he had his fixer pay Stormy Daniels to hush her right before the election, MISLEADING U.S. VOTERS! Those who are skeptical about Stormy Daniels blaming her as a gold-digger or a liar whatever, that's just not what matters the most. Wake up and see the point!!!
35
I'd like to have some NYT intern to dig through the complete archive of the newspaper to find if there has ever been anything more stupid/strange/laughable in the history of presidents than one of them making his mistress watch "Sharkweek" (of all there is on TV!) while trying to get a leg over again...
18
Imagine: What if a porn star had NOT had sex with a married man?
5
Imagine: what if a married man had NOT had sex with a porn star - and compared her to his daughter before doing so?
1
How sad that The NY Times is giving space to this tabloid headliner.
What happened Or didn't happen 12 years ago is over now. Stop with the sensationalism.
10
Sorry, that horse left the barn with Bill Clinton. Bring on the perjury trap.
2
but He s,still lying about it..and Melania has t forgotten, has she?
It's also about what happened a week or so before the election. It apparently was very important to the man who now calls himself the President of the United States, important enough that the President's personal lawyer mortgaged his own house to make this go away and shield the President.
Throwing everything else to the sidelines, just the image of Trump pulling down his pants to be spanked by this woman was enough for me. She clearly has the goods on him in some humiliating way (photos, texts or tapes) or we would have seen a tweet storm from the bully emperor himself.
23
So President Trump, allegedly let a porn "star", spank him with a magazine,is about to embark on a trip to North Korea. The purpose of this trip is to negotiate a nuclear arms deal with Kim Yong Un, the despotic leader of N. Korea.
Do you think that Trump will go into that meeting carrying a magazine?
16
I’m no fan of Trump, but have no doubt that Stormy decided to cash in on her one night stand with The Donald by selling her story to the press just before the elections in 2017. Was she motivated by anything other than making a big score? I doubt it. Is she now motivated by anything other than publicity to enhance her clicks as a porn star? I doubt it. Without Stormy’s threat to go public before the elections, The Donald would have much preferred to forget about - and that she forget about - this one night stand which is now blowing up in his face. A pox on both of their houses !
3
Story was sold for $15k in 2010 Henry, get up to speed...
I believe her but I don't think it will make an iota of difference to Trump's 35% and that will keep the POC (Party Over Country) Republicans from doing a thing. I also had given Avenatti a lot of credit, but the whole tease of the CD file of pictures, texts, etc., hurt him and his client, I believe. No big surprise was forthcoming. He had already said she was threatened but not knowing who was the person doing the threatening, was another letdown. I'm not sure what at all the 60 Minutes interview accomplished for her. Maybe I'm not seeing the bigger picture? Will the FEC do anything about the $130,000? No, because we haven't had an honest and effective FEC in many years. Will Mueller do something with it? I sincerely hope so. But Trump's base could give a rat's derriere about the payoff money.
There has to be more to this story or it just dies away and will not help us remove Trump.
9
Ms Haberman, if I recall earlier articles correctly, it is promoters who are calling the tour "Make America Horny Again.'
3
While Trump was immersing himself in the Manhattan party scene and cynically boasting that “fighting venereal disease was his Vietnam”, Mueller was commanding a platoon of Company H, 2nd Battalion (“The Magnificent Bastards”), 4th Marines. Mission: “Close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, or repel the enemy’s assault by fire and close combat.”
30
The shame is not about 2 adults having sex it is about the highest office in our nation is occupied by someone that lacks values and basic decency that put any parents at odds with their children?
1- How can ask our children to stay away from porn as it is not healthy for you when their president normalize the porn industry? it is stunning to me
2- How can we demand from the porn industry to use condoms for protection when the president refuses to protect himself or Stormy during their encounter?
3- How can any conservative that consider porn a disease, a sickness that must be treated as such to accept Trump as a fit to be president?
4- How can any conservative that focus on the family and the bond between husband and wife accept an serial adulterer to be their leader?
5-Mike Pence where are you and your family values????
6- I don't know what Stormy gain out of this but she is beyond brave to stand up to a powerful bully that has no moral compass or any emotional intelligence
39
If Pence has the moral gavitas he has expressed in the past, he will exit his association with this nightmare in the White House by resigning. Fat chance.
4
@Rost von Sivers
re: "Anybody remembers White House affairs: JFK with Fiddle, Faddle and Mimi , Clinton– Lewinsky scandal?"
Sure do! The self-confessed 'grabber' in the WH is far worse than all of them combined.
30
it's pretty clear she wants money and publicity- she's playing Trump's own game against him. The real knucklehead in all of this is Cohen. The only lawyers that Trump is able to attract are idiots- certainly not the head of their class in law school. That's why he has only one lawyer on his defense team- no good lawyer will work for him. Ultimately who cares? This is all a distraction- and the media loves it. It will not get him impeached, it will do nothing with his base which at this point is a cult of personality. That is what we need to worry about- how do we as a nation reach those people who are so devoted to him and convince them he is a liar and a conman?
13
“But when her story threatened to surface again in 2016...”
Why would her story surface again? Who would surface it? Who was doing the threatening? Was it magic or was she looking for another pay day?
Thanks for the great reporting. You really dug into this one.
This is an obvious case of a woman who attempted to sleep her way into a lucrative position and failed. When she didn’t get to be on the TV show she settled for the next best offer, a big fat check for $130,000. A decade later she thinks she can cash in a second time.
This is the flip side to the #metoo movement - people who leverage their sexuality. For every powerful producer who says “show me how bad you want the part,” there are 10X more aspiring actors who say “I’ll do anything (anything) for the part.”
We know Trump is a philanderer. Anyone who’s been around NY for any time and has read a tabloid knows he was “The Donald, billionaire playboy”. His womanizing has never been news.
The news is all the flapping from the left about how when it’s a Republican, even one in name only, character is important. When it’s a Democrat it’s his private life and it’s “just sex”.
“Too bad Stormy Daniels wasn’t a White House intern. Then we could just cover this thing up.” - Dennis Miller
6
No, it's about Republican hypocrisy.
"The news is all the flapping from the [Right] about how when it’s a [Democrat], even one in name only, character is important. When it’s a [Republican] it’s his private life and it’s “just sex”.
10
Johannes, she received the $130,000 right before the 2016 election, not 12 years ago. That was hush money and may violate campaign contribution laws. Please get your facts straight.
6
This 60 Minutes segment provided detailed coverage of the lawsuit filed alleging the payment to Stephanie Clifford violated the Federal Campaign Finance laws. This issue is getting widespread news media coverage. Unfortunately the news that another legal action filed against the Hillary for America Campaign and the DNC alleging violations of the Federal Election Campaign laws by failing to disclose legally required information about funding of the Trump - Russia dossier has not received similar intense coverage.
http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/news/press-releases/hillary-america-d...
4
Hillary isn’t President. Haven’t you heard?
5
News flash - Hillary is NOT the sitting president.
"Wattabout, wattabout, wattabout"... how about focusing on the future for a change?
6
1) True, but bad publicity is the mud Trump wallows in and the fuel he burns. It's slightly laughable to cry foul on his behalf.
2) Hillary Clinton isn't the president.
1
Contrast "the most anticipated episode of "60 Minutes" in recent memory..." with the treatment of Ms. Flowers when a pre-recorded ‘60 Minutes’ taped interview was hyped during Super Bowl XXVI.: (NY Times archives)
o 11/ 24/1991. Kolbert. Fighting Obscurity on Tight Primary Budgets. “candidates are going to have to earn the free media.”
o 1/ 24/1992. Clinton Denounces New Report of Affair
o 1/25/1992. Clintons to Rebut Rumors on ‘60 Minutes’
o 1/26/1992. Quindlen. Public & Private; The Adultery Watch. “How do you go from being a television reporter to being a nightclub singer? And whose idea was it to spell Gennifer with a G?” (this commentary gets a Pulitzer Prize.)
o 1/28/1992. Leers, Smears and Governor Clinton. “Gennifer Flowers, a former state employee, paid by a supermarket tabloid, contended she had a longstanding affair with the Governor. She rehearsed the accusations yesterday on television.”
o 1/29/1992. Finances; Candidates Scramble For Dollars. “No matter how popular candidates are, they cannot survive without money for television commercials, travel and salaries”
o 1/31/1992. Democrats Anxiously Monitor Clinton's Strength. “at the height of the scandal, Clinton raised almost half a million dollars in three days and received public endorsements.”
o 11/18/ 2017. Douthat. What if Ken Starr Was Right? “the perks & power to procure women, willing and unwilling; to buy silence and bully victims…”
Can the NY Times separate the sin from the sinner?
4
The bible thumpers who still condone this unfaithfulness and support the criminal in the white House view females simply as subhuman vessels anyway -to be dominated and used. Don't expect that lot to have their reprehensible open hypocrisy challenged here.
24
water over a duck's back
2
I can not believe our country has come to this. Trump is the worst president ever.
16
Not much to go on there...tell us something we don't know. I turned it off after the spanking description.
1
Why isn't Ms. Daniels a victim? Possible future employment was dangled by a powerful representative of NBC entertainment in exchange for sex. Isn't this the very definition of sexual harassment and exploitation of power? NBC, with their Billy Bush, Matt Lauer, and Donald Trump culture of predatory behavior towards powerless women. NBC, who also owns E! entertainment, where female hosts are not paid the same as like skilled/experienced male hosts.
Seems to me Ms. Daniels should reexamine whether she's aligned to the METOO movement (and its millions of available dollars in legal aid resources) and the myriad of potential bag holder litigants here and set her agenda on some male controlled, male dominated deep pockets at NBC where it seems the culture of sexual harassment and abuses of power haven't yet taken responsibility for her trauma. I can't imagine Ms. Daniels was the only manipulated victim of NBC's conduit of vile quid pro quo. Where are the other women who were promised a spot on TV in exchange for sexual favors? Or were they paid to be silent too? #grabyourwallet #boycottNBC
13
yes
Stormy Daniels has been treated MUCH better than Monica Lewinsky by the press and the liberal establishment. I wonder why?
1
Well, I certainly believe when she says that she was not attracted to Trump, and did not want to have sex with him.
17
Surely it's not just me who noticed this revelation? :- "...and the flirtation — which included Mr. Trump comparing Ms. Clifford to his daughter — led to intercourse"
10
Stormy looks like another person who wants to cash in on a juicy story.
Nothing wrong with that. With the exception of a threat (ie she said, he said, I will harm you) and possible legal trouble for Cohen, this is a case of a philandering husband and a enabling/co dependent porn star and wife.
Trump is a bigot, rabble rouser, in competent, pathological liar, admitted sexual predator, borderline Russian spy, ego maniac demagogue.
Being a philanderer is almost a feather in his cap compared to above.
5
So if you can't believe to this nasty I mean so purity women who else you going to believe?
All what she was trying is to get more money. So I hear this conversation.
PROSTITUTE: hello Donald I need more money or I go tell everything in tv
TRUMP: I already pay you twice. First time in the hotel $50.000 and $130.000 to keep you mouth shut.
PROSTITUTE: I know but I was told by my lawyer I can get more. I was fooled to take only 130 I need 10 millions
TRUMP: I can't give you that much . Go to make another film and ask for a raise.
PROSTITUTE: crying (
Calling Cooper:
PROSTITUTE: hello anderson I have a good nasty history how much you pay Me?
NASTY GUY: 2.000 for one hour
PROSTITUTE:deal...!!
1
Except for 1 small detail - he never paid her for the sex.
4
I suggest a reality check
3
In the unlikely case that Stormy Daniels brings the Trump presidency down, her name will be in all American history books dealing with this period, and not just as a footnote. Think about it.
4
Who really cares?
This won't (and never has) unseat a president.
People sleep with who the y want to sleep with, this is between he and Melania.
Old news.
2
new news: threatening a person, plus the fact that the balance of power is so very uneven.This is what thugs do. It is illegal behaviour. If the personal lawyer of the president of the US threatens you, you might also find you will sign something you might not otherwise. And I presume you are not a pornstar but an upholding citizen.
2
Between him and Melania...
What nonsense. A new story every time. Who is writing the details for her ?
In order to take down a president the media has come to glorifying prostitutes? Tell me its not so. When I was growing up, prostitutes were never spoken of highly.
3
this is your chance to widen your horizon. This is not about a prostitute and whether or not you speak highly of her, it is about the president of the US threatening and bullying an American citizen.
4
The interview was anticlimactic. I was hoping for more. However, there was a pretty clear message that Trump and Cohen might be in violation of interfering with his election. Specifically paying her hush money. It is really about the cover up than her. I can see why his rabid supporters don't care about his dalliance with a porn star. The law regarding not reporting funds to the campaign is a little too arcane for them. Hopefully Mueller will follow the money trail, and get the incriminating evidence. I applaud Stormy for toughing it out anot caving in to Cohen and Trump.
11
Evangelical support for the current occupant of the Oval Office is proof that the "Christian Right" is neither.
14
When there's a break down of public morality how do you hold on to a personal morality? I don't believe they accept him to be their moral compass . As progressives accept Hollywood as theirs. Trump if anything is as Hollywood as you can get.
Do you know a evangelist? Not the for profit ones but real people?
Trump should take a page out the Clinton playbook and have Stormy end up a suicide or robbery victim. It is hard to believe this country has fallen so far that this ratcheted has been, who sees the end of the porno trade as an option, can garner any attention at all for her story.
1
It is hard to believe that you have fallen so far as to wish suicide and robbery on a living breathing human being.
4
You just can't quit with the Clinton conspiracy theories, can you? Try to concentrate on Trump catastrophe that's going on right in front of you.
5
Tell me this: considering her occupation--porn star (actor) and prostitute, just why should everybody hold her in such high regard? Perhaps because 60 minutes would suggest her as presidential material? I think not.
3
Because she is standing up to the president of the US, who had his lawyer and/or his goon threaten and intimidate her.
1
Why would a prostitute be more inclined to lie than the average person? I would think the opposite is more likely to be true as she is usually more straight about the thing most people lie about: sex. Politicians, however, have a well deserved reputation for lying and our dear president stands as a giant in this respect. As for presidential material, Im afraid she is too intelligent for that.
A classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
6
So Trump voters- you were relying on Trump to drain the swamp?
How's that working out for you?
22
Why do we keep calling this woman an actress? She has sex with people for money. Last I heard that's not what they call it. Porn degrades women and objectifies them. I don't think this is going to harm Trump in the slightest and the people who think he's great I'm sure think he's great for "scoring" with a porn "star". So why all this Stormy cheering is beyond me.
9
Uh, it's called degrading the presidency, and, oh, maybe you should check on whether a crime has been committed. See the John Edwards wedlock case.
7
Trump degrades women and objectifies them. Daniels has more intelligence and integrity than Trump.
4
There it is, they had a one-nighter of unprotected sex. I believe this Mr. President had many of those. He had a tardy reputation even before he became president. So what, Americans voted for him anyway, to become their "leader" despite these flaws and other ones. Some women even married him. The disturbing fact is that he payed off a few women, including his wives, to become a choir boy in the eyes of his supporters. What a circus.
5
Trump has lied so much than his denials on anything and everything can only be seen as another lie. The man simply cannot tell the truth on anything. All these women that have come forward, whether it's Daniels or the others have much more credibility than this President. Think about that, when a President lies about everything, what can you believe is the truth when he speaks? Something is obviously not working well in that man's mind.
18
The Dems including the main stream media (still seething at Trump cleaning Hillary's clock) are really grasping at staws. They really think they are going to get Trump for campaign law violation - if one even occurred? As far as the embarssment factor Trump's base is proud he has so much better taste in paramours than Bill Clinton. Stormy vs. Paula Jones? No contest.
2
Oh, please. She won the popular vote bigly.
5
OK. #1: Trump did not "[clean] Hillary's clock." He lost the popular vote. #2: See John Edward's affair case. Yes, they are going to get him for campaign contribution violations. #3: If you are really "proud" that the president of the United States has had sex with a porn star and a Playboy bunny, you are in serious need of moral self-evaluation.
3
Always march out the "Dems can't get over Trump's win" - not true - Trump is the President. We can see that. He does not get a pass on everything simply because Hillary didn't win. This is such an odd argument by Trump supporters.
If Hillary was president, and was thought to have been involved in 1/16th of the crazy and dangerous stuff Trump has done and does - the Right would be up in arms. Where a re they now? The hypocrisy is astounding.
1
Here. Let me help the reporters out:
Was it consensual? Was he her employer? When did this occur? And when did she accept the $130,000 offer to keep silent?
yes
no
11 years ago
October 2016 (surprise!) weeks before the election
We can take care of the rest . . .
3
AL Capone was brought down by tax evasion. Maybe a little improperly funded hush money could go a long way.
17
@Justin Alabama
re: "Mike Pence the True Christian keeping quiet".
Pence is simply taking his cue from the Bible John 8.7 where Jesus tells the accusers of a woman of adultery ... "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."
6
This will change no minds. "Christians" like Franklin Graham and his robots will excuse Trumps behavior because he claims to be "pro-life" (whatever that means).
I believe her. Others wouldn't believe her if there was a video tape of Trump and Clifford having sex. They would claim it was fake. We might see something like this before the nightmare ends.
Two things:
1. This will just intensify the culture war. Red vs Blue. Bigot vs Includers. Haters vs Empathetics. Nationalists vs Globalists. "Muricans" vs the rest of the World.
2. There is only so much time in the day. There is only so much that can be accomplished in that day. Our Predator in Chief has brought this topic into the White House. Partially true or not. He defames the office. He detracts from the peoples business by making his problems - his persona - the focus. Not kids facing assassination in schools. Not loyal hard working Americans being deported. Not trying to achieve peace....
Why aren't 99% of Americans sick enough of this badly written soap opera to demand his removal? THAT is the demonstration that should be happening.
25
I enjoyed reading your smart comment.
1
Who are we kidding? Ever since the 90's the American media consumer loves blurring the line between tabloids and news (O.J. Simpson, Bill Clinton, etc.) As a bonus, we got educated on possible campaign finance issues during the program.
3
donald, at present, the second most despicable man in the White House, follows closely behind another despicable in the WH, Dick Cheney; recall the lies that did lead to war and"Mission Accomplished". donald is in second place only because he hasn't committed young men and women to die for his lies, yet.
Bolstered by the company of Bolton and Pompeo, donald when cornered by facts revealing his corruption and not his sex life, could in desperation pull the trigger or try to anyway.
12
That is the one thing that keeps me up at night, the true danger he poses to humanity.
6
Tuscon666 You know he never demonstrates courage. Wait for him to resign? No, we need to mobilize our collective will for impeachment.
8
The thing I thought most interesting was the contract. How standardized it was. One size fits all. It covered sex tapes, texts, recordings. It’s like the standard leases or wills you can buy at Staples. Just fill in the blanks, name address, etc. I bet Cohen has a file on his computer with blank contracts that he whips out every time he needs to shut up one of Trump’s conquests. Just hit print and he’s all ready for the next one. Wouldn’t we like to know how many are really out there.
17
There is precedent for Stormys concern, you only have to think of the many people who were to involved in the Clinton problems that met untimely or suspicious deaths, from Vincent Foster forward.
1
Spreading old debunked conspiracy theory about an unfortunate man's suicide is cruel. It makes you party to shaming this great country way worse than sex shaming Stormy. Shame on you for this ugly false
comment.
3
Where's the love, Trump supporters? Ms. Daniels is acting like a ruthless capitalist; I though you guys loved that?
14
We Deserve a Good Spanking Too
Donald Trump wrote, "The America We Deserve" and the GOP gave us the President we deserve. 60 Minutes has now elevated Ms. Clifford to the status of leading lady in her own pornographic movie. It seems we have the degenerate news, entertainment, and national leadership we deserve.
Richie Rich grew up to be mean spirited and enjoyed saying, "Your Fired". He also turned out not to be a good husband and family man. Who would have thunk it. Perhaps Don Jr. will get a show about safaris, strip clubs and good parenting skills. Money can buy more than you think.
Ironically, Trump's book recommended a large net wealth tax on the rich. The serious financial media ignored this economic pandering to the rank and file voters and did not even call Trump on it during the primary debates. Far better GOP candidates went down in flames because the media wanted a train wreck and helped to create one. The media wanted a sleazeball that Hillary could beat with her moral superiority as the self-proclaimed protector of women, minorities and the sexualy agrived.
Anderson Cooper is gay and it was apparent in his manner of questioning. CBS obviously did not want a solid family man to challenge the morality and consequences of infidelity, promiscuity and pornography. Cooper elevated legality over morality.
It's past time to give Mike Pence serious consideration for the top spot.
2
What specifically about Anderson Cooper’s questioning made it apparent he is gay? His question about, say, consent? Or was it about condom usage? I am honestly struggling to understand.
6
What did Cooper’s sexual orientation have to do with the questions he asked: NOTHING!
Maybe Charlie Rose or Matt Lauer would have been more to your liking.
3
@Raindrop: Stop sounding like a snowflake. Anderson Cooper questioned Ms. Clifford with a monotone voice and the facial expressions of a dead fish. He was selected to eliminate the outrage and passion that normal (straight) people feel when marriage is assaulted with adultery and sex for profit. He may think this trash is worth a million dollars, but it is nothing more than calumny for profit. Cooper is no better than Clifford and that made him the wrong man for the interview.
2
I did t watch the interview, but I am scanning these comments and it seems that most of them are from men passing judgment on Stormy. Readers, this is not about the sex act or spanking...it’s about hush money being paid just a few days before the election. Why would any thinking human being pay someone to be silent about something that didn’t happen?
24
Actually it's about the original decision by a woman to tryst with a married man.
1
Stephanie Clifford is both markedly more articulate and markedly more credible than the President. With this sordid and cowardly physical threat Donald Trump has once again demonstrated a character grossly unfit for his office.
27
We need a "MeToo" for people bullyied by Trump. How many people did he threaten with these tactics who were doing business with his business? How many people did he NOT pay for services? How many people lost money due to Trump filing bankruptcy? And the how many people were afraid to sue him? And still afraid to come forward? How many millions (or maybe billions) of dollars did he accumulate through these thuggish bullying tactics?
11
Getting better all the time. Just imagine that this was just what happened at one golf tournament. Two women while his wife was taking care of his new born child! Just think what happened when he organized the Miss Universe Pagent in Russia, etc. Justice will be served if Trump comes crashing down under the weight of new stories and at some point videos come out. Hopefully waiting, although the thought is rather disgusting, not to mention the comment about Ivanka.
The legal problems with gangster style threats and pressured NDAs and illegal payoffs in the election context are the other half of the story that will not go away because it is real.
7
Gotta say I was underwhelmed by the Stormy Show. Two meetings?
3
And yet Donny's pit-bull lawyer felt it was worth paying her off to keep her quiet.
6
I'm beginning to get the feeling that the payoff was less about the election and more likely about whatever is in DJT and Melania's pre-nip. Should Melania file for divorce and go nuclear, how much information about the tawdry mess of the Trump companies would become public?
5
The Mafia would run the country with a lot more smarts and honor than Trump, McConnell and Ryan.
10
I would like Alec Baldwin to wear polka-dot shorts when he recreates the spanking!!!
12
Thank you for the laugh ...
1
What a waste of good television. Well at least CBS got good ratings. Hooray, NOT
1
So stormy gets paid for having sex. How much did Stormy charge Trump for the one night stand? Isn’t that prostitution? And shouldn’t Stormy therefore be arrested for prostitution?
3
She didn’t get paid for sex with trump .
She’s not a prostitute-she’s an actress in adult films
Color me a cynic. Stormy Daniels took the $130K then realized her tale was worth millions.
That doesn't make Trump any less sleazy, or gross. It deosn't mean he is innocent or that he did not attempt intimidation and payoffs through his lawyer.
It just means that two really sleazy and opportunistic people found each other, at long last. Ain't love great?
9
At this point there are almost 1,000 comments. I haven't read all of them, but it amazes me that most believe Stormy Daniels and then pile all their grievances on her stage.
2
People, 63 MILLION voted for such a guy !
4
Sorry to be a nay-sayer Team Blue but this is not serious news. It's a sensational attempt to fling mud and see what sticks. Two adults had consensual sex. One wanted money (blackmail?) to keep her mouth shut and was paid. Perhaps she felt threatened but more likely she had let a gravy train leave the station without her.
The fact that Trump won an election we all thought he would lose is what makes $130,000 seem a pittance. With all due respect to the skills of Ms. Daniels, it is a generous day's pay for four hours work. As to Trump's attorney--his protestations as to honorable conduct are no more believable than hers, however, AGAIN, is this what we want to reduce ourselves to caring about?
I seem to remember us all howling with indignation that the Ken Starr investigation was tawdry, degrading and voyeuristic. Is that really where we want Robert Mueller to go? Prosecute Trump for his harrassment of women; or for collusion with Russia; or lying under oath (if he does sit down with prosecutors). In other words, of what he's guilty.
The Daniels' story is just sleaze.
2
My bet is that Mueller isn't going to touch this particular piece of Trump's sleaze with a 10-foot pole. Why risk the credibility of his work with a story that only directly implicates Trump's lawyer?
Clifford / Daniels is a sex industry worker. Forget calling her any sort of star. She certainly has received a wide variety of threats, proposals, etc. throughout her worker. Think about it.
I believed Stormy, but it does not look like she has much about being threatened. It will be interesting if her lawyer at the time is shown to have colluded with the Trump team.
I was disappointed that they did not explore why she is talking now, Cohen saying he made the payment does not seem to be something she needs to defend herself, etc.
And her lawyer said Cohen would pay the $130,000 himself (someone else said that is not a sustainable business model). But her lawyer is working pro bono.
I wonder if the unsigned NDA is enough, because they don't seem to have much on the physical threat angle, and just a little on them breaking the agreement first. And we heard very little on how Davidson represented her. But we will see, and Avenatti seems like a very sharp attorney, and should be to take on the president.
4
To me, this interview was about Ms.Daniels' lawyer letting Michael Cohen know he is going after him. No one cares that Trump had yet another affair while married. Mr. Avenatti appears, and to me rightfully so, to take great offense to Mr. Cohen's crossing line on what it means to uphold the rule of law and seemingly no concern for ethics.
This is another example of how Trump uses the people around him to do his dirty work so that nothing can actually get tied directly to him. Mr. Cohen will be fined by the courts, get disbarred and be another in a long line of men who take the fall for Trump. A repeatable pattern in Trump world.
The bigger question is: who will be the one in that circle who says --not me, I'm not taking the fall for that guy?
17
To Daniels, her relationship with Trump was, and is, "a business arrangement," and nothing more. She mentioned that the 130k was not enough as it turns out. Now she's out to get the money she feels she's rightfully due. Cohen's faulty NDA and the fact that he was the first one to violate it gave her and her lawyer the opening they need. She's a tough, shrewd businesswoman. And she has more guts and bravery than the entire Republican congress.
17
Methinks the Donald has finally met his match...
A tempest in a D cup.
27
@Tucson666
re: "Perhaps it's time for Trump to show some courage"
Courage? Anyone who sought deferrals five separate times to blatantly avoid military service is not qualified to be commander in chief. Trump doesn't know the first thing about military service or sacrifice. The shameful spectacle of his lame attempts at consoling grieving families who have lost loved ones defending the country is sickeningly galling.
9
A revelation a few days before the election that Trump had an, "affair," really a one night stand with Daniels, I don't think would have changed many voters minds. Trump's view towards women was well known. From his numerous interviews with Howard Stern, to his multiple marriages, his raunchy comments caught on tape, and his comments about his own daughter.
What I don't get is why an attorney (Cohen) working for a billionaire wouldn't have $130,000 in his bank account and would have to take out a home equity line of credit to use for his client. That's like an attorney borrowing money to post bail for his own client, planning to win their client's case and getting paid back. Lawyers don't do that.
16
Friends do that.
So Stormy slept with Trump to get a spot on The Apprentice, it didn’t materialize, and she received $130,000. I’m still baffled as to why Stormy is telling us this story and what she hopes to gain. The good news is the potential illegal campaign contribution angle.
6
Yet another variation on the same theme. The Democrats, backed by the liberal press, will stop at nothing, not even good taste, to bring Trump down. Hence, all the attention being focused on this seedy inconsequential story. He's still in his early stages like Louis XIV when Versailles was just a hunting lodge, but the grand palace he was plotting would one day become not only a symbol of his power but a prison for his foes who ended up emptying his bed pan and feeling grateful for the honor. So far history seems to be repeating itself.
1
you're wishing upon yourself the most dispendious king in the history of France. Frankly i wouldn't not recommend it, but hey, it's your choice.
I see only 2 similarities between Trump and Louis XIV -"Warfare defined the foreign policy of Louis XIV, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled 'by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique', Louis sensed that warfare was the ideal way to enhance his glory.", and "[Louis was] an adherent of the concept of the divine right of kings..." [Wikipedia]
Last night we decided that Stormy Daniels just might be working for Trump. She really offered nothing new on how debased Trump is - However the Constant media attention is robbing the spotlight from the marchers on Washington, the ongoing Russia probe, the ramifications for hiring the warmonger Bolton...and all of the dangerous and crazy policies the Trump administration has put forth since she has gained the spotlight.
8
The interview was a bust (pardon the pun). But she's not robbing attention. It seems to me we're able to pay attention to an awful lot. All the stories you mentioned get/got plenty of coverage. The problem we have is what are we doing about it?
1
Does anyone else long for the previous eight years which so very much lacked scandal(s)? Like others say on this one, I believe HER. I find myself counting the number of months left until November. I usually don't do this, but time and again counting, and thinking with dread, 'the whole summer then most of the fall....' then, "...okay surrender time, no control in this except to vote, march, and to help others register to vote...and encourage people to vote"
8
Anderson Cooper asked if she was lying. However, he did not mention that she had previously passed a Lie Detector test. Did Cohen/Trump get to Cooper with big time Hush Money to keep this out of the interview?
3
I just wonder where the outrage was when President Clinton was accused of sexual misdeeds? My friends, who are almost apoplectic about President Trump, were gleeful about what Ms Clifford would say. I am not sure they believed the accusers of President Clinton, but they seemed sure that this woman was telling the absolute truth. It seems to me that the left only really cares about sexual misdeeds of this president.
3
I am a staunch Democrat, and although I wasn't outraged by Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct, I was extremely disappointed. I also think it's extremely wrong that he has been able to pursue a post-political career in the spotlight advancing the agenda of the Clinton foundation while Monica Lewinsky has been bullied and shamed to the point of becoming a hermit for many years.
I was not old enough to vote at the time that the Lewinsky scandal emerged. If I had been old enough, I would not have voted for him. Given that I probably could have brought myself to vote for a Republican, I would have abstained.
Stormy was totally credible in her assertion that fear for her and her family's safety were the motivating factors in her signing the NDA, accepting the money and keeping quiet about her tryst with Trump. Her story also has similarities to that of Karen McDougal and the women asserting unwanted sexual advances thereby strengthening the claims of all. Hopefully more women will now have the courage to come forward with their stories.
Add to that the comportment of Michael Cohen who acts and talks like a thug/enforcer/fixer for Trump. He threatens Daniel's financial ruin with glee looking forward to how he will spend the ill begotten money. I'm sure he has employed seedy tactics innumerable times to former employees and contractors who Trump fingered as not being "loyal".
4
At least come up with a better threat than “it would be a shame if something happened” for God’s sake.
I know we are supposed to “listen and believe” but I also know when I’m listening to line from a Nicholas Pileggi book.
2
A pornstar testifies about being bribed by team Trump to stay quiet about an affair. And yet, here we are today in business as usual. Republicans have been acting like they own America, regardless of who's president or who controls Congress, for two decades now. The bar of the acceptable has first gradually, then brutally lowered so far that the US is primed to become a 'fake democracy' autocracy like Turkey. A war, especially one with a nuclear threat, would enable the president to assume extraordinary powers. Moreover, wars tend to boost a president's popularity. The removal of anyone who might push back from the WH is making me more than a little nervous.
8
"What about Bill Clinton!" the partisan Republicans cry. OK, what about him? You want us to treat Trump the same as Clinton was treated? Fine. Have Trump testify under oath about this affair, and if he lies, impeach him.
23
And that is the outcry. Clinton lied under oath.
2
So let's put Trump under oath and see what he has to say.
Stormy weather for trump! Daniels is credible, trump and his lawyers are thugs. Reality TV American President soap opera I could live without.
24
There’s a general realization looming on the horizon spreading far and wide that effectively we have a criminal imposter in the White House ... in truth a tragically unprepared and dangerously unprincipled ‘fake’ president who is an unabashed leech and an unrepentant liar.
33
Who is going to get him first? Mueller or Melania?
17
Anybody remembers White House affairs: JFK with Fiddle, Faddle and Mimi , Clinton– Lewinsky scandal?
2
Didn't Clinton get impeached because of his affair? I don't remember anyone being threatened or paid off.
3
i guess that makes it ok.
1
Rost von Sivers you are totally missing the point here.
3
So spare us the charade of monogamy in the US. DT is no different than a wealthy Arab with several wives....and as they age the Arab just takes a younger one....and does not hesitate to take whatever he can find in Munich or London as he travels. We should be taking all the Syrians, Yemenis, Iraqis, Turks, and Afghans. Their view of American women matches the view of our leadership.
3
Big difference between a wife and a fling in a hotel room followed by a non disclosure agreement.
2
Sad to see the NYT and 60 Min giving headline/airtime to this tabloid story. Nothing newsworthy here except a porn actress trying to make a buck. this really undermines the creditability of those involved.
For those intensely pushing various narratives to attack Trump and his supporters: Is this really the best you have for now?
8
I agree that her interview really revealed nothing about Trump that we didn't already know. As far as credibility is concerned the man in the white house has none. If you support him and his insane style of governance than neither do you. It is SAD that this is the best you can muster.
3
Please do not forget that during the campaign, this same Trump gave front row seats to women who had accused Bill Clinton of impropriety. The shoe is on his foot now!
2
Unprotected sex with an adult film actress the first time they meet. Now THAT is a really stupid idea.
35
One look into those gorgeous eyes and all reason went out the window! Maybe the swats did it.
1
Here in California screening for STD in the porn industry is like an OSHA obsession. Your tax dollars at work. Trump is not about to waste them.
Americans are a credulous people. Between their elected President, and a prostitute, some would believe the prostitute.
7
What amazes me is that some Americans would believe Trump.
1
Many of us who did not vote for him feel similarly about the credulousness of the 46% who bestowed the title of President on him. I don't know that everything Ms. Clifford has claimed is true, but Trump has zero credibility. He won the election due to its archaic rules. He won the title of President. He did not win any of my respect.
4
Even worse, some would believe the president.
2
Taking the Monica Lewinsky survival tact a porn "star" finds it offensive to be target of a dalliance.. then justifies her legal action as means to re-polish her
tainted reputation.. when in fact no one would know of her to comment adversly
had she not opened the entire "affair" herself. The position from the White House will be: "no comment" as it is closely watched how Ms Daniel's legal defense fund grows from its quarter million level. Moreover -- even if founded -- this is very very small peanuts to the debaucherous histories
of Roosevelt -- Johnson -- Kennedy and one WJ Clinton...
6
The fact that you apparently can't distinguish between the presidential qualities of Roosevelt, Johnson, Kennedy, and Clinton, on the one hand, and Trump, on the other, goes a long way towards explaining where the zombie army of Trump supporters comes from.
In a nutshell, THIS ISN'T ABOUT SEX. THIS IS ABOUT CHARACTER. TRUMP DEMONSTRABLY DOESN'T HAVE ONE...
Further, our national crisis has far less to do with Trump than with with the very existence of those who support him. America is not what we had hoped/assumed it was. A significant portion of our population is stupid, venal, and apparently utterly lacking in principle. Our future is in serious doubt.
4
The sex is not the point.
founded?
Impeach Trump. It's enough. We don't need this bombastic, perhaps dangerous. nasty, coarse, and crazy man…He is a terrible example of presidential leadership.
20
Mike Pence the True Christian keeping quiet. I believe Trump is an imperfect vessel for Christ's message after all.
Also, Stephanie Clifford has more class in her little pinkie than Trump in his entire self. The hypocrisy of the GOP is mind-numbing.
25
maybe... in her pinkie.
There is so much more we can put on the news. She had the affair, she got herself into this mess, stop complaining that things didn't go your way lady.
5
OK, assume that Stormy made up the whole story. After all it's he said, she said. Right? Then why did Michael Cohen pay her $130,000 just before the election? Maybe I'm just a simpleton but I would call it hush money.
16
Goon(s) threatened her.
Trump supporters used to be afraid of New York City, now they love those fellas that fleece them in Vegas?
Gambling, prostitution, extortion and bribery, this is what Trump voters have delivered.
Ah, the heartland of the nation, thanks.
10
The mafia has infiltrated the White House and McConnell and his cronies scheme how to take advantage of it. The state of our politics is not what I would call ideal.
6
Mr. Avenatti's script needs a re-write. "Nice kid, shame if something happened to her mom"? This fake goon uttered a line found in every gangster movie/TV show of the last 40 years? Really? Did he hold his gun sideways as well?
3
Have you not been watching the cliched hackery that is this current administration's m.o.?
1
Why should we expect a goon to come up with witty repartee?
Conroy. Los Angeles. You know nothing about New York City. That's the way they talk, for real. You are just watching too much TV.
Is there something preventing a porn actress from understanding the consequences of signing a non-disclosure agreement for which she was well paid? That's the only 'fear' I see here, and whoever is bankrolling the porn actress now is telling her she has nothing of which to be afraid.
i'm just wondering who is surprised by any of this. I'd be more inclined to think people are bored to death with media attempts at a Trump takedown. I gather the whole Russia thing is flatter than a pancake, kind of like Anderson Cooper's career.
3
I agree that this is unimportant compared to Trump raping the country, the environment and the planet. I didn't watch the interview, but you did ("bored to death"? ). In New York few people are surprised as we have known Trump since the seventies when he romped around with the likes of Roy Cohn ( in his own words paraphrased here) "fighting the good war to avoid STDs".
Ms. Daniels no doubt understand no disclosure agreements but hopes to make a bit more by ignoring it. She is, not unlike Trump, trying to make money out of an unsavory situation. She just seems to be a bit smarter than Trump.
1
it must have been another of his ''lawyers'' working without his knowledge for free
3
If what she alleges is true, it was sex among consenting adults. There was no sexual assault. Why is this news? How else and how many others has she had sex with? Why is she not in the media broadcasting those trysts? This is solely a publicity and money grab. Please crawl back into the hole from wince you came.
5
It is not about the sex...it is about the $130,000 payment just prior to the election! That was a violation of campaign finance laws. Whether Cohen actually used his own money (!!) or fronted money for the trump campaign or for trump himself, it was a violation.
3
If it is no big deal, why did Trump pay $130,000 to hush it up? Sounds like a very big deal to someone.
3
You are right, it was sex among consenting adults. What is the big deal here is that you have a president of the United States who had unprotected sex with a porn star the first time they met. This shows someone with poor judgment and no character. Is that the type of person you want running the country? Whatever poor judgment Stormy Daniels has will affect her and her child, what poor judgement the president has, affects millions of people he is supposed to be leading.
I hope Melania at least got tested for STD's after all the unprotected sex he has been having with so many different women.
“Stormy Daniels Shares Graphic Details About Alleged Affair With Trump ..
.. beginning with an encounter at a golf tournament in 2006 in which Daniels playfully swatted Trump on the behind with a magazine ..”
—Pardon me?---
.. .. .. isn’t that now known as Sexual Harassment?
3
Reality check dont think any remebers adultry is still felony in new your state. She admitted have sex with married man on television ,mrs trump could easy have her arrested for adulty. Guess 60 minites didnt get it either.
Adultery would be on Trump's part.
2
Adultery laws are rarely enforced, and you cannot arrest a single person for committing adultery because only a married person can commit adultery. Therefore, if anyone is to be arrested, it would be Mr. Trump.
Trump has said that the “Golden Showers” episode reported in the Steele Dossier was ridiculous and could not have happened because he (Trump) was a “germophobe.” Yet Ms. Daniels, who has starred in at least scores of pornographic videos with as many sex partners, alleges that Trump had “unprotected” sex with her. Germophobe?
10
She's an "actress". Why believe anything she says? Obviously she thinks she wasn't given enough money. 60 minutes continues with its tabloid journalism.
2
Words no longer used in Washington, D.C.
1. deficit
2. unprotected sex
3. violence against women
4. _____________________
2
I do not doubt her account because it seems to fit with what we already know of Trump already, a creepy insecure skirt-chaser.
However, after watching the interview, I am even more puzzled that he or his lawyer were willing to pay 130k to shut her up with an NDA. It seems stupidly wasteful to me.
The story seems small potatoes compared to other stuff the cheating lier has allegedly done in the past which had already been blessed by his supporters.
Maybe this is how Trump makes his money in the end. After suing supposedly contract-breacher Stormy, he can get a stoning 150 ROI (Return on Investment).
2
Anderson Cooper asked Stormy Daniels if she was “welching” on a deal.
I am surprised he used this kind of derogatory language. “Welching,” “gypped,” “Jewed him down,” etc., are ugly, dangerous, stereotyping terms.
Words matter. A lot. I’m surprised he used that language. He should know better.
7
It is about extortion. Which of your readers is OK with a President who can be blackmailed by a porn star, a Russian President and a German bank. Not me.
8
Interesting, eh? If she feared The Donald in ''11, what caused her to lose her fear now that he is more powerful -- with many more powerful global friends? Very contrary to what Progressives & the Old Guard -- along with their media cowhorts in fiendish accompaniment would have Americans believe; he is quite popular among the most practical citizens of the world. Make hay while the sun shines; she's capitalizing on her life choice as an American. Aside from skirting a legal agreement, something The Donald would probably admire.
And yet...so called Christians, like his press secretary say nothing.
11
Does his being spanked with a magazine by an adult film actress mean the “president” is staying abreast of current events?
8
no he’s staying “behind” current events...
I am so so tired of the hypocrisy of the Left and especially this newspaper. For years when Clinton was attacked by the Right for his affairs, we were told that it was a private matter, an issue between Bill and Hillary. Even when the Monica Lewinsky story broke that is what was said. I agreed with them None of my business what goes on in their marriage. Yet here we are. 60 minutes, every news outlet and of course CNN and the paper that claims it publishes only news that is fit to print running Stormy Daniels stories. I guess they think it is ok because they hate Trump. Its not. It shows no principle only ideology. As Trump would say #Verysad
1
It’s not the affair, it’s the illegal hush money just before the election.
5
You've got it backwards. No one on the left is particularly upset or surprised about Trump's extra-marital exploits. The outrage should go to the family values, evangelical supporters who turn a blind eye to this behavior. What is their motive?
6
"I am so so tired of the hypocrisy of the Left and especially this newspaper. For years when Clinton was attacked by the Right for his affairs, we were told that it was a private matter, an issue between Bill and Hillary."
This isn't about the sex. Trump's tawdry affairs are not our business. But the NDAs he makes the women sign and the physical and financial coercion Cohen threatens them with are illegal.
6
Thanks for the clarification. So, Donald J. Trump, while married and carrying on another sexual affair with a Playboy Playmate, also had one sexual encounter with a porn star and director Stormy Daniels. And Trump and one of his enforcers Michael Cohen, Esq., sought to silence the porn star and director about the one sexual encounter during the thick of the 2016 Presidential Election. Election law violations. Campaign contribution law violations. Lying to the American voters at a very critical time during the 2016 presidential election. I don't care that Trump was committing adultery. But his recklessness -- having unprotected sex with a porn star and a Playboy Playmate -- is a huge concern. And Trump has exhibited that recklessness time and again in the Oval Office, abusing his powers.
10
Stormy Daniel's interview in 60 minutes does not change the political game being played in Washington DC.
Trump's voters continue to admire their strong president being politically attacked by the 'losing' mass media. Trump's adversaries see a gangster turned con president bullying another woman.
7
Does his being spanked with a magazine by an adult film actress mean the “president” was at one time staying abreast of current events?
2
So Trump had unprotected sex with a porn star just after his third wife had his fifth child?
And I’m supposed to care that Republicans are upset about Bill Clinton? I never want to hear the GOP talk ever again about how Hillary was allegedly an “enabler” or how Bill brought shame on the Presidency.
The Republican Party and all its supporters threw away any claim to moral superiority or Christian fidelity the moment they pulled the lever for Donald Trump.
19
Bring on the Storm!
9
Didn't have sex, so paid her hush money about not having sex, so now that she is talking about an affair that didn't happen you are suing her for talking about the affair that didn't happen, that your great friend just happened to think about paying her to shut up about. But you didn't pay the other ladies that claimed you touched them, you just wanted to sue them, but haven't.
Dude you have got to be a used car salesman Not the president.
7
I can't believe almost no media aren't asking why her eyes were so dilated? She appeared tio be on some sort of serious drug. That's doesn't necessarily negate anything she said, but she looked to me like she was very high, or has some sort of very strange medical condition.
The other thing I'm amazed that is not being discussed is Trump's recklessness about STDs. So he has unprotected sex with a woman who likely had sex with too many partners to count. As they say, when you have sex with someone, you're also having sex with everyone they ever ahd sex with.
1
How odd that Delusional Donnie hasn't been tweeting up a storm about Stormy. I wonder if he's feeling OK?
5
It is amazing that Anderson Cooper and CBS have the audacity to conduct an interview with this woman. Instead of it being "he said she said", it is all "she said". This is what he said to her. No corroboration, nothing.
You really have the nerve to call this journalism, and, on 60 Minutes, no less?
Shame on you.
I would have expected this interview to be on Entertainment Tonight, or a show along those lines.
You really are scraping "the bottom of the barrel" to get ratings.
Was this a 60 Minutes interview, or, the National Inquirer live?
The two seem to be interchangeable.
2
Apparently you missed the part where Michael Cohen declined to be interviewed.
"No corroboration, nothing.
You really have the nerve to call this journalism, and, on 60 Minutes, no less?
Shame on you."
Trump and Cohen had an opportunity to give their vision of events. They chose not to.
2
Donald Trump makes the uber-corrupt Silvio Berlusconi look like an angel.
7
We have a porn star transparently angling for more coin and an ex model Mistress crying "he told me he loved me on" on TV. Neither claim sexual assault.
What's the ruling here: patriarchal oppression or female empowerment?
2
Can you imagine any sensible woman who would want to be in the same room with him? So much for being a germaphobe, and as he claimed, not into kinky sex. How many other women paddled his bottom as he told them they were like his daughter Ivanka? Disturbed is not strong enough to describe Donald Trump's personal habits. Habits by the way that are in a class of their own.
7
The "fear" angle is a bit much. What I learned from this haphazardly edited interview is that -- surprise -- men prefer to not use a condom if they can get away with it. Otherwise it was Trump as we all knew him, whether some of us will admit it.
1
Not to put too fine a point on it...who is better in bed? Stormy Daniels or the NRA?
7
Trump and his Americans have set the bar so low that having intercourse with a porn star while his wife just gave birth to their child seems expected and uneventful. Kind of sad and pathetic Times politically.
7
I need to take a bath. With bleach.
6
I wonder if Cohn got disbarred for his actions if Trump would throw him under the bus. Tough crowd.
3
Now, who would you believe? Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, or the sociopathic liar?
9
Our leader engaged in hanky-panky with a porno actress. And so?....Then he pays her hush money weeks before a tight election, using various ways of laundering the payment through his lawyer, who apparently was acting for the Trump Organization..and now we're in major election law violation. Sleazy? tawdry? Absolutely and illegal it would appear. More grist for Mr. Mueller's mill.
170
And apparently if the $130k was $3-4 million short, as Ms. Daniels never thought Trump would win. She wasn't alone.
Now she wants a do-over? What is even more incredible is a fine news organization stooping to this level. Times are desperate in the new click-pay me new world of journalism for old line establishments.
3
"And apparently if the $130k was $3-4 million short, as Ms. Daniels never thought Trump would win. She wasn't alone.
Now she wants a do-over?"
Yep, Daniels is all business. Since Cohen drafted a faulty NDA and then violated it himself by talking about it, it's game on. She's the sharp businessperson Trump claims to be.
2
Your right, because the only people that should be making money off the Trump presidency are the Trumps and Kushners.
1
Most troubling is that Congress passed a 1.3 trillion spending bill which may affect future generations while we discuss the sexual affairs of an imbecile. How can a government make such far reaching decisions if we know that Russia was meddling in the 2016 election?
2
I think Stormy didn't Trump him hard enough!!
1
I hate to tell you, Trump voters are saying they can totally relate to Stormy thinking "Ugh, her we go" after realizing she'd gotten herself into a "bad situation" with him. SAD!
1
If I remember right, Daniels said that she signed a statement Cohen gave her after the election that denied that she had sex with Trump. Doesn't that sound like Cohen encouraged/insisted she break with the NDA?
5
The thing that will enrage Trump the most about that interview is her saying she didn't really want to have sex with him.
13
Why does any woman willingly do what she doesn't want to do?
“Textbook generic” as well.
IF A STRANGE MALE Approached me in a parking lot, looked at my baby and said, it would be a shame if anything happened to the baby, I'd feel severely intimidated. If a thug can locate me in a parking lot, clearly he knows where I live. And probably my schedule.
10
What is now loud and clear is that it is not just Trump who cheated on his wife but every leader in the world. Marriage better take a shower - it is all a lie.
4
The Daniels interview emphatically made the point that Trump's alleged leadership skills are those of a mobster who acts as his own lawyer.
6
I am not a lawyer so I am confused about the legal moves: if his pimp lawyer Cohen sued her for breaching the NDA, does that mean Trump is the one in the NDA, which proves that he lied about the affair? If Trump is not the sleaze in the NDA, Stormy is not violating the NDA by talking about Trump? Either way Trump is doomed.
7
Unforgivable. Totally and completely unforgivable what these half wit voters have subjected this great country to.
11
This paragon of American virtuous womanhood has now become the latest in a line of sad heroes for the left: Snowden, Assange, Manning, Mckesson and on and on. At this point my support for Trump outweighs my opposition to the lefties. Trump wins for me and many others.
1
Just wondering, why aren't there calls for Melania to divorce Trump, as there were for Hillary to divorce Pres. Clinton when his affairs became public. Why is she seen as the suffering wife and not the enabler?
11
The press and 60 minuets has made her one night affair into a major news event. Trump is leading us into a trade and actual war while we are preoccupied with his bland unfaithful sex life. Ok he is a dog but a mad dog is dangerous.
2
Your readers should be aware that, as your newspaper has reported (https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015320-dark-n-stormy), the "Dark and Stormy" cocktail (which I favor over a Cuba Libre cocktail although it is also the title of a documentary film I've produced) was being poured long before Ms. Clifford's alleged "one night stand" with Donald Trump became public.
1
The question that nags me: How many powerful interests and foreign powers have sent women to have sex with Trump in the months prior to the election? After all, the guy brags about getting any woman he wants. To me this is way more troubling than all the fuss about morality and hypocrisy among Trump and his supporters.
1
In the west that is called Democracy by the $, in the East we call it Putin.
1
During the campaign, Trump was presented with a civil lawsuit in which a woman claims he violently raped her when she was 13-years-old. A witness who ‘procured’ the girl gave sworn testimony in a deposition that supported her story.
The victim withdrew her suit after both she and the witness received multiple death threats.
I’m seeing a pattern here. Why isn’t the press making these connections explicit? For that matter, why did the mainstream media choose to ignore credible allegations that a presidential candidate BEAT AND RAPED A 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL in the first place?!?
Oh, yeah, ‘cuz her emails. Also Benghazi.
8
Fortunately Stormy said she would recognize the thug who threatened her daughter in the parking lot in Las Vegas in 2011. Otherwise there would be a multitude of volunteers who step forward to say “I was that guy and I had no connection to Trump or Cohen.”
1
If my child was threatened I would have been running to the police to file a statement, not running into my exercise facility.
1
Stormy Daniels came across as truthful and honest. Of course Trump had sex with her, that's why the lawyer paid the hush money. He cheated on his wife, which puts the lie to Republican family values.
However, the Trumpster, in typical arrogant fashion, thinks if he doesn't sign something, it didn't happen. His delusionality endangers the country on a daily basis.
The lawyer who allegedly paid out of his own pocket sounds like an incompetent accomplice.
As for Anderson Cooper, I thought he was dull, boring, and a little bit clueless. He clearly failed to fully understand why the hush money was paid.
4
Lets think of the context in which Stormy Daniels says she was coerced into the Trump NDA settlement agreement. After Daniels gave an interview for a 2011 magazine article, alone with her baby, she was physically threatened in a parking lot. Years later, during the 2016 election, Trump brings Paula Jones, Julia Broaddrick and Kathleen Wiley to a debate with Hillary Clinton in order to embarrass and intimidate her. As she spoke, Trump prowled around Secretary Clinton like an animal in order to physically threaten and intimidate her. We have all seen the Access Hollywood tapes which shows us that Trump is a sexual predator.
See a pattern here?
10
I believe Stormy. That said, we only learned 3 things we didn’t already know going into this interview:
1. The threat of physical violence came from an unidentified man in a parking lot that she would definitely recognize if she saw again. So who was the guy? Does actually know who he is and, if so, why didn’t she name him? If not, how can he be tied to Trump and/or Cohen?
2. During her 10 month “relationship” with Trump they only had sex ONCE. Whaaaat?????
3. Anderson Cooper was not the guy to do this interview. Anderson, what’s on the DVD?????????
4
I am amazed at the number of commenters who are shocked over the threat to Daniels’s child. What kind of people do you think the Bully Trump associates with?
3
His zombie supporters are dismissing this incident by saying it did not happen in the White House. Then they bring up Bill Clinton saying his affairs happened in the White House. It's too bad the host on C-Span 1 stays mum and allow people to lie. Before Clinton was in the White House we heard of Paula Jones and Jennifer Flowers. And Trump brought a bunch of ladies to sit in the front row during his debate with Hillary as an act straight out of Hamlet and his actors in the garden to give his treacherous uncle King Claudius discomfort.
1
Monday morning he will declare war on North Korea to distract attention from this. Millions of people will die so he can avoid embarrassment.
OK, maybe Tuesday morning.
6
After all that, at least we now know which half of the President does the reading.
4
I don't for one minute believe that Daniels and numerous other women are lying as Trump claims. Given his apparent promiscuity would it be any surprise if the Russians do have compromising material on Trump as indicated in the Steele dossier?
5
Knowing Mr. Trump's ego, he will probably tweet to protest her allegation that Ms. Daniels was not attracted to him. Republicans must be grateful for the Easter break so they don't have to comment on the President's spanking.
And speaking of spanking - vote in November!
4
One afternoon stand with a promise of appearances on his televisions show; underwhelming. That said, the real story here is the inept "fixer" Cohen who it appears is now going to be "fixed". Certainly the New York Car Association should be examining whether he keeps his license to practice law.
1
Here's THE "takeaway": Trump paid blackmail and continues to lie about it.
Cohen's hoppin' mad about his $130K...which he'll never see again...and I say THAT serves him right!
If Cohen and Trump had simply let her speak (in 2016)...nothing would have changed!
But how were THEY to know that Putin had ALREADY fixed the Election FOR Trump?
1
The Stormy Daniels interview was quite informative. If anyone deserves "Discipline", it's Trumpy Bear.
4
Her account of sex in Trump's hotel room was like a bad pornographic film: loveless, passionless, coerced, mechanical, sad. Made me feel sorry for both of them.
2
Why, exactly, would it make you feel sorry for him, Doctor?
He puts himself in these situations as a matter of self-indulgent habit.
Pity the women, rather, who oblige him by suppressing their own preferences.
1
His sex life seems so unfulfilling, sad and clueless. He must have lacked love and tenderness as a child.
2
Trump's pickup line - "you are just like my daughter"! Freud can probably write a whole book on that.
7
The most shocking of the interview for me was the fact, she slept with him once and was never sexual attraction to him. So it was totally meaningless the very act for her, she really a high end call girl.
Mothers, grandmothers and aunts rejoice that the 60 minutes tawdry interview with a woman whose money making skills rely on sex brings home their warnings to young men to be very, very, very careful which women they associate with.
1
How about the lessons our wonderful president is teaching ?
You’re putting all the blame on women .
Thereby, teaching your sons no responsibility for their behavior and the go ahead to treat women as sex toys -as long as the woman is too fearful or naive to speak up .
Says volumes .
If I had a daughter I’d warn her about sons who have been taught by a mother like you.
2
is Trump making Berlusconi look good? They have eerie resemblances: both media guys, lots of women around, payoffs and threats. O tempora, o mores!
3
The biggest problem about this story is that it's a major distraction from what Trump is actually doing now. And it's a distraction for a President, who has a very slimy past, and a reason why he shouldn't have run to begin with because of his slimy past. It catches up to you, especially when politics is a blood sport. I've heard people job "With my past, I couldn't run for president," presumably because one would be compromised in some way for past misdeeds. I hope future presidents with pasts such as Trump's either own up to it in advance, or not run at all. But with our Reality Show president, any attention is good attention, and let the country be dammed.
1
It's not unusual for people to name their children after whoever happens to be president. So don't be surprised if we see a whole new generation of boys named "Cad."
2
Picture the future POTUS dropping his drawers for a playful spanking. Keep it classy, Don. Now picture what Putin must have on him.
5
I watched the interview. To me it looked like a woman scorned. He gave her hope that she would be on the Celebrity Apprentice. She met with him and watched TV for 4 hours and then left without sex after Trump said he would know more next week. This was certainly sour grapes. If you look in her eyes throughout the interview, when she speaks of Trump she was certainly star struck. She is a sad crazy woman. That is how she came across to me. I don't believe that she was threatened. Everything she said in the interview she contradicted.
35
I'm a psychologist with over 40 years in the field. I sure didn't see a look of being star struck in her eyes or an overall "sad, crazy woman." It seems like there is an awful lot of projection in your interpretation.
22
You're kidding, she's crazy and Trump is not crazy? He sure looks out of control to me. He's in a position to do great harm. I suspect he will fall hard.
16
Daniels did not look sad or crazy; that's just what men typically think when they decide a woman is complaining because she has been scorned. Are you sure that isn't what you expected to see, so you saw it?
Daniels answered each of your objections in a forthright, neutral manner. She said she never really believed she would be on Celebrity Apprentice--in part because of NBC's reluctance to promote a porn star--but thought it was worth pursuing just in case. She spoke of Trump as a likable dope and from where I sat, her eyes only expressed humorous skepticism.
Set aside the mansplaining for a moment and watch the interview again. You may be surprised at how together and un-starstruck the lady was. She is a star in her own world, you know, and the host of a reality show really wasn't going to impress her a lot.
16
And the way he talks about Ivanka! Disgusting! Disgusting!
9
Stormy Daniels and her lawyer came across believable. There are always two sides to a story. It's not about red states vs. blue states nor Republican voters vs. Democratic voters. What CNN and Anderson Cooper could not do was to get an interview with POTUS' lawyer - Michael Cohen, so the other side of the story could be told. But, Michael Cohen refused.
So, we are denied important information such as:
1.Who told Michael Cohen about the Stormy Daniels story?
2. Why did Michael Cohen make a decision to contact Stormy Daniels and pay her hush money?
3. Why did Michael Cohen pay off Stormy Daniels via the Delaware shell company 'Essential Consultants'?
4. Why didn't Michael Cohen pay with a personal check or a check from his law firm?
192
Excellent questions! I'm hoping that Stormy Daniels' attorney (who severely criticized Michael Cohen and his lack of ethics in the interview) will tease the answers out of Cohen as this story continues to unfold.
Regardless of what comes out, Mr. Cohen is in deep trouble.
1
My great concern is America is paying too much attention to the sex thing and not enough to the serious damage Trump is causing to our institutions and to our reputation. We have taken our eyes off the ball and develed unfortunately into the sordidness. America did the same thing in the late 90s—fully engaged with Clinton and O.J. and ignored more important issues—Bin Laden, et al and then became horrified and surprised at 9|11. We must ask ourselves: what is happening in Africa, what is happening in the PI, what is happening in Russia? All important questions that we are ignoring, preferring instead to the nauseating exploits of Trump.
205
No your wrong. We just welcome anything that will bring Trump down. We are pedal to the metal about the Russian investigation. But if Stormy has more traction we’re riding that truck over the cliff.
10
Amen. And add what is happening to protect our election process so this doesn't happen again? Or does the GOP not want to fix it so no dems get in in 2018?
3
Not to mention climate change.
2
Her story is credible, and the attempts by Trump and Cohen to keep her from speaking out reek of flop sweat and desperation.
4
So what if she wants to cash-in? This is the way capitalists have done. It seems to me that people (mostly men) complain when a woman beats a man in a man's game. More grease to her elbow.
8
I believe Stormy Daniels when she says she was threatened by someone in a parking lot. She’ll never be able to prove it but if actions speak louder than words, Mr Trump is conspicuously silent on this subject.
Trump has made a living from suing people.
He and his lawyers thought the language of million dollar lawsuits would scare this woman into not doing this interview but they were mistaken. Trump, the bully who even out bullied Chris Christy (another bully) in the republican primaries, has met his match. Trumps strategy is to use the decency of others to dare them into a mud fight.
Now someone is doing it to him. He is president now and must at least try to act with a bit of decorum and decency while she can sling the mud. Well Mr President what goes around comes around. There is such a thing as Karma.
6
Stormy Daniels passed her lie detector test. When does Trump take his?
Or has the country just accepted the fact that Trump lies all the time?
8
I have seen it time and again by Republicans when one of their own is caught with his pants down that they whine, “Where was the outrage when it was a Democrat?”
Although it is sad when a public servant is caught doing something sleazy, Democrats are not the party that trumpets family values and sets themselves on pedestals as shining examples of holier-than-thou morality.
It is the hypocrisy of the GOP that is bringing the opprobrium, not the sleazy act itself. Perhaps that is something which Republicans fail to understand. Or perhaps they understand it very well but have nothing else to say in their pathetic efforts to deflect criticism.
7
Stormy Daniels is an ‘adult’.She admits that sex with Mr.Trump was consensual,admits of taking the hush money and brags of getting more money by disclosing or writing a book in it.She even denies of ever being a victim.Moreover,She has earlier publicly denied the affair or incident.This actually raises the question to what extent we should attach importance to the incident.Perhaps,what happened or (not) was between two adults-one 60 and another say ,27.
The issue has been blown out or is giving the impression of a major scandal as one of the consenting adults is now president.The society or nation to think where to focus the attention on.The morality of the issue or legal implications of hush money is a different matter.Let us keep something private.
The sad part of this incident is that it shows we are gradually getting more juicy stories rather than intellectual honesty.Let us just think of the right course for us.
We are sick and tired of the liar. We cheer anyone who will stand up to him.
1
Stormy credibly claims she was threatened in a car park on her way into a fitness session. This indicates that Trump was nowhere in the vicinity
4
There might of been a donut shop around?
2
Historians will look back on this interview with favor. Sexologists will pigeon hole Trump at one end of the corporate spectrum, leveraging money in Trump fashion.
Interviewer and Interviewee belong to the ever increasing horde of public figures, whether in the media, show business, business or politics, whom you can trust as far as you can throw them...Something must be terribly wrong with meritocracy in our society...
1
You're comment for instance.
1
Trump stated that avoiding STD was his personal Vietnam. Remember? Seems really it was just the normal "I don't want to bother using condoms, even with a porn star."
Stormy - Tear down this wall!
I hope that a porn star brings Trump to the brink of existence. Meanwhile, Trump's poll numbers are up with Evangelicals. Perhaps because they keep getting lied to and aren't even seeing this. Fox didn't carry the story I would be certain. Nothing says Trump more than a Fox Hole.
5
Evangelicals are probably as decadent as he is. Otherwise why would they need so much forgiveness?
2
I just heard a piece on NPR discussing the support Trump has among evangelicals and it appears that that support is stronger now than it was before the election. Why?
4
Trump vs. any one of the Dems? No contest. It's like all the women who supported Bill and Hillary Clinton despite their war on women.
Evangelicals are probably as decadent as he is. Otherwise why would they need so much forgiveness?
1
If I were a juror, I would find her story credible. And I would find Michael Cohen's story to be incredible. WHO pays $130,000 to a total stranger - out of his office in Trump Tower, on Trump Organization letterhead - to buy that stranger's silence for an affair he ( Michael Cohen) insists never happened?
13
Having it both ways...On the one hand, Trump denies the sexual encounter and on the other, his lawyer is paying a woman to keep quiet about it. The fact that Trump insisted on an NDA means he believed his behaviour would harm his public image. You don't pay "Hush Money" to random people for the purpose of preventing them from making up lies about Trump. You pay people for their silence when you have something to hide.
12
I don't question the factual truth of her story. Her motive for telling it now though is obvious. She wants to make a whole lot more than the $130,000 she was paid before Trump won the election. Now that Trump is the president, she has a multi- million dollar story to tell. Like almost everyone else she didn't think Trump would win. What is her truth anyway? That she had sex with Trump one time in 2006 or that she was threatened to stay quiet by some mysterious person in a parking garage? Trump is now the most powerful person on earth (that's truly frightening), but suddenly she isn't afraid of what might happen to her if she tells her truth now. Or is she coming out now so that the whole world knows that if something happens to her we all know why. Does anyone believe that.
1
...and how much money are Trump and his family making while he’s using the presidency to make real estate deals?
5
RE: Her motive is she wants to make a whole lot more [money]?
So, in fact, she's like Trump for whom such a quality is admired enough to elevate him to the office of the president?
She didn't say she wasn't afraid. But before was alone. Now, in the current atmosphere she isn't alone. And now if anything were to happen the suspicion would immediately fall on Trump.
4
If everything you said is true and she makes $100 billion she deserves it more than Donald Trump deserves one red cent.
2
There is plenty to be mad about trump for us folks who voted for him. Why can't the media talk about the tax cuts for the rich he passed. I would guess most people who voted for Trump were not excited by the cuts. The only real accomplishment Trump has done so far has been the cuts. Why can't they talk about how upset the Trump base is on the Spending Bill. Democrats could so easily take the Government back if they would stick to the issues. Most people voted for trump because of immigration. If nothing is done about immigration might as well go with the folks willing to triple the taxes on the rich. Something, someone somewhere needs to recapture the ill gotten gains the last 15 years of the top 1% or we are just going to fall further into this dark depressing hole called USA. Porn stars are not going to influence anyone to change their vote. Immigration shrinkage and a huge tax increase on the 1 % would do the trick. How easy it would be.
2
I don't think so; by voting for Republicans people have continually shown they care less about voting against their best interests than about emotional issues. Why is the anti-immigrant issue more important than universal health care ? Why is the fear of gun control greater than the fear of nuclear war ? Why do people think that lowering taxes on the wealthy is in the average person's best interests ? No, the Stormy affair is juicy gossip which always trumps rationality, that we predict we reflect negatively on Trump at the polls.
2
I don't think this fits in with the proper use of Forbes Magazine's logo, copyright, or editorial integrity. If there were ever a more degrading public association with their intellectual property, I am not aware of it. Forbes blatant attempt to sell more magazines by putting a philandering con artist like DJT on the cover resulted in the kind of publicity they deserve.
2
One person I'm curious about and haven't heard much about yet is Keith Davidson, the attorney who represented Stormy Daniels in negotiating her nondisclosure agreement with Trump‘s lawyer Michael Cohen.
Davidson also represented Karen McDougal when she sold her story to the parent company of the National Enquirer, who subsequently sat on it. McDougal claims Davidson misled her and was really working with Cohen to get her to keep quiet.
It seems a bit odd that this same attorney would have ended up representing both of these women. I wonder what the circumstances were, and if the women picked the attorney on their own or if he somehow approached them.
2
I believe, just like Clinton's tryst with Lewinski, that this is a matter for Trump and his wife to sort out. But Republicans set a precedent with Clinton that they have no grounds for Democrats returning the favor. And yet Clinton was raked over the coals so much harder than Trump is.
1
You will note that in their attacks people will aim for what they assume are vulnerabilities in women: their appearance, their abilities as wives, and motherhood, reputation and character. In trying to deflect attention from the payment and contract in this case they call into question Clifford's character and fitness to be a mother.
You will note too the double standard that exists almost to a person where wealth is equated with quality thus insulating Trump, an inveterate liar, an admitted adulterer, swindler and con man, who happily bankrupts companies, and people, who doesn't pay people he owes, free in their mind from questions concerning his fitness to be a parent, let alone President.
4
This is not a referendum on the "morality" of Story Daniels profession or her fitness to be a mother because of that; but on the possible use of hush money to suppress potentially damaging information by a Presidential candidate during a national election campaign. This is much more serious and provable than the Russia connection. Furthermore, this porn star has yet to be proven wrong on any of her statements, whereas a sitting President's list of lies and fabrications is almost endless. And it's truly baffling that many people are still defending him and giving him the benefit of the doubt?
4
Fear?
Or, a legal contract and a big fat check?
1
"a legal contract and a big fat check?"
Are you referring to Trump or Clifford? A a legal contract and a big fat check sounds exactly like what Trump has been all about.
The very obvious payments of hush money revived memories of Watergate. Therein is where Messrs. Trump and Cohen should be very concerned. Cohen is a poor excuse for an ethical lawyer; more a bag man in charge of a slush fund. Our leader of the free world is reduced in the eyes of the world as a weak fool looking for love in all the wrong places. The Common Cause complaints appear meritorious. Quick question: Is Mr. Cohen aware of the lawyer's code of professional responsibility?
2
Trump supporters will, of course, blame Ms. Clifford for everything - she came on to him, she is lying now, she is being paid to come forward, it's a "political hoax". Their hero, the Teflon Don, will come out smelling like roses.
But if Mr. Mueller asks him about the affair and the payoff, and let's see what Trump has to say. Then let's see what Mr. Avenatti has on him, and if Trump's lying (and he usually is), then Mueller can get him for lying to the FBI. Either way, Trump is toast.
5
Trump is the new Weinstein.
Or what's here the difference??
If you sum everything up, including that Steve Bannon mentioned a number around "100 women", there is no difference.
Wait - except that I didn't hear, that Weinstein ever threatened a woman with death.
2
I believed Anita Hill. I believe Stormy Daniels.
9
No tweets this AM about the interview from the Master In Twitter. The silence is deafening.
6
Evangelicals say they believe gay unions undermine the institution of marriage. When two committed, faithful people vow to love and support each other it is seen as an abomination, diminishing the institution itself.
When my teenage son reports the news to me, recounting what he’s read in the paper about Trump and Stormy, Trump statements on the bus, Trump’s infidelities to Melania during and immediately after her pregnancy and his love of porn, I think we can say unequivocally that it is Trump that degrades the institution of marriage. What if our children grow up believing Trump is an example of how to behave? Trump is the abomination. How could anyone believe he could be the vessel of the divine? What a shocking rationalization for casting a vote based on hate.
5
I get that the visibility of this story (while nauseating) is due to the potential violation of campaign finance law. However, what does Ms. Clifford have in her possession that first, warrants the need for an NDA and cash payment (Trump could deny it in public and brag about it in private), and second, warrants the need for all of these false statements that she signed after Trump took office that no sex occurred? (Calling this an “affair” is a stretch). She obviously has visual or physical evidence of some kind. One of her adult entertainment peers who was interviewed by Don Lemon (she was called up to “party” in Reno with the potential for a threesome hookup with Stormy and Trump she claims) mentioned there was even a “blue dress” involved (seriously). Does all this have something to do with his prenup and hiding the evidence from Melania? And I’ve no doubt that Ms. Clifford was threatened and feared for her safety. I’m also going to have a really hard time watching Shark Week again after this interview. And, if an adult entertainer can blackmail POTUS this easily, just think what nuggets Putin has in his cadre of goodies.
2
I'm sure the encounter with the threatening stranger -- assuming it happened -- was very frightening. But his use of the mafia movie cliche (be a shame...) probably marks him as phony, and probably not sent by Trump. In any case, she had nothing to add' so it's a big publicity stunt. But that's fine. Everyone wins. CBS gets the ratings; Daniels gets higher pay; we the public get some salacious gossip; strip clubs get bigger audiences; and club goers get to see in the flesh someone the president had a brief fling with.
I do hope this is it is the last straw that breaks the camel's back!
When one is sitting on a fortune cashing in on it strikes me as being plain common sense.
The sex did not and does not matter except to trump's wife and family...and it probably does not matter to them either.
Listen people, its not the sex, its the cover-up. Its always the cover-up. A simple reading of the statutes shows that this kind of payment, to help a campaign and candidate, is a violation of election laws. Cohen and trump are in trouble because of the cover-up.
7
I am seriously concerned that Donald Trump is the sort of man who believes that if he has to go down he's going to make sure that the rest of the world goes down with him.
4
Everybody knew about Trump's past and yet still voted for him. What does that tell you about Hillary and Dems?
2
Mr. Cohen should be charged with extortion and related crimes, let a Federal Jury decide who is telling the truth.
If Americans are too prudish over consensual relations or false ideals of matrimony you have to lie and hush up normal human behavior, that’s one thing.
It’s another thing to threaten a person and a child with physical harm. That’s the real news, and it leads to Vince Foster and Ron Brown deja vu.
1
Where was Keith Schiller on the day she was threatened in the parking lot?
Inquiring minds want to know.
2
This man, and many members of his family, belong in prison. I hope his replacement has the courage to leave them there, instead of pardoning them, when the time comes.
1
A dud. Most of the allegations were already articulated by her ubiquitous lawyer. This obvious drip-drip-drip strategy is risky. Stormy and her lawyer should know that the world will eventually move on. If they have something - pictures of discs? - then they better produce it soon. Remember, they are competing with a White House that is in chaos. It's tough to be THE headline when there are more worthy blunders happening by the hour.
You have Stormy we have a cricket team whose captain thought it was okay to cheat to help win a game. The common thread is the word "cheat".
And yet, strangely, and yet persistently, she doesn't consider herself a victim in this case... So even though someone approached her on behalf of our president, and point blank threatened her life in front of her baby, that somehow she insists she is not a victim of harassment. All because she does not want to be associated with the #Metoo movement.
To me, this makes her story weird, self-important, convoluted, and not well intentioned.
Since The Donald did not use any protection during sex, why didn't Anderson Cooper ask either woman whether they were using birth control and if not, weren't they afraid of getting pregnant? As a women, this crossed my mind immediately during both interviews. Surely they did not WANT to get pregnant!??
"He knows I'm telling the truth. " Stephanie Clifford. That is really the most important line in the whole interview. Why hasn't Trump been on twitter all these weeks since the WSJ leaked the payment information? October 7, 2016 was the release date of the Access Hollywood tape. I imagine after that debacle, Cohen and Trump were hurriedly trying to clean up and erase the "past". Hence the missing signatures. Sloppy work from a sloppy lawyer. Trump never changes his routine....same hotels, same lines.....kind of like his campaign rhetoric about locking Hillary up over and over. Seems to me he is being much more careful with Stormy than he ever was with Hillary. Kind of like how he tiptoes around Putin.
Any expert knowledgeable about the manner in which sociopaths/psychopaths think and act would KNOW just how dangerous Trump is when confronted and exposed.
When this woman said she was threatened, I believe her because that is exactly how Trump operates. It is well documented that he is vindictive and seeks revenge upon his perceived enemies.
The best outcome for our nation and the world is for Trump to be removed from office and his various crimes promptly dealt with in various courts of law.
1
Most people didn't care about the sanctimonious social reactionaries against President Clinton hack job but the Republicans used the pretext to launch the impeachment process.
But not a word when thugs and lawyers were used to silence people like Ms Clifford
2
It is time that we had legislation to declare that non-disclosure agreements with respect to sexually related issues or acts of moral turpitude are void as against public policy!
"While Trump returned Sunday from his Mar-a-Lago resort to the White House, the first lady opted to stay in Florida with their son on a pre-scheduled spring break, the White House said."
I hope we can all agree, regardless of politics, that it's a good thing Barron doesn't have to go to school tomorrow.
This won’t shake his base, not one bit.
1
Whether it "shakes" them or not, Trump supporters look increasingly ridiculous.
And that will translate into Dem votes.
It's truly amazing how many democrats are suddenly keenly interested in illicit affairs when once they were considered "private" and "off limits." What a difference a party makes.
1
Another example of Trump and his cruelty...using mob-like tactics to intimidate people. I believe Mrs. Clifford.
1
First of all the question of journal;ism is in question, when a supposed "news" source 60 minutes brings on a person who makes money by having sex with multiple partners on video is the victim of some tawdry affair with the sitting president of the US. Is this really a journalistic story. Does this news source really have credibility. Mr. Trump has been married 3 times and has had affairs with many woman. This is common knowledge. I believe the Clintons set a new low in standards for presidential affairs. Mr. Trump has easily met those standards.
Who cares what Trump did 10 years ago?
Certainly not the people who care about what Clinton did 20 years ago.
Meh. She'll have to change her name to Breezy Daniels. Just confirms Trump's poor taste.
2
"$20 million in penalties"? Mr. Cohen, please define the word, "intimidation".
1
The religious people who support trump do so for a good reason. He will give them access to political power.
Pharisees appealed to the heathen Roman state for power to do what their law would not allow.
Our laws restrict religious preferential treatment. Trump is willing to circumvent tradition and law to give the Evangelicals what they want; to use the coercive power of the United Stated government to foist a narrow Christian interpretation of God on the rest of us.
200
Yes, and so they can act out their decadence and then cry and be forgiven.
5
I beg your pardon, but if you support Trump you cannot count yourself a Christian. No way.
Who cares? Sensationalist nonsense that diverts from the president's policy positions, and for religious conservatives he has been reliable and kept his promises. That's good or bad depending on your point of view. My point is there is no abuse of presidential power here and news outlets should keep focus on the issues. This focus on her is as annoying as the relentless focus on Monica Lewinsky was during Clinton's presidency. It's too much. The coverage is disproportionate.
47
When Donald Trump broke no laws in his affair with Monica. Donald Trump is broke the law with the hush money to Stormy.
I think you are missing the point, Frank.
3
Where'd the money come from?
3
Of course Stormy Daniels's story is more truthful and plausible than Michael Cohen's, and more believable than Trump's denials. There is nothing in her background, including being a porn star, that suggests otherwise. Trump and his lawyers have been making these deals, and other workarounds, for decades. There is nothing believable left in the denials. Anyone who can look at this story and mistrust Stormy Daniels because of her profession, or grant the president and his lawyer credibility because of theirs, is not paying the slightest bit of attention.
238
She is suing to get out of an agreement she entered into because of a threat. To the best of my knowledge she didn’t mention the threat in her complaint. We haven’t heard about it before to the best of my knowledge. Yet the threat would automatically void the agreement. This makes no sense.
1
It is the $130,000 hush money payment given to Stormy that comes up against election law because it is an illegal campaign contribution. The timeline and paper trail make it very clear.
2
Never thought I would admire an adult film actress far more than the President of the United States. Anderson Cooper's masterful interview brought forth sharp, staccato answers in immediate intelligent replies with the ring of truth. I do not put Ms. Daniels down for her choice of career. She has approached it as a business and has done well. She has done a good deed for America that all the pundits, lawyers, congress reps and citizens have failed to do: she has thoroughly exposed Donald Trump, once and for all, for what he is, in the most personal way and come out with a serious threat to his sham presidency. I thank this shrewd and credible woman (a human being) for coming forward.
5
I'm not a lawyer but isn't there on obvious reason why Ms. Clifford should win her case. Mr. Cohen saying the silence agreement is still in place means that he is admitting guilt. If she took money then this is equivalent to a bribe which is not a contract. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. The only way she could loose is if money and lawsuits weighs heavier than the burden of truth. You don't silence somebody if nothing happened.
4
No matter how the 60 Minutes producers dress it up with production values it seems like we've heard all this before. I thought Anderson Cooper was smarter than this.
1
Anyone who apparently uses "hush money," threats of violence against women, and the claim that the numerous women who have complained about his sexual dalliances are all "fakes," to win an election, should no longer be entitled to whatever "special political cover" he has been shielded by thus far.
Instead, now finally he should be made to answer honestly and fairly to all concerned for his behavior, just as any other "regular politician" would normally be made to answer.
Like always, it's not the crime, it's the coverup.
3
Trump during 2016 debate said: "mine were words, Clinton's were action". Isn't spanking with a magazine with Trump's picture were action and paying hush money to buy her silence were action?
1
Before tonight's 60 Minutes airing of the Stormy affair, a Trump spokeswoman said words to the effect: "America doesn't care about this stuff. What it really cares about is jobs."
Judging from the readers' responses and what might be record-setting ratings for CBS, I believe she had that way, way wrong!
1
I didn't get past the claim that a man walks up to me in the parking lot and threatens harm to my daughter. Anderson Cooper, do you believe that? I don't!
I'm appauled that our elite media is interviewing and focusing on women who are running around bragging about the affairs they've had. It does however expose the Donald as a morally bankrupt man. But most of us knew that already. I expect the real point is to get Trump out of office anyway possible.
This belongs in the tabloids and is one of the reasons why so many Americans are disgusted with the "media."
2
I'm sure that Trump, with his documented prowess as a 'deal' maker as stated in his 'ghost written' book, "The Art of the Deal" knows about contracts. He must have signed thousands of them in his long illustrious career. His signature is well known as evidenced by his highly orchestrated 'signing events.' In fact I have seen his recognizable 'John Hancock' on some of his retail sale products made in every country, but never made in America.
What I don't understand is how a contract NOT signed by him, can in any way, be considered legally binding, let alone legal or binding, in any court in this ailing land.
1
At least Trump didn't start a war via Twitter before the interview. Kelly must have took the battery out of his phone.
2
The thrashing Trump and Co are giving American democracy and her place in the world deserves at least five percent of the hype CBS (and the rest of the media) afforded this reality television type 'interview'.
2
The only take I get from this is that trump always throws the hook in you with a promise that is never fulfilled. The man has not changed, ever.
1
Why a non-disclosure agreement if nothing happened / not true?
Stormy Daniels as a woman afraid to report a threat to the police in 2011 does not match the Stormy Daniels profile on Wikipedia, a profile that she gets to edit. In it she claims to have considered running for the Senate, in 2010, after being recruited to compete against then Alabama Senator David Vitter. The mere serious consideration of taking on a sitting Senator denotes courage; definitely the courage to report a face to face threat from someone she would "recognize if she saw him again".
1
What bothers me the most is that Trump has access to all of our Top Secret info and is responsible for the security of our Nation. We are in a National Nightmare. It will take decades to regain our National respect. Congress should demand Trump’s resignation.
1
The Stormy Daniels affair has moved well beyond the salacious to the very serious. We have the President of the United States doing everything in his power to keep her quiet--even now. That includes a suspicious payment of $130,000 just before his election that may have violated campaign finance laws to using mafia-like tactics to frightening her into taking the money. This in no longer about sex, but about criminal behavior that may be indicative of how Donald Trump conducted business both with other women, but in his dealings with Russia. Once again, "cherchez la femme" turns into "follow the money" and the potential for serious criminal activity.
1
Dodgy dealings - all par for the Trump lifestyle. A remarkable controlled DT to not hear from him debasing her on Twitter. It will be interesting to see how far this story runs alongside the other scandals which are all added pressures for a guy that acts like a firework. The campaign finance is the legal bit but the hush money practice is his MO (3500 examples over his lifestime). His way of getting out of taking responsibility by walking away from problems after bullying people into submission. Such a grotesque way to behave.
What else does this say about the man? An absent father with a young wife and child, newly wed and cavorting in hotel rooms with beautiful women, a man that only chooses 20 somethings because they are easily exploited. Let's hope justice is served at last and this locker room excuse is debunked for all to see. It all makes Steele's Moscow kompromat expose all the more believable.
226
Indeed.
And let's remember that it is a lot easier to land a beautiful woman in Russia than it is in the U.S.
The Donald was likely stupid enough to hook up with women in Russia without realizing it would be 100% documented and pocketed for future lucrative use.
1
Once Trump sinks lower than whatever Putin has on him, he’ll then be safe from Putin’s blackmail.
Or, on the other hand, he may just be pledging to get into Putin’s oligarch club.
Either way, we lose.
2
I would not be surprised if they say they used taxpayer funds to pay her off just like they do in Congress.
1
It would assist Ms Clifford's credibility no end if she simply said she had no intention of further personally gaining financially from her previous tawdry relationship with the US President, and that any money she might secure as a result of her present legal action would go immediately to charity. I feel little sympathy for her. Five minutes in Trump's company would have told her just what kind of man he was. Kiss and Tell stories are beneath contempt frankly.
And why $130,000? How did that become the settled-upon payout? Doesn't seem like a random number.
1
I do not think that we learned anything new from this interview, but honestly, I believed Stephanie Clifford. I am 59 years old, and good heavens, what I have been through with egotistic men over my life, including my teen years.
I thought she was very frank and intelligent.
And what women decide to do with their lives is up to them.
Remember, she was not a prostitute, the world's oldest profession, and that is one that is solely supported by men.
3
The affair itself is inconsequential, a matter between him and Melania. It is the cover-up, the lies, the source of the payoff money, the violation of election law, the physical threats, the impact on the election that matter.
2
I was very impressed by Stormy's performance, her clear intelligence, her willingness to declare herself a non-victim, and her striking credibility. I have no doubt in my mind who is lying, and while I couldn't care less about Trump's whorishness, I care deeply about his attempts to silence and shame the women who have come forward to acknowledge it. And in this case, to cover it up with either illegal campaign contribution or bald faced lies (or both).
3
$130,000 one night stand--sad!
1
The information revealed by Stormy Daniels follows the Trump imprint; unprotected sex, NDAs, mention of pregnancy, money-threat of lawsuits-and possibly physical threats to buy silence. According to the LA Times, "Trump's holdings include more than 500 private (shell?) companies, some of which he creates for prospective deals. The complex and changing structure makes it difficult for Americans to track his financial interests and partners." Secrets, secrets, secrets--will eventually come out.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-trump-companies-20161209-story.html
http://theweek.com/speedreads/759778/number-buyers-using-secretive-shell...
8
Despite Ms. Daniels's profession, both past and present, I believe that her words do make a difference in determining the character of our president. It should not be a prime factor in discounting her words and experiences.
1
Her story doesn't really add up. She says that out of fear for the safety of her child because of an incident that occurred in 2011 she accepted a payment of $130,000 in 2016. What does money have to do with the safety of her child? Why didn't she go to the police? Did she tell anyone else at the time who could corroborate her fears? She says she is coming out with this story now because she doesnt like being called a liar. Is that more important to her than the safety of her child which she kept quiet about till now? Her line of work involves a lot of risk which she has knowingly taken on. She doesn't seem like the fearful type. I can't see what this interview accomplished. Was she paid? Money seems very important to her.
1
Lets talk impeachment. If the payment, which was obviously made, violates campaign election laws, is that impeachable? If not, this is a dreadful waster of time. I believe it is not. Trtump lawyer, Mr. Cohen, may lose his license to practice at the worst or be sanctioned.
Trump will not speak of this again. He will no longer deny, he will simply stay silent and let his lawyers deal with the matter.
I believe Trump is guilty of each and every allegation of untowrd condiuct towards women. All before he was elected president. People had ample time to consider this before they elected him. It did not dissuade them. Even the evangelicals ignore the moral terpitude issue.
This event with Ms. Daniels happened in 2006. It is of no interest unless there is a crime involved that is still within the statute of limitations. There is no shock to the national conscience when they discover an adulterous male.
Now for the lawyer for Ms. Daniels. In my opinion, he will benefit more than Ms. Daniels. Ms. Daniles will be forgotten.
1
Are you referring to the Crime that Bill Clinton did in the White House while Hillary was sleeping upstairs?
This is not the first time Trump has been outwitted by an intelligent, self-assured woman. Let's hope this time she wins.
5
Apparently she does not understand the term hush money. And shame on 60 minutes for giving it the time of day. If she felt threatened that would be a matter for the police, not a tv camera.
2
The police don’t protect and serve the serfs. What did the NYC DA and NYPD do about allegations against Harvey Weinstein?
3
Why would a lawyer pay someone $130,000 for something that never happened?
How is a non-disclosure agreement valid if one party never signed it?
How are non-disclosure agreements even constitutional when their sole purpose is to deprive a citizen of their constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech?
7
For over 20 years, the Democratic Party has been telling us, and defending, that actions between consenting adults are something we should neither care about nor judge. Why should we do either in this case? We were told not to care about a Bill Clinton's trysts because they were between consenting adults, and that Monica should not have been castigated.
2
Campaign funds
Although this episode didn’t quite live up to the hype I can’t wait for season 2 episode 1: The tapes, DVDs, photos. I’m just hoping the finale will crush it (him).
5
It is interesting to watch the Evangelicals as Trump's moral shortcomings continue to pop up. Three marriages, numerous affairs, bigotry and theft don't seem to impact the group's allegiance to the president. Trump's convenient campaign conversion and absence from regular church attendance don't seem to matter either. It seems to me the Evangelicals are a one-issue religious organization. Although new to the cause, Trump is anti-abortion and that's all that matters to the church leaders who supposedly represent 25% of Americans.
4
Agreed! As an actual Christian, I find his behavior repulsive. Sadly, Christians get a bad rap from these "believers" who beat their crazy drums of anti-abortion above all else-- literally above rational thinking (anti-abortion platform is more important than a candidate's demonstrated personal value system??). Jesus's message was personal, about salvation. When he was crucified, people took over the message and immediately started telling each other what to do and how to act, and forgot abut personal salvation. The people who scream the loudest about sin and sinners are often doing a lot of sinning themselves. Dare I say there are two other major religions that also inspire people to be crazy-hyper-focused on proper behavior... Seems like all of us from these religions who are rational might come together and form a new religion based on love and mutual respect, which in my view was what Jesus was getting at in the first place. I'm in, if anyone wants to join me!
2
Sorry, as much as I like to see Trump disparaged and demeaned, I really think this "he said, no, she said" salacious stuff is beside the points of most importance concerning Trump.
Which is not about sex, or even lying about it, but rather about UNPRECEDENTED corruption, dereliction of duty, election-tampering, obstruction of justice, tax evasion, and collusion with a hostile foreign power!
THOSE are reasons why he's a clear and present danger to the USA (and the world) and should be removed from office! Along with his partner-in-collusion and election-tampering: Pence! BOTH have gotta' go!
And the sooner, the better, before we get another war or economic panic!
2
All I got from the interview is that Michael Cohen need to worry about getting disbarred in the State of New York. Actually, he most likely will. Trump's reverse Midas touch streak continues.
3
The tell in this story is that she described saying things that a guy would say. Women don’t think like men and have a hard time coming up with a credible lie about a mans actions and words. This is exactly what happened in the Clarence Thomas Anita Hill case.
1
Say what you will about Donald Trump but his greatest accomplishment may just be getting adultery to be seen as morally acceptable behavior by Evangelical Christians. I don't agree with the outcome but it is indeed a monumental feat.
3
Ms. Daniels was charming, articulate, and very good on 60'. Though they may have less threatening legal cases (of the 3 currently in the news), she and the Playmate are cool customers and I wouldn't want to be in Trump's shoes going up against any one of them.
Has anyone heard from/about Melania or Ivanka?
4
It’s not the sex, per se, but the convoluted ways it was hidden by Trump and Cohen. A shell company created to funnel hush money? A lawyer making a $130,000 payoff out of his own, sort of, maybe, pocket and the “goodness of his heart” for something that supposedly didn’t happen? The payoff being made to hush things up right before the election? Potential violations of campaign finance laws? A contract undertaken with pseudonyms? A contract that Trump, the putative business wizard, neglected to sign? A contract that was eventually violated by Cohen? Subsequent threats to ruin Daniels financially? Even if you don’t believe the claims that Daniels was physically threatened, the other issues here should be red flags that several very wrong things have happened here. As with so many other things Trump, if he is so innocent, why does he make himself appear to be so guilty?
354
Yes -- and I absolutely believe that Daniels was threatened. Trump is a mob boss, his best buddies are mob bosses (Putin) and his son-in-law is a crook. That's how these folks operate.
1
Something tells me that next time, it'll be Angela Merkel who'll refuse to shake his hand.
310
I suppose contracts should not only be beneficial for concerned parties but also for public in some way, especially when they restrict basic human rights. And I do not discern any benefit this sort of contracts may bring up for public well-being but only harm for hiding "inconvenient truths". Why are they valid in the beginning?
39
This is a core issue: how can someone agree to sign away civil rights -even for for pay?
NDAs make sense when the issue is protecting corporate secrets ( providing that said secrets are not about illegal or unethical actions) and intellectual property. But how can they apply to negating freedom of speech?
3
This contract is between two parties. Period.
Understand that the Constitution only protects people from the *government* restricting speech. Your boss can fire you for disagreeing with him/her, or for saying something inappropriate or inaccurate. When you sign a contract with another private party and accept monetary compensation ('consideration' in legal terms) in exchange for your silence, you have signed away your rights for that particular subject.
But the emails.......
The Trump voters I know now are beginning to admit Trump is a jerk but they are telling me they had to vote for him because Hillary is such a crook.
165
The Democratic Party offered such a flawed and dishonorable candidate that they made the Trump presidency is a possibility, and the party refuses to accept any responsibility.
4
That is not a valid excuse from Republicans. Using vague generalities as name-calling to determine a vote, only shows the ignorance of who those Republicans elected. If everyone here reviewed all eight segments of the 60 Minutes interviews last night, especially the interview with Stormy Daniels attorney, it discloses the Presidents hired hit man threatening this woman's life, her child, and family to accept an illegal pay-off, a serious crime and the President is directly related to it all, and now lying about it. He is obviously guilty. Hillary Clinton did not threaten others lives to gain votes. And furthermore, she had no help from the Russians.
3
Yes, because they were told so by Russian adds... I think Trump invented a new level of definition of the word "crook" by himself. But at this point all the "alternative facts" help closing the gap between sanity and reality.
It takes a “special” type of man, as we see far too often in this forum, to say that threatening a woman and her child with physical violence is no big deal.
Women, you definitely have every right to view most men with a high degree of apprehension, because far too men still view of you as their personal punching bag.
267
The controlling behavior begins as a daughter and continues as a wife. The expectations of deference can be overwhelming. One can appreciate a woman's desire for family but the confinement can be stifling. The relationship changes. In the end, I chose independence. That is not a popular trait in women. And yet a woman is an adult not a child or a servant or a sex object. Why is it so hard to understand a woman's right to choose. It is a lifetime responsibility and certainly necessary for at least 18 years. I have rarely seen males that assume financial or emotional responsibility.
2
Nobody’s perfect, and Stormy said it happened only once. Maybe, if The Donald promises to never let it happen again, Karen McDougal will give him another chance.
91
I don't get it...first they were saying she had a 10 month affair with Trump...where did that go? And no pictures? I feel cheated....
Right! Karen thought SHE was Trump's one and only girlfriend!
Also that he wasn't sleeping with Melania. (Okay, actually he might have been telling the truth about that.)
1
This story will be as successful bringing down Trump as Russia, Russia, Russia has been. An uncorroborated story about a man threatening her in Las Vegas. That's it?
49
Don't worry, there's still Obstruction of Justice and Money Laundering, as well as a few more indictments and charges coming.
This story is not the issue at the moment. By alleging that she was threatened, Stormy is laying the groundwork for a legal challenge to the agreement she signed on the basis that her consent was coerced. If this is accepted as fact by a court, it could become a reason for the agreement to be rendered null and void.
If she can get the NDA dropped in this way, *that* story is the one that could cause Trump some real damage. Which you know to be the case because Trump is, uncharacteristically, tweeting almost nothing about this whole embarrassing mess. His inability to even convince lawyers to represent him is an indication of which way the winds are blowing. Stay tuned.
1
No, that’s not it. If the hush money paid to her was from campaign funds then campaign finance laws would have been broken. It’s Trump so I don’t expect anything he does will sway hardcore supporters, but that doesn’t make it less illegal or mean that he can get away with it.
3
Some have commented that the Stormy Daniels matter was what would bring T. down. After watching that riveting segment on 60 Minutes tonight I am not persuaded. Her lawyer seems to have taken after Michael Cohen in the malarkey department. All hat, no cattle. Mueller is still my closer.
97
Mueller or Zervos sp? That one may be the sleeper. Since it will be in court she can use discovery for just about anything.
You'll be waiting a long time, right through the end of his second term, if you believe Mueller is the hammer.
This abominable President and his equally abominable gang of evil enablers in Congress, will live in infamy as the group who ended the American Democratic experience.
1
Suggestion: The next time you hear "This is the one!" ignore it.
It’s not about the porn or the cheating, it’s about the hush money payment right before the election. Illegal. Plus the cover up denotes that Cohen and Trump knew the illegality. Who is the client? Trump. Who represents Trump? Cohen. Attorney makes a payment on behalf of a client, not himself. Note Cohen’s words carefully. Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign paid the $130,000. Did Trump himself personally? Or, did Trump stiff his own attorney?
255
What is illegal about a contract between private citizens?
it’s about the hush money payment right before the election. Illegal
At least SOMEONE gets the main point.
2
Plus, Cohen violated the agreement first, when he disclosed the payment . . .
Wait wait wait wait
WHAT ABOUT THE COMPUTER DISC??????
66
I predict stormy weather ahead for this President.
120
Or as Gail Collins put it in her recent column... Stormy Summer. As I have said before, bring on the Meteorological Maidens.
2
Yes, stormy weather, somewhere up there in the White House, stormy weather!
1
From your lips to God’s ears...
1
And so here we are: News on television has become indistinguishable from a reality show, and NYT stories read like the gossipy trash I pass by at the checkout counter in the local grocery store. Yes, I am elitist, and I do think there are better things to think about.
84
We are not talking about a Hollywood star. It's the president of the United States, an individual normally responsible for providing moral leadership. Trashy? Yes. News? Absolutely. If perceptions about the United States aren't important for elites like yourself, I'm not sure what would be.
The irony is this media assault on people's sex lives is likely to backfire among precisely the Trump voters his opponents will need to toss him and his band of reactionaries out of office. His policies are despicable, and he is despicable. A consensual sexual affair is not relevant to his thuggishness and his political policies. If there was collusion with a foreign government to get him elected and/or he obstructed justice, Mueller will find the evidence and he certainly should be impeached, though that will leave us with Mike Pence as President. You can be sure Mike is squeaky clean sexually speaking, but he is a much worse reactionary than this dreadful president. I despise Trump, but I'm not interested in his or anyone's sex life. This story's a diversion, and I'm surprised the Times is giving it such prominence.
Ah, but you have to appreciate this for what it is. There is no author/writer dead, alive, or waiting to be born that could come up with this insane story that is Trump and his presidency! It is proof that truth is stranger than fiction!
3
Our president has goons threatening people in front of their kids.
Meanwhile he's threatening war to keep himself in office.
Why are we putting up with this garbage!
472
Because the Democratic Party hasn't given us an alternative. We know who the Republican candidate is in 2020, and we know everything about him. Who are the Democrats that will stand up and and lay out a plan for the future. Who will promise to ban assault weapons, protect the environment, enforce our immigration policies, help businesses, socialize medicine? There isn't a "Blue Wave" headed for the elections, there's a headless Blue Chicken. The Democratic Party with Hillary Clinton was a loser. Is it any better without her?
2
Dead right. It’s the lack of outrage in the lazy, clueless, detached, “whatever” American electorate that has kept the utterly crooked sleazebag Trump in power this long, and now threatens totally disastrous wars with Iran and North Korea for dessert.
It is weird that every time he had an adulterous sexcapade, he always compared the woman to his daughter. Does the man harbor incestuous fantasy????
swrdm: my apologies but I think y’all still got blinkers on! America is being overwhelmed by propaganda from the right! This remains the biggest issue today! Bannon right, Euro right, Vlad right. Entities such as Fox news entertainment and its decades long anti-Clinton malice continues to spew out its constant barage of fake this, fake that propaganda- influencing both right and, don’t kid yourself, the left as well.The rights have ended up as believers, unquestioning loyalistsa to a man most sensible folk revile; while the lefties have allowed doubt to seep into their marrow, pathologically, while the other sides’ cultists wait for ascension, or a job on the assembly line.
But don’t lose faith- the generation having mobilized on the weekend? Its their country to inherit. From what I’ve seen most of them don’t care a whit about colour, sexuality, religion.
So no matter the short term turmoil, help is on the way.
And remember it’s always darkest before you’re reborn.
103
Amen to that last thought. The March for our lives kids are the only hope we have at this darkest filthiest hour.
1
Euro right?
you jest or are misinformed. OK, the Visegrad 4 are right wing and illiberal ( Orbans words ) but the rest?
Nobody laughs about them as they do about
the current Amurrika.
1
So let me get this right. Th American people listen to pron stars who take bribes now. Pathetic.
50
You just made the case for her having told the truth: Trump paid her a bribe to keep her quiet. Thank you!
5
Why was the hush money paid, if nothing happened?
3
And 17 Intelligence agencies, and the words which 45 himself spews (I have my own personal Lie Detector).
And what our Allies think of Don the Con.
I also use my eyes.
2
I expect the number of her clientele will be somewhat reduced as a result of her lack of discretion.
26
Well, she does not make money by having affairs with rich people. Remember, she is not a prostitute. But she did say in the interview that some of her fan base who are Trump supporters will be unhappy that she did the interview.
1
She's a porn star. She doesn't have "clients."
2
She said just that.
Stormy Daniels was very good on 60 minutes. She told it like it was and now all the Trump supporters are still in denial. They can't believe that Trump can do anything immoral well he is morally bankrupt and I hope she has video . Trevor the GOP boss said since Trump lawyer paid her so close to the election that is very problematic for their morally bankrupt boss. Mr Mueller should give her immunity and bring her in to court. The GOP supporters whine and complain about former Democrats affairs but thats in the past and there is no room for this sleazy behavior now in this chaotic White House . You ran on christian values where did go or is that just lip service like your fake health care plans.
134
to be honest...... Trump supporters are worried about how to pay for the next meal or dealing with sick and aging parents. The cost, time and heart break of dealing and caring for the sick. Most Trump supporters don't mind living on a lower income but just want to wake up in the morning and not be fearful of the future. Fearful of losing jobs, not contributing to retirement at the same time dealing with a broken water heater or a broken muffler on the car and sick parents. Truly this is it.
Trump covered Christian values by adding VP Pence3. When will he walk out- seems to be a mismatch in the White House. Why doesn't Pence speak out against this slob?
I hear you and I sympathize with them. I am worried about the costs of living and sacrificing day to day on what is needed just for that day. Don't be voting for the rich billionaires who are always a disappointment. They are only for the rich are usually morally bankrupt and will bring America down with them. Vice President Pence is a former Catholic who should have been excumunicated so he is obviously morally bankrupt doing nothing to step in. Most of all we need to save our planet from these bad men coal producers for the next generations.
Hard to believe at this moment in time that the sidebar hed refers to Stormy Daniels as ambitious. Not a skilled businesswoman or smart professional, but ambitious. Would The Times call Mnuchin ambitious? How about Trump or Jr.?
116
Good call. The subtleties of misogyny!
Why would you suggest she's a skilled business person? She took $130,000 and now wants to give I think back so she can pursue a bigger payday. Her maturity as a business person is low. Her ambition to get paid more is high. The NYT headline makes sense.
1
They are not porn stars. Talk about false equivalency.
This story is pathetic. She had mercy sex with him exactly once. She wasn’t coerced. She just did it because he kind of asked. This “affair” is more of a business deal that never was.
I’m no Trump fan, but on a scale of 1 to 10, as Trump antics go this one rates about a 2 to 3. After all the Bill Clinton follies, this is quaintly tame and almost respectful, aside from the actions of his lawyer.
52
You have totally missed the point. The hush money was paid less than a month before the election. That is the real issue. It ain’t about sex. Was it campaign funds that paid her? That would make it a crime.
388
Vivian claims it's not the affair, it's...[fill-in-the-blank], conveniently avoiding the entire point that she claims isn't.
1
It would be a crime committed by the Trump campaign if it can be construed as a violation federal election contribution laws. That has nothing to do with her civil liability in violation of a contract she signed off on. She has civil liability and the Trump campaign might have criminal liability. One does not exclude the other.
1
I watched the stupid interview and took a hot shower !!!
19
@New World
At least your shower was hot. Not like the cold shower Trump had tonight.
The sad part is we had a Stormy party tonight.
A few friends got together to smoke pot, drink wine and watch the stupid interview
We had chile and chocolate cake,
That’s Entertainment (song) !!
35
Yeah, first the Duke Kansas game and the Stormy with some excellent wine and brownies; cbs rules !
Not to his wife and their new baby sadly. Or to people who gave that money to the campaign not to pay off to hide his grubby behaviour - which he obviously thought was a big deal otherwise why hide it?
I believe Stormy, mostly. But given Trump's habitual lying (is his mouth moving, or little finger Twitting?) I would tend to believe Lucifer before I believed Trump. That's because I have seen and heard Trump.
The thing that really creeped me out in the interview was the comment Stormy said Trump made, comparing her to Ivanka. Perhaps I would have passed over the comment, but I have seen campaign video of Trump stroking Ivanka's arm, and then passing down to her hip. That familiarity really creeped me out.
255
I don't know if you saw the Karen McDougal interview on CNN, but she also said Trump compared her to Ivanka. KM from that interview: "He said I was beautiful like her"
Everything about trumpkins creeps me out - actually, makes me cringe.
3
I absolutely agree. When I read what he said about his daughter I was nauseated. Horrible, horrible creep!
4
One need not read any further than the opening sentence here: "The pornographic film star..." is an indictment of all things liberal.
All took place Before his presidency. Pablum for the lost sheeple.
22
All thing liberal? Like publicly funded fire departments, airports, roads, hospitals, ports of entry, eminent domain (and everything that provides from cable, to sports facilities), waterworks, and all other public works like electricity, etc, national parks, state parks, county parks, city parks, police departments, border patrol, all things military, protections against being cheated, defrauded, maimed, dismembered, killed, by any number of profit motivated entities building cars to toys to houses (and all the materials and products in them), safe food, the abundace of food made possible by all of the infrastructure we have made, farm subsidies, energy subsidies (still overwhelmingly for fossil fuels), some measure of retirement security, some measure of medical health security, all modern communication (based on government research and development that never could have been achieved by the private sector), research dollars for most of modern medical advancement and anything else you can imagine. Even the church you attend (unless it is a handmade log house lit by handmade tallow candles) is dependent on the investments of the liberal state. I could go on and on. The fact is that your entire life is built on the investment made either directly by the liberal democracy in which you live, or made possible because of it.
2
Yes, it all took place before he was elected. But the hush money was paid just a month before the election, so the important question is were campaign funds involved and if so, that may constitute a violation campaign finance law.
2
Yes, the payoff came right before the presidency too
1
Stupid interview about a stupid subject about stupid people. No juice at all.
I like stories where people are getting dragged into court trying to hide their faces from the press mumbelling no comment. Anything like that coming up?
31
Yes. Trump doing the perp walk is coming. Should have happened years ago when and he and his father were discriminatory slumlords, like Jared and his family are now in Baltimore...
I don’t believe this is about sex. It’s about power, abuse of power, intimidation and cover ups. So “DD” was suppose to sign, but sloppiness and arrogance thought that who would dare to bring it up, they will be happy and afraid once they get their hush money.
94
If any 45 supporters believe his lawyer ponied up $130k out of the goodness of his heart, I have a bridge to sell them...
1
It's about sex and shame about sex.
I watched the 60 minutes interview.
Stormy Daniels is believable, but she is certainly swimming up stream.
Michael Cohen is disgusting.
67
does anyone in the country believe that michael cohen paid stormy $130K out of his own pocket and didn't talk to trump about it or get paid by trump????....and of course, the other NYT story re trump's lawyers is that the reason they're profferring for why trump shouldn't be interviewed by Meuller is because their client is a pathological liar...I'm a former prosecutor/I've been a lawyer for 40 years...trump is turning the US government into a complete farce
I kinda would have loved to see trump's reaction to the spanking comments.
37
I would have loved to see Trump’s reaction to her emphatically saying that she was not attracted to him. She really knows how to hurt a guy where it counts.
After Bill Clinton told a generation that oral sex is not sex, our society has been numbed. We’re no longer outraged by an affair a sitting president had nine years before he was elected. Stormy Daniels is an opportunist looking for more money. This is not Gary Hart 1988. Stormy is not going to bring Trump down. Move on.
34
It is interesting that Al Franken had to resign from the Senate, and despite extensive allegations about Trump's behavior, and his own admission that he commits assault, not to mention all the obvious lies, the reaction about Trump's behavior is: yawn, move on.
@Mark
I think "opportunist looking for more money" is a cogent description of both Ms. Davis and Mr. Trump.
But this isn't about an affair 9 years ago. It's about a cover-up and an illegal campaign contribution and expenditure during Trump's presidential campaign.
Trump could have had kinky sex with an armadillo and it wouldn't have mattered (unless the armadillo filed a complaint with the SPCA). But the minute Trump silenced the armadillo using an unreported campaign contribution, it violated federal campaign finance regulations.
I agree Ms. Davis isn't going to bring Trump down. He did that all by himself.
Clinton was in fact correct if the issue is adultery in its legal definition for divorce arguments. Just as Gingrich limited his affairs to the same degree for the same reason. Still doesn’t excuse either’s behavior or the lying parts.
So glad to see her stand up to bullies. I think if it it weren't for the #MeToo movement and others she might have remained threatened into silence. Most of the posts I've seen against speaking out against her and attacking the Liberal Media are forgetting the threatening and coercing against these women, whether porn stars, models, apprentice contestants, or otherwise. They have a right to speak up and be heard.
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Trump dangled a 'you can be on The Apprentice' carrot to get sex. What an unattractive, insecure man he is. Can't get sex any other way, Trump?
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Bill Clinton all over again!! The only person that can salvage us is Melania. The same Hillary salvaged us.
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Btw, how is Melanie’s anti-cyber bullying campaign going?
Hillary set up a War Room to go after Bill's victims. She's no savior. She's an accomplice.
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It's funny how all the Pro-Trumpers commenting here generally believe what happened but none are commenting on the fact that Ms. Clifford was threatened with physical harm. "So what?" is what I've read in more than one comment. My goodness, So What?!
How low will your standards slip to defend or distract from the total failings of a man who has admitted on tape to assaulting women, lying to our closest ally to his face and has a White House in utter chaos? How low? And don't say, "So what?".
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It is throughly disgusting and especially troublesome that the vast majority of these comments are coming from men.
Which continues to strongly indicate that far too many men in our society are a clear and present danger to women everywhere.
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That was an easy allegation with no proof, that's why. Some strange man in a parking lot intimidating her while she was on the way to a yoga class with her child. Maybe true, but I don't know about taking a child to yoga class...
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They have “Mommy and Me” yoga classes these days, Margo. And some gyms have childcare facilities. The issue here isn’t what she was doing with her child, but the threat leveled against her and her child.
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I guess colluding with a prostitute, and not the Russians, is the new plan of attack.
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Do you think that there is only one avenue of inquiry, all controlled by some deep state master manipulator who is pulling strings on the bulk of government employees and press outlets?
Oh, wait. Perhaps you do.
Where is the evidence Stephanie Clifford is a prostitute?
It's the sex, it's the coverup
Also
Sounds like Cohen may be the one that's in deep..
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy
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(NOT) the sex, which barely qualifies as such.
We need to be reminded that this is the same media that didn’t care if Hillary was responsible for anything that happened in beghazi and if she broke federal laws by using personal computers to send nationallly sensitive materials . Yet they have spent more time, money and effort trying to get Ttump out of office. It is a cry baby democratic fit that had been thrown since Hillary lost the election.
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Uhm...she won.
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Umm she lost We can like it or not the final score is determined by the electoral college. The idea that "she won" is only going to help
DT win another term. Dems need to face facts here.
Because we should just ignore the possibility that our election was willfully tampered with from outside foreign interests?
I seem to remember about 20 years of Clinton investigations: and in those the unrelated discovery of dress stains resulted in impeachment. Are you saying that these types of investigations are no longer valid national investments?
First of she is a low class pornstar and if she had been threatened why all of a sudden would make her think that the person who threatened her wouldn’t hurt her now. Where is the proof besides her word do we have that she was threatened or payed anything. Oh and for those of you using this whole situation as a means to question Christians and their faith, where in the interview did miss Daniels say she was a Christian. Where in the media have you heard Christians saying that if what she is saying is true they condone trumps actions. You Democrats and non Christians want republicans and Christians to respect you solve and work alongside you all, but you all want us to do it under the very intolerance and biased that you accuse us of. You all fakes and frauds and the biggest of all hypocrites.
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A Trump cult member definitely in denial. The only question about being Christian is where are the evangelicals on all this? Personally I think all religions and especially organized religions are obsolete gods that are used as vehicles for mass psychological warfare and manipulation. Anyone claiming to be god's own representative on earth is a con artist.
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"Where in the media have you heard Christians saying that if what she is saying is true they condone trumps actions."
I heard a Christian spokesman this morning on the news show "This Week" say that Christians grant Donald Trump "grace" for his sexual transgressions.
She has less fear of harm now because the threat was given so that she would be intimidated into not telling her story. Now that she has spoken, she is relatively immune from harm. Of course, something could always "happen" to her now, but the first suspicion would fall on the associates of the president.
Didn't Jesus comfort Mary Magdalene?
Gold digger! Ummm how much did CNN and other networks paid for these interviews! Even a kid can see through this. Why not donate that money to Puerto Rico or the Match for Lives movement!
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I bet there is all kinds of evidence and that is why she was offered $130,000 to remain quiet.
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She was interviewed by CBS. She was not paid for the interview.
According to the interviewee, she wasn't paid by CNN for the interview.
Missed the interview.
Guess I can just turn to CNN anytime next week (and the following month) to catch the replay.
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It was on cbs, tony...not cnn.
The interview was on CBS (60 Minutes), not CNN.
Let me get this straight: the whole thing's a "political hoax" but she's paid $130,000 not to disclose it. I've got a hoax I'd like to sell. Anyone got Michael Cohn's phone number?
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That would be Michael “Cohen”. But the association with Roy Cohn, The Vulgarian’s mentor, is understandable.
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If it's a hoax, why would she be able to describe the president's nether regions? That's her proof. Thank God the CBS interview had the taste not to go there.
CBS should have more class and not even give any validity to her story by interviewing her or speaking to her, but then again anything for ratings is the new norm.
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If there is no validity to her story, why did Cohen/Trump Campaign pay her
$130,000 to sign a nondisclosure agreement?
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isn't it donnie trumpkins who is the most concerned about ratings? The largest number, the most viewers, the most money, the best of this and the best of that?
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Actually all the news media should show some class and not give any validity to Don the Con and his merry group of bandits by interviewing them, publishing their tweets etc but then how would we learn about the antics of the most corrupt Administration ever? From Fox “news?”
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A key question: If Mr. Trump has never had a sexual encounter with her, why
would he ask her to sign a non-disclosure agreement? What is there to
disclose? Would Mr. Cohen please answer the question?
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Trump did not ask her. He did not sign the NDA.
Even if Melania divorces President Trump I think Karen McDougal will take him back.
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Her pre-nip would only net her half of the half Trump has left after Melania gets through with him.
As would Hope Hicks.
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She already accepted a six figure sum once for silence. At what point does this story represent blackmail (if true) or extortion (if not) ?
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You think this is blackmail. SO what do you call the payment and the threats to 'get her' if she doesn't keep quiet? Not only what she reported as happening in the parking lot, but the threats now to sue her for $20 million plus if she talks to anyone about what happened? Who has the power to intimidate here?
What this affair shows is lack of judgment and recklessness inherent in the most powerful man on the planet.
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Murphy's Law, I think That perhaps you yourself are indulging in Murphy's Law. This US President is not the most powerful man on the planet. Indeed, there is no such person, and most certainly not trumpkins, a weakling if ever there were one, a man without a shred of honor or character, a compulsive liar, a narcissist, an incompetent who causes me to both snicker and guffaw and to cringe.
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Keep publishing this nonsense, and Trump will win another 4 years.
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You are so right. His supporters love this about him.
Thanks to 62 million voters, all the corruption the mercer’s can buy and an antiquated electoral college...he can win again.
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Nonsense? Are you guys really panicked now or what!
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Fine by me. The arrogant Left deserves it.
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Nobody gets paid $130,000 to keep silent about something that never happened.
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Stormy's claim that they only went to bed once proves once and for all that Trump was being faithful to Karen McDougal.
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Kudos!
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Has anyone noticed that the only people who can’t stand up to Trump are men?
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It has been said white men bond together gloriously.
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Uh, no. Not at all.
To say nothing of the fact that you presume that standing up to Trump is some kind of good thing.
We do......
Stormy Daniels came across as "real" and believable. She spoke well of her various dilemmas, yet she seemed somewhat nervous, which says that she was unlikely given many clues about what was going to be asked. She certainly didn't come across as a "ditz" if that's what some were expecting. One could see that she was upset talking about being physically threatened while alone with her infant daughter in a Las Vegas parking lot seven years ago. Who can blame her for wanting to spill her guts in public about that?
Just as interesting was the side story of Trevor Potter, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission. When he compared the John Edwards mess to the yet-unproven Stormy Daniels-Michael Cohen-Donald Trump mess, he said that the latter, if proven to be true, will be far more serious than the John Edwards case due to its closer proximity of transfer of funds to the date of the election. If Robert Mueller didn't know all of this before this evening, he does now.
First, a great Elite 8 Duke vs. Kansas OT game, and then 60 Minutes kills. It's not the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, but not bad, not bad at all.
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It also occurred to me that Stephanie Clifford and her family are marginally safer now she has disclosed it all publicly. if anything were to happen to them now - whose door would be knocked on?
Democrats, please remember how JFK had an ongoing affaire with Marilyn Monroe, sent RFK to break it off, whereupon Bobbie proceeded to begin his own affaire with her.
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Please remember also how Julius Caesar and Cleopatra once hit it off. But let's just stick to the here and now for now.
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Jack Kennedy and Donald Trump do have some things in common. Both ich, privileged, and feel entitled however unlike Trump Jack Kennedy had an inner confidence that Trump lacks. Jack believed in serving his country while Trump believes in exploiting his country.
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They were two incredibly competent politicians and leaders. One prevented a nuclear exchange between us and Russian.
And neither one threatened a woman, a mother with physical harm or made a payoff to silence anyone.
And many more big big differences.
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Could the 2016 agreement Ms. Clifford signed become null and void because the terms authorized an illegal transaction? Said illegal transaction being Trump's attorney Coen breaking federal election law with his payoff to Ms. Clifford.
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After watching the interview, I immediately sent another $100 to the Republican National Committee.
If the Liberal Democrats are willing to make a hero out of a prostitute porn star, who can’t even keep her promise agreement after taking blackmail money, then we Republicans need to fight more than ever.
Of course these same Liberals had no problem supporting Jack and Robert Kennedy sharing Marilyn Monroe in the White House; or Bill Clinton sexually harassing an immature intern in the Oval Office.
Then, when Trump has a consensual affair with a porn star, they get all worked up claiming the porn star was victimized - although she was the blackmailer, and the John the blackmailed.
If nothing else, Liberal Democrats’ hypocrisy is amusing.
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James shame on you for saying that! This is not a matter of which party said or did what. Is the current POTUS fit for that office? Are we better off with that POTUS ? That is the question. Let your conscience be your guide.
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Times are different now, pal. Clinton, if he would do now what he did back then would rightfully get excoriated.
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While watching the interview (not after) I quickly concluded that this woman is far more intelligent, far more articulate, and probably a far more decent human being than the disgusting thug most Republicans support.
As far as what happened during previous presidencies it is completely irrelevant to the present situation.
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Just consider for a quick second, under the same circumstances what if Donald Trump was Black, Latin, Asian or Gay?
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Or female?
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Can you imagine????
Come on, Trump criticized the black Barack Obama because he was a Kenyan, not a US citizen. You Republicans need to learn that what goes around comes around.
If Republicans had discovered a former mistress of Barack Obama, do you think they would not have publicized this?
You might want to consult a dictionary concerning the word “hypocrisy.”
‘That’s a beautiful little girl, it would be a shame if something happened to her mom.’ ”
_____
Oh please. Stormy Daniels is now channeling The Godfather. Fortunately, Trump's henchman did not threaten the child with a pair of cement overshoes. And Ms. McDougal said that she and The Donald were "in love" and that when he tried to leave money for her, she said she was "not that type of girl".
If the left is trying to bring down the President, it's really going to have to up its game. These women are not up to the task.
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I think the "president" (so-called) is doing an excellent job of bringing himself down all by himself. Unfortunately, he's also dragging this fine country down with him.
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Why was there was no investigation of Trump for Mafia connections during the campaign? it does not seem so odd that Stormy is channeling "The Godfather". Take a look at some of the people who have operated out of Trump Tower, and some of his known connections. Take a look at the two documentaries on the subject. Take a look at the Steele Dossier. Steele did not make up who is operating out of Trump Tower. Take a look at the verifiable evidence against Trump and add it up. According to one of the documentaries the son of a Russian mob boss even operated with a Trump business card. He was quite a nasty and dubious character, landed in jail for stabbing someone in the face and neck with the stem of a broken martini glass.
Wine country dude will not have such ennui when he has to pay the bill for the damage that Trump will inevitably do to the country and its treasury.
They may not be, but his lawyer is. Thus is about the payoff and where those funds came from. No one cares about the bad sex, not even this far coast liberal. If campaign funds were used, that’s a crime. No lawyer is going to pony up that kind of money for their client’s tawdry behavior.
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All the people in this story are lowlifes. One is the president.
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He is the only one who is accountable to the electorate and in public office and can therefore expect to be held to the highest ( non-blackmailable) standards.
It was just sex between consenting adults, per Stormy, however it speaks volumes more about 45's lack of good character (which all voters were exposed to during the campaign). In an anything goes society, it really points out the hypocrisy of right wing, so-called, evangelicals and other such so-called Christians. Seems to me 45 would have been the first that Christ chased out of the temple...
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My wife made me watch this and at the end of it all, we both thought: So what?
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Trump really was spot on about the consequences of his shooting someone in public.
That’s why Utah is the state it is.
Two Trump voters yawning in front of the telly for sure. Nothing can surprise them, they know what Trump is, but just don't care as long as they get their tax breaks. Bet the reaction would have been a lot different if it had been Obama."Black men! Unfit to be president!" My husband says, "what hypocrites they are." I say-- especially the "Christians".
The thing that will hurt Donald the most is when Anderson asked Stormy if she was physically attracted to Donald and she said no. I think thats what will hurt him the most despite the 33 year age gap- such is his well known vanity.
Trump has been credibly accused of not being physically attractive. Will the poor fellow ever get over it?
Credibly accused.
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Overlooked is that all of this Stormy story would not be happening without the Wall Street Journal's article exposing the payment made by Michael Cohen. I believe she would have been happy to have moved on but after the article came out the president denied knowing her in effect calling her a liar. She is defending herself.
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I believe Stormy Daniels.
Anyone who thinks she is lying and wishes to accuse her of contradicting herself in written statements has never experienced the fear associated with being a whistle-blower. Whistle-blowing against powerful, rich people or companies is dangerous business often with nothing but downsides including loss of career, threats of lawsuits one cannot afford to finance even if one is right, or even bodily harm.
She says she was intimidated; I believe her.
Many other women who have come forward after years of anguishing internal debate share the same conflicts. It is hard to see any upside in coming forward, and she has been threatened with bodily harm. Now her story was broken for her by leaks to the press by unknown sources, not by her. Her association with Donald Trump based on promises of fame in legitimate television may have been a mistake. But she didn't ask for the mess created by revelation of the facts by unknown sources.
I believe Stormy Daniels.
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"Ms. Clifford said that she can remember the man’s face to this day and would recognize him immediately."
Why doesn't she get a professional sketch artist to help her, and then we could have Wanted posters in every venue where she performs.
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This is nothing to him. More than silence, he will obscure with chaff outrage to follow while his appointed termites wreak havoc. Read the DSM-APD definition of Sociopath (or supermarket periodical articles informing if you are with one?). His Stormy days behind him now, he seeks only one narcissist position.....the Notoriety of Infamy.
Careful, he intends to take us down with him.
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For me, on the left of the political spectrum, consensual sex by adults has never been a disqualifier for public office if the politician admits it when asked. He doesn't have to even apologize to anyone but his wife. It's lying about it and calling the woman involved a liar that offends me. Trump does nothing but lie and cast all his sex partners and accusers as liars. The other thing that offends me is religious leaders and activists who claim the moral high ground when they oppose contraception, sex education, reproductive rights, and gay rights, but cannot bring themselves to condemn adultery, marital infidelity, sexual harrassment and assault when the sinners are Republicans.
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You've got it. One thing is none of my business ( who you sleep with as long as it is consensual and with an adult); but the tendency to call everyone who says anything he doesn't like a liar, and the use of deep pocket legal intimidation to get his way is abominable. His being embraced by those who make a claim to Christian values is profoundly offensive.
Same story , different president. Although Daniels stated 2 or three times that she never had an affair with Trump and now says she actually did - it
s not out of the realm of possibilities that she did have a one night affair with Trump 10 years ago. But its a ho-hum revelation for me - there are much more important things that need focusing on and the news will be running with this for weeks.
BTW - If Daniels is sued and loses, she deserves any financial penalty that is imposed upon her - she signed a legal agreement and violated the terms of it.
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@DEVO: I think Daniels has already won, and any financial penalty against her will be null and void due to outright dishonesty on the part of "Mr. Dennison" and his very, very concerned lawyer.
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Does anyone else find it strange that Stormy Daniels is being sued for breach of a non-disclosure agreement about an affair that Donald Trump denies happened, even though his lawyer signed the document and paid $130,000 for. A document that includes returning photos, DVDs, recordings, etc., of encounters that Trump says didn't happen?
How do you photograph something that didn't happen?
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The lawsuit also mentions "paternity," which I suspect we'll hear a bit more about in the future.
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For the second time this week, the world learned that the germaphobe in chief, Trump, requested & received unprotected sex.
I don’t know who is telling the truth but since Trump typically ends his lying outbursts with “believe me”, the truth meter is once again not on his side (see quote below.)
Now, what is with all this unprotected stranger sex? Must be part of the art of his bigly deal.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the news was plastered with millions of gun legislation proposals than being constantly reminded of Trump’s deviant sexual proclivities.
Come on Dems, flood Congress with proposals that won’t get passed so it looks like you are doing something other than waiting to see if another tawdry, heinous, illegsl act committed by the so called president is the one that will get his buddies to initiate impeachment proceedings.
From 2017
“I’m also very much of a germaphobe, by the way, believe me.”
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Agent 99, re: Trump claiming to be a germaphope. Maybe he meant hating Germans--I think Angela would agree.
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Yes being a germaphobe was his 'evidence' that the Russian tape was 'unlikely'. So that's out the window now!
She is credible...
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Saw the interview- she was about as dishonest and insincere as my ex-wife at our divorce hearing.
Both told whatever whoppers their lawyers said they needed to tell to get more alimony.
One thing - she was a lot better looking than my ex, and settled for a lot less money than mine did - if I’d have had Trump’s lawyers maybe I’d have got a much better deal.
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@Average Guy
I suspect you got the deal you deserved.
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I'm fascinated by the number of people from Florida who seem sure this woman is dishonest - yet they voted FOR Trump, a man who is 100% dishonest! I'd say that a lot of voters have demonstrated very bad judgment in whom to trust.
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I think the ex-wife got the better deal. She got rid of Average Guy.
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Let me begin by offering my sympathies to Melania Trump and her parents. No married woman should have to put up with this humiliation; this interview will be watched all over the world.
Regarding Mr. Trump, we now know he is a womanizer and possibly a sex addict. He used Golf tournaments and Miss Universe contests to target young women for sex.
I hope his term in office gets terminated. If not, In 2+ years, the American people will have to decide if they want Mr. Trump to remain the Head of State.
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Oh, please. Sure, she and her family are going to feel bad. But don't think she didn't know what she was marrying, or anything about his marital background or reputation. If it weren't for Baron, she would have been long, long gone.
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Don't lose sleep of Melania's feelings. Nude photos of her are all over the internet even though her "modeling" days are over. Although she has to put on a farce with a man whom she appears to now loathe, she is now an American citizen (however that happened); via "chain migration her parents are in the US and applying for citizenship; she has an "anchor baby" with a monied future; probably a generous prenup and is living on the taxpayers dime.
Please. Melania KNEW the kind of man she was getting. Didn't he cheat with HER when he was still married to wife #2?