Trump has more excuses than money. His enablers should pay a price for continuing to backstop him. Point a camera at every GOP congressional member and get them to go on record that simple private transactions are legal.
" . . . .whether a president can be charged with a crime . . ."
Pre-election, Trump boasted that he could shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and still get elected. Does the Justice Department's conclusion mean that he could do that and still remain president?
This is a preposterous claim. If you commit a crime in this country you should have to pay for it. So far, this isn't Saudi Arabia and he isn't a prince.
I'm a little confused. Right wingers scoff at Cohen for being a liar but they grovel at the feet of Trump who lies more than six times EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Can someone explain this to me?
ignorance of the law were and excuse for not obeying it, Trump would go scot free. He is certainly ignorant, but guilty, period. Lock him up!
3
Re: "...Mr. Trump also maintained that even if the hush-money payments did count as campaign transactions, any failure to obey federal election regulations should be considered only a civil offense, not a criminal one..."
It's amazing:
Republican(s) are all, 'Jesus, this... / Bible, that...', until a Republican president acts like a prostitute_ aficionado, (aka, a 'john'), arrested, while, soliciting a street_walker, L.O.L.!!
1
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Even conservative Edmund Burke disapproves of today's Republicans. Someday they will look back on these days in abject shame.
2
My opinion of President Trump--and the opinion of many voters like me--doesn't depend on whether his actions are indictable.
His contention that payments to women were "private transactions" is stunning confirmation he is a sleazy, lying adulterer and user of women. Does Trump think we will overlook what the payments were FOR?
Does he expect people to vote to support him notwithstanding he is a sleazy, lying, adulterous user of women? Because he is so great otherwise?
4
I don't like trump. That said I can't follow the thread in this article. And I'm a lawyer. More or better facts and explanation will be needed to make this case to a jury or the public.
I wish NYT journalists would stop trying to parse Donald Trump's lies and foolishness.
Bringing in experts to query and flesh-out the piece does not add any gravitas to the ordeal of reporting- yet- another Trump:"And if I did...- so what?
2
Trust in the system friends, for there will come a day when the surface of Teflon Don will finally be abraded beyond repair. I still have faith that thinking heads will prevail. Soon, all of this mayhem will seem like the memory a bad dream as it fades into the history books titled under the heading, ‘The 45th President of the United States and How He Perpetrated the Biggest Scam Ever on the American Public’. The great thing about lies is this: the more one lies, the harder it is to keep one’s story in order. Soon, the ConDon, and perhaps his entire “empire”, will come crashing down.
Godspeed to that happening.
6
" “Lawyer’s liability if he made a mistake, not me,” Mr. Trump wrote. I'm Rubber,
Translation: "I'm Rubber- You're Glue. Whatever Bounces Off Me- Sticks On You."
Oh, these were the payments DJT knew nothing about (originally). Well, let's go to the tapes (Cohen's) to determine intent, which is the key issue here.
1
Yes, anytime I've paid for Sex has been private and personal. Oh, Wait.
That's NEVER happened. Keep digging, Donald. This is surreal, and like a combination of a very bad Mafia movie, spy novel, and the Three Stooges.
4
He may fool the illiterate fools who buy his Chinese made merchandise while chanting "America first!" but he is not fooling anyone else.
A "simple transaction" that he divided into 12 payments to try to hide them as being less significant... because it was a "clerical error" with no "malicious intent" except that of course it was.
This felony is the tip of an iceberg that would sink a fleet of Titanics. This is not even the Mueller investigation which has far more serious crimes, and of course Russian agent Maria Butina is spilling her guts and will directly tie the NRA and Russian payments to both Donald and the Republican party.
His only realistic defense at this point is to make a plea bargain himself.
Hey Donald - Republicans are turning on you. Pence is totally going to turn on you and is operating behind your back. You can take them all out while keeping your own jail sentence short and maybe keeping princess Ivanka out of prison altogether.
Just do it.
2
Sadly, absolutely nothing will happen to the Rump in relation to his sexual escapades. The Pubic senate and his mad dog base will see to that. And his wife? As long as the gold toilet fixtures are in place, she cares not a wit about where he dips his wick.
3
Donald Trump has quoted chapter and verse of the foreign corrupt practices law in the past so the idea that he was naive is just another con from this grifter
What is new is the willingness of republicans to give this corrupt president mulligan after mulligan
McCarthy said last night that many republicans have campaign finance issues - if that is true then it is time to enforce the rules and clean it up
4
The notion that a sitting president can't be charged while in office is absurd and needs to find remedy in an altered constitution. If the President of the United States has committed a crime - any crime while in office he is not fit to hold the office or command its responsibilities. We have presidents, not a king.
It troubles me to know how utterly archaic loop-hole ridden our way of governing has become.
6
Given the disgust for the current president shared by a sizable portion of the country, "Vote for me so we can throw Trump in jail" could be a pretty good election pitch in 2020.
5
First Trump denies making such payments, then calls them a 'simple private transaction'. For something purportedly so innocent, he sure took great pains to hide these payments, and rightfully assumes his base will soak up whatever ridiculous explanation he tosses out
3
While this silly sideshow is going on, Trumpolini's hit men are ensuring that pesticides can once again enter the blood streams of American children, that deadly childhood asthma and neurological diseases will increase, and that America will help hasten catastrophic global warming, and will be the leader of nothing except wars of economic conquest for the benefit of its rulers. It is truly heart wrenching to witness, and disgusting to see the republican bootlickers revel in this criminal enterprise. USA, you are already a failed state.
8
You know, rather than lecturing from far-off lands, maybe do a little something about the crud all those scooters spew and your leetle probs with child labor. Or how’s about a nice waste treatment plant or three, kinda cut down on what you’re pumping into the Mekong?
That’s a bit harsh, Robert. Especially considering that the poster from Vietnam is spot on.
7
They were not merely transactions they were acts of deception. His intent was to hide how seedy and sleazy he is from the public. It appears his family and associates were aware of his appetites.
3
"A simple personal transaction" involving sex and a political electee sounds like it is either hush money (illegal) or prostitution (also illegal).
7
Nothing burger. Lied about sex. So What?
1
This just in: what Cohen did is illegal—felony-level illegal—and if he’s telling the truth, Trump also committed at least two felonies.
2
@MiguelM No, lied about illegal campaign contributions. Capiche?
2
The Catholics and evangelicals elected a nationalist Trump his own words and dictator . By not arresting him and letting him remain in office for two more years is showing democracy is not working and we are afraid of confrontations to do the right thing. Why would any country want a democratic system when they see how much damage Trump can do with lies and deceit.
4
Politically biased justice is ruining the USA, as well as many main-stream media outlets. This will not end well - for many, and I am not sure that President Trump will bear the worst of it.
1
@G G: Please give some examples--this is too serious an issue to treat with empty assertions.
@Stan Sutton Stan, consider how the handling of Hilliary Clinton Emails (private server, classified data), the Clinton foundation and Pay for Play accusations, the Department of Justice mishandling of FISA requests, the list goes on if one cares to take an objective look...
Paying someone to influence an election. Sounds like the DNC and Clinton campaign payments to Fusion One to find the Steele dossier. Or any lobbyists, PAC, or Super PAC for that matter.
2
@FXQ: There are legal ways to pay to influence an election and illegal ways to pay to influence an election. If Trump broke the law he should pay for that, too.
The whole idea that a candidate is limited to spending no more than $1200 of his own money on anything related to his efforts to get elected is not just absurd and outright bizarre, it is an amount that is virtually impossible to comply with. Buying 2 new suits for the purpose of "influencing" the election is both over the limit and needs to be reported. Hillary spent tens of thousands on new outfits, and the sole reason she spent that money was so that she could get elected. Trump spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money to fly to campaign rallies all around the country, which nobody is alleging constituted an illegal campaign contribution. This is even though it is clear that had another party paid for a single one of those flights it would be a blatant violation of the law.
And just because prosecutors charged Edwards with making an illegal campaign contribution even though he was the candidate does not mean that they were correct in their interpretation of the law, as federal prosecutors very often interpret the law to mean whatever they want it to mean.
And even if a court will rule that the payments were campaign contributions, because Trump honestly and reasonably believed they were not he faces no criminal liability but at most civil fines. The reason he tried to conceal it was because that is how "hush-money" is paid, it was not to cover up anything illegal.
6
@Michael Stavsen,
An article on Quora points out that a person may spend unlimited amounts on ones campaign just as you argue.
BUT, as pointed out in this article, you may not accept LOANS, even if paid back, without reporting them.
8
@Michael Stavsen
As long as we're calling out the absurd and bizarre, how about the phenomenon that we have to rely on a technicality like mishandled campaign finance transactions to oust a President whose egregious behaviors past and present clearly prove him unfit for office.
7
@Michael Stavsen
"The reason he tried to conceal it was because that is how "hush-money" is paid, it was not to cover up anything illegal."
Yeah...just because it wasn't illegal doesn't mean lying about it and burying it is HONEST to the american people during an election. If I find out that someone running for office did something immoral, that influences my vote. Doing what he did - concealing his true moral identity while running for the highest office - at the very least should disqualify someone from running, even if its not illegal to lie. Shame on Edwards, Shame on Trump, all these slimeballs.
7
At this point, after Donald Trump has lied thousands of times in his first two years of office, why would anybody believe him at this point when he denies criminal conduct? Why would anybody believe that he is anything other than a liar this time?
The question is not, do we believe him but do we indict him while he is still in office?
You can be sure that Robert Mueller knows a great deal more than we do and he knows a great deal more than Donald Trump thinks he does. All the lawyers in the world are not going to be able to help him this time…
And it is time that we think about preserving our democracy, it is time for the Senate to start to think about preserving the rule of law rather than preserving their own self interests.
38
Tax Fraud & Money Laundering.
Both will take the whole Trump Organization down.
And save a few charges to be filed by exclusively by the NY State office so
they ALL get to do some “time” in a seedy state prison.
9
@RD Perfectly said.
In normal times the actions that brought Mr. Trump to this point would have been enough to censure him, if not precipitate impeachment proceedings. The timing of these simple private transactions betrays a purpose; involvement with these women took place long before the final months of the campaign, so it is hard to believe these payments just *happened* to coincide with the need to hush up such involvement (so voters wouldn't be aware of this).
24
Well I expect Trump supporters, like Sen. Hatch, to ignore this infraction which dupes the American voter.
Had Trump’s affairs been disclosed , and or payoffs, how many people might have changed their mind and voted differently?
That fact that many GOP and Trump followers consider campaign fraud as no big deal is frightening.
Private transaction? It is OK to gain the presidency illegally , and you still can’t be indicted? I don’t believe the founding fathers intended to allow these loop holes in our systems.
34
Trump would never have been elected if the two affairs had come out.
On top of the Access Hollywood and the accusations by 20 women of sexual harassment or abuse, Stormy and McDougal would have sunk Trump.
5
Trump does not understand the difference between public and private.
Individual 1 is willfully ignorant, uneducated in how government works and differs from business.
When Trump tossed his hat into the ring, he became a politician, no matter what he claimed, and all his actions and words subject to our rules and laws.
Trump's little "private transaction" was committed by a RNC national deputy finance chairman, and done for a politician running for president. It seems pretty clear the intent was to influence the election and dupe voters.
62
@D. DeMarco
Of Course Trump understands. Co-mingling the two is how Crooks operate. Even business "deals" must comply with legal provisions. Do not give Trump any excuses.
2
"A simple private transaction?" Baloney.
Don McGahn was Donald's campaign lawyer and a former FEC commissioner. If Donald and Michael Cohen made a rookie mistake, McGahn could have mitigated the impact by addressing it while the campaign was ongoing. So, either they concealed it from him, which suggests willful intent to cover it up, or he was in on it. Either way, we will find out as he has spoken to the Mueller team for hours and I would imagine, will speak to the SDNY if required.
For the GOP Senators to suggest that this is some type of behavior just born of naïveté is insulting. He's a crook who makes Nixon look like an amateur.
107
If a sitting president can't be indicted for a felony, why go through all the trouble of firing anyone? Just have the president shoot them or throw them out the window. End of story and great red meat for the base.
6
Donald Trump is the kind of character we hope our family and friends never get mixed up with. Immoral, selfish, corrupt, liar.
And he holds the highest and most powerful role of this land. Go figure. He uses, abuses, and spits out his subjects, those who think of him as a “friend” - and as they say - who needs enemies?
5
Mr, Grassley is a morally corrupt hypocrite. He holds a brief for a man who is by any measure the most prolific and frequent liar ever to stain the White House or Capitol Hill with over 5,000 lies to date. Yet Grassley’s only defense of his partner in crime is that the witness to the crime is a liar! It’s OK for Trump to be a liar in chief and he should always be believed but not his lawyer. And Trump’s main defence has also been to call Cohen a “liar.” So logic dictates that if a proven serial liar calls someone else a liar, he clearly must lie about the purported liar who is actually therefore not a liar. So Trump’s past immorality of being a “convicted liar” proves Cohen is clearly telling the truth.
4
Keep talking, Individual 1, keep talking ...
8
‘A Simple Private Transaction’,?
Acts of adultery are not simple or private.
If the American people were aware that syphilitic New York Real estate agent paid off women of the night, in order for the Truth to be suppressed, most sane voters would have not voted for Mr. Trump.
If these fallen ladies had been allowed to use their God given First Amendment Rights, the America government would have been spared from falling into Mr. Trump's toilet.
3
Butina and others are irrelevant. Mueller will only present a report to congress. Dem Senator Nadler stated that he will not attempt impeaching Trump without McConnell's approval. The Republican Senate will not convict.
Furthermore, Mueller proceeds to pardon anything that moves. Apparently Flynn's high treason is too minor. That leaves the patsy Manafort. That's called ' throwing you a bone'.
Suckers!
Nothing like the biggest liar in the world attempting to defend himself.
His indiscretions are why he's been twice divorced and will be a third time and he's such a control freak that he had to know what was going on with the meetings at his tower.
He is the single biggest embarrassment to our country.
5
Saying that Trump can't be indicted is like saying you can't nominate a Supreme Court judge in an election year.
You were told that Clinton was a crook and Pelosi was a loser, well, you bought that too!
I expect nothing true or useful from the number 3 Republican in the Senate. Thune delivered.
"These guys were all new to this at the time," he claims.
Trump's campaign counsel was Don McGahn, former chair of the Federal Election Commission.
So Trump's top lawyer knew campaign finance law from top to bottom. Also, back in 2012 Cohen was a party to an FEC action, decided in Trump's favor, so he was no stranger to the rules either.
Thune and the rest of Trump's cult should never be taken at face value in NYT reporting.
2
A “simple private transaction” that was paid by the candidate’s corporation through a shell company specifically set up for this transaction for a hush agreement just days before an election.
Yeah, tell that one to the judge.
2
I am depressed. Living along almost half of compatriots for whom it is acceptable for their president to lie about these payments, for whom it is acceptable to bully others for your own wrongdoing, is simply sad.
The decline in moral standards is appalling. Who do i trust if 50% of Americans are simply ok with falsehoods stated by their president? People who are ok with this are surely ok with stating falsehoods themselves, to their loved ones, friends, and children.
These are not embellishments, slight distortions, or shifts of focus. This is pure simple lying.
8
I am amazed and disgusted as well...I live in a state where people love to brag about their values, but overwhelmingly support a known liar. adulterer, and egomaniac.
2
The irony of Chuck Grassely (who has been publicly called out and caught lying) suggesting that "a liar" can't be trusted is way too rich. It would be humorous were it not sickening.
2
Trump should be studied by the medical community as to how is it ...that he doesn’t drink.
2
@william f bannon i'm not totally sure what you mean. is it "what keeps him from drinking", or, "why does he act like this if he doesn't drink". a person can have the disease without touching a drop of alcohol, with all the wacky behavior that goes with it.
The "hush payments" were, according to Trump, "a simple private transaction" that he made.
While he was running for president. Then he got caught.
That's like saying "well, I decided I don't need a driver's license. It's a simple, private decision" that I made. I immediately go out and drive a car. Then I get caught.
The deliberate breaking of the law is no different in either case. It's the same thing. There's no way to explain it away.
LESSON TO TRUMP: Next time you want to be in a position of power, take a look at everything you've done wrong and over the next year, get the Republican majorities in Congress to change the laws governing the things that you violated. Then when those violations are uncovered, you'll be able to say "well, there's no law against that."
3
Did we elect a president or a dictator? If breaking campaign finance laws is not considered serious enough to indict an offender, then wipe them off the books. Why have campaign finance laws if they are not enforced? What happens if it’s proven that Russia, though the NRA, contributed toward Trump’s presidential campaign? Is it no longer illegal for foreign entities to financially or otherwise contribute toward Unites States political campaigns? If Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator in Mr. Cohen’s campaign-finance crimes, does this mean Donald Trump cannot be indicted because he is a sitting president. If so, why have any pretense at all? Why not simply state that when someone is elected president, he no longer must live under the laws of the Unites States of America, that he is above the law and immune to any form of punishment related to crimes that he may commit while in office. This will be great news to Clinton and the family of Nixon.
25
Dems campaign slogan must be:
“No one is above the Law!”
5
No. Trump tweeting is not him defending himself. That’s him talking to his base. If he wants to “defend” himself he can do it like every citizen has to when facing charges: Under Oath.
9
Thou shalt not commit a simple, private transaction.
5
This simple transaction is money laundering. It is clearly an impeachable offense and there is more to come.
3
Michael Cohen did not plea guilty to paying hush money to influence an election; that’s not illegal. He pleaded guilty to making a contribution in excess of the $2,700 individual limit. He paid Stormy Daniels $130,000. Cohen also pleaded guilty to “causing” a corporation to make an illegal contribution. Cohen persuaded the publisher of the National Inquirer to buy exclusive rights to Karen McDougal’s story, but not publish it.
Trump’s lawyers contend none of these transactions were campaign finance violations because they did not involve campaign money. Cohen billed the Trump Organization—not the Trump campaign—for the $130,000 paid the porn star plus a $50,000 fee. Trump paid through the Trump Organization rather than the Trump Campaign because the FEC has ruled that campaign money cannot be used for expenditures such as hush money, which are expenditures a candidate might make even if he were not a candidate.
The FEC, which has jurisdiction over campaign violations, has known about the hush money payments since November 2016, when the Wall Street Journal broke the story. It apparently agrees with Trump’s lawyers. It has filed no charges against anyone involved in the hush money payments.
5
@William Case Please get in touch with me. I have some swamp land in Florida that's for sale, and I think you might want to invest in it. And I have Holiday Season specials on stock in some prime Venezualian oil fields, investment opportunities in a new movie that will star Kevin Spacey and Bill Cosby, and a few pairs of the latest rose-coloured glasses. Hurry, quantities are limited!
5
@Distant Observer
Your reply doesn't address the issue. If no campaign money was used to make the hush money payments, how can the expenditure be construed as a campaign finance violation.
@Distant Observer - Best post of the day.
If you're ever in Vermont, I would like to buy you a drink.
The notion that this president--or any president-- is above the law and cannot be indicted is absurd. Last I checked this was not a monarchy.
8
Anyone running for office needs to declare up front...
“No one, especially the President, is above the law”.
Enough people on the Edwards jury believed him and he avoided a conviction. It is very questionable whether a jury would believe Trump. He is an avowed liar and has a terrible reputation in New York. I think Trump is at considerable risk of a conviction if tried. An interesting legal question exists as to whether the statute of limitations is suspended while Trump is president.
Also having a crook testify against you did not help Manafort much. So Cohen’s testimony may not be disregarded by a jury.
7
What a lying bigoted racist xenophobic ignorant immature intemperate insecure narcissist misogynist corrupt cowardly craven cruel inhumane selfish excuse for a human being President of the United States Donald John Trump, Sr. is and always has been by nature and nurture.
If only we lived in a divided limited power constitutional republic of united states where the people were the ultimate sovereign we could deal with Trump.
If only we could blame Donald Trump's election on divine royal sanction selection or an armed uniformed military coup we would have an explanation and an excuse for our dilemma.
If only we could blame Donald Trump's election on Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin.
If only we could blame Donald Trump's election on Jeff Bezos and Jeff Zuckerberg and Jeff Sessions.
If only we could blame Donald Trump's election on the 63 million people including 58% of white voters who voted Trump/Pence over Clinton/Kaine knowing exactly who Trump was and was not.
5
@Blackmamba
States, not people, elect presidents, However, the people of each state elect the state legislators who appoint electors to the Electoral College.
2
@William Case That’s why Trump is President of the Electoral College and NOT the American people. Hillary got the most people votes.
2
"A simple private transaction."
Once again, a headline, gives the benefit of doubt to an illegitimate president.
3
Me thinks Melania does not see Trump’s payoffs to his porn star and playboy bunny girlfriends as so “simple”.
2
One can only hope that Mr. Mueller has more than enough other indictable offenses—including but not limited to ibstruction of justice—with which Trump might be charged that these payoffs to the two women seem minor by comparison. I trust that will be the case.
3
While a DOJ memo states that it isn’t normal practice to indict a sitting president, there is nothing in the Constitution, nor any law, that actually prevents it from happening.
If the situation is bad enough, if the evidence is insurmountable and shows that he is continually endangering the US and not fit for office, the DOJ could indict Trump. Especially if the Senate refuses to cooperate if he is impeached. There would need to be around 20 Republicans within the Senate that would vote with the Democrats, which I’m not sure would happen.
So, unless he resigns from office or there’s a large amount of cooperation that we have not seen yet, there is a chance that he may still be indicted. The memo regarding the indictment of a sitting president was created/backed by a DOJ heavily tied to Nixon.
4
@Aerys
Good point. Indict now. Prosecute when he leaves the presidency.
3
When did hush money payment to bury affairs with two women who had information about individual 1 become "a simple private transaction"?
4
That's it? Paid off Stormy? It costs 30 million to find out what half the members in congress do every day?
Where's Russia in all f this? Did Putin hire Stormy?
3
Unless there is a tape recording of Trump admitting to his soon to be disbarred lawyer that the NDA is a crime, there is no proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Full stop. Cohen's self serving admissions were meant for a headline only and of course the willing democrat media lap dogs like the NY Times sopped it up without scrutiny. This is a fake crime that the judge should never have accepted a plea for because it takes two, not one, to conspire. Hey Lanny...nice job pal. Your client is facing 4 years in federal lock up. A first year law student could have gotten that "deal."
4
Sure, it may not be beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law but my mother did not raise a fool. He’s guilty and the mid-terms are just the beginning of the verdict and sentence given by the American people.
8
America is just so sick and tired of the daily cesspool of lies by this depraved and demented president.
When will this spineless GOP Congress stand up and call Trump out for his constant lies and his vile attempts to
undermine our intelligence agencies, our revered institutions and our respected allies?
When are you going to stop this total MADNESS, Mitch McConnell???
You are destroying our nation!
2
Here’s quite possibly the best get-out-the-vote message of all time for Democratic voters; the very real possibility that if Donald Trump does not get re-elected in 2020 he could end up in jail. Pure manna!
Vote for justice!!!
11
And what would trump have said if this were Hillary? Is there a shred of doubt? LOCK HIM UP!
8
A simple private transaction is buying socks from eBay, not paying women who had sex with you not to talk about it.
21
Follow the money.
4
President Trump is lying.
He is done.
If the democrats are smart they will leverage the threat of impeachment to pass laws benefiting the people.
5
The House should go ahead and start impeachment proceedings against Trump as soon as possible.
Why would we allow an indicted felon to create even more chaos and continue his obvious efforts to endanger our nation’s national security and undermine our rule of law.
Every effort should be made to remove this fraud, called Trump, from office as soon as possible.
1
"A simple financial transaction"--yeah, and an illegal one at that.
The problem with all this is that, in the eyes of those on whom the responsibility for conviction lies, this is a shallow, "nothingburger" of a charge.
It's going to take more than lover-silence payments to convince the Senate and/or the American people. That's because this president and his legal team operate in a fairy tale world where they can simply make up law.
It's clear that instead of harping on campaign finance laws, which in this day and age of civic corruption aren't assumed serious, we should wait for the full Mueller report.
This country does not yet have a clear picture of who did what during the 2016 campaign, who directed it, and who covered it up. Until we are told the full story, trying to assess the legal jeopardy of this president is useless.
Bread crumbs from the Mueller filings make great fodder for TV pundits and presidential tweets--but I think they are diverting us from the larger picture of how the Russians, potentially in tandem with the president's campaign, defrauded US voters in 2016.
12
I ask you how many times has the story changed? First, no knowledge, then at least 2 different explanations. The end game is coming for "Individual 1" and I can't wait to see it. "Individual 1" is going to blow a gasket eventually. He's beginning to lose it already. He's in trouble. Mueller definitely has more, what has been shown is only the tip of the iceberg. This administration will go down as one of the most corrupt in American history.
25
DJT just keeps digging the hole deeper and deeper. He seems not to be able to help himself. All for the greater good.
10
The bad news is that Individual-1 can't stop babbling. The good news is that Individual-1 can't stop babbling.
He spills evidence on the floor like a baby spills Cheerios. We don't even need Mueller to get evidence he did something bad, just a sufficiently powered Roomba.
9
Ain't it great we have such a stand-up guy for president?
10
Had he not been running for office the payments would have been made? Please...?
13
Is Pres. Individual-1 so totally clueless that he just publicy admitted to his part in this illegal activity? "Private transaction?" Phooey!
Even his devoted MAGA-ites can clearly see that he obviously acknowledged his guilt in this tweet, even if they don't want to believe it!
6
@wysiwyg
Holy Smock! Trump repeatedly claimed that he knew nothing about the hush money payment. Now, this "Simple private transaction" is for services that he received from these two women. Trump just can't keep his lies straight
8
Let me get this straight. We've got a sick clown of a 'president' telling us that illegal acts are legal as long as he is the one ordering them, and high-level Republicans are making excuses for his criminal activities.
Trump's rise in life grew on the base of his father's hundreds of millions in seed money, which grew into a vast fortune due to manipulations by crafty lawyers and accountants. None of them ever had any concerns about ethics, least of all Trump, and all were quite comfortable in the grey areas of the law. Now Trump has a much bigger 'base' and he's going to use it.
The man is nothing more than a huge, parasitic siphon.
34
You forgot to ad the part where the self proclaimed really smart guy's seed money turned into, how many bankruptcies ?
8
38% of American voters continue to accept the alternate reality constructed by Trump in his evolving Bannon/Evola-infected "mind."
The remainder of the USA's voters know that "even if it was a civil offense," lying about it in sworn Federal testimony and covering it up with those lies is a felony. Conspiring to do so with the liar is also a felony.
Mr. President, the ride back to reality will be a bumpy one, hang on. It's no longer the simple world of a corrupt NYC landlord or reality TV.
9
Another day, more lies. More deception. More "the world and the facts are no match for ME!" Please make it stop.
8
No one would sleep with Trump without the possibility of payment.
35
Quote from today's article:
Though it is rare to charge a politician with campaign-finance crimes over hush-money payments to mistresses,
Really? Why not? How could that NOT be a campaign crime??
And it's "rare". How often has it happened????? Why isn'tTHAT a story! Discouraging.
5
What else is this lifetime crook and conman going to say, we have the goods, we have the investigators just wait until you see all the results of the Muller team and SDNY .
Let him say whatever he wants and IMHO make it even worse for himself and his family , be patient.
3
If course it was a.simple financial transaction. One that Trump did in a regular basis, at least two or three times a year for the last thirty or forty years.
7
I enjoy as much as anyone dissecting the details and examining under a microscope, and I am impatient for it to come to an end. But this all seems a bit premature. There will be more, much more. Expecting a resolution based on this information gives the impression it's all they have and his supporters will push back even more. When the big picture comes into focus, the way forward will be very clear.
11
What a North Carolina jury found or didn’t find with regard to John Edwards shouldn’t give too much comfort to Donald Trump facing a jury from Manhattan and the Bronx.
35
I find it amazing that the law and order GOP has decided that campaign finance laws are no big thing so its OK to break them. Where are all those people that want to enforce the letter of the law for immigration, pot, minor drug deals etc.?
48
Simple, private transaction?
1. Why did the lawyer for a billionaire have to get a second mortgage to procure $130K?
2. Why did a shell corporation have to be created for the payments?
3. Why did it take months, and much pleading by said lawyer, to be repaid?
4. Why did it take the involvement of the Trump organization CFO to initiate repayments?
5. Why were the repayments structured in $36K amounts, and marked as retainer?
6. Why was the total amount of the repayment grossed up?
It’s plain to see that everyone involved went to great lengths to avoid having this “simple, private transaction” ever see the light of day.
185
@DoTheMath
This is a great example of facts that Trump followers do not comprehend, but then again they don't like to read- just like their idol.
10
Has Trump paid any hush money in the past, prior to becoming a candidate. Because if so, it is about his personal life and no attempt to influence voters. Or both?
5
Trump quickly distances himself from former close friends and has no hesitation in throwing them under the bus in attempting to save himself. This raises the question of whom, in his inner circle, would Trump spare when push comes to shove from Mueller's investigation. Obviously, he'll blame Giuliani and every lawyer currently protecting him. Kushner is dead meat too. Dopey Eric and Don Jnr might be cast adrift, to protect the Trump family fortune. Ivanka? Your guess is as good as mine.
19
@Stan La Vin - Which raises the question, "How many people can Spanky throw under a bus when the wheels are coming off?"
6
"A simple private transaction."
Just like handing over cash in a brown paper bag. To hide negative info that could doom your chances in an election.
64
Impeachment would indeed be a waste of time, seeing there's no chance of conviction. Please, House Dems, work on undoing the damage Trump has done and blocking what he intends to do, like gutting our environmental protections.
Citizen Dems need to find a candidate for President who will win and quickly.
52
I find it a bit tiresome to fixate on the rather minor campaign finance violations considering the major criminal and treasonous offenses waiting to be exposed. Proof of collusion with Russian operatives is likely. So is evidence of U.S. foreign policy being tailored to placate financial sources in Russia and Saudi Arabia to the benefit of Trump, along with criminal disregard of the emoluments clause.
I'm quite sure there are more than what I've just listed off the top of my head.
14
@Alan R Brock: Mueller's been around DC a long time. Lets hope this is strategic: The Stormy payments are the shiny object for team Trump and the cable talking heads, while Mueller continues to pursue,relatively unobstructed, the more significant offenses. I could be wrong, but that's my thought, particularly when Mueller turned it over to the NY federal prosecutors.
19
Trump has admitted that he paid hush money to two women with whom he had an affair to silence them. To make sure that these embarrassing disclosures would not go public and hurt his election prospects. And it worked. Whether worthy of impeachment or indictment one thing is clear. Trump cheated to win the election. His presidency is NOT legitimate. 2020 can not come soon enough.
77
Quite apart from whether Trump faces any criminal liability for these campaign violations, it would be a disaster for House Democrats to bring an impeachment case based on the charges. First, they don’t have the votes in the Senate to convict, so impeachment would be a Pyrrhic victory. But they would almost certainly reap political blowback, because the Special Counsel investigation is so thoroughly tied to interference by Russia and collusion by the Trump campaign that if there is no Russia-related element to impeachment, at least 40% of the electorate — Trump’s base, and perhaps some skeptical independents— would conclude that the investigation was indeed a witch hunt. And Democrats hoping to gain the Senate and the presidency in 2020 certainly do not need that. Even if by some miracle Trump were impeached and convicted, that would leave us with a President Pence. Does anyone seriously want that result?
21
@Ockham9
Don’t count on the blowback. Trump may be despised by 60% or more of the voting public.
4
My understanding is that Mr. Cohen allegedly set up shell corporations from which to disburse the payments to the president’s lovers. This is not mentioned in the article. I believe that using these shell corporations distinguishes this case from the Edwards case. I also believe that using these shell corporations gives lie to Sen. Thune’s assertion that the Trump campaign didn’t know what it was doing. The president’s continued apparent lies about this matter also suggest to me that he and his colleagues understand that this matter should remain concealed from scrutiny.
86
You are 100% correct.
18
That Republicans stand by this sad excuse for a president is to their everlasting shame. He disgraces them, himself, and the nation daily. That’s on top of being lazy and incompetent. In a sane world with sane political leaders, he would be removed from office and that would be that.
130
@Orange Nightmare
The GOP political leaders are thrilled with our criminal president because he is doing everything possible to tear away all obstacles in the way of increasing corporate profits and the corporate leaders are the bosses of the GOP political leaders.
3