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Items tagged with: StormyDaniels
On his 3rd day of testimony, #Pecker, the fmr #NationalEnquirer publisher, described his involvement in the #CatchAndKill of the stories of 2 women who claimed to have had sex w/ #Trump: #KarenMcDougal, a Playboy model, & #StormyDaniels, the porn star whose 2016 #HushMoney payoff forms the basis of the #criminal case.
#Trump is charged w/falsifying 34 business records to cover up a $130k payment to #StormyDaniels, who has said they had a sexual encounter in 2006 & was shopping that story in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump denies the charges & ever having had sex w/ either woman.
He could face probation or prison if convicted.
#Pecker testified that as part of the #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #AMI paid #KarenMcDougal $150k for her story, w/no intention of ever publishing it.
Pecker expected repayment from #Trump. He asked #MichaelCohen who would handle it, & Cohen responded, “The boss will take care of it.”
Because Pecker had such a hard time getting Trump to pay, he was unwilling to buy the 3rd story: #StormyDaniels’s.
“I am not a bank,” Pecker recalled saying.
#Pecker suggested that #MichaelCohen buy #StormyDaniels's story, leading to the #HushMoney deal, repayments & records at issue.
The prosecution’s discussion of the deal w/ #KarenMcDougal —brokered in summer 2016— demonstrated that the payment was part of a #conspiracy to #influence that year’s #election.
Pecker said that McDougal’s payment was disguised as a contract for services, to avoid violating #CampaignFinance #laws.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #ElectionInterference #CatchAndKill
#USpol #Legal #Trump #FediLaw #StormyDaniels
Who is missing the irony of today's birthday wishes by #TFG to #Melania? 😅🤣
"Former President Trump is sending a long-distance birthday message to his wife, Melania, straight from the New York City courthouse where he's on trial in his hush money case. "I want to start by wishing my wife, Melania, a very happy birthday," Trump said in brief remarks..."
(Note: pic was digitally altered, but is so fitting)
https://www.snopes.com/list/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-rumors/
9 Wild Rumors About the Donald Trump-Stormy Daniels Affair
Sometimes it feels as though the internet is one gigantic tabloid gossip sheet.David Emery (Snopes.com)
Because #Pecker had such a hard time getting #Trump to reimburse him, he was later unwilling to buy a third story, #StormyDaniels's story of having had sex w/Trump. Thus, #MichaelCohen bought her story instead, leading us straight to the #criminal charges at issue.
#law #TrumpTrial #GagOrder #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#MichaelCohen, who was then #Trump's #fixer, would later set up a similarly named company, #EssentialConsultants, to #payoff #StormyDaniels.
Lots of evidence per the disguised monetary transactions related to the #KarenMcDougal deal. But most of the #jurors are still paying close attention, turning their heads from the prosecutor, Joshua #Steinglass, to the #witness, #Pecker, & back again.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #GagOrder #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
Some key characters are being introduced now, including #StormyDaniels, aka #StephanieClifford, whom Pecker identifies as a porn star. #Steinglass asks Pecker: “How do you know of her?” Then he laughs & says he’ll ask the question in a different way. He takes a slightly safer approach, & Pecker begins to describe how his employees came to be in contact w/ #Daniels.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Pecker describes an urgent call from The #NationalEnquirer's editor, #DylanHoward, in Oct 2016, in which he was informed that #StormyDaniels was shopping a story of a sexual affair w/ #Trump for $120k.
Trump is subdued & not exhibiting much emotion as Stormy Daniels comes up. But the stress of the moment is more apparent on his lead lawyer, Todd #Blanche, who crossed his arms over his chest after she was brought up.
#Pecker says he didn’t want The #NationalEnquirer associated w/a porn star [puhlease, what it might soil their stellar journalistic reputation?], meaning #StormyDaniels, because one of the tabloid's biggest distributors was Walmart, where a lot of families shop.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial #GagOrder #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
Testimony about #StormyDaniels picks up, & #Trump is getting more animated.
The #jury seems rapt as the Daniels tale starts to unspool.
As #Pecker testifies about conversations he & #MichaelCohen had about Daniels, he keeps his eyes glued to the exhibit & to the prosecutors. Reportedly he has not glanced at Trump once.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Pecker is now describing a post-election meeting he had w/ #MichaelCohen at #Trump Tower. Pecker said Cohen told him he had not been reimbursed for his payment to #StormyDaniels. Cohen, who also wanted to be paid a bonus for the year, asked Pecker “if I [Pecker] would talk to the boss on his behalf.”
#criminal #law #DeadBeat #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney #MobTactics #NodFarter
Start of #TrumpTrial testimony day3 (I’m not counting jury selection or off days) 🧵
#Tabloid Publisher #DavidPecker to Resume Testimony
#Pecker, the longtime publisher of The #NationalEnquirer, is expected to return to the stand & describe the #HushMoney deal w/ #StormyDaniels at the heart of the case, in which #Trump is charged w/ 34 #felonies.
#criminal #law #CatchAndKill #FakeNews #ElectionInterference
#Blanche said that #StormyDaniels’s "testimony, while salacious, does not matter.”
Blanche equated the "#CatchAndKill" scheme w/The #NationalEnquirer, to ordinary editorial decisions made by newspapers, portraying the practice just how news outlets operate, NOT TRUE.
Blanche used the term "catch & kill" mockingly. Whether his tone lands depends on the jurors: some may agree it’s overblown, others may see it as akin to #StateMedia #propaganda.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial
Then #Blanche turned to #StormyDaniels, who he says is also "biased" against #Trump. He narrated their meeting, saying at the time, Trump was working on a ”very popular” tv show called "The Apprentice."
"Ms. Clifford has made a life off these communications," Blanche says, attacking Daniels by her government name, Stephanie Clifford. He said the money she made from the Cohen payoff was pure opportunism on her part, & that she has made a lot more money since.
#criminal #law #Trump #TrumpTrial
#Blanche made it clear that the #defense will continue to deny that #Trump had sex w/ #StormyDaniels.
Blanche called #MichaelCohen a "#criminal." [no duh. Criminals deal w/other criminals, yet point?]
Blanche continued: "He's obsessed w/President Trump even to this day.”
Blanche said Cohen demonstrated that obsession in his public interviews, & “his desire to see President Trump go to prison."
#law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #conspiracy #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
#Colangelo depicted #MichaelCohen as a flawed man who has lied before, saying he lied about the payment to #StormyDaniels initially "to protect his boss."
"This case is about a #criminal #conspiracy & a #coverup," Colangelo says, st the start of his conclusion of his opening statement, adding that at the end of the case, jurors will have no #ReasonableDoubt about #Trump's #guilt.
#criminal #law #TrumpTrial #CatchAndKill #ElectionInterference #HushMoney
Finished w/describing the series of payoffs, #Colangelo details the part the #criminal charges stem from. He is describing the paperwork arrangement to reimburse #MichaelCohen for the #HushMoney payment he made to #StormyDaniels, & how #Trump & #AllenWeisselberg, sought to “disguise” the repayment.
There were chuckles in the courtroom as Colangelo says Trump was a "very frugal businessman" who watched all the spending at his empire.
"Another story about sexual infidelity, especially w/ a porn star, on the heels of the '#AccessHollywood' tape, could have been devastating to his campaign," #Colangelo says of the #StormyDaniels story. He says that "w/pressure mounting & Election Day fast approaching, Donald #Trump agreed to the #payoff & directed #Cohen to proceed."
Colangelo says Trump told Cohen to drag out paying Daniels, in the hopes of getting past the #election & then not paying her at all.
#Colangelo says that jurors will hear #Trump, in his own voice, urging the money be repaid in cash. This doesn't connect Trump to the actual #crime, which only relates to a payment to #StormyDaniels. But it suggests a pattern of behavior.
Colangelo is now describing the emergence of the "#AccessHollywood" tape on Oct 7, 2016, beginning w/ email outreach to Trump spox #HopeHicks. Colangelo reads aloud the worst of Trump’s language, bragging about grabbing women's genitals.
#TrumpTrial has begun
#Trump’s #criminal trial for falsifying business records during the 2016 presidential campaign to hide an extramarital affair that occurred while his 4th(?) wife was pregnant from his majority #evangelical #Christian #electorate; to that end he arranged an illegal & financially fraudulent #HushMoney pay-off to the adult-film actress #StormyDaniels.
Once the prosecutor & Trump’s #legal team have outlined their cases to the jury, the 1st witnesses will be called.
#law
Via Kyle Cheney:
Judge MERCHAN has denied #Trump's effort to subpoena NBC for details of the new #StormyDaniels documents.
The judge said Trump has not met the "very heavy burden" to "rifle through the privileged documents of a news orgarization." #legal
https://nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/pdfs/DecisionOnMotion-Quash4-5-24.pdf
