LOS ANGELES.–President Donald Trump, 77, bit his tongue, grimaced and looked on in disgust as 45-year-old Stormy Daniels, AKA Susan Clifford, gave sordid details about her alleged affair with the former president. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, 50, wants to prove to a jury that Trump covered up his affair by cooking his books to make a hush money payment in 2016 by his former Atty. Michael Cohen, now a disbarred convicted felon, pay her $130,000 in what prosecutors claim was a scheme to buy her silence before the 2016 presidential election, violating campaign finance and election laws. With all the direct and cross examination, it’s obvious that Daniels has an ax to grind against Trump, whether the affair happened or not. Whether that affair really happened, Daniels tried to shop her story to various news outlets, eventually settling for a $130,000 payment from Trump.
Bragg’s case against Trump for violating New York State bookkeeping rules, attempts to prove that Trump cooked his books to show that the $130,000 payment was a legal expense paid to Cohen. Trump’s 76-year-old former accountant Alan Weisselberg paid Cohen $420,000 for legal services, in effective reimbursing him for the $130,000 payment to Stormy. Weisselberg pled guilty in 2022 and served 100 days in Riker’s Island jail in Manhattan for income tax evasion, receiving cash, tuition payments from Trump, including free apartment rentals. Weisselberg was convicted agains on two counts of perjury for false statements made in depositions on other matters related to Trump. But when it comes to a payment by Cohen to Stormy, what else other than a legal expense was Cohen’s payment? Daniels wanted money to keep her affair with Trump on the Q.T?
Jurors sit and listen to the prosecution’s case of illegal bookkeeping, charging Trump with 34 felonies for recording his payment to Stormy as legal fees. But if Trump retained Cohen to deal with various problems, what else could the payment to Daniels be? Trump simply told Cohen to deal with a problem related to a women claiming she had a sexual liaison some 10 years before her ran for president. When the 2016 election rolled around, of course didn’t want some random women to go public with damaging allegations about a tryst at a time in 2006 his wife Melania was pregnant with his son Barron. Whatever the circumstance in 2006, it came back to haunt Trump before the 2016 presidential election. Whether Trump paid Stormy to help his campaign or spare his wife and family any embarrassment, it was still a legal expense to Cohen to take care of the matter.
No jury can dig into the weeds about past or current campaign or election law, trying to buy Bragg’s case that Trump’s accountant cooked the Trump Organization’s books to record the payout to Stormy Daniels as a legal expense. What other type of expense would it be regarded as, extortion or blackmail? Either way, it was a matter for his personal attorney to handle at the time. So, when it comes to a jury processing the bookkeeping technicalities or a legal expense v. some other kind of expense, no jury can be expected to make that kind of determination. Listening to Stormy Daniels confirm she had an affair with Trump in 2006 offers a bizarre disconnect to the current criminal trial against Trump in 2024, 18 years removed from the alleged incident. Regardless of how prosecutors presents the facts, the jury can only conclude the payment to Stormy was indeed a legal expense.
Jurors listens to Daniels testimony trying to figure out what kind of crime was committed when Trump’s former attorney took care of what amounts to a nuisance case. Stormy admitted in testimony that she “hated” Trump and wanted to see him “go to jail.” But why would she hold such animus toward Trump for a brief consensual encounter in 2006? Trump attorney Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles have shown the jury that Stormy had an ax to grind, a kind of vendetta against Trump. Stormy should have more contempt for her former Atty. Michael Avenatti, a disbarred, convicted felon sitting in prison for ripping her off of her book advance and other clients of their trust funds. So, why does Stormy have any animus against Trump, unless of course she’s working on behalf of the Democratic National Committee trying to sabotage Trump’s 2024 campaign?
Next up on the witness stand will be Cohen who plans to show that Trump ordered him to pay off Stormy to buy her silence before the 2016 presidential election. Cohen has been convicted of perjury, income tax evasion, illegal NYC taxi medallion sales, bank and wire fraud and other felonies. Jurors are entitled to know his history, including how he regularly appears as a hostile witness against Trump on CNN and MSNBC, as the two cable networks prosecute their case against Trump over the airwaves. Judge Juan Merchan sanctions Trump for violating a gag order but says nothing about star witnesses Stormy and Cohen who routinely appear on national TV to denounce Trump. Jurors with any common sense will figure out that you can’t put Cohen under oath to say anything credible because he’s already served time for perjury and other felonies. Yet that’s Bragg’s case against Trump.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
