Why Trump should win his NY hush money trial

Yes, because that's analogous to paying off a porn star for their silence so you "protect your reputation" with voters. You can easily shield yourself by having your lawyer make the payment and then by lying that the reimbursement is attorneys fees. Just don't use the campaign account and it's super legal!

How in the **** can you guys be so naive?

 

@yardmeat
@Nemesis
And yet..... you can not show us the check from Trump to Stormy.. you have failed to show the connection...yet we have actual evidence it never happened in the first place

https://twitter.com/DC_Draino/status/1778074499620934135/photo/1

 

We have the check to Stormy already. You are the only one in the Milky Way pretending it doesn't exist. While I applaud you mimicking your avatar for humor's sake, it isn't worth addressing. He made the payment. He admits to making the payment. Your refusal to join us in reality is not my problem.

 

@yardmeat
@Nemesis

Please show us the check from Trump to Stormy... it was a "loan".... just like in the other cases we have seen in the past...

""A letter from Stephen M. Ryan, counsel for Michael Cohen, to Jeff Jordan, the Assistant General Counsel at the Complaints Examination & Legal Administration for the Federal Election Commission, reveals ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen paid Stephanie Clifford, AKA Stormy Daniels, from his personal funds; “neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was party.”"

https://hannity.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/McDermott.pdf
https://hannity.com/media-room/hann...-from-2018-blows-up-braggs-case-clears-trump/

 

One of the general tests is if not for the campaign, would this still be an expense. But, the FEC has direct rules about food, meals, legal expenses, etc. As you said, if you buy pizza for an event, that is fine. But if you want to buy yourself a personal meal, that's a no. John Edwards got into some hot water for haircuts because they have a personal benefit and aren't solely for the benefit of the campaign. The safest way to treat campaign funds is to ensure the expenditures go towards expenses that are solely to benefit your campaign. Otherwise, you're at the mercy of the FEC and a politicized DOJ to interpret the expense on your behalf.

People whining about the NDA are missing two key points:
1. It had a high value for his personal and professional image outside of the campaign.
2. Cohen paid for the settlement directly and then billed for it, so even if it was a campaign donation, it's Cohen's liability similar to Dinesh D'Souza.

 

""We have the check to Stormy already."" Great .... show us the check from Trump to Stormy... quite stalling... let's see it... Cohen had an affair with Stormy... no biggy there.... he paid her... no biggy... did it say loan payment on the bottom?

 

If you want to call it a loan you can call it a loan. But, if it was a loan for campaign purposes, it broke several laws. Catch up. Pretending that you don't get it is getting old.

 

It is impossible to pretend you are being earnest at this point.

 

No it's not because that's a federal issue, and the FEC and DOJ disagree with you. This is a state court and they have no jurisdiction over federal campaign finance reporting.

 

"We have the check to Stormy already."
your claim @yardmeat ....
Show us the check...

 

Yes.. a misdemeanor that has an expired statute of limitations...

 

It is. Feel free to disagree with the reasoning, but it is dumber than a box of hair to pretend this isn't a campaign finance case.

 

The moment that you are not the only person in this galaxy pretending that Trump didn't make the payment, when Trump himself admits to paying it, I'll consider entertaining your request. Until then, I can only assume it is a dishonest request.

 

Why is a state DA trying a fedral crime?

Cohen is a Russian agent colluding between the Trump campaign and Pootin...

 

They aren't. Read the indictment. It's a state crime. Please ask good faith questions. The bad faith ones are getting old.

 

"We have the check to Stormy already."
are you going to show us the check to Stormy or not?

 

It is a federal issue. The FEC and DOJ disagree with you...

 

The charges are state. It's in the indictment. The FEC and DOJ do not disagree that the charges are state charges. Please try being honest.

 

The moment that you are not the only person in this galaxy pretending that Trump didn't make the payment, when Trump himself admits to paying it, I'll consider entertaining your request. Until then, I can only assume it is a dishonest request.

 

@yardmeat

excellent article..

1) The core crime alleged, falsifying business records, is a misdemeanor (past the statute of limitations).

2) To turn the misdemeanor into a felony, Bragg had to claim that Trump falsified records in the act of committing another crime — but Bragg has not charged Trump with any other crime.

3) Bragg “stacked” the charges to come up with 34 felony counts against Trump based on what was essentially one payoff.

4) Bragg’s effort to boost the case from misdemeanor to felony depends on a highly debatable reading of campaign finance law.

5) Bragg’s star witness Michael Cohen is, in the New York Times’s words, “a disbarred lawyer who served prison time after pleading guilty to violating campaign finance laws, evading taxes, making false statements to a bank, and lying to Congress.”


https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/daily-memo/2964082/the-anti-trump-dream-come-true/

 

This is not a complicated case. Let me break it down for you so you at least have the basics to go off of. Bragg cannot prosecute a federal crime and is not the FEC. He cannot prosecute alleged federal campaign crimes.

This case is entirely about Bragg alleging that Cohen charged Trump a "retainer" fee to reimburse himself for the settlement he came to on his behalf with people who were illegally extorting him (they are not being charged for extortion). Bragg is prosecuting Trump, claiming it should have said it was a "hush money" fee. The problem is celebrities in NY have been similarly paying for NDAs to provide privacy forever. The other problem is that the statute of limitations for this minor offense has expired. The only way he could prosecute this was to claim it was a felony because it was in furtherance of another crime. That other "crime" is allegedly a federal crime that Biden's highly politicized DOJ has already rejected.

Just like the Supreme Court recently told Colorado and Maine trying to remove Trump from a ballot by claiming he committed a federal crime, a state court cannot come to the conclusion that a person committed a federal crime unless it came from the feds. That is a violation of someone's due process rights. They have a right to bring evidence and fight those allegations in a federal court using the appropriate rules of evidence and due process before their rights can be taken from them. That is not possible in a state court with no authority to do such things and in which they have no experience.

 

"We have the check to Stormy already."
either produce the check or stop posting you have the check....

 

Bragg is not prosecuting a federal crime. Catch up.

 

he is prosecuting a state misdemeanor than has ran out the statute of limitations..

 

The charges say otherwise. See the indictment.