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Tag: hush money
Ron DeSantis

Trump Allies Blasting DeSantis Over Remarks On 'Porn Star Hush Money'

On March 20, presumed presidential candidate and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to a question about former President Donald Trump’s potential indictment with common conservative messaging, saying the Manhattan district attorney involved is a “Soros-funded prosecutor” who is imposing “a political agenda on society.” But some of DeSantis’ other commentary lit pro-Trump media up in fury.

In the middle of attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, DeSantis also said, “Look, I don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair." DeSantis’ drive-by comment, about the reason Trump is rumored to be facing indictment, echoes years of liberal and mainstream criticism of Trump. He also indicated that he would not get involved in the potential indictment “in any way,” saying that he was instead focused on “real issues.”

The governor’s commentary led to a flood of Trump supporters condemning his “catastrophic miscalculation” and “pure weakness.”

Although some of these pro-Trump voices still express appreciation for DeSantis, his comments have fueled the growing sense in some right-wing media circles that “he is establishment and will be a major disappointment to those who think otherwise.” The response to DeSantis' comments is more proof that media allies of Trump and DeSantis are moving toward open war.

    • On Real America's Voice’s War Room, host Steve Bannon and radio host John Fredericksattacked DeSantis for his comments, with Bannon claiming it was “not an acceptable response” and Fredericks calling DeSantis’ statement “one of the most unbelievable, feckless, weasel, consultant-driven responses in a crisis you've ever heard.”
    • On Twitter, Donald Trump Jr. took particular offense to DeSantis claiming the possible indictment is not a “real issue” and called his comments “pure weakness,” claiming the governor is “totally owned by Karl Rove, Paul Ryan & his billionaire donors.”
    • Trump’s other son, Eric Trump, also took to Twitter to claim that when “they do the exact same thing to him, his friends and his family,” DeSantis will “neither have the backbone, nor the resources” to defend himself against the “corrupt system.” He also said DeSantis is “not the guy I thought he was.”
    • Conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiecshared a video of the comments, highlighting DeSantis’ pledge to not get involved with the investigation. Posobiec also tweeted “Et tu, Brute?” seemingly in reference to DeSantis’ comments.
    • After wishing DeSantis well, far-right troll Mike Cernovichcalled the speech a “catastrophic miscalculation” that was “disappointing to me.” Cernovich claimed the incident would make it “easier for me to remain objective” moving forward in the 2024 presidential race.
    • Daily Wire host Candace Owensclaimed on Twitter that the Florida governor's supporters “saw things in DeSantis that were never there.” In another tweet, Owens praised DeSantis for handling COVID-19 “correctly and bravely” but said he is “not America first.”
    • Blaze Media host Steve Deacetweeted a short essay that called DeSantis “the best and most successful GOP politician of modern times” but also relayed his hope that DeSantis makes a stronger statement backing Trump.
    • Failed Republican House candidate and anti-Muslim troll Laura Loomerclaimed DeSantis mocked Trump by stating he “doesn’t know much about paying porn stars off” and used the barb to address DeSantis’ supposed “shorter prison sentences for Child porn crimes.”
    • Conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souzatweeted his disappointment about the back-and-forth attacks between Trump and DeSantis and claimed DeSantis should have realized the Trump investigation and possible arrest “has NOTHING to do with paying off a porn star.”
    • Daily Wire host Matt Walshcalled the statement from DeSantis “not good.” Walsh called his decision to not back Trump more forcefully in light of the potential indictment an “unforced error here.”
    • Revolver News owner Darren Beattieimplied that DeSantis’ statement showed he is lacking “good political instincts.” Beattie said about the comments, “This is bad.”
    • Right-wing activist Raheem Kassamtweeted “Woooooow” about DeSantis suggesting the potential arrest is “not a ‘real issue.’”

    Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

    Congress Will Probe Trump 2016 Hush Payments To Women

    Congress Will Probe Trump 2016 Hush Payments To Women

    Trump’s role in hush money payments to mistresses prior to the 2016 election could be an impeachable offense, Democrats told the Washington Post on Monday.

    The House Judiciary Committee is planning on looking into how Trump directed payments to silence Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, two of Trump’s mistresses.

    “The fingerprints are all over this one — it’s not like a big mystery,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, told the Post. “And now it’s left to Congress again to figure out what to do with the lawbreaking and apparent impunity of the president.”

    In the lead-up to the 2016 election, Trump directed Michael Cohen, who was at that time his personal attorney and fixer, to arrange hush money payments to both McDougal and Daniels so they would not speak about their affairs with Trump. McDougal was paid $150,000 and Daniels was paid $130,000.

    Payments to McDougal went through AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, and amounted to an illegal campaign contribution. Cohen made payments to Daniels, and was reimbursed by the Trump organization, including checks signed by Trump himself.

    Trump himself admitted to authorizing the hush money payments in May 2018, saying Cohen arranged for a nondisclosure agreement to be made.

    According to Trump’s own Justice Department, this activity was a felony, because the payments were made to influence the 2016 election. Cohen pleaded guilty to arranging the hush money payments in a plea agreement with the Southern District of New York, which was one of the charges that landed him in prison for three years.

    In testimony before Congress, Cohen admitted he carried out the hush money payments at the direction of Trump.

    In February, Cohen said he “pled guilty in federal court to felonies for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in coordination with Individual #1. For the record: Individual #1 is President Donald J. Trump.”

    The House Judiciary Committee plans on hearings into Trump’s role as soon as October, according to the Post. Witnesses could include AMI employees involved in the scheme.

    The investigation is in addition to inquiries about Trump’s obstruction of justice efforts outlined in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. While Mueller laid out evidence of 10 possible instances of obstruction of justice by Trump, the Judiciary Committee is already looking closely into five of them. The hush money payments will be the sixth offense.

    The majority of House Democrats want to open an impeachment inquiry into Trump, and a look at Trump’s role in an illegal hush money scheme could provide even more evidence of Trump’s lack of fitness for office.

    Published with permission of The American Independent.

    Schiff: Court Papers Show Trump Could Have Been Charged

    Schiff: Court Papers Show Trump Could Have Been Charged

    Reprinted with permission from Alternet

    New evidence emerged Thursday related to the campaign finance crime that helped put former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen in prison. A judge unsealed court documents in the case, indicating that the investigation has concluded and revealing extensive communications between Cohen, then-candidate Donald Trump, and campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks.

    According to House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, the new materials show that were Trump not the president, “he would be criminally charged as Cohen’s co-conspirator.”

    “The documents unsealed in the SDNY case against Michael Cohen demonstrate that Donald Trump was intimately involved in devising and executing a corrupt scheme to prevent his affair with Stormy Daniels from being revealed in the final weeks of the 2016 election,” Schiff said. “They show that contrary to his public statements for months afterwards seeking to distance himself from the payments that were made to Daniels, and another woman, Karen McDougal, he authorized the illegal payment of hush money, and coordinated doing so with his attorney, Cohen, and his Press Secretary, Hope Hicks.”

    He added: “The inescapable conclusion from all of the public materials available now is that there was ample evidence to charge Donald Trump with the same criminal election law violations for which Michael Cohen pled guilty and is now serving time in prison.”

    Schiff noted that Attorney General Bill Barr’s ties to the investigation conducted out of the Southern District of New York should be scrutinized. Barr, Schiff pointed out, has already testified publicly that he believes it is acceptable for the president to shut down an investigation of himself if he thinks it’s “unfair.”

    “Barr has demonstrated there are no lengths to which he will not go to protect the President, and I believe it is of paramount importance to determine if he had any involvement in the SDNY’s investigation or sought to bring it to a close,” Schiff said.

    Trump has denied having affairs with McDougal and Daniels. He also denied knowing about the hush money, but the evidence strongly suggests — and Cohen has testified — that that is false.

    Cohen is serving three years in prison in part for his participation in the hush money payments. Because the payments were intended to help Trump’s chances in the election and were therefore campaign contributions, campaign finance law requires that they should have been formally reported. Instead, Cohen has admitted, they were illegally concealed.

    New Documents Indicate Trump Knew About Hush Payments

    New Documents Indicate Trump Knew About Hush Payments

    Unsealed FBI documents show concrete links between Trump, Michael Cohen, Hope Hicks, and criminal hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.

    New documents unsealed on Thursday show Trump and his longtime attorney Michael Cohen exchanging a flurry of phone calls in October 2016, around the time Cohen made criminal hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, one of Trump’s mistresses, NBC News reports.

    The phone calls, not all of which involved Trump, also included Trump advisers Hope Hicks and Kellyanne Conway, as well as high-level staff for American Media, the parent company of the National Enquirer.

    “Based on the timing of these calls, and the content of the text messages and emails, I believe that at least some of these communications concerned the need to prevent Clifford [Daniels’s legal name] from going public, particularly in the wake of the Access Hollywood story,” one FBI agent wrote.

    The “Access Hollywood” tape showed Trump making vulgar comments, including admitting to being a serial sexual predator who would grab women “by the pussy” when he felt like it. In the wake of the scandal, the Trump campaign scrambled to keep at least two of Trump’s mistresses from talking about their affairs with Trump.

    Trump has long denied any knowledge of the $130,000 hush money payment Cohen made to purchase Daniels’ silence in the closing weeks of the 2016 campaign. But the new document cast doubt on Trump’s veracity.

    In December 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to making the illegal hush money payment. In documents from the Southern District of New York, prosecutors disclosed that Trump was an active participant in the crime, identifying him as “Individual 1.”

    “Just to make it crystal clear, New York federal prosecutors concluded that the President of the United States committed a felony,” CNN legal analyst Renato Mariotti said at the time.

    The unsealed documents provide significant evidence that Trump knew what Cohen was doing.

    “It’s impossible to believe, though, that Trump himself was unaware of the Daniels discussion Oct. 8,” the Washington Post‘s Philip Bump wrote Thursday. “The idea that the Daniels issue didn’t come up … defies believability.”

    Cohen maintains that he committed criminal acts at the direction of Trump, as he reiterated in a statement he made Thursday from prison.

    “As I stated in my open testimony, I and members of the Trump Organization were directed by Mr. Trump to handle the Stormy Daniels’ matter, including making the hush-money payment,” he said.

    The unsealed FBI documents seem to give Cohen’s account more credibility than Trump’s denials have.

    Published with permission of The American Independent.