The Porn Star and the President: Part I

 

The Porn Star and the President

(A Story of Lying)

This will be a story about rampant lying.

Stormy Daniels is at right.

  

THIS SET OF POSTS PREDATES THE FOUR INDICTMENTS OF DONALD TRUMP; BUT TO UNDERSTAND THE FIRST OF HIS TRIALS, BACKGROUND MATERIAL WILL BE A MUST: 

So, we begin with Russians. The story of the Russians will involve Michael Cohen, a central figure in the tale of the porn star and the president. So let’s dive right in. 

We open with blatant lying.

 

* 

July 24, 2016: On ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos asks Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, “Are there any ties between Mr. Trump, you or your campaign and Putin and his regime?” 

“No, there are not,” he replied. “That’s absurd.” 

It was absurd, just not in the way Manafort intended. By that time, a secret June 9, 2016 meeting in Trump Tower had been held. Manafort had attended. Also representing Team Trump were Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner. Guests included an assortment of Russians, offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. Eight days after giving answer to Stephanopoulos, as we have since learned, Manafort headed straight to a Manhattan cigar bar to talk with another Russian pal.

That Russian, Konstantin Kilimnik, who had made a home in America, later fled ahead of arrest – to Russia – helping thwart the Mueller investigation. 

Manafort is the just first of a host of liars we’re about to meet.

(Vladimir Putin.)

Say what you want about the Mueller investigation.

Team Trump had multiple meetings with Russians in 2016.

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11/8/16: Donald J. Trump is elected President of the United States. No one saw that coming, not even the candidate. 

(And definitely not Hillary Clinton.)

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11/10/16: Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks assures gathered reporters, “There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.” This is not even close to true. 

The short list of those who knew at that absolute instant that this was a lie would include, but not be limited to: 

Michael Caputo

Michael Cohen

General Michael T. Flynn

Rick Gates

Jared Kushner

Paul Manafort

George Papadopoulos

Roger Stone

Donald Trump Jr. 

(Individuals in bold were later convicted of felonies.)

Hope Hicks, right - plenty of people had to know she was lying.

And, while proven, the President-Elect almost surely had to know Hicks was lying. The only way Jr’s dad doesn’t know about the meetings is if everyone on the list has been lying to him, including Don Jr. and Jared, the husband of his eldest daughter.

This will always be a story about lying.

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1/11/17: Trump assures reporters that he has had no business dealings with Russia during the campaign. He makes it clear. He could have easily done business in Russia if he wanted. He knew it would have been a conflict of interest. 

He said so himself. 

The president made similar denials on February 7, 2017, and May 11, 2017. 

 

Cohen knew that was a lie. Trump knew Cohen was lying. 

Today we know Trump’s business dealings with the Russians continued until at least June 2016. We know because in November 2018, prosecutors nailed the president’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, on multiple felony counts. Cohen had been lying to investigators for two years. He had insisted that all business dealings with Trump and the Russians ended in January 2016. That would have been before Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee. 

For two years – unless his ears were crammed with ear wax – Donald Trump had to know that Cohen was lying. 

Why wouldn’t he correct him, publicly, or admit the truth himself, back on January 11, 2017? 

Because Trump is a liar.

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1/15/17: Chris Wallace of Fox News asks the future VP if there were any contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia. “Of course not,” Mike Pence replied. “Why would there be?” 

Good question. 

(Pence has been kept in the dark. He’s not lying.)

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We have our first porn star sighting. 

1/14/18: The Wall Street Journal, citing new evidence, reports that in October 2016 a lawyer for Trump paid a porn star $130,000 for silence. 

The Journal explains that that payment was made through a client-trust account managed through the City National Bank of Los Angeles. In return the porn star agreed not to tell her story about a consensual sexual relationship she had with Trump in 2006. That would have been around the time Melania Trump, Donald’s third wife, was recovering from the birth of her first child. 

(Trump fans: This is how the free press works; and we are all well-served when the free press is allowed to do its job.)

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1/18/18: I think we can all agree. President Trump will be waking up lonely in bed tomorrow, and for many days to come. 

In Touch magazine is running a 5,000-word interview with Stephanie Clifford, a.k.a. Stormy Daniels, the porn queen who says she slept with then-businessman Trump in 2006. The First Lady cannot be amused.

Stormy stylin'.

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1/24/18: The president is packing a bag, getting ready for his trip to Davos, Switzerland, where he will deliver a speech at the economic summit. The First Lady is not packing her sexy undergarments – or anything else. 

She isn’t going. She has a sudden “scheduling conflict.” That conflict is known as Stormy Daniels.

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2/13/18: Tuesday turns out to be a bad day for The Donald. Michael Cohen, his personal lawyer, admits he paid Stormy Daniels, the porn star, $130,000. Don’t worry, though. Cohen paid out of his own pocket. He was not reimbursed. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful,” he explains, “and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.” 

(Note to self: Find lawyer who will pay my legal expenses out of pocket, assuming I incur $130,000 in porn-star-payoff expenses.) 

If Cohen were telling the truth, that would mean no campaign finance laws were violated – which would be a good thing if you’re a lawyer and don’t want to be disbarred. Still, you paid a porn star for silence. This would not be good if you were president and you were trying to convince the American people that you would never lie about dealing with the Russians. 

(We know he would – and he did.) 

 

Also, if you were the First Lady, you might not think who paid the porn star and how was the issue. 

You’d be thinking, Porn star! My husband’s lawyer paid off a porn star! 

WTF!!!!!

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3/8/18: We have fresh news involving Stormy Daniels, the porn star currently trying to sue the president.

 

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If Stormy had proof, she would be sued if she revealed it.

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Perhaps you watched Press Secretary Pinocchio [Sarah Huckabee Sanders] yesterday, as she went through her daily contortions. Her job was to make it sound as if Donald Trump was as innocent, when it comes to Ms. Daniels, as a neophyte in a nunnery. Had he ever had an affair with Stormy? Never, Sanders said. Who then paid the $130,000 settlement to silence her? Trump? No. Why was Stormy paid to begin with? Pinocchio didn’t wish to comment. Did Trump know about the payment? Who would think it! Pinocchio tried to claim the porn star was lying, because the president had just won an “arbitration” case in which his lawyers blocked Daniels from speaking out. 

It turns out, court documents, including a settlement agreement, show Daniels could be sued for damages in excess of $1 million if she revealed images, emails or other evidence she might have which would support her claims. 

Evidence! Damn it! 

So, to recap: Trump didn’t pay to shut up Stormy. His lawyer paid out of pocket. Trump didn’t know about the settlement. And Stormy was lying; but if Stormy had proof, she would be sued if she revealed it – even though she couldn’t because the affair never happened. Finally, Trump knew about the “arbitration” case, even though he had no idea what he was suing Daniels to stop her from talking about. (See: 4/26/18.)

Really, with Trump in the White House, never a dull day passes. Did you know a friend of the president, David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, allegedly paid another $150,000 for a story Karen McDougal, a former Playboy Bunny, had written about an affair with Trump? 

Pecker’s decision to pay, but bury the story to help his pussy-grabbing pal, also came during the lead up to the 2016 election. 

That might also turn out to be illegal. (See: 12/13/18.)

 

UPDATE (4/15/24): Both Pecker and McDougal are on the witness list for Donald Trump’s trial, beginning today.

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3/16/18: Michael Cohen, attorney for Donald J. Trump, files an unprecedented legal brief in federal court. It’s a complicated maneuver, meant to keep Stormy, the porn star, quiet; but what makes it interesting is that Cohen must name his client. That client, heretofore known in court documents only as “David Dennison,” is actually Donald J. Trump. 

The President of the United States is operating, for legal purposes, under a f**king assumed name! 

For a time, it looked like gagging the porn star (legally only) had worked. The 2016 election came and went. No one heard a peep from the porn lady. The parties to the original settlement, a tightly written non-disclosure agreement (NDA) included “Peggy Peterson” (Daniels) and “David Dennison.” That agreement stipulated a $1 million penalty any time “Peterson” broke silence. Once the free press started digging it became obvious who “Dennison” was. 

Now Donald/David and Cohen were claiming that Ms. Clifford had repeatedly violated the NDA. 

Cohen said she had accrued $20,000,000 in damages.

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3/25/18: With less than three hours to go, before Stephanie Clifford (a.k.a. Stormy Daniels) does an interview on 60 Minutes, I check Trump’s Twitter feed. He last banged the keys at 8:45 this morning: “President Donald J. Trump Proclaims March 25, 2018, as Greek Independence Day: A National Day of Celebration of Greek and American Democracy[.]” 

 

Did you know Greeks were once enslaved by Turks, until 1821?

 

Like Donald J. Trump – if Donald J. Trump had giant boobs. 

Oddly enough, the Tweeter-in-Chief, who never seems happier than when he’s insulting critics and enemies, who labels any unflattering story “Fake News,” has never dared tweet about Stormy. 

He has not called her a “liar,” like so many other women who have accused him of sexual assault. He has not labeled a single appearance by Stormy’s lawyer or Ms. Clifford as “Fake News.” 

Something tells me she’s got the goods on our boy Don. And something tells me the president is hoping neither the First Lady nor Barron, his young son, tune in tonight. There are rumors that Ms. Stormy may in fact possess evidence, possibly a dress stained with Donald’s “seed.” 

Ms. Clifford is, of course, a shameless self-promoter, a media-savvy performer, mainly out to make a buck. That makes her the equivalent of Donald J. Trump if Donald J. Trump had giant boobs.

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4/9/18: The day starts badly (at least for President Trump), when F.B.I. agents bearing search warrants raid the office, home and New York City hotel suite of his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

 

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“All the people who would know the worst about you.” 

Mark Zaid, Washington D.C. lawyer.

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This is not a good look for the President of the United States, or even a mafia don. The Chicago Tribune and every reputable news outlet in America pick up the story. “This search warrant,” former U.S. attorney Joyce White Vance tells a reporter, “is like dropping a bomb on Trump’s front porch.” 

The Tribune elaborates:

 

Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer, said the seizure of Cohen’s records “should be the most concerning for the president.”

 

“You can’t get much worse than this, other than arresting someone’s wife or putting pressure on a family member,” he said. “This strikes at the inner sanctum: your lawyer, your CPA, your barber, your therapist, your bartender. All the people who would know the worst about you.”

 

We already know there’s plenty of “the worst” to learn about the man in the Oval Office. Trump deals with this fresh problem the same way he deals with almost every problem he faces as Commander-in-Chief:

 

The president spent much of Monday afternoon glued to the television. Aides said Trump watched cable news coverage of surprise raids on Cohen’s Manhattan office, home and hotel room by FBI agents, who took the lawyer’s computer, phone and personal financial records after a referral from [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller.

 

According to reporters, Trump puzzled over how to respond much of the day. Finally, he realized what really mattered.

 

Trump “won’t like that Cohen is in the crosshairs, but you have to remember: He’d prefer the heat be on Cohen than on him,” said one of the president’s advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment. “His goal will be to figure out how much vulnerability he has [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted].”

  

The president calls Michael Cohen a “good man.” 

Naturally, Trump began venting:

 

So I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, a good man and it’s a disgraceful situation. It’s a total witch-hunt. I’ve been saying it for a long time. I’ve wanted to keep it down. We’ve given I believe over a million pages worth of documents to the special counsel. They continue to just go forward and here we are talking about Syria, we’re talking about a lot of serious things with the greatest fighting force ever and I have this witch-hunt constantly going on for over 12 months now and actually much more than that. You could say it was right after I won the nomination it started. And it’s a disgrace, it’s a real disgrace. It’s an attack on our country in a true sense. 

 

Not really, Mr. President. First, they didn’t “break in” to the office. They executed a warrant. Second, it’s not about the documents you turned over, it’s a warrant aimed at gathering evidence authorities have probable cause to believe your lawyer may hide or destroy. Third, it’s not “an attack on our country,” in “a true sense” or any of the other senses. 

This was a raid in pursuit of evidence of possible crimes. 

Trump still wasn’t finished ranting. “It’s an attack on what we all stand for so when I saw this and when I heard it, I heard it like you did,” he tells reporters, “I said that is really now in a whole new level of unfairness.” 

He kept babbling:

 

They found no collusion whatsoever with Russia, the reason they found it is there was no collusion at all. No collusion. This is the most biased group of people, these people have the biggest conflicts of interest I’ve ever seen. Democrats all—or just about all, either Democrats or a couple of Republicans that worked for president Obama. They’re not looking at the other side. They’re not looking at the Hillary Clinton horrible things that she did and all of the crimes that were committed…. They only keep looking at us so they find no collusion and then they go from there and they say well, let’s keep going and they raid an office of a personal attorney early in the morning and I think it’s a disgrace. 

 

Let’s stop for a moment to poke around in this steaming pile of buffalo dung. This raid is not a “disgrace.” This raid is not about Democrats. Robert Mueller, who referred the matter to authorities in New York, has always been a Republican. The F.B.I., which conducted the raids, is led by Christopher Wray, a Republican. Last, but not least, Geoffrey S. Berman, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who signed off on the search warrant, is a Republican. 

Berman donated to Trump’s campaign! Trump interviewed him personally for, and appointed him, to his current position.

This is not hard to grasp, even if all you do is click on Infowars to get your news. The rule of law, first enshrined in the Magna Carta in 1215, back when kings believed they had the power to rule with impunity, protects us all from abuse by government officials. We need to guard against the subversion of the rule of law by this president and any other president to come.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: Compare Trump’s “good man” comment with comments he makes in July, once it becomes clear that Cohen is cooperating with investigators. Also note that here, he describes Cohen as “one of my personal attorneys.” (See: 7/30/18.)

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4/10/18:  Trump wakes up angry as he often does. He can’t manage to kill the Stormy Daniels story. His personal lawyer just got raided. His pal, Vladimir Putin, is causing problems in Syria. 

Naturally, his first order of business is to tweet: “Apr 10, 2018: Attorney-client privilege is dead!” 

As usual, Trump gets his facts in a tangle. This much is true: The F.B.I. did seize documents and records involving communications between Trump and Cohen. Now special agents at the Bureau will have to peruse these materials and make sure attorney-client privilege is not undermined. 

Unfortunately, if you’re the forty-fifth President of the United States, attorney-client privilege cannot be invoked where attorney and client are suspected of conspiring to commit fresh crimes.