12-12-2018, 10:02 PM
This is bad news for Trump in terms of launching plausible defenses against allegations of campaign finance violations.
Today it was confirmed in New York court that AMI/National Enquirer officially entered into a cooperation plea agreement to avoid prosecution for its role in silencing Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal ahead of the 2016 election, expressly for the purpose of helping Trump's election chances.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Trump's longtime friend and CEO of AMI, David Pecker, met with Trump and Cohen in August 2015 to discuss how Pecker could help Trump's campaign. That's when the plan was devised to pay women for their stories, get them to sign NDAs, and then bury the stories.
Given the evidence provided by Cohen and Pecker, the successful John Edwards defense ("I just didn't want to hurt or embarrass my wife and family, the hush money had nothing to do with my election") doesn't appear to be an option for Trump should he be charged.
Refs:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pub...ad-n947111
https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trum...1541786601
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle...3d778742d1
Today it was confirmed in New York court that AMI/National Enquirer officially entered into a cooperation plea agreement to avoid prosecution for its role in silencing Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal ahead of the 2016 election, expressly for the purpose of helping Trump's election chances.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Trump's longtime friend and CEO of AMI, David Pecker, met with Trump and Cohen in August 2015 to discuss how Pecker could help Trump's campaign. That's when the plan was devised to pay women for their stories, get them to sign NDAs, and then bury the stories.
Given the evidence provided by Cohen and Pecker, the successful John Edwards defense ("I just didn't want to hurt or embarrass my wife and family, the hush money had nothing to do with my election") doesn't appear to be an option for Trump should he be charged.
Refs:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pub...ad-n947111
https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trum...1541786601
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle...3d778742d1