Porn star claims she’s free to talk after Trump lawyer violated non-disclosure deal
Mark Moore

Weather prediction for President Trump — “Stormy” weather ahead.

Stormy Daniels, the porn star who allegedly had an affair with Donald Trump, now says she’s ready to tell all about their tryst after Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen admitted he paid her $130,000 out of his own pocket a week before the 2016 presidential election, website The Blast reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Cohen told the New York Times.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, believes Cohen’s admission that he paid her amounts to a breach of their contract and frees her from “further performance of the non-disclosure agreement” between the parties, the website said.

Cohen, according to reports, is shopping a book about the Trump campaign and presidency that is expected to cover his role in the “unfortunate saga” involving Daniels.

The agreement between Daniels and Cohen called for each side not to discuss the agreement, which her legal team has said she has abided by, including during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last month.

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BTW, I stand to be corrected but wouldn't the lawyer be in violation of the law if he made that payment without the full knowledge and agreement of his client? And I don't see any agreement could be effective if it wasn't signed by all parties (which would include Trump).

Cohen doesn't seem smart enough to be a lawyer.

shiftless2 wrote:

Quote:

Andy Borowitz

Trump’s evangelical supporters are torn. It’s true that he had sex with a porn star. But on the plus side, he’s a racist.

Haven't paid a lot of attention but it seems it wasn't just one porn star. It was three of them. He was the elephant in the room.

This is definitely not the end of the campaign's legal troubles.



But then everything about this story stinks

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.co ... ory_stinks

From my Facebook feed ~ this is VERY on-point ~ Sooz

Already posted with the photos but it's "Not just porn stars ...."



Former Playboy model claims she had an affair with Trump, report says
by DANIEL ARKIN

President Donald Trump and his allies concealed an affair with a former Playboy model through secret meetings, payoffs and legal arrangements, according to a report published Friday in The New Yorker.

Karen McDougal, a former Playboy Playmate of the Year, documented her alleged nine-month affair with Trump in an eight-page handwritten note shared with The New Yorker.

McDougal, 46, claims Trump once offered to pay her after they had sex in a private bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where many of their purported liaisons took place. She alleges Trump tried to avoid creating a record that might expose their relationship by ...

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Even if everything that Bill Clinton has been accused of were true, he's still a choir boy in comparison to Drumpf.

Heheheheheh... from the article referenced in #33.

i think that this is just going to keep on coming.

I believe we all learned by now that Grabem always has to pay a big chunk just to have sex.

We know what he is. The rest is simply, "how much does it cost"?

America. The question is - does his base think it's worth the cost.

America. The question is - does his base think it's worth the cost.

Judging from the look on Melania's face that's the question Grabem should be asking himself. Was the screwing he got worth the screwing he's going to get.

What gets me is most of these are young, beautiful women. Why the heck would they want an "affair" with a fat old buzzard like Grabem. I would have thought even porn stars would have standards...low ones, maybe but at least a step above a lizard like him.

jim, we're discussing the price, not what they are.

The Man Who Helped Expose Harvey Weinstein Just Published a Bombshell Exposé on Donald Trump – the Affairs and the Coverup
"Trump remarked that the friend liked 'the big black dick' and began commenting on her attractiveness and breast size."
by david badash

Donald Trump has a network of people and pattern of tactics that allow him to hide extramarital affairs and prevent the women involved from exposing him, according to a new article by Ronan Farrow just published in The New Yorker. Farrow, of course, is the former NBC journalist who helped expose the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse and rape scandal.

Farrow's latest piece on Donald Trump explores a relationship the man who just ten years later would become president, had with Karen McDougal, a Playboy Playmate of the Year, that began at Hugh Hefner's well-known Playboy Mansion in 2006.

"At the time of the party, Trump had been married to the Slovenian model Melania Knauss for less than two years; their son, Barron, was a few months old. Trump seemed uninhibited by his new family obligations," Farrow reveals. "McDougal later wrote that ...

Continued

Here's more on another "will never die" story ~ ~ Sooz

New details shed light on when (and why) Trump World paid a porn star
03/05/18 09:30 AM—Updated 03/05/18 10:22 AM
By Steve Benen

About a week ago, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah was asked about Donald Trump’s personal attorney paying $130,000 to an adult-film star, shortly before the 2016 presidential election, raising the possibility of a hush-money payoff to one of the president’s alleged mistresses. “That matter has been asked and answered,” Shah replied.

Strictly speaking, that isn’t quite true – there are plenty of questions that have been asked without being answered – and the story continues to come into sharper focus. The Washington Post reported over the weekend, for example, on how close the deal between Trump World and Stormy Daniels was to falling apart.


Daniels’ lawyer wrote in an email that the adult-film actress considered her settlement agreement “canceled and void.” At the time, there was a growing scandal surrounding Trump’s alleged mistreatment of women, including an audio recording in which the Republican was heard bragging about sexually assaulting women.

On Oct. 27, Daniels received the $130,000.

These new details start to paint a provocative picture: Daniels was prepared to remain quiet about her alleged extra-marital relationship with Trump, but she was expecting to be paid for her silence. When Trump’s personal lawyer was late in making the payment, Daniels was reportedly prepared to walk away from the agreement and go public at a politically inopportune time that could’ve done real harm to the Republican campaign.

After all, the Oct. 17 email was sent just two weeks remaining before Election Day. By the time the apparent hush money was delivered, early voting was already underway in much of the country.

Why is this important? Because if the $130,000 was intended to help Trump’s presidential candidacy, it means the money probably should’ve been reported to the Federal Election Commission as an in-kind campaign expenditure – and failure to do so may have been illegal.

Ellen Weintraub, the vice chair of the Federal Election Commission, recently spoke to Rachel about campaign-finance law in general and she explained, “The law says that a gift, loan, advance, money anything of value that is made for the purpose of influencing an election is a contribution.”

And it’s hardly a stretch to think the apparent hush money was delivered for the purpose of influencing an election.

So, here are some of the questions for Team Trump:

* If Daniels canceled the deal on Oct. 17, and then received her money on Oct. 27, what was the nature of the negotiations between those two dates?

* Now that Trump’s lawyer has publicly acknowledged the $130,000 payment, is the non-disclosure agreement still in effect?

* When did Trump learn about the porn-star payment?

* Did Trump reimburse Cohen for the payment? Was there any kind of financial arrangement between the lawyer and his client? (Cohen recently said in response to these questions, “I can’t get into any of that.” He didn’t say why not.)

* Why $130,000? Isn’t that a weird number?

* Wasn’t former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) prosecuted for similar actions?

I have no idea whether this controversy is registering with the public, but it’s worth noting that the latest CNN poll asked respondents whether the payment to Daniels was intended to protect the Trump campaign, and 65% of the country said it was.

Or put another way, nearly two-thirds of the country believes Trump World illegally paid a porn star to avoid an election defeat.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/new-details-shed-light-when-and-why-trump-world-paid-porn-star

WSJ: Cohen complained about lack of reimbursement for porn star payment

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/05/politics ... index.html

Lawyers get stiffed, too, by Grabem.

Not the first time we've heard that - apparently a number of top law firms have refused to represent him because "he doesn't pay and he doesn't listen".

Guess that means that Cohen was telling the truth when he claimed he hadn't been reimbursed??

The fat lady is just warming up her voice to sing ~ ~ "live links" in original ~ Sooz

Lawyer implicates Trump in porn-star payment, intensifying scandal
03/06/18 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen

It’s been a couple of weeks since Michael Cohen, a personal attorney for Donald Trump, publicly conceded that he facilitated the $130,000 pre-election payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, however, that Cohen has privately had several other notable things to say.

We talked yesterday about the fact that Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was prepared to walk away from the deal just a few weeks before Election Day 2016 when she didn’t receive the payment Trump World promised. The WSJ shed some additional light on this detail:


These are no small details. If the Journal’s article is correct, Cohen has directly implicated the president in a pre-election scheme to pay hush money to one of his alleged mistresses before she undermined his candidacy. In this version of events, Trump was not only aware of the payment, his lawyer expected to be repaid the $130,000.

And if that payment was illegal – for example, if it violated campaign-finance laws – then the president likely has some explaining to do.

But just as important, as Rachel noted on the show last night, is the follow-the-money aspect of this controversy, specifically as it relates to the relevant banks involved in the transaction.

The Wall Street Journal’s piece added that the bank Cohen used for the transaction, First Republic Bank, “flagged the transaction as suspicious and reported it to the Treasury Department.”

This dovetails in interesting ways with the latest reporting from the Washington Post, which noted that the bank that received the $130,000 wire transfer, City National Bank in Beverly Hills, also had concerns about the transaction. In fact, the bank asked Stormy Daniels’ lawyer about the source of the payment.

But pay attention to one specific detail about this: the City National Bank in Beverly Hills raised concerns in September 2017 – 11 months after Trump World made the payment.

It’s a curious timeline, isn’t it? Two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, an adult-film star who claims she had an extra-marital affair received $130,000 from Trump’s lawyer, apparently to buy her silence. Trump’s lawyer’s bank considered the payment suspicious and alerted federal authorities. Nearly a full year later, the porn star’s bank decided to start asking questions about the transaction.

So, what sparked the interest of the bank that received the money, 11 months after the money was wired? Why, exactly, did the California bank suddenly look backwards and ask for additional information about the suspicious payment?

One possibility – and admittedly, this is just a possibility – is that the bank received requests for information from law enforcement.

And if – if – this matter is being investigated, the controversy is about a whole lot more than Donald Trump’s messy personal life and the salacious details of a sex scandal.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/lawyer-implicates-trump-porn-star-payment-intensifying-scandal#break

It's falling apart at the seams.

Stormy Daniels sues Trump over 'hush agreement'

An adult film actress embroiled in allegations of an affair with Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against him alleging that a nondisclosure contract she signed is invalid.

Stormy Daniels says the agreement, drawn up before the 2016 election, is "void" because he did not sign it.

Mr Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, confirmed last month he had privately paid her $130,000 (£95,000).

The lawsuit alleges that Mr Cohen tried to "intimidate her into silence."

In a 2011 interview with InTouch magazine, the actress said she began a sexual relationship with Mr Trump in 2006, shortly after his wife Melania had given birth to his son Barron.




The reports re-emerged in January when the Wall Street Journal reported that she was paid to sign a non-disclosure agreement in the run up to the 2016 election, which prevented her from discussing the alleged liaison.

Mr Cohen has said the president "vehemently denies" any romantic involvement with the adult film star.
◾A Stormy (Daniels) situation: A porn star scandal Trump can't shake

The civil lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, says that only days before the election, Ms Clifford and Mr Cohen signed the "hush agreement" but Mr Trump did not, "thus rendering it legally null and void and of no consequence".

It adds: "To be clear, the attempts to intimidate Ms Clifford into silence and 'shut her up' in order to 'protect Mr Trump' continue unabated."

Although Mr Cohen confirmed that he paid the money to Ms Clifford, he did not say what it was for.

He said last month that neither Mr Trump nor the Trump Organization was a party to the transaction.

"The payment to Ms Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone," he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43312158

A random thought: I'm imagining a porn star being the proverbial "detonator" for the DiC's reign of terror ~

Sooz

If she's not dead or "disappeared" first.

Once again, the DiC and his cabal only make his problems worse ~ ~ Sooz

Trump lawyer tries to silence porn star Stormy Daniels
03/08/18 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen

Stormy Daniels, the adult-film star who allegedly had a sexual relationship with Donald Trump and received $130,000 not to talk about it before the 2016 election, filed a lawsuit this week. The basis for the case is pretty straightforward: Daniels wants to talk about the alleged affair and is trying to break the “hush agreement” that seems to require her silence.

What we didn’t know until late yesterday was that Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney who facilitated the pre-election porn-star payment, has also taken some fresh legal steps of his own.


As NBC News’ report explained, Cohen obtained a temporary restraining order against Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, from a private arbitrator. The order "bars her from disclosing ‘confidential information’ related to the nondisclosure agreement signed in October 2016", just two weeks before Election Day.

Why Cohen didn’t go to a court, with public proceedings, is unclear.

Meanwhile, for the first time, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders yesterday addressed the scandal, insisting that Trump denies the adulterous relationship, and adding, “I’ve had conversations with the president about this, and as I outlined earlier, that this case has already been won in arbitration.”

It’s not altogether clear what case the president’s spokesperson was referring to – getting a temporary restraining order isn’t the same thing as “winning” a case – and Daniels’ attorney suggested Sanders’ claim is false.

What’s more, the White House press secretary was less than categorical in response to questions about whether Trump knew about the apparent hush money, with the Washington Post characterizing Sanders’ posture as “suspiciously coy.”

Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, appear desperate to avoid talking about the controversy, though Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), who has an awkward past on matters related to infidelity, conceded that the Daniels matter is “a big deal.”

The South Carolina Republican added, “If the shoe were on the other foot and there was a Democratic presidential candidate who had done the same, Republicans would probably be holding hearings right now.”

Would anyone seriously disagree with this? If, one year into Barack Obama’s presidency, there was credible evidence his lawyer paid $130,000 in hush money to a porn star, possibly in violation of federal election laws, is there any doubt that congressional Republicans would be demanding answers about the transaction?

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-lawyer-tries-silence-porn-star-stormy-daniels