That Sound You Hear Is Donald Trump Shitting Several Bricks Over Michael Cohen's Grand Jury Testimon

[GGoss]

That Sound You Hear Is Donald Trump Shitting Several Bricks Over Michael Cohen’s Grand Jury Testimony - VanityFair

Last week, we learned that after seven and a half decades escaping any and all responsibility for his shady, unethical, seemingly criminal behavior, Donald Trump might—might!—soon be held accountable. That accountability, according to The New York Times, appears likely to come in the form of an indictment from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which, per the paper of record, has “signaled” to the ex-president’s lawyers that criminal charges for a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels could be coming. (The signal was that prosecutors invited Trump to testify before a grand jury, an invite he reportedly declined in addition to insisting on Truth Social that he did “absolutely nothing wrong.“) Anyway, on Monday, an old pal of the former president’s showed up to talk to the grand jury from which the indictment would come—and we’re guessing the details he shared did not help make the case for innocence!

Speaking to reporters outside a Manhattan courthouse, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen said his goal was to “tell the truth” and that he is not seeking revenge against his former boss. “This is all about accountability,” Cohen said. “He needs to be held accountable for his dirty deeds.”

Cohen’s testimony is presumably of particular interest to prosecutors given his central role in the hush money case; Cohen was the one to pay Daniels, on the eve of the 2016 election, to stay quiet about the affair she alleged to have had with Trump, a detail which probably wouldn’t have gone over well with voters. The then Trump Organization attorney was subsequently reimbursed for the $130,000 while Trump was in office, with the leader of the free world, per the Times, “signing monthly checks.” Asked while testifying before Congress why his reimbursement was spread out over several months instead of being taken care of in one or two lump sums, Cohen said it was “in order to hide what the payment was,” explaining it was meant to “look like a retainer.” Asked in congressional testimony if Trump knew about the deal, Cohen answered, “Oh, he knew about everything, yes.” (In fact, the former Trump Organization lawyer has said he arranged the hush money payoff at Trump’s direction.)

As for the likelihood of charges, they appear to remain high, as The New York Times noted on Monday. In addition to inviting Trump to testify, the DA’s office has “already questioned at least seven other people before the grand jury this year,” and, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke with the Times, Cohen is expected to be one of the last witnesses; as the Times notes, “it would be rare for a prosecutor in a high-profile white-collar case to question nearly every relevant witness without intending to seek an indictment.” Also on Monday, one of Trump’s lawyers, Joseph Tacopina, told Good Morning America that the ex-president’s legal team recently met with prosecutors to argue against an indictment.

As for the actual why of the charges, meaning, “why can’t you just pay any porn star you want to keep quiet,” here’s the Times on that:

Archive Link: https://archive.ph/1Je7P