Tag: Michael Cohen

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BREAKING: Stormy Daniels Files Lawsuit Saying NDA Is “Invalid”

Donald Trump with Stormy Daniels

NBC News is reporting that adult film star Stormy Daniels has filed a lawsuit saying the non-disclosure agreement between Donald Trump and herself is invalid because Trump never signed it.

The suit alleges that her agreement not to disclose her “intimate” relationship with Trump is not valid because while both Daniels and Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen signed it, Trump never did.

Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, signed both the agreement and a side letter agreement using her professional name on October 28, 2016, just days before the 2016 presidential election. Cohen signed the document the same day. Both agreements are appended to the lawsuit as Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2.

The “hush agreement,” as it’s called in the suit, refers to Trump throughout as David Dennison, and Clifford as Peggy Peterson. The side letter agreement reveals the true identities of the parties as Clifford and Trump.

Each document includes a blank where “DD” is supposed to sign, but neither blank is signed.

According to the lawsuit, Clifford and Trump had an intimate relationship that lasted from summer 2006 “well into the year 2007.” The relationship allegedly included meetings in Lake Tahoe and at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

NBC News goes on to say Clifford’s reps say there have been attempts as recently as the last few weeks to keep her quiet.

The lawsuit also asserts that Donald Trump, as a client of Michael Cohen, must be aware of the behind-the-scenes machinations since the New York bar association requires Cohen to keep his clients informed at all times.

I have to add, however, that this news will not affect any of Trump’s supporters.

His straight, white male followers will just say, “I’d do the same thing.”

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Trump’s Longtime Personal Lawyer Admits To Paying Porn Star $130,000

Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and porn accountant, Michael Cohen

Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and go-to “fix-it” guy, said on Tuesday that he personally paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to porn star Stormy Daniels who had claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump.

What a mensch. He pays his buddy/client’s prostitution bill just to be nice.

From The New York Times:

In the most detailed explanation of the 2016 payment made to the actress, Stephanie Clifford, Mr. Cohen, who worked as a counsel to the Trump Organization for more than a decade, said he was not reimbursed for the payment.

“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,” Mr. Cohen said in a statement to The New York Times. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.”

He declined to answer several follow-up questions, including whether Mr. Trump had been aware that Mr. Cohen made the payment, why he made the payment or whether he had made similar payments to other people over the years.

Mr. Cohen has previously said that Mr. Trump has denied an affair with Ms. Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels. She has said the affair took place soon after Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, gave birth to the couple’s son, Barron.

Note that there was no reason given as to why Cohen wrote the $130,000 check.

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Trump Attorney Declines “Invitation” To Provide Information Regarding Russia

Michael Cohen

One of Donald Trump’s personal lawyers, Michael Cohen, has received and declined an “invitation to provide information and testimony” regarding the current investigation into contact between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.

From CNN:

“I declined the invitation to participate, as the request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being answered,” Cohen told CNN Tuesday, adding that he considered it a “total fishing expedition.”

“They have yet to produce one single piece of credible evidence that would corroborate the Russia narrative,” Cohen said. He called the investigation a “rush to judgment.”

Cohen is the second person in Trump’s orbit to flatly deny a request from congressional investigators. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn refused to respond to a Senate subpoena and rebutted a House request last week through his lawyer.

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Trump Surrogate Michael Cohen Ridiculed On Twitter #SaysWho?

I was watching CNN this afternoon when this exchange happened. It was beyond cringe worthy.

Few moments encapsulate the Trump campaign like this does.

Besides Michael Cohen’s petulant tone and body language, his total faux-ignorance on the fact that his boy is flailing in the polls is worse than painful.

These 26 seconds are what everyone is talking about today. #sad

Via Politico:

In an interview on Wednesday afternoon, substitute CNN host Brianna Keilar asked Trump Organization Executive Vice President Michael Cohen about the hiring of campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and CEO Stephen Bannon, widely perceived as a shakeup intended to remedy the Republican nominee’s struggling campaign.

Cohen balked at the idea that the hires constituted any kind of shakeup and interrupted Keilar in the middle of a follow-up question when she said, “You say it is not a shakeup but you guys are down.”

“Says who?” said Cohen, whose job description also includes serving as Trump’s special counsel.

“Polls. Most of them. All of them?” an incredulous Keilar responded, sounding surprised that Cohen would refuse to even acknowledge the notion that Trump’s campaign had fallen behind that of Hillary Clinton.

“Says who?” Cohen asked again, to which Keilar replied, “Polls. I just told you. I answered your question.”

Unsatisfied, Cohen followed up: “OK, which polls?”

“All of them,” the CNN host said.

“OK,” Cohen said. “And your question is?”

In the vernacular of Donald Trump – #Sad #Loser

Just in cause you’d like a visual reminder, this is a screen capture from today’s Real Clear Politics list of recent national polls.

Please note all the blue annotations on the right signifying a Clinton lead. Click the image to enlarge.

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Donald Trump’s “Special Counsel” Threatens Reporter

Donald Trump’s special counsel Michael Cohen out loud to a reporter

The Daily Beast reported today on Donald Trump’s use of the word “rape” in recent weeks referring to Mexican immigrants. It turns out the Donald has something of a history with the word.

The Daily Beast went back to Trump’s 1990 divorce from his ex-wife Ivana, where she alleged in court documents that he violently assaulted her on one occasion and forced her to have sex invoking the word “rape.”

Michael Cohen, special counsel at The Trump Organization, defended his boss, saying, “You’re talking about the front-runner for the GOP, presidential candidate, as well as private individual who never raped anybody. And, of course, understand that by the very definition, you can’t rape your spouse.”

“I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we’re in the courthouse. And I will take you for every penny you still don’t have. And I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know,” Cohen said. “So I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?”

“You write a story that has Mr. Trump’s name in it, with the word rape, and I’m going to mess your life up… for as long as you’re on this frickin’ planet… you’re going to have judgements against you, so much money, you’ll never know how to get out from underneath it,” he added.

Interesting that a lawyer in New York state would be ignorant of the law regarding spousal rape.  At one time, there was a so-called “marital rape exemption” to the law, but it was struck down in 1984.

In addition, there were other times when the Donald weighed in on cases of alleged rape over the years. Read the story over at The Daily Beast.

In any case, it’s fascinating that this is who a man running for “president” would dispatch to speak for him.

Is Michael Cohen going to threaten heads of state who may not agree with a (never gonna happen) Trump administration?