National Enquirer's Pecker testified to SDNY during his presidential campaign, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Pecker to quash the story of a former Playboy model who said they’d had an affair. Mr. Pecker’s company soon paid $150,000 to the model, Karen McDougal, to keep her from speaking publicly about it. Mr. Trump later thanked Mr. Pecker for the assistance to the extent that the Trump campaign did not report this payment, it amounts to a violation of campaign financing laws.
The reality is that I don't think the American people care. They are desensitized to Donald Trump's transgressions and to a large extent expect them. It would take treason for it to make any real impact. It is going to largely come down to the economy.
I agree with you. At this point these stories serve to further debase the evangelical Christian community, one of President Trump's strongest blocs of support, who were willing to impeach a president for lying under oath about oral sex. They'll tell you it was about the lie, but President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky was the reason for putting him in front of a grand jury. As our Trump supporting friends are fond of saying, it was a "fishing expedition" with the goal of getting the president to lie about his relationship with Lewinsky. I do not think a consensual sexual relationship is grounds for impeachment. Clinton wasn't the first and Trump won't be the last. However, I do think that using money to buy silence and influence public perception in the run up to an election is a different matter. President Clinton didn't do that during the Lewinsky affair, but conservatives still believed it was a national travesty and fell in line behind moral leaders like Newt Gingrich and Dennis Hastert.
Well said. I'd quibble that Clinton's transgression was not having an extra-marital affair nor lying about sex, it was about perjuring himself in a sexual harassment suit -- something that was definitely wrong. However, the House was wrong to call it a high crime and make it political. You make an excellent point about the apparent hypocrisy of conservatives being so sanctimonious with Clinton in the dock and then suddenly losing all their scruples when Trump is there. However, I'd like us to be careful not to repeat the mistakes of the 1990s. Skirting election laws to pay p*rn stars for their silence so he can win an election is effin' dirty, but I wouldn't want it to be called a high crime. It is, imo, not high enough. If we lower the bar too far, we'll have impeachments with every administration. A congressional censure would be good. And, you can go after him with an indictment after he's out of office (might need to get an extension on those statutes of limitation though).
People care. I care. My expectation is that Donald Trump is tried and jailed the moment he leaves the protection of the office.
Michael Avenatti reportedly arrested on domestic violence charges https://www.foxnews.com/us/michael-avenatti-reportedly-arrested-on-domestic-violence-charges I know a lot of you had high hopes for this slime.
I think Avenatti was useful in the Cohen-Trump illegal campaign contribution matter, but hopefully this puts an end to his "resistance" scam. He wasn't a shark, but a remora. He was literally swindling Democratic donors.
