22 Mar 23
In 2018 during a interview with CNN, Trump's current lawyer Joe Tacopina agreed Trump's porn star payment was fraud (3:30 of the video).
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-hush-money-b2305150.html
Trump lawyer blasted hush money payments as possibly ‘illegal’ and ‘fraud’ in 2018 CNN appearance
The lawyer representing former President Donald Trump in the hush money payments probe appeared on CNN in 2018 and seemed to criticise the payments as potentially “illegal” and a “fraud”.
“And you know, quite frankly, you know, Michael Cohen, again has made statements that would give rise to suspicion,” he added. “For any prosecutor to say that doesn’t make sense, that a lawyer took out a home equity loan with his own money, paid somebody that he didn’t even know on behalf of a client who, by the way, had the wherewithal and the money to afford $130,000. And, by the way, didn’t tell the client about the settlement agreement. It’s an illegal agreement. It’s a fraud, if that’s, in fact, the case.”
“It doesn’t pass the straight-face test, and quite frankly, if that is what happened, we have a potential campaign finance issue,” he added.
22 Mar 23
@vivify saidTo be fair he does a lot of hedging in these statements... "if that is what happened" "potential" etc.
This is next-level dumbassery when you hire a lawyer who said on national TV you're guilty of the crime he's representing you for.
Still he lays out the legal case pretty clearly. It seems at the very least this deletes the whole "political persecution" narrative. Surely they have enough suspicion to investigate.
I think it was about 15 years ago John Edwards was found guilty of very similar charges, paying off a mistress with campaign funds.
22 Mar 23
2 edits
@wildgrass saidExcept that *is* what happened, and why Michael Cohen went to prison for lying to Congress.
To be fair he does a lot of hedging in these statements... "if that is what happened" "potential" etc.
Hiring this lawyer is sheer concentrated stupidity only Trump could accomplish.
22 Mar 23
@shavixmir saidAlas, no. There's no law against stupid.
Can’t trump be jailed for dumbing America down, again?
22 Mar 23
@vivify saidCohen said that a long time ago. Why did it take so long for indictment? It is not as if they stumbled onto new evidence. When he was president people thought it was because they didn't want to indict a sitting president, but he has been out of office for over 2 years.
In 2018 during a interview with CNN, Trump's current lawyer Joe Tacopina agreed Trump's porn star payment was fraud (3:30 of the video).
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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-hush-money-b2305150.html
[b]Trump lawyer blasted hush money payments as possibly ‘illegal’ and ‘fraud’ in ...[text shortened]... te frankly, if that is what happened, we have a potential campaign finance issue,” he added.
Why did they wait so long?