The “statement of admitted facts” says that AMI admitted making a $150,000 payment “in concert with the campaign,” and says that Pecker, Cohen and “at least one other member of the campaign” were in the meeting. According to a person familiar with the matter, the “other member” was Trump.
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In another angle on the story:
“Donald Trump directed Michael Cohen to arrange hush-money payments with two women because then-candidate Trump ‘was very concerned about how this would affect the election’ if their allegations of affairs became public, the president’s former personal attorney said in an exclusive interview with ABC News.”
My biggest problem with Mike Pence is how obsequious and flatteringly he talks/acts toward Trump. I understand why he acts that way considering his position, but I still find it disgusting.
Trump is ruining the Republican party. Trump demands displays of personal loyalty irrespective of any issues. A large percentage (though I believe less than a majority) of the Republican base will vote against primary candidates insufficiently loyal to Trump. As a result, far too many elected Republicans are willing to defend Trump even when Trump’s actions/statements are truly indefensible. When Trump is finally finished (probably) after 2020 what kind of condition will the Republican party be in? I think the GOP will almost certainly lose the Senate because far more GOP seats are up than Democrat seats, the opposite of this year. The GOP could easily lose 5 – 8 senate seats in 2020. They will probably lose more governorships and House seats. But if that is the last of Trump, at least the Republican party could start rebuilding. If Trump somehow won in 2020, the GOP could be done for a generation.
If the Republicans are going to help impeach and convict Trump, I think it’s in their best interests to get it over with as quickly as possible so as to give themselves as much time as possible to recover with their idiot Trump voter base.
Republicans quickly agreeing with impeachment and conviction would fit in with the Democratic agenda of investigating Trump, but a President Pence would be a double edged sword for Democrats.
On the up side, there would be the millions of angry and disillusioned idiot Trump voters. On the other side, there would be the awful Mike Pence who is a demagogue, especially on social issues, but who also seems to be competent.
So Cohen says Trump knew the payoffs were wrong. The question I would like to ask him is whether he specifically advised Trump (he was Trump’s lawyer after all) that by having others make the payments, those payments potentially violated campaign finance laws. Because really all Trump needed to do was pay the money himself. You are entitled to spend as much of your own money on your campaign as you like. But Trump has a pretty strong legal argument that the payoffs were not campaign expenditures. According to a federal statute, expenditures that would be made irrespective of a campaign are NOT campaign expenditures. In other words, if Trump would have paid the hush money even if he WASN’T running for president, the hush money does not constitute a campaign expenditure. I have a feeling that he has paid hush money before.
But ultimately, whether or not Trump has a legal defense that would hold up in court is irrelevant because impeachment is a political act. When Mueller releases his report, will it be enough to convince a majority of representatives to impeach Trump (a really low bar given the midterms) and more importantly 2/3 of Senators to vote to convict (a high bar made slightly higher by the midterms).