President Donald Trump paid Michael Cohen 11 installments of hush money payments to cover up the alleged Stormy Daniels affair while he was in office. According to the New York Times, here’s what he was doing on seven of the days he also paid his fixer to make his problems go away.
The first check, signed Valentine’s Day in 2017, was good for $70,000. The day before, Trump forced Michael Flynn to resign.
On March 17, the next check was signed for $35,000 in between Trump’s events with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as she visited the White House.
The third check obtained by the Times came on May 23 for $35,000 from overseas: Trump was meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority.
His next installment of $35,000 came August 1, the same day an aide confirmed that Trump had dictated a false statement about a meeting with the Russians.
Trump coughed up another $35,000 on September 12 while his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, told reporters that the Department of Justice should investigate former FBI Director James Comey.
The October 18 $35,000 check coincided with a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The last check obtained by the Times for $35,000 on December 5, was signed the same day Trump decided to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated that the March 17 check was signed personally by President Trump. It was issued by the President’s trust.
I’m torn between being slightly impressed that he actually put in the minimal effort of signing them himself, and shaking my head at the stupidity of doing it himself.
Well, that certainly establishes that he is a very busy Chief executive.
Such a seamless garment — of corruption.
While I’m as prepared to think the worst about DJT as the next TPM reader, if Cohen only paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, why was he “reimbursed” $385,000? It doesn’t make sense. Could it be it really was a retainer, as Trump claims? Was it a slush fund to cover other payments? Maybe Cohen paid David Pecker back for the Karen McDougal “catch and kill” payment. Still much to learn about the inner world of the corrupt Trump organization.
Middle man.