If Stromy is lying and Trump is telling the truth, it's worse for Trump & Co.

[louis c]

If the story of the illicit affair that Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels) says happened and Donald Trump denies, turns out to be not true, Trump and Cohen are really fucked.

I know that seems counterintuitive, but follow this reasoning. If Stormy's story is a complete fabrication and Trump, naturally knew that, why pay the money? The answer can only be this: They couldn't afford that story in the press, as false as it may be, 11 days before the election. There would be no other explanation. If Trump was a private citizen, he would never be silencing an accuser of a demonstrably false story.

The only conclusion a sober judge can make is that $130,000 was spent to keep a negative story out of the public eye, that close to a Presidential election, in violation of SEC regulations.

That case is made stronger if the story is false, as crazy as that may seem.

Which leaves us with only one of two alternatives. Either Trump violated the law, or he's a liar. He has to be at least one of these, and he can be both.

[exboyfil]

1. I am not sure it matters one way or the other

The argument is still that Trump was paying off a blackmailer to keep his family from being hurt by a public scandal.

It would be better for Trump to prove that Daniels is lying in all cases. I don't think he can do that because she is almost certainly not lying about the affair.

I think it was crap that Edwards was charged for the same thing. Even the National Review agreed with Edwards. The fact that there was a hung jury could imply that it is still illegal even if I don't like it.

[Jarqui]

2. That is part of the reason why I do not understand Trump continuing to respond to this

It is too late now ...

But there was no way for Trump to win this. What was he going to win? Legally beat the snot out of a porn star?

He's risked stirring up the others or showing them how to beat his poorly written NDAs.

How does one prove something like this that did not happen, did not happen (assuming Trump is telling the truth - which seems absurd ..)? There would be no evidence of it happening but that doesn't prove it did not happen. The only way would be to prove she's lying. And right now, in his best case, it seems like a she-said vs he-said - he doesn't have that evidence of her lying.

If she kept the dress like her friend says she did, there is a fair chance it has Donald's DNA and if it does, he's so screwed. Quite frankly, now he has to play a game of chicken in a deposition. He can try to deny it like Bill Clinton did ...

He's a stupid man to have gotten into this with her.

[Adrahil]

3. It's not a lie.

Lots of women fucked Trump's money.

Only Daniels got $130K to keep quiet.

And take a look at the language of the NDA.... it is clearly referring to actual events. It doesn't talk about false accusations. The thing is, you can't enforce an NDA against events that didn't actually happen.

[louis c]

4. Then, Trump's a liar

[PatSeg]

6. "Only Daniels got $130K to keep quiet"

That we know of. I have a feeling, there have been many women over the years who have been paid off to keep quiet. Trump and his lawyers can be very intimidating. Daniels happens to have a really sharp lawyer.

[Adrahil]

7. Fair enough... but the point...

is that there are lots of women that accuse Trump of various sexual misdeeds... he doesn't pay most of them off. He paid Daniels off because of the President SPanky thing, I think.

[PatSeg]

9. And I wonder

if there are still things we don't know yet about Daniels and Trump. Photos, video, emails, etc? What was on the DVD that her lawyer has?

And maybe in Trump's mind, grabbing, kissing, and groping, are not the same as an actual affair. Not a big deal perhaps, just harmless horseplay in his twisted mind. Also it has been suggested, that an affair might affect his prenuptial agreement with Melania.

[FakeNoose]

5. In the book Fire and Fury

... Michael Wolff quotes Steve Bannon as saying that they paid off *100 women* to keep them from coming forward in the last days of the campaign. Bannon doesn't give names in the book, but I'm sure Michael Cohen knows who they are.

If you recall after the Access Hollywood tape came out - "grab 'em by the pussy" - at least 10 women came forward and said they had been assaulted by Trump in one way or another. They didn't claim they were raped, but they said they'd been non-consensually grabbed, kissed or fondled, etc. without encouragement or permission from the woman. I'm guessing these women were also given NDAs and they didn't sign them. This all came out within the last 2 weeks before the election. Surely these 10 women were the tip of the iceberg - while many others chose to keep quiet and avoid the media spotlight.

I believe Stormy is telling the truth, and so are the women who came forward to tell these stories. Trump used to go on Howard Stern's radio talk show in the 1990's and say disgusting (but funny) things about women that he knew. He's always been a misogynist from what I've read. Why would that change now?

[scarytomcat]

11. I'm with you

I believe there are many many women that were assaulted by him. The media should have put them on before the election. The media should have put on people that were cheated by him in business, there are hundreds of THEM too. Maybe they could've of had a show or two about his business deals with foreigners. Or his bankruptcies or his failed casinos. Why wouldn't Nevada give him a gaming license? Mob connections here and around the world would make a good show. WHERE WAS THE MEDIA? WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 60 Minutes was just fluff crap we already knew.

[Demonaut]

8. uuuhhhhh...no

I believe her

[NCTraveler]

10. There is no argument it wasnt campaign related...

Either way.

Your general point is solid.

[EffieBlack]

12. You don't sign an NDA to hush up a lie, you sue for slander or extortion

And since you can't "disclose" something that didn't happen the very existence of the NDA tells us all we need to know.