Scoop: Trump pledges to personally pay some legal bills of WH staff and associates

[highplainsdem]

Source: Axios

President Trump has promised to spend at least $430,000 of his own money to defray legal costs incurred by campaign associates and White House staff due to the Russia investigations, a White House official tells Axios.

What we know: The Republican National Committee has paid roughly $430,000 to lawyers representing the president and his eldest son, Don Jr. A White House official told me Trump will not be reimbursing the RNC for these costs. However, the White House official says he has pledged to spend the same amount, from his personal finances, "to defray the costs of legal fees for his associates, including former and current White House aides."

-snip-

What we don't know: The president and his legal team haven't announced the mechanism to make these payments. The arrangement raises a number of questions, none of which the White House official answered:

Is the plan to put this money into a general legal defense fund that all of the president's associates could request access to, or will the money be disbursed directly to attorneys?

-snip-

Read more: https://www.axios.com/scoop-trump-pledges-to-personally-pay-some-legal-bills-of-wh-staff-and-associates-2499448011.html

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Found this thanks to a tweet from Seth Abramson:

Link to tweet

A defendant plans to pay the legal fees of witnesses who could testify against him. Just as problematic as it sounds.

[Sneederbunk]

1. His promises are golden.

[Leghorn21]

5. Indeed, Sneed! A Trump promise in one hand and a lump of sh*t in the other will manifest

the same results every time:

Zip - zero - nada - "good luck!"

[jmowreader]

34. Now, now...be nice

The lump of dung can fertilize plants, breed flies, even be eaten if you're a member of a species that consumes fecal material.

A Trump promise can do none of those things.

[Laurian]

2. Bullshit. Pure manipulation, as usual.

Never mind the questionable ethics, this asshole never pays up.

[Scarsdale]

10. No doubt from donations to his

re-election campaign, like son Don Jr. He does not part with $$$ easily, I think it is because he does not have much, only on paper.

[cstanleytech]

24. Oh if its to help make sure someone is not put into a position of facing jail time or

flipping on Donald and Donald's children by providing testimony and other evidence against them I am willing to bet he will pay up.

[Skittles]

3. LOL

IT'S CALLED BRIBERY

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

6. Great minds think alike!!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

21. The question is can you file bankruptcy on promised bribes?

[SergeStorms]

33. Bingo!

And the money will actually be "donated" by the Trump "Foundation".

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

4. Golly gee, I wonder why... hmmm. How is that not a form of a bribe?!?!

That Russian colluding prick is saying, don't worry, I got you covered... of course, only as long as you KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!!!... SOOO transparent!!

[KWR65]

7. He is buying their silence

If they open their mouth then they are stuck with the lawyer bills.

[NastyRiffraff]

8. There are huge problems with this

including the bribery issue. But no worries; he's only promising, and we all know how much that's worth!

[George II]

9. When have we heard something like that before?

Is he going to used the money that he collected for the veterans but never gave it to them?

[defacto7]

11. A very subtle form of intimidation.

It's so bizarre that it can read as stalking; that's one theme on which he's consistant.

[Iliyah]

12. Hush money

[mpcamb]

45. He oughta pay it. His treasonous collusion is at the bottom of it.

Still, let Donny, jr, pay out of his own pocket.

[highplainsdem]

13. MSNBC reporting on this now.

[SummerSnow]

14. They already sold their souls to him, what will they have to give up next?

[keithbvadu2]

15. Will he have to be shamed into actually doing it?

Will he have to be shamed into actually doing it?

[delisen]

16. Trump often doesn't pay bills

[Vinca]

17. Uh huh. Just like he sent the $25,000 to the military family.

[rurallib]

18. interviews to hire the prosecutors, bribes the witnesses

what has he missed - maybe bribing the judge and jury?

[Paladin]

19. Yeah, the checks are in the mail.

Uh huh, sure they are......

[DFW]

22. Those are not funds I would plan on spending

Any time in the next century or two.

[syringis]

35. Hi DFW

How are you? How is it in Germany after the great shacking ? I would never have expected such results .

One or two centuries at best...

Trump doesn't even pay his own bills.

It is almost Christmas time but it's not a reason to believe in Santa Claus.

[DFW]

36. Christmas time means a trip to Cafe-Tasse on the Rue Marche de l'Herbe

I always send out boxes of their incredible Blanc-café minis* to people I work closely with here in Europe, and I have to order them ahead of time.

The result in Germany is pretty much what I expected. I don't expect Merkel to do enough stupid things to give the AfD any more room to grow. This may not hold true for some of the individual states, though.

You're right, Trump promises much, but seldom delivers. His word is as good as mud.

*For those non-Belgians here, and I think there several, if I recall correctly, Café-Tasse is a store started by an enterprising young couple in Brussels a few decades ago on the Rue Marché de l'Herbe near the Grande Place. They got bought out by a larger company which now has stores all over the world. One of their best creations was a mini (5 grams) chocolate bar in various versions. My favorite is the Blanc-Café, which is white chocolate with tiny grains of pure coffee running through it. You can buy them individually or in boxes of about 150 of them. In their stores you can also get real coffee and pastry, but their chocolate selection is pretty special.

[syringis]

38. Yes, it started in the eighties, I think.

They are not very known outside the country and not that much inside too. Unless by the "connaisseurs"

Their chocolate is almost a sin

Another one who makes great artisanal chocolates is Pierre Marcolini. I think he is more known.

The quality of their chocolate, both Cafe tasse and Marcolini, is far more higher than any other famous producer as Neuhaus or Leonidas. They produce good chocolate too but really not comparable. I prefer Neuhaus by the way. Leonidas is probably the best known but to me, their products are of average quality.

[DFW]

39. I always found Marcolini to be somewhat pretentious

If you're going up to the Sablon anyway, I prefer Wittamer. Their white chocolate with raspberry (bar #8) is like nothing else in the world, and their pralines filled with lilikoi (fruit de passion) are worth suffering some arterial clogging.

[syringis]

40. Wittamer are more bakers than chocolate makers

I now Wittamer, I lived near le Sablon for a few years.

I don't their white chocolate with raspberry, I'll give a try next time I jump to Brussel. I was there friday, If I knew...

But the quality of their bakery still good but not as it was when the father was still working.

I went often to Marcolini when he started, I don't remember him being pretentious. Perhaps when he became famous, he changed. Last time I went, is around 2003 or so, before I move to Charleroi. Since, it is my son who works in Brussel, who goes and bring me chocolates.

[DFW]

41. You were in Brussels Friday?

I was in Brussels Friday, too! I won't be back until Wednesday.

You should have told me. I would have invited you to a cup of coffee at Café-Tasse!

[syringis]

42. If I could knew...

Next time maybe. I'm often in BXL anyway. Not as often as before but about once or two in a month.

I'm missing some restaurants I use to go. Not really those around la Grand-Place, frankly, a lot those are more " piège à touristes", don't really show the best part of Belgian culinary. You good ones around Place Ste Catherine, especially if you like fish and sea food. In Woluwé Saint Pierre, if you now, Schaerbeek, Ixelles around Ma Campagne (childhood memories, we live near l'avenue Molière, not far from le bois de la Cambre), and around Place du Chatelain, there are (or were, it is a long time) good, sympathic and not pretentious restaurants), also in Watermael Boisfort, good ones. I'm less aware of those in the North of the city such as Jette, Laeken,...

At the opposite, a famous bakery I really dislike is "le Pain Quotidien". They are really pretentious, awfully expensive regarding the quality which is not so extraordinary... I remember in the 90's a small sourdough bread would cost around 4 euros... the funny thing was about the pretended sourdough...it was freeze dried sourdough to which you had to add yeast...in other words, it was more a artificial flavour than real sourdough. To this, add scornfull and snob workers...really not my thing.

[DFW]

43. Pain Quotidien is a chain

They're everywhere.

I wish I had the time for nice restaurants! I usually end up eating a sandwich at the "Swiss" place on the Boulevard Anspach or getting a dürüm at one of the Turkish (so-called) places on the Rue du Midi. I'm there for work, not tourism! Way back in the day, an old friend used to insist I join him for a fancy lunch at some favorite place of his at the Sablon. Other than that, my wife and I had a nice dinner at some place on the Place Ste. Catherine when we were there on a rare occasion when we had the time to be there together. But that happens maybe once every 7 years. Most of my work is in the area of the Grande Place or the Sablon, so I don't know much of the city beyond there. A friend of mine bought a house in town maybe 15 years ago, and I still haven't seen it. I usually go see my appointments, grab a snack if I have time, and then go on, usually either to Paris or back to Germany. My part of Germany is close enough that I can get from my front door to Central Brussels in 3 hours.

[syringis]

44. Ah ! La maison Scheggia Togni (la maison n'a pas de succursale)

Another old house. You can eat in less than a half hour around Ste Catherine, a lot of restaurants have mostly workers on midday time

"talking about "le pain quotidien" reminded me an anecdote

La première fois que j'y avais été (et l'avant-dernière), il n'y avait plus le pain que je voulais. Comme c'était prétendument du pain au levain, j'ai demandé si c'était un pain fait au quotiden.
Je te jure que le vendeur ne savait même pas ce que voulait dire quotidien. Il me regardait avec des yeux de merlan frit en répétant en boucle :

quotidien ? Hein quotidien ? Ben ouais c'est le pain quotidien ouais, c'est marqué sur la porte... (sic), vu le prix du pain et leur clientèle cible, un vocabulaire un chouia soigné aurait été bien...

Je lui répond : oui d'accord, mais est-ce que ce pain est quotidien ?

Ouais, ouais, vous êtes au pain quotidien (re sic)

Bon, je vous le demande autrement : est ce que ce pain est vendu TOUS LES JOURS ?

Ben ouais, on en a tous les jours du pain (sic again)

Oui, oui, c'est un tout petit peu normal d'avoir du pain tous les jours dans une boulangerie...ce que je voudrais savoir, c'est si le pain que je voulais acheter est vendu CHAQUE JOUR ?

Ah ouaiiiis d'accord, j'ai capté , euh...ben j'crois bien, ouais..., c'est quoi encore qu'il fallait ? (sic)

Finalement, je me demande si ce n'est pas moi l'imbécile dans l'histoire. Ca aurait dû me mettre la puce à l'oreille Ca m'aurait évité un pain caoutchouc, minuscule mais qui était aussi lourd qu'un âne mort...

[sarge43]

20. He has this bridge, too. Uh huh. n/t

[MrsCoffee]

23. Lol. Gee that would make me feel so much better if I was one of his staff.

NOT.

[Cryptoad]

25. Better get the money up front,,,,,,,

O Yellar's word aint worth squat!,,, He a liar and his heart pumps shit!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. Sounds like very overt bribery to me.

And then after the person to whom he made the promise testifies in a way that's favorable to him, he won't pay them anyhow.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. Yep, not a dime.

I hope they ALL go to fucking prison

[CanonRay]

28. ...and we all know he's a man you can count on to honor his promises!

[iamateacher]

29. Good luck with collecting on that promise...

[procon]

30. If the Russian story is a fake, a hoax, as Trump claims, why is he shelling out

large checks to defend all these "associates, including former and current White House aides"? Since the RNC is also paying Trump and Jrs legal fees, how far are they implicated in this Russian treason business?

Sounds like there's going to be a brand new Trump Wing added to some Federal prison.

[SayItLoud]

31. Let me know when the check clears...

When will we ever stop believing that this F'in MORON will pay anyone anything out of his own pocket?

Where's the media reporting er, Free Press reporting concerning his "million dollar pledge" to Houston?

Grifters and KKKon's everyone of that family.

[blueinredohio]

32. Why do they think he would pay their legal fees when he doesn't pay for his own

[briv1016]

37. His main concern is someone flipping on him.

Now he'll have someone in the room to give him an early warning so his buddy Vlad can take care of it.

[EarthFirst]

46. How the fu*k is that not illegal?

Seems like testimony has been purchased; to the current sum of $430,000.