Much of the opposition to Trump is unhinged - though, having had some time to reflect on it, the natural impulse of Trump critics to conflate policy disagreements with personal revulsion over Trump's character is, if not excusable, at least understandable.
A lot of the commentary about Clifford is of the all-or-nothing variety: Staunch Trump critics believe her every word; staunch Trump defenders reject her in toto.
There appears to be no doubt at this point that: Cohen paid Clifford $130,000 for her silence; the payment came on the eve of an election that Trump appeared to have little chance of winning and won by the narrowest of margins, meaning disclosure would likely have been fatal; and the agreement went to absurd lengths to obfuscate Trump's involvement, including the use of pseudonyms for Trump and Clifford and the use of an obscure Delaware company as a vehicle to make the payment.
Even though Cohen has risibly claimed that he paid Clifford on his own accord, with no involvement by his client or the Trump organization, at least two Trump lawyers have been involved in the energetic legal efforts to keep Clifford silent - efforts that President Trump has now formally joined.
As is the case with Clifford, Trump has denied the liaison, and McDougal is in legal proceedings attempting to void the nondisclosure agreement.
If Clifford were lying, Trump would simply have sloughed off her claims, just like he gave the back of the hand to other claims of his roguish behavior made by other women in the run-up to the election.
As a factual matter, a shoddy cover-up of an extramarital tryst with a porn star a decade before Donald Trump became president would be a trifle compared to the oft-repeated but never established claim of Trump collusion with Russia.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/03/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-scandal-legal-consequences/
A lot of the commentary about Clifford is of the all-or-nothing variety: Staunch Trump critics believe her every word; staunch Trump defenders reject her in toto.
There appears to be no doubt at this point that: Cohen paid Clifford $130,000 for her silence; the payment came on the eve of an election that Trump appeared to have little chance of winning and won by the narrowest of margins, meaning disclosure would likely have been fatal; and the agreement went to absurd lengths to obfuscate Trump's involvement, including the use of pseudonyms for Trump and Clifford and the use of an obscure Delaware company as a vehicle to make the payment.
Even though Cohen has risibly claimed that he paid Clifford on his own accord, with no involvement by his client or the Trump organization, at least two Trump lawyers have been involved in the energetic legal efforts to keep Clifford silent - efforts that President Trump has now formally joined.
As is the case with Clifford, Trump has denied the liaison, and McDougal is in legal proceedings attempting to void the nondisclosure agreement.
If Clifford were lying, Trump would simply have sloughed off her claims, just like he gave the back of the hand to other claims of his roguish behavior made by other women in the run-up to the election.
As a factual matter, a shoddy cover-up of an extramarital tryst with a porn star a decade before Donald Trump became president would be a trifle compared to the oft-repeated but never established claim of Trump collusion with Russia.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/03/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-scandal-legal-consequences/
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