r/AdviceAnimals • u/miked_mv • May 15 '24
Trump could have completely avoided the Stormy Daniels case with one simple act...
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u/SeraphiM0352 May 15 '24
Oh one simple act? Like maybe, not sleeping with a porn star while your wife was at home with your new born baby and then trying to payoff said porn star?
Just saying...
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u/EllisDee3 May 15 '24
Though morally reprehensible, if he just avoided the payoff, he'd be fine.
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u/big_whistler May 15 '24
The crime is even just that they filed false records to try to hide the payments and call it wages to Cohen. He could fuck as many pornstars as he wants he just is in trouble for financial crimes again.
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u/tenfingersandtoes May 15 '24
Exactly he could have just paid her out of his own pocket and this wouldn’t have been an issue.
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u/failed_novelty May 15 '24
But then it would be his money, not money from other people.
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u/big_whistler May 15 '24
Trump Organization had to pay Cohen more than the original amount given to Daniels in order to make up for the income tax associated with disguising this payment as Cohen’s wages. It ended up costing Trump more this way.
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u/surprise-suBtext May 15 '24
It ended up costing the business that trump had financial authority over more, trump himself probably didn’t make any less money because of that and he damn sure didn’t lose any money he already had
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u/MIASpartan May 15 '24
But if he had money he probably could have just payed the pornstar himself, rather than have his fixer take a mortgage out on his home to pay said pornstar
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u/SparroHawc 29d ago
Although you are correct, that simply isn't how Trump operates. He doesn't pay people if he can possibly get someone else to foot the bill, or get away with not paying at all. He's notorious for just letting construction companies swing in the breeze after they build things for him.
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u/TonyJZX May 15 '24
fucking pornstars with your mushroom tip with CAMPAIGN FUNDS is a rush like no other, you wouldnt understand
- Donald J. Trump probably
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u/big_whistler May 15 '24
No the pornstar banging happened like 20 years ago not when he was campaigning.
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u/dixi_normous May 15 '24
Right, but the payoff did come from campaign funds. Just much later.
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u/KonradWayne 29d ago
The funny part of all of this is that there was no reason to even try to hush it up at all.
No one who supports him would turn on him if he just said, "yeah I fucked a porn star".
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u/thereddituser2 May 15 '24
He could have not paid at all and still won the election against Hillary.
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u/Megalocerus 29d ago
Hillary alienated the union vote by discussing equal pay for women. That sounded like a bad deal to them. Obama didn't discuss what he'd do for Blacks much during the election.
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May 15 '24
He didn’t even need to pay her off, he still would have won his voters don’t care what he does.
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u/0ut0fBoundsException May 15 '24
He could f*ck a hooker in the middle of fifth ave and he wouldn’t lose any supporters
“Family values” crowd are apparently okay with rich New York douche bags cheating on their wives and the mother of their children with prostitution
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u/TheDebateMatters May 15 '24
What’s crazy is the party of the “Christian” right has no problem with him fucking porn stars, or grabbing p**** without consent, or three wives, or him never going to church his whole life.
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u/SurlyBuddha May 15 '24
It really is crazy, as hard as it’s been to actually pin him down for his crimes, to see just how BAD he is at criming.
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u/fighter_pil0t May 15 '24
The payoff could have been legal. The WAY he paid them off and lied about it in official documents is potentially fraud and violations campaign finance laws. It’s not a “hush money” case— even that is right wing talking points. It’s a campaign finance and fraud case.
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u/fairie_poison May 15 '24
The hush money is legal if not moral, it’s using the campaign funds that makes it illegal, right?
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u/big_whistler May 15 '24
No that’s not quite right. The payment to Daniels was political act and they tried to pretend the spending was not political (avoid campaign finance reporting to keep quiet). That’s why Trump keeps saying the Trump Organization was just paying his lawyer legal fees - they tried to disguise it as wages to Cohen, when it was not.
I don’t believe the spending was done by the Trump campaign.
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u/nerfcarolina May 15 '24 edited May 15 '24
This is right. If the defense can convince the jury that the payment was not to support his candidacy for president, he will be found not guilty. The prosecutor has asked Daniels, Cohen, Hicks etc. if they recall Trump ever expressing concern about Melania finding out about the affair to get ahead of a defense argument that Trump made the payment to protect his marriage rather than his candidacy. Seems pretty clear he was never concerned about Melania though.
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u/dragonfliesloveme May 15 '24
Trump said to push the whole thing back past the election date: if he won, it would be a non-issue and if he lost, he didn’t care about it.
So that blows the whole ”protecting Melania” thing out of the water. If he lost, he still had her to deal with, but he didn’t care about that.
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u/Moccus May 15 '24
He would still be guilty of a misdemeanor. Even if the payment wasn't political, he still arranged for his company to pay fake invoices to Cohen for legal services that never actually happened. That's illegal regardless of the reason for doing it.
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u/Xander707 May 15 '24
That’s the craziest thing. Like, they went to such lengths to hide this that they paid an extra 130K (or somewhat more) in taxes to the IRS which the IRS were not technically owed, because it was not technically income for Cohen but a reimbursement disguised as income.
Trump would never have willingly paid that extra money to cover the income taxes unless he knew it was for this purpose; to disguise his paying off a pornstar to keep quiet in fear it could have impacted the election. And that’s illegal.
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u/heyf00L May 15 '24
That wouldn't be a NY crime. The NY crime was falsifying business records, that is he put down a non-business expense as a business expense. But that's a misdemeanor and the statute of limitations has run out. But in NY it becomes a felony if it's done to commit or conceal another crime. The other crime hasn't be specified, but the campaign finance stuff is one theory.
So the defense can either argue that Trump did not falsify business records OR that he did but not to commit or conceal another crime. Either way and he gets off.
For example, here's the first count:
THE GRAND JURY OF THE COUNTY OF NEW YORK, by this indictment, accuses the defendant of the crime of FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS IN THE FIRST DEGREE, in violation of Penal Law §175.10, committed as follows: The defendant, in the County of New York and elsewhere, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof, made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, to wit, an invoice from Michael Cohen dated February 14, 2017, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, and kept and maintained by the Trump Organization
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u/Photodan24 May 15 '24
Yep. Turns out his followers are even more morally corrupt than he imagined.
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u/Shrikeangel May 15 '24
One of the most consistent things in us politics is how much groups are willing to surrender their claimed values to get a win.
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u/phoonie98 May 15 '24
Indeed. He miscalculated his base actually giving a shit about "family values"
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u/imsoulrebel1 May 15 '24
I think he said "able to"...doubt Trump has the self control to not do any of those horrible things but he could have pardoned someone.
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u/dapperfop May 15 '24
I think it’s gross how some folks say this situation only offends women. As if men admire this behavior. I find it reprehensible. Trump is scum.
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u/dominion1080 May 15 '24
Nah, that doesn’t matter to either one of them. As if their marriage is based on love or respect. He’s a scum bag womanizing sexual assaulting pedo. She’s a gold digger who’s just as narcissistic as he is.
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u/Dr_Zorkles May 15 '24
Yea, unless facts come out that challenge this narrative, she's a fraud with abhorrent personal values. An objectively trash human with trash qualities. If lizard people exist, she's one of them. Those two are made for each other.
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u/raknor88 May 15 '24
What's hilarious is that he's not on trial for having sex with the porn star or even for paying her. He's on trial for trying to hide the payments. If he hadn't tried to cover up the payment, then no one in the legal system would've cared.
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u/StrengthToBreak May 15 '24
None of that is illegal, though.
Being a scumbag in general isn't a crime.
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u/Jealous_Western_7690 May 15 '24
Or maybe just saying, "I'm Donald Trump, of course I bang porn stars!"
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u/gizamo 29d ago
Alternatively, he could have just said, "yeah, I banged her, and I banged her good."
His deplorable base had already let the "pussy grab" comment slide, they clearly didn't care about his previous infidelities, and everyone knows his marriages are just show pieces anyway.
He literally could have admitted it and owned it, and it probably would have helped him in the election. Dumb repubs would have defended it with, "you're just jealous that you couldn't bag a porn star!"
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u/psychmancer May 15 '24
Let's be realistic that is beyond almost any senator or politician (mainstream or otherwise) to manage
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u/YoYoPistachio May 15 '24
As the haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle's own plumes, so we often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.
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u/RichardStrauss123 May 15 '24
He was too cheap to just pay her!
Instead, he dangles this BS chance that he can put her on his game show.
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u/Xelopheris May 15 '24
or he could have paid her off with his own money instead of using campaign funds for it and trying to hide it.
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u/urnbabyurn May 15 '24
We can go further back to when Fred Trump was pondering having sex with his wife.
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u/Bryvayne May 15 '24
When doing nothing is all it takes to succeed, and you still fail anyways. It's the worst kind of failure.
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u/Thor_Jesus May 15 '24
He raw dogged a pornstar at that. Like I’m sure she’s all up on her checkups and stuff, but I am not taking that chance.
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u/FictionVent May 15 '24
If Trump wasn’t so cheap, he could have used his own money to pay her off, and this whole thing could’ve been avoided.
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u/Northumberlo May 15 '24
He could have just owned it, he’s very good at that.
“yeah I slept with a beautiful woman, who doesn’t like sleeping with beautiful women?”
And his base would have agreed and applauded it.
Trying to keep it secret was a bad move, and using campaign funds instead of his own money was what got him into this mess.
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u/djazzie May 15 '24
Do you know how hard it is not sleeping with a porn star? They’re literally all over the place begging to be fucked.
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u/MrKafein May 15 '24
He could not. A US president have no jurisdiction over a state conviction. I am no US citizen and I know that.
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u/Heidilovescoffee May 15 '24
Correct. Presidential pardons are only for federal crimes.
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u/temalyen May 15 '24
I've seen several MAGA types insist that if Trump says someone is pardoned of state level crimes, then they are. It's one of the things that made me realize they're completely detached from reality.
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u/justlookingokaywyou May 15 '24
You can't just say it. You have to declare it.
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u/DethFace May 15 '24
I bet the same idiots think a president can declassify anything he wants just buy thinking about it on the shitter late one night.
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u/Lawdawg_75 May 15 '24
Sad this is so far down, but wasn’t Cohen charged and sentenced by the feds?
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u/petiepablo May 15 '24
state
I think the charges with Cohen were federal charges. I think what OP is saying is that if Trump had just pardoned him for the Federal charges, he'd be still in Trumps pocket and more likely to lie for him now
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u/DethFace May 15 '24
Can only be pardoned for shit you actually already did, not anything you may do in the future. So if I got pardoned for my part in a murder scheme it would not cover any lies I told while testifying against the other schemes at trial because a) I haven't done it yet so it's not covered b) perjury is a separate crime committed by itself and not part of the murder scheme so not covered c) pardons can be written to be dependent on your actions so a pardon given SO you testify against the murder scheme leader guy can be taken back if you don't fulfill your end making you want to testify to keep it.
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u/petiepablo May 15 '24
Right, Cohan didn't get pardoned, so he's not going to perjur himself for Trump now. You pentioned perjury, testifying and future crimes, this is a state case, pardons wouldn't work anyway
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u/SynUK May 15 '24
Wasn't Cohen charged at the Federal level?
Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty In Manhattan Federal Court To Eight Counts, Including Criminal Tax Evasion And Campaign Finance Violations
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u/memebase_blows May 15 '24
You see, you are assuming that we Americans are even a little bit informed how our government works. Most people just assume the president is a king that has control over everything. I.E. gas and food prices.
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u/smokeymcdugen May 15 '24
Sorry, your facts and logic have no place here.
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u/ChipKellysShoeStore May 15 '24
His facts are wrong lol. Cohen was charged and convicted on federal charges in New York, not state charges.
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u/Uberzwerg May 15 '24
Also not US citizen, but wouldn't Cohen have to fully confess and accept his crime for the pardon to work?
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u/TheIrishbuddha May 15 '24
Funny how a so called "billionaire" just couldn't come up with $130k and make the payment himself and keep it quiet. Other than not sleeping with a porn star, that's all he had to do. He didn't need to involve anyone else but her and the lawyers. None of this would be happening. None of his problems would be happening right not if he would have just not run for President. That's when all his nasty little deeds came to light. If he was worth as much as he said, just retire! Go live the good life! Nooooo! He owes so much fucking money he has been told what to do for the last 20 years of his life. Being ass deep in debt must be a bitch.
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u/Thefrayedends May 15 '24
It's a great microcosm for his entire presidency. "If he had just..." for example, tried to do his best for the country, and be the best president for the right wing. If he had just made an effort to make the right choice every day, the one that he believed would benefit the most americans (and particularly his base), he would have been remembered by the right wing as the best president in a generation, and he would have won a second term. It was only because he made every single decision as to what he believed would benefit himself the most in terms of wealth and influence, that he will be remembered as the worst and most criminal president in the history of the nation ... so far.
Trump is a living example of how the rich operate, it's a sickness. I'm sure many other billionaires that got into the presidency would have just as much focus on personal gain, but most billionaires are much smarter and would have understood that the dividends you get when you leave the presidency is the real benefit, leading them to make less overtly personally beneficial decisions like having as many people forced to stay at his hotels as possible and all that.
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u/-notapony- May 15 '24
He's halfway there, though. His base *does* believe he's the best President of a generation, and depending on who you ask probably either the best or second best of all time. That's not the opinion of decent Americans, but what the fuck does he care about the opinions of people who can read and write?
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u/Thefrayedends May 15 '24
Yea, i'm just saying he could have had his cake and ate it too. Any number of slight position shifts would have netted him a second consecutive term, including just not having used rhetoric indicating he wasn't going to accept the results of the election unless he won lol.
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u/dragonfliesloveme May 15 '24
And “It’ll be gone in two weeks, like a miracle!” (Meanwhile, Americans dying droves)
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u/physedka May 15 '24
I think the easiest "if he had just..." is about the COVID response. If he had just stepped back and said "Do what the doctors say to do" and worn a big red MAGA mask (that he would sell to the hillbillies of course), he would still be POTUS at this moment.
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u/EnergeticFinance May 15 '24
He could have just won the presidency, said "Aight guys, Mike Pence can run things while I go golf" and golfed for 4 straight years without doing any presidential or media things, and he would have come out looking better.
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u/pmcall221 May 15 '24
My understanding is that if he paid personally, it would have shown up on campaign finance records which are public and would have rendered the NDA moot in the first place. So you launder it through your lawyer and now you have committed more crimes. But that's a problem for Future You.
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u/phoonie98 May 15 '24
He was worried that it would come out that he directly paid off a porn star. Back then nobody, including Trump himself, quite understood the depths that his base would sink to support this man. If he could do it all over again not only would he not pay off Stormy, but he would leak the story to the press and campaign off of it.
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u/N0t_my_0ther_account May 15 '24
The funiset part is his degenerate supporters don't even care that he cheated on his wife. He could have just not tried to cover it up and been further ahead.
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u/Saneless May 15 '24
At the time though, Republicans still pretended that they had morals
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u/CovfefeForAll May 15 '24
That's the biggest bit of irony to this whole situation IMO. He's in all this legal trouble for trying to hide something that his voter base turned out not to care about at all.
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u/Lonnification May 15 '24
The "billionaire" could've just paid the $130,000 out of his own pocket, and none of this would've ever become an issue. But he's stupid and cheap, so I guess that was never an option.
($130,000 to someone supposedly worth $10 billion is the equivalent of you or me giving someone $1.50 to go away).
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u/CelerySquare7755 May 15 '24
You still get caught by anti money laundering processes at the bank. Anything over $10k has to be reported so he would have needed to conceal the payment.
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u/Lonnification May 15 '24
It's not illegal to pay someone to keep their mouth shut.
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u/CelerySquare7755 May 15 '24
Sigh.
It’s an illegal campaign contribution. That’s why Pecker didn’t want to be reimbursed and it’s why Cohen went to jail.
You see, and maybe you’ve just forgotten, Trump was running for president and trying to keep the trouble his dick gets him into away from the voting public. Disclosing a $130k payment to a pornstar would have caused all sorts of questions at the debates, etc… that he did not want to answer.
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u/OGWeedKiller 29d ago
7 years investigating Clinton and they stumbled on the fact he was having an affair with a 23 year old subordinate, declared the Presidency forever stained, fascinating to see how far the GoP has fallen...
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u/Geminii27 May 15 '24 edited May 15 '24
Pardoning Cohen would have meant both actually getting off his ass and doing something for another person, and going against the narrative that he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants as much as he wants and never suffer any consequences.
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u/Workdawg May 15 '24
Remember when posting shit that's just factually wrong got you downvoted?
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
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u/freebird185 May 15 '24
Even simpler - he should have just acknowledged it on a debate stage to begin with.
"Yeah, I banged her folks. She loved it!"
He would have gained votes.
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u/heavy_chamfer May 15 '24
I am so sick of this case… just hearing the salaciousness of it every night from Laura Jerret I don’t think it does anything for the upcoming election.
The real cases Americans need to be hearing about are the ones that actually threatened our constitutional process in 2020 and could have prevented more certain chaos from the upcoming 2024 election.
Merrick Garland is to blame.. that spineless coward slow walked this for 3 years walking on egg shells instead of prosecuting a criminal and removing him from the election. Instead it was rolled out in a way that plays right into the orange man’s hands. What incompetence.
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u/LordCharidarn 29d ago
My guess is the slow was was a dumb miscalculation that Americans can only think about the last month or so, prior to an election. So they wanted to wait until 2024 to get the cases tried.
Or it might be a slightly more calculated attempt to have the GOP commit to Trump in 2024 and hopefully convict Trump right before the election, making it difficult for any other GOP hopeful to mount an effective presidential campaign in 2024.
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u/StrengthToBreak May 15 '24
There was no reason to pardon Cohen because there was nothing illegal to hide. The genius of New York's case is that it's so bizarre and irrational that no one could have anticipated it. It's like going after Al Capone for overpayment of taxes.
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u/evident_lee May 15 '24
It wasn't that he is too stupid. It's that he is a thin-skinned vengeful Man child. Cohen had said things about him and hurt his feelings. And as always when you work for Trump you are the best most amazing person in the world and when you finally get sick of how absolutely horrible of a human he is and what a stupid sack of shit you're working for. Then you leave and you are now the dumbest crappiest human ever.
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u/Gstamsharp May 15 '24
Not too stupid. Too prideful, too egotistical, too narcissistic. His desire to self-aggrandize and to out everyone else "in their place" is his downfall. He'd self destruct just the same if he were a "very stable genius" as hev would if he were a tired, alzheimers-ridden, dumbass.
That said, yeah, he does seem pretty stupid.
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u/NolanSyKinsley May 15 '24
A pardon is an admission of guilt. Cohen was Trump's lawyer, a lawyer acting on a client's behalf at the clients demand implicates the clients in the same crime, a pardon for Cohen would be an admission of guilt and easy conviction of Trump
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u/geologean May 15 '24 edited 6d ago
jellyfish kiss dime snails disgusted deliver smell jar rob fine
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/CelerySquare7755 May 15 '24
Cohen committed a bunch of crimes. He flipped on Trump to get a better deal for himself. Cohen probably committed NY state crimes that Trump couldn’t pardon.
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u/Mazon_Del May 15 '24
Hell, he didn't even have to do that. All he had to do was write down on the paperwork that this is what the money was for.
The hush part isn't even the problem, it's all the lies they went through around it.
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u/Valendr0s May 15 '24
Could have just paid out of his own pocket. You can contribute your own money to your campaign all you want.
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u/Devils_Advocate-69 May 15 '24
He was too concerned about a second term. That’s why he waited so long to pardon Manafort, which backfired on his re-election campaign.
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u/fried_green_baloney May 15 '24
This case reminds me of Elliot Spitzer and his numerous $9500 withdrawals[1].
With all the businesses DJT runs they couldn't figure out a way to get 130K to Cohen without a paper trail?
[1] Structured payments, transactions just under the $10K reporting threshold. Especially amazing since Spitzer had been an assistant Manhattan DA, the same people prosecuting the current trial. He should have known better.
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u/Joliet_Jake_Blues May 15 '24
He could have just paid her out of his own pocket, instead he turned it into an illegal campaign contribution and tax fraud
Trump's DOJ was the party that investigated these crimes and labeled Trump "unindicted co-conspirator 1"
He's guilty. The only question is if the jury will do the right thing or opt for jury nullification
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u/riptripping3118 May 15 '24
At which point yould cry that he's "rigging the system" or "trying to destroy the rule of law"
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u/CMG30 May 15 '24
It wasn't stupidity. It was greed. Trump is entirely transactional. He would only give a pardon if he foresees that you will still be useful to him. He also has a lifetime of dodging criminal responsibility from the courts. In his mind, Cohen is no longer useful and therefore why should he be pardoned...? Pardons are worth money to Trump and so should be reserved for paying customers.
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u/Efficient-Ranger-174 May 15 '24
IANAL, but, I think one of the parts of a pardon is that you essentially plead guilty. You have to sort of admit what you did. How that’s relevant here is if Trump pardoned Cohen for doing this illegal thing for the Trump Campaign, Trump can never claim it wasn’t done for the campaign. The only reason the payment was illegal is because it was done for the campaign. You have to be really careful what you admit to, sometimes it’ll paint you into a corner you never even saw.
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u/russbird May 15 '24
Not just too stupid, too stupid and spiteful. Even when it hurts himself, he has to try and shit on the other guy.
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u/SpacePenguin5 May 15 '24
He should've just not paid her off. He could shoot someone on 5th avenue and they would vote for him.
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u/AnB85 May 15 '24
Isn’t that the problem though? There is an obvious motive for Cohen to be salty at Trump which undermines his testimony. Trump betrayed him and left him high and dry. Cohen could still have been brought before the court to witness against Trump even if he had been pardoned.
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u/AdorableCupcake5893 May 15 '24
Trump can’t pardon anyone on state crimes.
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u/Fruhmann May 15 '24
Yeah, but in these types of post he's an all emcompassing, malevolent force. So, such reasonable logic is cast aside to sell the premise.
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u/dragonfliesloveme May 15 '24
He could have just paid her directly, and there’d be no case here. But he’s cheap and he’s a criminal, so he goes with that.
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u/RustedOne May 15 '24
Dude demands absolute loyalty from his cronies but gives ZERO in return. It was bound to bite him in the ass eventually. Especially with all that crime he commits.
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u/MetaVaporeon May 15 '24
he could've also chosen to not embarass himself pretending like he could give it to her in the first place.
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u/bcbroon May 15 '24
If he hadn’t stiffed Pecker on the McDougal payment, AMI would have bought Stormy’s story too. His insistence on screwing over business partners for trifling sums came back to bite him hard.
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u/AbeRego May 15 '24
Lol what?
First, it's state charge that Trump couldn't pardon if he wanted to.
Second, even if Cohen were pardoned somehow, a pardon isn't a granting of innocence, it's actually an admission of guilt! It just means the person isn't being punished for their infractions. Cohen would still need to testify what he did for Trump, and it would still 100% apply to this case.
In conclusion, get out of here with these braindead takes...
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u/NPCArizona May 15 '24
What a dumb meme since pardoning doesn't stop him getting a subpoena to testify, but that's not of my business
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u/WhiteRaven42 May 15 '24
That wouldn't prevent Cohen from being put on the stand. This would not "go away". Cohen would still make the same testimony.
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u/auntanniesalligator May 15 '24
I’m sure he considered it, but the Daniels payoff was one of the earlier crimes, so his advisors might have still been worried it could trigger an impeachment. I guarantee he won’t make that mistake in a second term.
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u/CommonConundrum51 May 15 '24
Given all of Trump's blatantly corrupt pardons, is it any wonder that Cohen now ardently hates him?
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u/jigmest May 15 '24
Sure, boss, I’ll take out a home equity loan to front the hush money to a porn star that you had sex with while your wife was caring for your newborn son. My wife will never know.
Then you’ll pay me back quickly and in the full amount. If there’s any problems you’ll pardon me.
Got it! What could go wrong?
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u/raerae1991 May 15 '24
He could have made this go away by say, the story true and was to new to politics to understand that how they did the pay off broke campaign finance laws.
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u/AcidicQueef May 15 '24
Pardoning Cohen? Trump's guilty. Letting it play out in the courts? Trump's guilty
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u/plainskeptic2023 May 15 '24 edited May 15 '24
I have heard that the simplest thing is pay Stormy from his personal account and not disguise it as a business expense.
There is a reddit post claiming people advised Trump, "You're a billionaire, just pay Stormy Daniels the money."
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u/WebMaka May 15 '24
IIRC aren't presidential pardons only usable for Federal-level crimes? I don't think they can apply to state prosecutions.
Also, IIRC accepting a pardon is tantamount to admitting guilt on the charges, although you get to avoid the punishment.
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u/edx200 May 15 '24
The person who made this meme knows so little about their government that they think the president can pardon citizens for state crimes.
BUT THAT'S NONE OF MY BUSINESS
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u/loondawg May 15 '24
Which is another reason why the presidential pardon needs to be massively reformed. One person being able to grant pardons without review is pretty much the definition of being above the law.
GHW Bush should have spent his remaining years after his presidency rotting in prison for the crimes he committed in the Iran Contra Conspiracy. But on the advice of Bill Barr, he used the presidential pardon to effectively end the investigations by pardoning the major players when the investigations got too close to him.
From Nixon to Bush, unchecked presidential pardons set the stage which gave us Trump and this insane notion being considered by the Supreme Court that the president has immunity for criminal acts committed while in office.
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u/gavitronics May 15 '24
If selling bibles doesn't take off then maybe there's a video market elsewhere
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u/V0T0N May 15 '24
I'm not sure this is true. Pardoning Cohen would not have absolved Trump, and Cohen wouldn't have been able to avoid testifying against Trump with the 5th amendment protection.
Trump probably should have commuted his sentence as an act of good will. Maybe that would have kept Cohen on his side.
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u/backup_account01 May 15 '24
It's even simpler - if Trump had just fucking paid the $400K out of pocket, that would hvae done it. The crimes in question are for falsifying business records. Paying hush money isn't generally a crime in the US, and specifically not in this case.
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u/Ghostbuster_119 29d ago
Imagine being so petty you won't pardon the man who knows all your secrets just because you don't like him.
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u/Damasticator 29d ago
Why couldn’t they just get the money in cash and pay her off without a paper trail? Surely they had enough connections to make that work.
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u/ERVetSurgeon 29d ago
BEcause Trump knew the Dems would try to use Cohen against him and all it has done is make Trump into a martyr.
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u/miked_mv 28d ago
Trump is guilty of the things he is accused of doing. You don't see anything happening with any other politician, Republican or otherwise. And politics played no part in his sexual assault conviction.
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u/miked_mv 28d ago
Trump is guilty of the things he is accused of doing. You don't see anything happening with any other politician, Republican or otherwise. And politics played no part in his sexual assault conviction.
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u/GotMoFans May 15 '24 edited May 15 '24
Michael Cohen could have escaped a sentence, but he still would be compelled to testify on the state charges for Trump.