Brunswick Beacon, 06.06.24
Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felonies because he rigged the 2016 election. Trump paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 just days before the election to silence her. Trump believed his campaign would be finished if Americans knew he had sex with a porn star soon after Melania delivered Barron. That made the $130,000 a campaign contribution which Trump never disclosed, as required by law. Trump cooked the books to conceal his payment and election interference. That made the charges felonies.
Trump’s communications director, Hope Hicks, proved Trump’s intent beyond reasonable doubt. She testified that Trump said his then-fixer Michael Cohen paid Daniels for him, and that “it would have been bad to have that story come out before the election.” Realizing her testimony had just sunk Trump, Hicks burst into tears.
The smoking gun documents were two handwritten notes by Trump’s financial officers. They showed the $130,000 reimbursement to Cohen was doubled to cover Cohen’s taxes so he could generate false invoices for legal fees to conceal the hush-money payment.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass closed by asking jurors to review the meeting between Donald Trump, David Pecker and Michael Cohen at Trump Tower on August 15, 2015.
Jurors reviewed Pecker’s testimony, which corroborated Cohen’s account of the conspiracy. Pecker agreed to be Trump’s “eyes and ears.” Pecker’s National Enquirer helped Trump “catch and kill” stories that could hurt Trump’s presidential campaign. Jurors also reviewed Pecker’s testimony about the phone call he got from Trump directing Pecker to work out the details of the scheme with Cohen.
The jury’s review confirmed Steinglass’ summary of Trump’s election interference: “This scheme, cooked up by these men, at this time, could very well be what got President Trump elected. This was overt election fraud, an act in furtherance of the conspiracy to promote Mr. Trump’s election by unlawful means.”
Trump accused Democrats of rigging the election because that’s what he did.
Vince Amoroso
Sunset Beach
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