An Ever-Changing Stormy: Trump’s Payout Flip-Flop
President Trump has repeatedly said that he didn’t know about the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, and he didn’t know where the money came from (“Trump admits: Yes, I paid the porn star,” May 4).
Now, he finally admits to reimbursing his lawyer for the $130,000 payment made during the 2016 campaign.
This is only one of many lies Trump has spoken or tweeted since becoming president. Clearly, he cannot be trusted. How can public policy be based on such slippery slobber? This isn’t acceptable behavior for the leader of our country.
How can Republicans and Trump supporters continue to tolerate such dishonesty? Bruce Joffe Piedmont, Calif.
Stormy Daniels, an adult entertainer, had a consensual one-night stand with Trump in 2006. Ten years later, when he was running for president, she was paid $130,000 (pretty good for a one-night stand) and signed a confidentiality agreement. She’s still telling her story. Why? Because she’s getting publicity.
Presidents Bill Clinton, John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson all had affairs while they were presidents but the leftwing media ignored them. It’s obvious that the progressive media protect only progressives. Imelda De Martin Red Bank, NJ
P.T. Barnum once said, “There’s a sucker born ev- ery minute.” While the great 19th-century showman didn’t know President Trump, Michael Cohen or Rudy Giuliani, he clearly had men like them and what they said in mind.
Their conflicting statements about who did or didn’t pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 is a circus that Barnum himself would have been proud to promote. We aren’t the suckers the president, his “fixer” and “America’s Mayor” think we are. Denny Freidenrich Laguna Beach,Calif.
Telling the truth — right away — is always the best option. Giuliani’s disclosure that the buck, or $130,000 of them, stops with Trump opens a minefield of concerns, both legal and moral.
In the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower, “The supreme quality of leadership is integrity.” Dennis Fitzgerald Melbourne, Australia