Trump warned: A lot of women will come forward
Hush money trial hears of ex-president’s boast
DONALD Trump worried that a lot of women would come forward once his 2016 run for the White House was announced, his former lawyer has told a court.
Jurors were told about the former President’s fears during his criminal fraud trial over hush money allegedly paid to silence a porn star who claims they had a one-night stand.
Former attorney Michael Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, told the jury Trump began to fret about stories from his personal life emerging as he tried to get elected as President.
Cohen said he facilitated paying people to keep allegations to themselves, and that Trump told him: “You know that when this comes out [meaning the announcement] just be prepared there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward.”
He said he learned of Playboy model Karen Mcdougal’s attempts to sell a story about an alleged affair with Trump, now 77.
Cohen testified that he had met regularly with then-national Enquirer publisher David Pecker in an effort to stop Mcdougal’s story from getting to any publication.
After saying that the publisher regularly updated him about negotiations regarding the story, Cohen said he would communicate with Pecker and the magazine’s editor Dylan Howard by phone, text, email or the Signal encrypted messaging app. Cohen added: “David [Pecker] had stated that it’s going to cost him $150,000 to control the story.
“To which Mr Trump replied ‘No problem, I’ll take care of it’.”
Questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, Cohen said he took this to mean that the magazine would lay out the cash and then Trump would pay them back later.
But the crux of the court case is the allegation that porn star Daniels was paid $130,000 to keep silent about her alleged one-off sexual encounter with Trump.
After leaving Trump’s employment, Cohen was jailed for violating federal campaign finance law by paying off Daniels. Prosecutors say Trump then paid back his lawyer and obscured the true nature of such payments in internal business documents.
When Trump found out Daniels was persisting in trying to sell her story, Cohen said Trump told him: “I thought you had this under control. “Just take care of it.”
Cohen also said Trump was uninterested in wife Melania’s reaction to the sexual allegations. The lawyer admitted being aggressive and bullying people as he tried to keep bad publicity about his then-boss Trump from emerging.
Trump, on trial at Manhattan Criminal Court, has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
The maximum sentence is four years. The trial continues.
✱The Eurovision Song Contest is the biggest joke on the planet. Have you ever seen such woeful singers and woeful songs gathered in one place?
Even the stage name our Irish act Bambie Thug used was horrible. I didn’t get Bambie and I didn’t get the Irish song.
I gave up after an hour of watching it. The whole circus is a waste of time and money.
God be with the days that the likes of ABBA graced the Eurovision stage. Whoever wins each year is never heard of again.