President Donald Trump has been revealed to be the third man who attended a 2015 meeting with Michael Cohen and National Enquirer boss David Pecker where they forged a plan to keep the president's alleged affairs out of the press.
The meeting, which was referenced in a letter federal prosecutors sent to National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc., included an offer by company CEO to 'help deal with negative stories about the presidential candidate's relationships with women.'
With Trump identified as having been there, it means he was present when a plan was developed that would ultimately lead to a felony crime that Cohen pleaded guilty to and in Pecker's case a cooperation agreement by AMI with prosecutors not to be prosecuted 'for any crimes' related to campaign finance law resulting from the meeting.
It comes amid a spike in talk in Washington about the possibility that the president could be charged with directing a federal crime, even if it is ultimately held that he is immune from such charges due to his office and the Justice Department's prior interpretation of the Constitution that sitting presidents cannot be indicted, only impeached.
After the bombshell development, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders suddenly turned up to brief reporters and claimed when asked if Trump was worried about Pecker flipping: 'Not at all.'
Sanders added: 'The president was clear that he directed no one to do anything wrong, particularly Michael Cohen. He’s been clear on this.'
But the revelation threatened to create more turmoil in the White House and for Trump's legal team.
The plan the three reached included an agreement to help the campaign 'identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided.' At the meeting, 'Pecker agreed to keep Cohen apprised of any such negative stories,' according to the letter.
President Donald Trump has been revealed to be the third man who attended a 2015 meeting with Michael Cohen and David Pecker about burying negative stories about his alleged affairs
NBC confirmed Trump's attendance a day after prosecutors referenced it in the letter – which revealed that AMI, like Cohen, was cooperating with the government. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Trump was involved in or briefed on 'nearly every step' of the agreements.
And so-called 'catch and kill' agreements did emerge over the course of the campaign.
Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign and banking violations after he created a shell company to transfer $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with Trump.
AMI gave $150,000 to Playboy model Karen McDougal, who says she had a 10-month affair with the president.
That could leave Trump as the odd man out if he continues his denials that he did nothing wrong and never 'directed' Cohen to break the law.
DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel determined during the Nixon Administration that a sitting president could not be indicted, although its position has not been tested in court.
Amid the swirling developments of the week, one powerful Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, is calling for that interpretation to change.
Although the founders included impeachment in the constitution as a political remedy, critics of the status quo have argued they never intended to give the executive a 'free pass' for crimes just by holding office, including alleged crimes that helped a president obtain the White House.
'I think the Justice Department needs to re-examine that OLC opinion, the Office of Legal Counsel opinion, that you cannot indict a sitting president under circumstances in which the failure to do so may mean that person escapes justice,' Schiff told CNN on Wednesday, hours after Donald Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws and other matters.
Meanwhile, impeachment – a subject Democratic leaders sought to tamp down before the elections – continues to hover over the courtroom developments.
If it is determined that the Justice Department can't or won't charge Trump, even with a recommendation from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, it would then fall to House Democrats to begin the process that can result in the president's removal from office.
Adding to the pressure on Democrats will be the statute of limitations on potential campaign finance crimes. That could allow Trump to avoid facing charges by winning election to a second term – even as his subordinate Cohen cools his heels in jail well past the time Trump would again take the oath of office.
Former Acting Solicitor General under President Obama Neal Katyal wrote Wednesday on Twitter that existing special counsel regulations 'put thumb on scale of Mueller asking Acting AG to indict, as that is the one way Mueller can be sure info he has uncovered in his investigation is provided to Congress. EVEN if Mueller thinks AG would say no, he may need to ask.'
Despite the current regulations, Mueller could ask the Justice Department to allow for a waiver to indict, according to Katyal.
If the official overseeing the Russia probe refuses, Mueller would be required to report it to Congress – which would then have that information as it considered any impeachment proceedings.
It is not entirely clear who is even overseeing the probe who would make that call. Trump installed loyalist Matt Whitaker as Acting Attorney General, but Justice has refused media requests for information on whether Whitaker received an ethics review of any potential conflicts, following a slew of comments critical of the Mueller investigation.
If he weren't in an oversight role, it could be Deputy Attorney Gen. Rod Rosenstein who would make the call.
Trump 'and his Republican supporters do not appreciate what legal analysts do: that the president is in serious legal jeopardy and it is mounting,' wrote former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti in Politico.
Former Playboy model Karen McDougal got paid $150,000 in exchange for 'limited life rights' to her story
Trump distanced himself from the $150,000 payment Thursday in an interview with Fox News.
'Let me just tell you about that tabloid I don't think - and I have to go check - I don't think they even paid any money to that tabloid. Okay?' Trump told the network in an interview.
'I don't think we made a payment to that tabloid. I was asking the question – I don't think we made a payment,' Trump continued. Then you have the other situation, and every lawyer – look, "Trump didn't violate campaign finance laws, and neither did the president," he said, reading for a headline he had with him during the interview.
Prosecutors said 'at no time' did AMI intend to publish the story it was buying.
Cohen in August and Sept. 2016 called Pecker sand said he wanted to purchase the 'limited life rights' to the story, and Pecker agreed to provide the rights in exchange for $125,000. Pecker signed the agreement Sept. 30, 2016, but in October 2016 – a month before the election – Pecker called Cohen and said the deal was off. He told Cohen to 'tear up the assignment agreement,' according to prosecutors.
The 'principal purpose' of the deal was 'to suppress the model's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election' according to a government 'Statement of Admitted Facts' included in the letter to AMI.
The confirmation of Trump's personal presence at the meeting comes a day after it was revealed that the publisher of the National Enquirer for its role in burying a story about a Playboy model who claims she had a months-long affair with Donald Trump - giving one of the president's former closest allies immunity in return for flipping.
Trump distanced himself from the $150,000 deal in an interview with Fox News on Thursday
U.S. attorneys in the Southern District of New York announced the deal with American Media Inc. shortly after a judge in Manhattan sentenced former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to three years in jail.
Cohen was involved in discussions with Pecker - who had been one of Trump's closest friends - over the $150,000 payment that went to McDougal.
The documents revealing the deal make clear that Pecker agreed to flip - and is still cooperating with federal authorities.
They do not say who he and his company flipped on, raising the possibility that he has handed over information on his former friend, Trump.
The 'principal purpose' of the deal was 'to suppress the model's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election' according to a government 'Statement of Admitted Facts'
Disgrace: The catch and kill deal was concocted between AMI and Michael Cohen. The firm got immunity and he will be jailed for three years in March
The deal outlined in the prosecution documents describe how AMI bought McDouglal's silence.
The Enquirer published guaranteed her appearances on publications' covers and gave her a fitness column in exchange for giving away the life rights to her story. It has been described as a type of 'catch-and-kill' arrangement and a way to keep a bad story out of the press.
According to a letter from prosecutors to AMI, the company entered an agreement to acquire 'limited life rights' with a model about her relationship with 'any then-married man' in exchange for $150,000.
The firm agreed to pay 'substantially more money than AMI otherwise would have paid to acquire the story' 'because of Cohen's assurances to Pecker that AMI would ultimately be reimbursed for the payment.'
But its 'principal purpose' in the deal was 'to suppress the model's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.'
At no time during talks 'did AMI intend to publish the story or disseminate information about it publicly,' according to the letter.
As part of the deal, the National Enquirer publisher will avoid charges over its role in the hush money payments.
As part of the facts the company lawyers agreed and consented to, the letter stipulates that Pecker met with Cohen 'and at least one other member of the campaign.'
'At the meeting, Pecker offered to help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate's relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided. Pecker agreed to keep Cohen apprised of any such negative stories.'
Former Playboy cover model Karen McDougal has said she had a months-long affair with U.S. President Donald Trump years before he took office, and that she sold her story for $150,000 to American Media Inc but it was never published.
Prosecutors revealed the immunity deal with the publisher of American Media Inc.
A statement of facts spelled out the $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model
AMI knew about federal campaign laws at the time it reached the deal, it agreed
The incident involved a practice known as 'catch and kill' to prevent a potentially damaging article from being published.
In a statement, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District said it agreed not to prosecute AMI after the company admitted 'that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate's presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election.'
Prosecutors announced the agreement on the same day that Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years in prison in federal court in New York for orchestrating hush payments to McDougal and another woman, adult-film star Stormy Daniels, in violation of campaign laws before the election, as well as other crimes.
AMI's David Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump and Cohen, had met with prosecutors to describe their hush-money deals with McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 U.S. election won by Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported in August.
Pecker and another AMI executive were granted immunity as part of prosecutors' probe, Vanity Fair also reported over the summer.
Representatives for AMI and Pecker could not be immediately reached for comment.
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/category/the-sun-world/https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/trump-revealed-to-have-attended-meeting-where-plan-hatched-to-bury-stories-about-his-alleged-affairs/
News Pictures Trump revealed to have attended meeting where plan hatched to bury stories about his alleged affairs
You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st
To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.
Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”
Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”
kim cattrall
Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb
SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/12/13/21/7399744-6493865-image-a-19_1544737065508.jpg
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий