AMERICAN THINKER: Which is worse: candidate, businessman, and then still private citizen Donald Trump using his own money to make what Hillary Clinton might call “bimbo eruptions” go away to protect his brand and himself from personal embarrassment, or Congress using taxpayer money in a slush fund to pay off those sexually harassed by sitting officeholders?
As Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America, notes in USA Today:
Literally a year ago – as the #MeToo era was erupting – the nation was waking up to news that a secret congressional “hush fund” had been used by Members of Congress to pay off accusers of sexual misconduct. Taxpayer money – yours and mine – was used to pay off these alleged victims[.] …
Nobody knows how many congressmen and Senators are involved, and if [Pelosi] is a willing participant to keep all of this a secret she will forfeit credibility on every other issue[.] …
What we know already is devastating. We know congressmen John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Blake Fahrentold (R-Tex.) used this “hush fund” to settle with alleged victims. Both men have already left Congress.
We also know that none of the beneficiaries of this slush fund has been threatened with indictment and incarceration for campaign finance violations since suppressing such information, as Rep. Nadler puts it, amounts to committing a fraud on the American people using their own money.
How many of Trump’s accusers are guilty of the very infraction they accuse him of? How many defended the practice and fought to keep it secret and escape accountability with the voters? In Trump’s case, Professor Alan Dershowitz points out, if he was using his own money to contribute to his own campaign, there is no crime:
Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz frustrated MSNBC’s coverage of Donald Trump’s payments to former Playmate Karen McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, repeatedly siding with Trump on the issue of the legality of a candidate paying “hush money to anyone he wants during a campaign.”
“The president doesn’t break the law if, as a candidate, he contributes to his own campaign,” said Dershowitz (transcript via RCP). “So if he gave $1 million to two women as hush money, there would be no crime. If he directed his lawyer to do it, and he would compensate the lawyer, he’s committed no crime.” …
[A] president is entitled to making such payments:
The president is entitled to pay hush money to anyone he wants during a campaign. There are no restrictions on what a candidate can contribute to his own campaign. So if, in fact, the president directed Cohen to do it as his lawyer and was going to compensate him for it, the president committed no crime. If Cohen did it on his own then Cohen commits the crime.
Veteran campaign finance lawyer Dan Becker agrees with the assessment by Dershowitz that private citizen Trump committed no crime and was merely protecting his brand:
Meanwhile, an expert campaign finance lawyer said in an interview published Monday that he is not impressed with the Department of Justice’s evidence that effectively links Trump to campaign finance violations after the recent release of the Cohen sentencing memo. MORE
No doubt he’s the kind of guy who would consider doing this (yay). Unfortunately he would likely tip his hand in advance and threaten people that he might do it. You can bet your next paycheck…if they even suspected he was serious, there would be assassination attempts to until they got him.
Would it be easier to reveal who’s not using the funds?
There you go again, using evidence, the law and logic against emotion!
You can be dang sure I never touched a Woman….Inappropriately
or otherwise
“You can be dang sure I never touched a Woman, Appropriately.”
Only if’s and butts about it. What’s an or otherwise?
Bill Clinton under oath.
i havnt heard much of Trumps payoff since he and others pointed out the hypocrisy.
i haven’t heard much of Trumps payoff since he and others pointed out the hypocrisy.
Trump never did it with taxpayer money. the FBI or CIA.
How did they get the funds for their little (?) hush fund? What justification was used to appropriate money that was then used in a clandestine manner? Is illegal money being used to cover up illegal actions?
I found my pitchfork and I want to know!
I can’t believe that authorization for millions of dollars was given for the purpose that it is being used for. I’d like to see the appropriation form used for that.
Flies in helicopters, bangs hookers at will, runs a beauty pageant, owns a hotel chain, got an awesome crib in Florida, hot-as-balls wife on his arm.
AMERICAN BADASS!