Tag Archives: Stormy Daniels

legal news

Belief in the system

I happen to be a staunch and faithful believer in the U.S. criminal justice system, the one that relies on everyday folks such as you and me to deliver justice in the form they believe fits.

With that, it is incumbent on me to forgo any bitching about a system that could produce a verdict in a high-profile case involving a former POTUS who has just been indicted on unspecified charges involving a hush money payment he made to a woman with whom he allegedly had a one-night tumble in 2006.

I’ll tell you where I am going with this. Even though I want a criminal trial jury to convict Donald Trump of whatever he is being charged, I need to stipulate that I must accept an acquittal if that is what the jury decides in due course. I won’t like the verdict, but in the interest in fealty to my faith in the system, I need to accept it.

There is no way to predict what a trial jury would decide, even if it goes to trial. I am just preparing myself for the worst outcome, but you won’t see me marching in the streets to protest whatever a jury would decide.

Unlike the defendant in this case, I believe in the integrity of the system, in the Manhattan, N.Y., district attorney who presented the evidence to the grand jury and in the grand jurors who acted in good faith to deliver their indictment.

The ex-president won’t ever acknowledge that the system worked the way it is designed to work. Fine. Let him bitch.

I won’t stoop to his level of cynical ignorance.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Trump makes history!

Donald John Trump has made history, the kind of history that will be included in the first line of his obituary when that event arrives.

It will say he is the first former president of the United States indicted by a grand jury on allegations that he committed a crime.

Well … what now?

The law requires that the former POTUS show up to be charged formally. He will be fingerprinted, read his rights and will have his picture taken.

Oh … the allegation? The Manhattan, N.Y., grand jury says that he paid a porn start $130,000 to keep quiet about a one-night tumble he took with her in 2006, just weeks after his third wife gave birth to Trump’s fifth child. Trump denies he had the encounter with Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, but he paid her anyway. Go … figure, eh?

The grand jury indicted Trump on a charge that he paid the sum illegally in 2016 while he was running for POTUS the first time.

Ohhh, boy. Ain’t this just a kick in patootie?

Now we must face the obvious question of whether this is just the first of a series of indictments. We have the Georgia district attorney investigating whether Trump sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election there; we have that evidence recorded from a phone tirade he launched against the Georgia secretary of state.

Plus … we have the Justice Department examining whether Trump broke the law when he took classified documents from the White House as he was exiting the building and, of course, whether he incited the 1/6 insurrection that sought to overthrow the U.S. government. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has said that “no one is above the law. No … one!” We’re going to find out if he means it.

I have thought the Georgia case was the easiest one to prosecute. Maybe that will pan out. Then again, there also appears to be mountains of evidence against the ex-POTUS on the insurrection and the classified documents matters as well.

But all that aside, what we have unfolding today is an unprecedented event in U.S. history with Trump standing alone as the only ex-POTUS to be charged with a felony.

This individual’s life is about to change forever.

Stand tall, Donald.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

If only he had respect …

If the former president of the United States who well might be indicted for a felony allegation of an illegal payment to a porn star had an ounce of respect and dignity …

He would never have told of the threat of political protests in case he is indicted. He also would have instructed his gullible followers to protest peacefully if they’re going to march in the streets.

Neither of those things happened. Manhattan, N.Y., District Attorney Alvin Bragg appears set to indict the one-time POTUS. The process well might produce some unseemly images of an ex-POTUS being fingerprinted and processed in a local jail.

If Bragg goes through with what the world believes will occur, we can likely look forward to Justice Department prosecutors and the Fulton County, Ga., DA to follow suit.

But if the ex-POTUS can’t bring himself to do the right thing by calling off the mobs that could cause a lot of harm to the nation — once again! — then perhaps the cops in cities across the land will be prepared to meet them head on.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

First of many ‘shoes’ to drop

It looks for all the world as though the first of many so-called “shoes” is about to drop on the former president of the United States.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is set to indict the ex-POTUS on a felony charge of paying a porn star 130 grand in hush money illegally. The ex-POTUS denies having an affair, for which he shelled out the dough to keep her quiet. Which makes me ask: If he didn’t take a tumble with Stormy Daniels, why did he pay her a six-figure sum to keep her quiet?

Oh, well. My favorite aspect of this unprecedented event will be to see — presuming Bragg goes through with the indictment — how they’re going to treat the ex-president. Will they fingerprint him, take his mug shot, cuff him and throw him into the slammer until someone pays his bail to get him out?

If so, I want there to be plenty of pictures. It is, after all, a public event, using public money and using publicly funded facilities to carry out this act.

Just think: There could be more indictments to come as well. Wow!

Stand tall, Mr. Ex-POTUS. You’re likely to make history once again!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Go ahead … testify

The Manhattan, N.Y., district attorney has invited Donald J. Trump to testify before a grand jury examining a hush money payment he made to a porn star before he became president of the United States.

Trump has said all along he has “nothing to hide.” That he’s done “nothing wrong.” That it’s all a “witch hunt” aimed at sullying his reputation — if that’s even possible!

DA Alvin Bragg is examining whether the hush money was filed properly by the Trump Organization, which already has been indicted for tax fraud. The porn star, Stormy Daniels, received the money to keep her quiet about a tumble she took with Trump — which Trump denies ever happened.

OK. So … why wouldn’t he testify? Oh, wait! I know why not. He cannot tell the truth.

He would have to swear to tell the truth under threat of committing a perjury, which is a crime. Except that Trump cannot speak truthfully about anything.

Oh, well. Never mind. He won’t testify. I get it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

What to make of this guy?

Donald Trump’s ongoing saga has produced a lengthy cast of characters, good guys and bad guys who are easily identifiable as one or the other.

Except for one fellow.

He is Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer-fixer-go to guy.

I don’t quite know what I should think of him. Is he a good guy because he now is firmly in the corner that opposes Trump and is working to ensure that the ex-POTUS get indicted for crimes he allegedly committed? Or is he bad guy because he did jail time because of the dirty work he did on Trump’s behalf and at his behest?

As I listen to Cohen these days refer to Trump as “the former guy” and as he details his hope that the Justice Department heaves Trump into the proverbial drink, I cannot get past what this fellow did while he worked for Trump.

He assisted in enabling Trump to cover up his so-called tryst with the porn star Stormy Daniels. He maneuvered Trump’s legal strategy at various turns to benefit Trump, which I am certain is why Trump paid him to be his lawyer.

But wait! Cohen did time in jail. He got out and now has become one of Trump’s fiercest enemies. He appears on TV to say frequently that he believes the Justice Department, state attorneys general and district attorneys have the goods on Trump. He makes that assertion with demonstrable glee in his voice and on his face.

I want to believe him, as I have been a Trump critic since long before he announced his 2016 presidential campaign.

If I could just set aside his past role as a Trump go-to fellow, then I would have a less difficult task trying to figure out what to think of his conversion.

For the moment, though, I guess I’ll have to declare myself to be a qualified ally of a guy who purports to know more about Donald Trump than most folks.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

She paid, but denies anything wrong … huh?

GRANTS, N.M. –– This story got past me until this recently when my wife and I ventured through New Mexico en route to points west.

It involves New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who according to reports I read followed the Donald J. Trump playbook of paying an accuser a lot of money while denying the accusation leveled against her.

Grisham, a Democrat, forked over 150 grand to a former campaign staffer who said she grabbed by his crotch — in front of a lot of people. He complained, threatened legal action and then got paid the money to keep quiet.

Except that Lujan and her allies deny the event took place.

All of this makes me scratch my noggin and ask: If it didn’t happen, then why pay the dough?

Remind you of anything? How about the $130,000 that Trump paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels who said the two of them took a one-night tumble right after the birth of Trump’s fifth child from his third wife.

Trump denies to this day it happened … but he forked over the cash because he wanted Daniels to be quiet about the non-encounter.

Weird, man.

Gov. Grisham’s denial now sounds just as phony.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

religious news

Yeah, but what about … ?

3 Comments

They call it “what about-ism.” It’s when someone makes a critical statement about someone and you respond with “what about” the time so-and-so did something worse.

Donald Trump has accused Joe Biden of being “against the Bible” and “against God.” That he wants to “hurt God.”

I want to revisit that idiocy for just a moment.

You see, that Donald Trump — of all people! — would say such a thing is laughable on its face … except that it isn’t funny.

Biden is a lifelong practicing Roman Catholic. Trump has no religious experience that anyone has been able to identify.

Then there’s this:

Trump has admitted to never asking for God’s forgiveness; he once had a one-night stand with a porn star (allegedly) and then paid her 130 grand to keep quiet about an event he said never occurred; Trump also boasted to a TV host that he grabbed women by their genitals because he was a “celebrity” and that his celebrity status enabled him to “move on them like a bit**.”

Trump’s assertion about the presumed Democratic Party presidential nominee must be judged for what it is: a cheap, tawdry political stunt.

legal news

SCOTUS delivers needed gut punch to POTUS

Well now, this is judicial independence at its finest.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a stunning 7-2 ruling, has told Donald John “Lawbreaker in Chief” Trump that he is not above the law and that a New York-based prosecutor is on solid legal footing in seeking Trump’s financial records as part of an ongoing investigation.

Why is this so remarkable? Two conservative justices nominated by Donald Trump, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, sided with the majority in declaring that the president of the United States is “not above the law.”

What does this mean? Well, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. gets to proceed with a probe into whether Trump broke the law when he wrote a stripper a $130,000 check to buy her silence over an allegation that she and Trump had a one-night affair prior to Trump taking office as president.

Vance is going to obtain Trump’s complete financial record as part of his probe and then we might learn about those mysterious tax returns that Trump has refused to release to the public for its review.

Donald Trump has been fighting all of this hammer and tong, as you might expect. He staked his argument on a notion that a president is not subject to grand jury inquiry. The high court said “no so fast, Mr. President.” Indeed, Justice Kavanaugh made the specific point that the president is not above the law.

The next question now is whether Cyrus Vance will move quickly in obtaining that information and will it become known prior to the Nov. 3 presidential election. I won’t offer a prediction, but instead will express my desire that the public is given a chance to review Donald Trump’s financial dealings prior to deciding whether he deserves another term in office.

The matter now rests in Cyrus Vance’s hands.

Let’s get busy, Mr. Prosecutor.

business news

POTUS, a lifelong New Yorker moves to Florida

What do you know about this? Donald Trump, a native of New York City, the guy who built his business there, who has called Trump Tower in Manhattan his official residence since 1983, now has changed his residence to Florida.

What gives? I wonder if it has something to do with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.’s subpoena demanding eight years worth of Trump’s tax returns relating to the DA’s investigation into that $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, the porn queen with whom Trump (allegedly) had a one-night fling in 2006.

Do ya think? Well … I do.

I’m not sure if Trump’s declaring Florida as his official residence makes it more difficult to obtain those returns. Still, it sure looks to me as if the president is trying to keep something out of someone’s hands.