Tag Archives: Stormy Daniels

business news

Oh, Mr. POTUS, you’re breaking another promise

Oh, c’mon Mr. President. You once said you would release your tax returns. You promised us while campaigning for the presidency.

Then you back away from that promise. Oh, and then you said again you would do so.

What’s the deal, then, with this lawsuit you’ve filed against Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who has subpoenaed your tax returns to help him solve a criminal investigation he’s been seeking to clear up?

Vance wants those returns to ascertain whether you committed a campaign law violation in paying off the stripper with whom (she says) you had a fling in a hotel room back in 2006. I get that you deny it happened, yet you paid her that $130,000 sum to keep her quiet.

I am just one American who wants to know why you paid her the money. I also want to know whether you broke any laws in paying it.

The DA wants to know, too. He’s within his rights to subpoena those returns.

So, knock off with the lawsuit, Mr. President.

Inquiring minds want to know the truth about your finances. They deserve to know it as well.

business news

Tax returns: Are they going to be released … finally?

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has invoked the legal power of his office to seek to obtain something that has been on the minds of millions of Americans since the moment Donald Trump announced his campaign for the presidency of the United States.

Vance has subpoenaed Trump’s tax returns. Yep, he’s on the hunt for information relating to that hush money payment Trump made to a porn star to keep her quiet about a fling that Trump says never happened.

Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, is back in the news. 

Clifford said she and Trump had a one-night tumble in 2006 in a hotel room. Trump said it didn’t happen, but he paid her 130 grand to keep quiet about it anyway. Go figure.

Vance wants to see Trump’s tax returns over the past eight years to find out the details of how the payment was made and whether the president violated campaign finance laws to make it.

Well now. How do you think this will turn out?

I happen to one American who believes I have a right to know about the president’s finances. I want to know whether he’s as rich as he says he is. I want to know whether he has profited from his high office. I want to know how much he has given to charity. I want to know the kinds of things Americans have known about past presidents and presidential candidates dating back more than four decades.

You see, Trump once promised he would reveal his taxes. Then he changed his mind. Then he said he would do so again. Then he backtracked again. He contends the Internal Revenue Service is auditing his taxes; the audit bans him from releasing the returns, he said. The IRS said, um, no … the audit does no such thing.

Donald Trump has lied and dissembled over the tax returns.

Vance reportedly informed the president’s accounting firm(s) of his desire to see the returns. Trump no doubt will fight it like hell, which I guess is his right.

The liar in chief, though, promised full transparency regarding his tax returns. He has failed to deliver on that promise, just as he has failed to “make America great again.”

Count me as an American who wants DA Cyrus Vance to get his hands on the tax returns. While he’s at it, he can let the country know what they contain.

national news

‘I don’t do cover-ups’? Really, Mr President?

Of the countless lies that have flown out of Donald Trump’s mouth since the moment he became a politician, he just might have committed the worst of them . . . to date.

“I don’t do cover-ups,” he said today in response to an accusation leveled against by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has alleged that the president is covering up for his misdeeds regarding the 2016 election.

So now the president says he doesn’t “do cover-ups.”

Well, I believe the adult film star Stormy Daniels would disagree. Must I remind readers here of the 130 grand that Trump paid to Daniels to keep her quiet about a tryst the two of them had in 2006?

Oh, wait! Trump said the get-together never occurred, but he paid her the six-figure sum anyhow.

No cover-up? Really, Mr. POTUS?

Knock it off! You’re killin’ me!

national news

Legal loudmouth gets more bad publicity

What do you know about this?

Michael Avenatti, the loudmouth lawyer who once represented Stephanie Clifford — aka Stormy Daniels — has been arrested and charged with trying to extort $20 million from Nike Corp.

I don’t whether to laugh or . . . laugh some more.

Avenatti became a talk-show staple while he was representing Clifford/Daniels, the adult film actress who allegedly had a sexual relationship with the future president of the United States, Donald Trump. She received a $130,000 payment to keep quiet about the alleged encounter, even though Trump said it didn’t happen. Well, go figure.

Avenatti got so much mileage from his representing the future president’s one-night squeeze he considered running for president of the United States in 2020. He has scrapped those POTUS plans.

He has been accused of threatening Nike with negative publicity if it didn’t pay him the dough.

This clown is entitled to his presumption of innocence. I’ll grant him that presumption.

Still, there’s another part of me that secretly is cheering federal prosecutors on in their quest for a conviction. Why? Let’s just say Avenatti pi**** me off with his constant talk-show blathering about Trump, his client and how he intended to savage the president were he to run as a candidate for the White House.

His moment in the limelight looked for all the world like someone seeking to capitalize on the proverbial “15 minutes of fame.”

Check out the complaint, which is contained in this link.

It’s a doozy.

national news

Michael Cohen: the new John Dean?

I had to chuckle when I heard a commentator compare Donald Trump’s former lawyer/fixer/friend to Watergate conspirator John Dean.

Michael Cohen is set to testify this week before the House Oversight Committee about what he knows regarding his former friend’s dealings with, oh, Russian government officials and an adult film actress with whom he allegedly had a fling some years ago.

Cohen already has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the president’s conduct. He’s facing a three year prison term once he finishes his testimony.

Many of us are waiting with bated breath at what Cohen will tell the committee. Many of us waited also with bated breath back in 1973 when John Dean, the former White House counsel, told a House committee that the Watergate scandal had produced a “cancer on the presidency.” We gasped. Dean spilled a lot of the beans about President Nixon knew and when he knew it.

Dean then would spend some time in the slammer. He’s now a contributor to MSNBC, CNN and a few other organizations that call on him to talk about the current crisis that threatens another presidency.

Cohen is not a good guy. He is a liar and a cheat. Dean wasn’t a good guy either back in the day, as he, too, lied and cheated to protect an earlier president.

Will this guy, Cohen, emerge as the next John Dean? I am afraid he already has done so.

national news

What do the networks have in mind for Cohen testimony?

You’re a TV network boss. You run a multibillion-dollar enterprise that relies on viewer interest in the programming  you present.

Then you hear that the U.S. House Oversight Committee is going to summon Donald Trump’s former lawyer/fixer to testify about the role he played in the president’s myriad activities relating to (a) the Russian government, (b) his alleged relationships with an adult film actress and a Playboy model and (c) other matters that have dogged his presidency.

What do you do? The Feb. 7 hearing might be a ratings blockbuster. Or, it might be a dud. Do you preempt your regular programming to show this testimony live? If I were in that place, I’d go with televising the hearing.

Michael Cohen is facing a three-year prison term after pleading guilty to campaign violations and assorted other felonies. He says he’s done lying to protect the president. He has been working with special counsel Robert Mueller’s legal team as it investigates alleged “collusion” with Russian operatives who interfered with the 2016 presidential election. Cohen might want to spill every bean in the bag in order to get a sentence reduction.

This hearing has the potential of turning the presidency of Donald Trump on its head. A lot of Americans have a keen interest in the future of this man’s presidency. His supporters want him to shake off the questions once and for all. The president’s detractors want, well, a vastly different outcome.

Michael Cohen’s testimony might be the proverbial game-changer. Or, it might not change a single thing.

If you are a network TV exec, you ought to gamble on the former.

I intend to clear the decks on Feb. 7.

national news

This hearing ought to be an attention-getter

When was the last time you waited with bated breath for a congressional hearing? Oh, maybe . . . never? I get that. I suppose you can consider me to be a weirdo, as I have actually looked forward to these kinds of events.

Let’s look ahead now to Feb. 7. That’s when Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer/fixer for Donald Trump, will testify before the House Oversight Committee.

What does it mean? A couple of things.

First, it means that Democrats who have just taken control of the U.S. House of Representatives are going to start flexing their muscles in their search for facts surrounding the president’s conduct.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings is a Maryland Democrat who’s no one’s fool. He’s a smart man. An experienced member of Congress.

He wants Cohen — who faces a three-year prison term after pleading guilty to campaign-related crimes — to talk publicly about what he knew about the Trump campaign’s behavior in 2016.

Cohen paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels a six-figure sum for her to stay quiet about a sexual encounter she had with the future president; Trump denies the encounter occurred, but he paid her anyway. Go figure.

That is just the beginning.

The rest of it is likely to wander far afield undoubtedly. Why did Cohen lie to federal authorities? On whose instruction did he lie? To what extent did he lie? What does Cohen know about those mysterious meetings between Trump campaign officials and Russian operatives who were working to interfere with the 2016 election?

Cohen already has cooperated extensively with special counsel Robert Mueller, who sought leniency for Cohen from the federal judge who sentenced him. Instead, Cohen got a three-year prison sentence.

Cohen is no prince. He lied in search of personal gain. He once stood foursquare behind Donald Trump. Now he’s trying to atone for that, which now seems a bit late in the game to receive any sort of absolution. The sentencing judge scolded him harshly while handing down the sentence.

However, he well might have plenty to say in public to House committee members and their investigators.

If you’re a political junkie, as I am, you are going to await this drama.

I might even have some popcorn ready.

national news

Who has ‘dishonored’ their family?

I already have stated my dismay at U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s f-bomb when talking about impeaching Donald Trump. It was uncalled for and unnecessary.

However . . .

For the president to castigate Tlaib for “dishonoring” her family, her office, herself is laughable on its face.

This comes from the guy who has cheated on all three of his wives, bragged about grabbing women by their private parts and had sex with an adult film actress (allegedly) after his third wife had just given birth to his fifth child.

Oh, and he’s also used some filthy language himself from campaign podiums and other public venues.

So, let’s quit the “dishonorable” rhetoric, Mr. President. You, sir, should not go there.

national news

Feel sorry for The Fixer? Nope, can’t go there

Try as I tend to do, I cannot muster up sympathy for Donald Trump’s former friend, former confidant, former lawyer, former “fixer” — Michael Cohen.

A judge gave him a three-year prison sentence for lying to everyone under the sun about the payments he made to shut women up who allegedly had sexual encounters with the future president of the United States.

Cohen is now trying to atone for his greed by saying he was duped into blind fealty to Donald Trump. No, he wasn’t duped. He wasn’t fooled. He had his eyes and ears open. He knew with whom he was dealing. Trump’s reputation has been well-known ever since he got into the real estate and skyscraper building business.

Cohen’s latest admission came in an interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos.

See the story here

Cohen was motivated by the same self-serving goal that fueled Trump’s entire professional existence prior to his shocking election to the presidency in 2016.

He well might parlay his guilt into an even lighter sentence eventually by spilling even more beans about what he did for Trump. That will be up to the prosecutors and to the special counsel, Robert Mueller, who has benefited from Cohen’s turning on Trump.

However, Michael Cohen doesn’t deserve pity from the public that also is paying a grievous price for the election of a charlatan, a phony, a disgrace. Cohen was a party to that egregious mistake.

national news

Avenatti won’t run for White House . . . hooray!

I cannot let the day pass without acknowledging my joy at the news that Michael Avenatti, the loudmouth lawyer and cable talk show blowhard, won’t seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president of the United States.

Avenatti was an unknown lawyer before he agreed to represent a woman named Stephanie Clifford, who’s better known as Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who alleges she and Donald John Trump engaged in a one-night tumble in a hotel room in 2006.

She then took a $130,000 payment from Trump to stay quiet — about an event Trump said didn’t happen. Go figure, man.

Well, Avenatti thought he would parlay his instant celebrity status into a presidential candidacy. Now he says he won’t do it. He has talked to his family and decided he has better things to do. The allegation that he struck a woman also might have had something to do with his decision to pass on a presidential campaign.

Count me as delighted to know we won’t have to listen to Avenatti make political pledges he can’t — or won’t — honor. I just wish he would forgo all those cable news show appearances. I am weary of the sound of his voice and the sight of his face.