By now, you’re almost certainly familiar with the ongoing Stormy Daniels sex scandal.
And depending on where you land on the political spectrum, you’ve likely reached one of two conclusions about it:
Either you think it’s a witch hunt designed to bring an end to the Trump presidency, or you believe this is the loose thread that will cause Trump’s vast tapestry of corruption to finally unravel.
Whatever the case, Stormy and her charismatic lawyer, Michael Avennatti, won’t be going away anytime soon, particularly after comments Rudy Giuliani made during a recent interview with Sean Hannity.
In either a major slip-up or a baffling strategic move, Giuliani admitted that Trump reimbursed his attorney Michael Cohen for the $ 130,000 payment Cohen made to Daniels as part of a non-disclosure agreement.
“Funneled through a law firm, and the president repaid it,” Giuliani said of the hush money.
After the interview, Giuliani doubled-down on his statement, clarifying that his comment was no mere slip of the tongue, but a planned statement intended to absolve the president of violating federal election laws:
“That removes the campaign finance violation, and we have all the documentary proof for it,” he said.
In case you’ve been avoiding all forms of media like the proverbial Nero busting out a sick Charlie Daniels solo while Rome burns to the ground, here’s a rundown of what exactly that means:
Trump previously denied any knowledge of the Cohen payment, but getting caught lying is like eating a Big Mac for the president – he does it every day without a second thought about the consequences.
The reason this is such a bigger deal than all of those previous falsehoods is that Trump may be on the verge of getting caught in a major violation of campaign finance law.
Individual contributions to campaigns are limited to $ 2,700.
Obviously, Cohen’s payment to Daniels exceeds that by a large margin, and since the payment directly benefited the Trump campaign, Cohen looked to be in pretty clear violation of FEC regulations.
By admitting that Trump repaid the cash, Giuliani is essentially arguing that $ 130,000 was a zero-interest loan, not a campaign donation.
Obviously, this raises a lot of other questions, primarily:
Why does a billionaire need to borrow $ 130,000 from his lawyer; what did Cohen stand to gain from the arrangement, and why did Trump feel the need to lie about the whole thing?
Since Cohen’s office was raided by the FBI last month, these questions might be answered sooner rather than later.
So stay tuned for the exciting series finale of the bonkers reality show that is the Trump presidency!
It should be a doozy!
