Legal experts now say that the investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels is heating up all over again, according to Newsweek. [1]
Daniels was allegedly paid $130,000 by former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen in 2016 to stay mum while the campaign was in full swing. Cohen has said under oath and in print that he was reimbursed by Trump.
But in 2018, things went sideways for Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. Her defamation suit against Trump was dismissed [2] and she was forced to pay Trump $300,000.
But now there’s a new wrinkle, in the form of Kellyanne Conway, who, according to The New York Times, [3] met with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Monday.
Conway, Trump’s former 2016 campaign manager is just one of a growing list of witnesses who have testified as part of the grand jury impaneled by District Attorney Alvin Bragg. In January, the jury heard from Jeffrey McConney and Deborah Tarasoff, Trump Organization employees, David Pecker and Dylan Howard, two former bigwigs at The National Enquirer who helped arrange the deal, and Keith Davidson, Daniels’ former lawyer.
“Make no mistake: Charges against Trump are coming from the Manhattan DA for 2016 election wrongdoing to complement those from the Atlanta DA for 2020 election wrongdoing,” attorney Norm Eisen posted on Twitter Wednesday. “And soon!”
Make no mistake:
Charges against Trump are coming from the Manhattan DA for 2016 election wrongdoing to complement those from the Atlanta DA for 2020 election wrongdoing.
And soon! https://t.co/3XiBKmlz5x [4]
— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) March 2, 2023 [5]
Jill Wine-Banks, a noted lawyer and former prosecutor during the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, has said [6] Trump should have been indicted immediately after leaving office.
But political commentator Geraldo Rivera claimed the Daniels-related investigation is just a political game.
“New York’s so far failed DA is still obsessing over Donald Trump, in this case over the hush money paid 7 years ago to porn star Stormy Daniels,” he posted on Twitter. “With the city awash in violence, the only people who care about Stormy and her payday are fans and a scattering of militant Democrats.”
New York’s so far failed DA is still obsessing over Donald Trump, in this case over the hush money paid 7 years ago to porn star Stormy Daniels.
With the city awash in violence, the only people who care about Stormy and her payday are fans and a scattering of militant Democrats.— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 2, 2023 [7]
But the fact that Conway will now be speaking to the District Attorney’s office is a sure sign things are becoming more serious, New York City-based attorney Andrew Lieb told Newsweek. This, he said “surely demonstrates that the investigation is heating up into Trump and Stormy Daniels.”
“Those hush money payments just won’t go away because Michael Cohen seems to be making it his life’s mission to get Trump on his improprieties in this situation,” Lieb told Newsweek.
Cohen infamously flipped on Trump in 2018, swiftly moving from longtime ally to adversary and he is expected to be a key witness in the Daniels case.
Lately, Cohen has had a field day lobbing personal attacks at the former president and making fun [8] of Trump’s spelling in his social media posts, and has nicknamed him “Dopey Donald.”
“I called Trump to confirm that the transaction was completed, and the documentation all in place, but he didn’t take my call—obviously a very bad sign, in hindsight,” Cohen recalled in his 2020 memoir.
Cohen told Newsweek he’d spoken to Conway, who said she’d “pass along the good news.”
As Bragg moves potentially closer to an indictment, Trump also faces a potential indictment in Georgia as a grand jury for his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Emily Kohrs, who serves as the jury foreman in Fulton County, Georgia, has recently gone public, [9] confirming the jury plans to make recommendations for a number of individuals connected to the case. More than 75 witnesses have been interviewed. Among them: Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff.
“The purpose of the special grand jury [in Georgia] was for investigatory purposes only and it very well may motivate the DA to impanel a regular grand jury that will result in charges,” Lieb said.
“That all said, it appears that all these investigations won’t derail Trump from pursuing the GOP presidential nomination. Instead, they will do just the opposite because Trump’s base truly believes that it’s all a deep state conspiracy to stop Trump and he is the only thing in between the deep state and them.”
It looks like this is going to drag on and drag on in other words. Will Trump be indicted in either of these cases? I’m not holding my breath.