Two weeks before the 2016 election, I unknowingly took part in Stormy Daniels’ shakedown of President Donald Trump. I ran her FoxNews.com when Stormy and his friends inspired us to write an article about her relationship with Stormy.
Here are some little-known behind-the-scenes stories.
Stormy’s actions were textbook extortion, which, unlike a record violation, is a good faith felony in New York state.
Team Stormy wasn’t aiming for a Pulitzer Prize. They were using the media as leverage to force President Trump’s hand in the final moments after Payday and before Election Day.
Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, had already promised to pay Stormy $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair from a decade ago. But as negotiations dragged on, he stalled on cutting the check. She was smart enough to know that Trump frequently delayed payments forever, and that if Trump lost the 2016 campaign, as most expected, she wouldn’t get a penny. Already knew.
So Stormy’s staff started pitching the story to Fox, Slate, and other outlets like us. They knew we would contact the campaign for a response, which we did, and that it would increase the pressure on Mr. Cohen to make the final payment. .
Stormy herself, the porn actress at the center of it all, refused to go on the record and still publicly denied the act. Only her manager was willing to admit it, with only two words: “It’s true.” That’s all she says. And even that had to be in the background.
In this circus, everyone had a stage name. Stormy’s real name is Stephanie Clifford. Her friend who tried to broker her deal was a cranky blogger named Nick Ritchie (real name Hooman Karamian) who ran a revenge site called TheDirty.com.
There were also fake names. They showed an unsigned contract, likely a settlement offer from a lawyer, with Trump and Stormy’s names written under the aliases “David Dennison” and “Peggy Peterson.” Ta. It was a strange world, but in retrospect it made perfect sense.
The bet paid off. When Cohen finally relented and paid up, Stormy’s team immediately went dark and expelled every media outlet they had worked with.
But we were far from publishing anything. In the weeks since President Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” audio was released, a number of women have come forward to claim that Trump actually grabbed their genitals. However, in 2016, some news organizations were still demanding things like “facts” and “evidence.”
Considering President Trump’s love of glitter, this doesn’t seem unreasonable. But given Stormy’s public denials and legal threats, actual corroboration, such as emails, was needed. anything. Yet, the only thing they offered was unsigned document, it’s not even written on the letterhead. It was so easy that my boss had never even done it.
Since then, Fox News and I have received a ton of flak for allegedly “defending Trump,” an accusation that was never leveled at any other literal news organization that reported on this story. Some have suggested that this may be an illegal in-kind donation to the Trump campaign, and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), who was not the kind of person to be bullied by the First Amendment, told a Fox reporter. I even tried to get work notes to start my own statement. own media circus.
There’s no one to root for in this sordid tale.
Of course Stormy should be in jail along with her friends. Her actions were textbook extortion, which, unlike her record violation, is a felonies in New York state for good faith conduct. And even though he paid her $130,000 in hush money, she was still talking. Nowadays, she has once again gained and benefited from worldwide fame, but it has never negatively affected her “acting” career.
And let’s not forget Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He himself deserves to be imprisoned. grotesque abuse His power. He is, on the contrary, a prosecutor who routinely leaves criminals alone but springs into action as soon as people commit crimes. protect yourself against violent criminals. Of course, it’s on the side of the thugs.
Mr. Bragg’s cockamamie theory of targeting Trump as a sleazy target will only work in Democratic strongholds with judges who are complicit in fraud. Judge Juan Melchan is a black-robed Democratic Party activist. totally an accomplice In this farce while pretending to be about “justice”. He is directing the political show trial. If there is any justice, he will eventually come into conflict with Bragg.
Finally, a word about Mr. Trump himself. He’s not guilty of the ridiculous criminal charges against him, but he’s definitely guilty of a ton of bad sentences. His record violations aside, he was the one who let Stormy into his life, and then unsuccessfully tried to get sleazy lawyer Michael Cohen to clean up after him. When rating the men he has dated, Trump gets an F.
I should beg here for a country obsessed with scandal and spectacle, but I can’t. That TV program is too interesting. It reminds me of the final episode of “Seinfeld,” another show where the entire cast arrived at the prison.
The judge then delivered his verdict in a short speech. I can think of nothing more appropriate than for the four of you to spend a year away from society and reflect on how you’ve been acting. ”
