On Saturday, March 18, former US President Donald Trump shared an enigmatic message on his social network Social truth, in all caps, to announce his imminent arrest and encourage his supporters to demonstrate. This phone call, which he smacks of deja vu, comes in the context of a relationship he allegedly had with pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, about which he allegedly bought silence in the middle of the 2016 presidential campaign.
A sexual relationship revealed by Stormy Daniels, but which Donald Trump denies
To understand what it is, we need to go back to 2006 when Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, met Donald Trump, already married to Melania, during a golf tournament. According to Stormy Daniels’ account, they have consensual sex. The former president also promises the young woman to push her in front of the stage thanks to her reality show ” The apprentice “. A recovery that will never happen.
In 2011, the actress briefly mentioned this story in an interview for the magazine In contact, but the article will never appear. Seven years later, on the set of CBS, Stormy Daniels publicly returns to this relationship and claims that he was also threatened by the ex-president’s henchmen following their affair. In the same year he published an autobiographical work entitled Full disclosure, in which he details the case. Despite his multiple testimonies, Donald Trump continues to deny en bloc.
Suspicion of a financial deal between Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump during the presidential campaign
Buying the silence of those whose voice is deemed embarrassing is an art Donald Trump has mastered well. As summed up by our colleagues at FranceInfo, during the 2016 presidential campaign, “ behind-the-scenes talks are taking place to avoid embarrassing outbursts against the Republican candidate “. The head of the tabloid The National Enquirerclose to the future president, pays $150,000 to a model who says she had sex with the billionaire.
Donald Trump also sends his personal lawyer to meet with Stormy Daniels. The latter paid, a few days before the presidential elections, 130,000 dollars against a confidentiality agreement on the candidate’s extramarital relationship. The target ? It smoothes the image of the Republican, whose party supports the importance of the family, and prevents a scandal from killing his hopes of becoming president in the bud. Successful bet, Donald Trump is elected.
Two years later, on January 12, 2018, the Wall Street Journal reveals the existence of this financial arrangement in a shocking article.
Payments in violation of election finance laws
Following this article, a legal showdown begins. In February 2018, a month after the article was published, Donald Trump’s lawyer confirmed that he had paid this sum into Stephanie Clifford’s account. The latter files a complaint against the president, hoping to blow up the confidentiality clause after the lawyer’s revelations. If the billionaire denies it again, he ends up pleading guilty to tax evasion and violation of campaign finance laws.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office, in fact, believes that these payments had the purpose and the consequence” to influence the 2016 presidential election ». Since Donald Trump repaid the money to his lawyer through his firm, the Trump Organization, the US judicial system could conclude that it was a covert donation to the president’s campaign, in violation of campaign finance laws.
“There is nothing criminal about the payment itself. What is illegal is to forge a company’s business records.” John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University who specializes in financial crime, told AFP. “The Trump Organization is a business” and the reimbursements paid to Donald Trump’s lawyer are “stated to cover legal fees Giovanni Caffè continues. Except that it is not so, according to American justice which sees rather false statements in it.
An offense that could be reclassified as a felony
” [Falsifier des documents commerciaux] it’s a crime, Giovanni Caffè continues. But it becomes a felony, which can carry a sentence of up to four years in prison, if prosecutors can convince a jury that the tampering occurred in an attempt to cover up another crime. as an illegal donation to the candidate’s 2016 campaign.
The investigation is being conducted under the direction of New York State Attorney for Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat. In a statement released last week, Donald Trump denounced an attempt to do so “lower » his 2024 Republican presidential bid, as reported by the New York Times.
If on Tuesday, March 21, justice did not confirm its intention to arrest Donald Trump, as the latter was quick to shout on social media, he invited her on March 9 to testify before a city grand jury, charged with confirming or not an indictment, reports IL New York Times. This could foreshadow the future initiation of legal proceedings against the former president. A first in American political history.
Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
