Donald Trump is no stranger to creating controversy in the media. He has been unfaithful in the past, so the latest scandal is no surprise. That is until it was discovered that his lawyer, Michael Cohen, had paid Ms. Stephanie Clifford — known professionally as Stormy Daniels — to remain silent. This was only a month prior to the election.
Hush money isn’t anything new. Signing a nondisclosure agreement and exchanging a large sum of money for one’s discretion is fairly standard practice. But the problem is not the mere fact that she was paid. The problem that has kept this story in the news cycle for so long is that it’s unclear where Michael Cohen got the $130,000 that was paid to Ms. Clifford. He claims that it was his own money and he was never reimbursed for paying her.
It doesn’t make sense that a lawyer would do anything for a client without being paid first, let alone not expecting payment at all. Many suspect that the money came from either Donald Trump himself or was paid using campaign contributions. Both of which are issues which would violate the Federal Election Campaign Act, although to different degrees depending on where the money actually came from.
While the Stormy Daniels scandal is most prominent in the media right now, it’s not even the only one in the news at the moment. A similar situation has emerged with Ms. Karen McDougal, a former Playmate, in which she was paid $150,000 for her silence on her relationship with Donald Trump. This scandal seems to be less prominent since there is no question as to where the money came.
A president in legal trouble is a big deal, but there are bigger fish to fry yet. Ms. McDougal and Ms. Daniels are not the only women involved with Donald Trump. Nineteen women came forward with allegations following the release of the infamous Access Hollywood tape where he brags about grabbing women by the genitals.
If that many women have already come forward, there could still be many others who have yet to come forward or have also been coerced into signing nondisclosure agreements.
The mere fact that he has been unfaithful is not the reason this matters. It is that there a lot of cases like Ms. Clifford's out there, meaning there are a lot of people who potentially could have leverage against him. What else could he be hiding? What would he be willing to do to keep it from the public? Certainly, this sort of information could fall into dangerous hands and be used against him.
He should be able to handle his affairs well and carry himself gracefully. He has done neither thus far, and has created a threat to himself and possibly this nation and its security. The coverup attempt is what has snowballed this situation into so much more than just a sex scandal.
