The only difference is that the nuance of the payments is even more crazy.
Trump NEVER ordered any of these payments.
The man who sent Cohen the checks was the Trump organization's Controller. He received a whiny email from Cohen demanding to be paid more money because he didn't think the amount he was getting was fair for the legal services he was providing. He never mentioned Stormy Daniels or anything. He also refused to provide invoices for any of these 'legal services' he was doing that he wouldn't talk about. The Controller told him that he couldn't just "give him more money", especially without an invoice. So, after ranting in his email like a little bitch, the Controller came up with a solution: could advance his contractually required payments forward until Cohen renegotiated his contract. Cohen bitterly agreed. So, the Controller modified his payments and selected an option from the dropdown menu of his accounting software that he thought best matched the description of these requests: Legal Expenses.
The Controller NEVER SPOKE TO TRUMP ABOUT THIS ACTION. He did it off of his own volition because Cohen was upset, and he was going to get this money anyway. Nothing the Controller did was a violation of the law, and you'll notice he was never charged in a conspiracy. Cohen claimed that Trump told him he would order the Controller to make these payments, but there's no evidence of it, and the Controller said he basically never talked to Trump outside of a few random occasions because DJT was never really in his management. The closest would have been Don Jr, who Cohen didn't claim was part of the conspiracy, and again, Don Jr wasn't notified in any part of this.
Yet, somehow, selecting Legal Expenses from the dropdown was a felony... For Trump Sr., but not the Controller. Even though the Controller expressly stated that he did all this because Cohen was complaining, and he was going to get the money anyway.
After all that, Cohen literally went into a bank and robbed the Trump organization of $60,000 which he was never authorized or entitled to remove. Read that again, COHEN COMITTED FELONY ROBBERY because he complained Trump wasn't paying him enough.
Yeah, there's simply too much detail to add. The entire case revolved around a known convicted liar and something that, almost certainly wasn't even a crime.
Also, of all the lawfare cases against Trump, this is probably the least insane one. Unless you count the crazy E. Jean Carroll rape accusation, which is just run of the mill crazy woman accuses someone of rape-which-a-woman-would-never-falsely-do-totally-pinky-swear-for-realsies.
No, the Carroll crap is one of the most insane things. He was convicted of being libel, not for rape/sexual assault; but for defamation... because he called his false accuser crazy.
Eh, that seems to be the go-to these days. Woman makes crazy rape accusation, man denies it, woman sues for defamation for calling her a liar. They've done it to Cosby and a couple other people already.
The only difference is that the nuance of the payments is even more crazy.
Trump NEVER ordered any of these payments.
The man who sent Cohen the checks was the Trump organization's Controller. He received a whiny email from Cohen demanding to be paid more money because he didn't think the amount he was getting was fair for the legal services he was providing. He never mentioned Stormy Daniels or anything. He also refused to provide invoices for any of these 'legal services' he was doing that he wouldn't talk about. The Controller told him that he couldn't just "give him more money", especially without an invoice. So, after ranting in his email like a little bitch, the Controller came up with a solution: could advance his contractually required payments forward until Cohen renegotiated his contract. Cohen bitterly agreed. So, the Controller modified his payments and selected an option from the dropdown menu of his accounting software that he thought best matched the description of these requests: Legal Expenses.
The Controller NEVER SPOKE TO TRUMP ABOUT THIS ACTION. He did it off of his own volition because Cohen was upset, and he was going to get this money anyway. Nothing the Controller did was a violation of the law, and you'll notice he was never charged in a conspiracy. Cohen claimed that Trump told him he would order the Controller to make these payments, but there's no evidence of it, and the Controller said he basically never talked to Trump outside of a few random occasions because DJT was never really in his management. The closest would have been Don Jr, who Cohen didn't claim was part of the conspiracy, and again, Don Jr wasn't notified in any part of this.
Yet, somehow, selecting Legal Expenses from the dropdown was a felony... For Trump Sr., but not the Controller. Even though the Controller expressly stated that he did all this because Cohen was complaining, and he was going to get the money anyway.
After all that, Cohen literally went into a bank and robbed the Trump organization of $60,000 which he was never authorized or entitled to remove. Read that again, COHEN COMITTED FELONY ROBBERY because he complained Trump wasn't paying him enough.
Yeah, there's simply too much detail to add. The entire case revolved around a known convicted liar and something that, almost certainly wasn't even a crime.
Also, of all the lawfare cases against Trump, this is probably the least insane one. Unless you count the crazy E. Jean Carroll rape accusation, which is just run of the mill crazy woman accuses someone of rape-which-a-woman-would-never-falsely-do-totally-pinky-swear-for-realsies.
No, the Carroll crap is one of the most insane things. He was convicted of being libel, not for rape/sexual assault; but for defamation... because he called his false accuser crazy.
Eh, that seems to be the go-to these days. Woman makes crazy rape accusation, man denies it, woman sues for defamation for calling her a liar. They've done it to Cosby and a couple other people already.
Without the rape, it's the same path for Alex Jones.