Trump denies the affairs at the heart of the hush-money case. Almost no one believes him.

jeffw@lemmy.worldmod to News@lemmy.world – 304 points –
Trump denies the affairs at the heart of the hush-money case. Almost no one believes him.
motherjones.com
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The case literally has zero to do with an affair. The alleged affair could be a complete fabrication. The point of the case is that Trump directed his lawyer to use money for XYZ. Trump then put that money down on the ledger as ABC. That he claimed it was ABC and not XYZ is the entire point of the case.

The WHY he decided to commit fraud is a nice detail but literally has zero bearing on if Trump actually did the whole I said the money was for ABC but it was really for XYZ.

I thought that they are pursuing him for election law violations and if they prove that he made the payment to help his campaign then the other charges of falsifying business records carry more weight since it was done to cover up a crime.

You’re both right. The reason the ABC/XYZ thing matters, and is tied to the presidency, is because the money came from campaign contributions and the ABC/XYZ are things you’re allowed to spend campaign funds on and things you aren’t.

I thought the argument was that it was for the campaign, because it was meant to help his chances of getting elected, but wasn't reported as a campaign expense, which is a campaign violation.

If he had just said the reimbursement was a campaign expense, which probably would have been counter productive to his desire to cover it up, he would not be in hot water now.

The WHY he decided to commit fraud is a nice detail but literally has zero bearing on if Trump actually did the whole I said the money was for ABC but it was really for XYZ.

Actually this isn't true, the why is very central to the case. The prosecution's argument is that the "why" is that it would've been damaging to his campaign. That is what links it to the campaign finance law, and what makes it a felony offense. This is an element that they will need to prove in court.

The falsifying business records piece is pretty much a slam dunk.

I agree with you. I think the media is handling it all wrong, it is a business fraud case, not a "hush-momey" case. However, I can see the prosocutions strategy. Hurt his ego, and he will react poorly in the eyes of the court and jury, let him purger himself, give him enough rope and he might just hang himself (in a legal sense).

The case literally has zero to do with an affair

I would think it has relevance to establish intent to commit fraud. I'm not a lawyer so no idea if motive matters for this sort of crime.

They have motive to suppress the story, true or not. So whether the affair actually happened is of little consequence when it comes to proving motive or intent.

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Why is he even bothering with it? Having an affair is not illegal and this is not what this case is about.

The case is about falsifying business records to cover another crime.

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So if he didn't sleep with them, and these aren't some sort of out of court settlement payments, what was he giving them the money for?

Stormy mentioned that Trump has a tiny mushroom dick. She also argued that if this wasn't true, he would 100% call a press conference, drop his pants, and say "see, it's not true".

Not exactly an argument that would hold up in court, but I can't argue with the logic otherwise.

If he sued her for slander, I imagine the size would be revealed in discovery. Probably why he hasn't sued her for slander.

I’m confused why not one believes him.

The man hasn’t told a single lie in his life.

He is practically the George Santos of Presidents… excluding astronaut-president Santos, of course.

How can anyone believe a guy that obviously lies every time he opens his mouth?

Surely the man chosen by God himself to save the country from the evil Satanist cabal doesn't lie constantly. /s

Anyone thathinks the orange pathological liar is chosen one of god is more deluded than he is

Source: trust me bro

I'm still confused as to what's illegal about paying hush money?

Concealing information for the express purpose of changing the outcome of an election is a crime. It's always the coverup that gets you. Ever notice how Trump was able to get away with constant crime all this time? It's because it was blatant and done in front of everyone. Just like soliciting Russia to hack Hillary: if he'd done it in secret he'd have been charged, but he did it in front of the nation with cameras on which gave him plausible deniability that what was in his heart was a crime and not a little jokey-poo.

This time he tried to cover it up, creating a trail of paper and witness to prove that he knew what he was doing was illegal.

He’s not really being charged with hush money but how he gave the hush money. In simplistic terms he laundered money to not make it seem like he paid off a porn star. That’s what is illegal.