At the center of the new indictment of Donald Trump is the payment of money made by Michael Cohen, a long-time “fixer”, to two women who declared their relationship with Trump.
The former president’s first challenge to the indictment would have the case thrown out because of questions about the election and tax laws that underpin it. Trump’s legal team may ask if this is enough to increase the 34 counts of falsifying business records from misdemeanors to felonies. (Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has referred to the underlying offense, but he has not specified exactly what crime he is charged with adding Trump’s charges to a felony.)
While there are many defenses that Trump could come up with if he fails to dismiss the allegations, only one involves the proposition of true love.
When former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards beat back similar accusations in 2012, he did so by arguing that guaranteed payments from campaign donors to keep extramarital lovers quiet were done primarily to protect their marriages and families from shame — and therefore, not illegal. campaign expenditures.
Trump’s lawyer has denied that he authorized the payment of the money to protect his marriage to Melania Trump. But how can you believe that the former president is a “husband”?
There is a lot of evidence against the idea that Donald Trump – who has carefully (or perhaps inadvertently) created his image as a Lothario and a playboy – actually cares about the sanctity of his three marriages.
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His relationship with his first wife Ivana Trump ended in divorce in 1990 after a years-long affair. When he took his girlfriend Marla Maples on a family vacation to Aspen, Colorado, he confronted Ivana Trump, saying: “I’m Marla and I love your husband. You?”
A New York Post front page article blaring a supposed quote from Maples — “BEST SEX I’VE TAU HAD” — followed soon after.
In a 1994 interview with ABC News, Donald Trump described his life with “a beautiful girlfriend [and a] beautiful wife” is a “bowl of cherries.” He further said that if the Aspen confrontation had not happened, they might have stayed married while continuing their relationship.
“It might still be there. I’m not sure,” Trump said.
In the same interview, Trump did not discuss marriage as “a commitment between you and God,” as Maples did in her own words to ABC News. Instead, he described the end of his first marriage – which had a draconian prenuptial agreement – as more of a “deal”.
“I guess I see it all as a deal,” Trump said.
After their 1990 divorce, Trump used the pseudonym “John Miller” to call People magazine to say he would never marry Maples and that he was dating three other women. Eventually, she married Maples. But in a 1994 conversation with Vanity Fair, she suggested that she might be doing this to help her professional image amid the birth of her daughter.
During the same period, when he dated Maples as his casino empire failed, Trump bragged about how sleeping with various women had distracted him from work.
“One thing I learned through this: I have to go back to work. I’ve been in Europe rude to every model in the world. My life is wild,” said Vanity Fair.
Trump and Maples separated in 1997 after the National Enquirer published a photo of her on the beach with Trump’s bodyguard, and the two divorced in 1999. At the time, Trump was dating a model named Melania Knauss.
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While dating Knauss, Trump regularly appeared on Howard Stern’s shock radio show. The two listed famous women’s names for their beauty ranks and body parts, discussing whether they would sleep with them.
After Trump announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2015, a flood of women came out to accuse him “creepy” and inappropriate behavior, unwanted touching and kissing, and rapeallegedly took place when she is dating her future husband or marrying him. Trump has denied all the allegations, claiming the attacks were politically motivated.
Many were prompted to tell their stories following the release of Trump’s behind-the-scenes footage from the “Access Hollywood” show.“- recorded in 2005, the third year of marriage, but leaked just weeks before the 2016 election.
In the recording, Trump brags about trying to sleep with a married woman, makes lewd comments about female actors he’s dating, and boasts that he can hit on women because he’s famous.
“You know I’m automatically attracted to beauty – I just start kissing. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” he said in the recording.
“Grab people by the pussy. You can do anything,” added Trump.
The release of the “Access Hollywood” tape caused Trump and his friends to try to keep the woman who revealed the relationship, porn star Stormy Daniels, from speaking to the press.
Daniels said she slept with Trump several times in 2006. Before the 2016 election, she received $130,000 from Cohen, Trump’s lawyer at the time, to keep her quiet. Trump then reimbursed Cohen with a series of payments that resembled legal retainers. In addition, the parent company of the National Enquirer paid $150,000 to model Karen McDougal, who said she had an affair with Trump from 2006 to 2007.
With all the evidence showing that Trump may not be a faithful or respectful husband, she will have a stronger argument in court today by claiming that what she fears most about the revelation of the alleged affair is the possible financial attack. divorced.
Trump likely had a prenuptial agreement with his third wife, as he did with Maples. He felt burned by the process of divorcing his first wife and later said that the prenup was “very necessary.” A prenup with Maple provided him with $1 million upon divorce.
If Trump now has a prenuptial agreement, it may include an infidelity clause. A violation of this clause can trigger a greater financial reward for Melania Trump in the divorce if cheating on her.
While Donald Trump may not be a husband, he is definitely a Trump man. The best thing is to argue that they are only looking out for themselves. This is an argument that no one can disagree with.