In case you missed it, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, may have kicked over a hornet’s nest last month when he revealed that he had paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her supposed affair with Donald Trump. In so doing, Cohen may have breached a non-disclosure agreement about the affair.
Daniels now believes she is free to not only tell everything about her fling with the Donald, but also provide solid proof that it happened–including a Monica Lewinsky dress. As proof she isn’t messing around, Daniels–whose real name is Stephanie Clifford–sued Trump on Tuesday, contending that the agreement was never valid in any event because Trump never signed it.
One of Trump’s former campaign advisers tried to contain this growing inferno hours after the suit was filed. Unfortunately, all he did was make himself look foolish.
On Tuesday night’s edition of “CNN Tonight,” host Don Lemon convened a panel discussion on the lawsuit. Among the participants was Club for Growth founder and Heritage Foundation distinguished visiting fellow Stephen Moore, who served as one of Trump’s top economic advisers during the 2016 campaign. ThinkProgress got a clip.
When Republican strategist Kevin Madden mused that the mere fact this discussion was even taking place “should probably register on the Richter scale,” Moore dismissed it as a lot of fuss over nothing. He didn’t think it was really news for “a porn star to call attention to herself.”
Lemon reminded Moore that the payment had actually been confirmed by Cohen, so it was hardly a case of someone just wanting attention. Moore didn’t think it was a big deal since the American people knew about this and other debauched incidents by Trump in the past–and yet, he is still president.
Au contraire, said Lemon. He pointed out that we didn’t know about this particular affair because of that payment and the non-disclosure agreement. Moore replied that it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that a president or presidential candidate had a honey or two–including John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton.
But Lemon pointed out that neither JFK nor Clinton ever had an affair with “a woman who has sex on camera for money.” After a long pause, Moore claimed that didn’t really matter to the American people.
With all due respect, Stephen, it does matter. There are a number of concerns about how the payment was made. David Brock and other watchdogs suspect it may have fallen afoul of campaign finance law. Moreover, Cohen’s bank filed a Suspicious Activity Report about the $130,000 payment.
And that’s before we consider the 500-pound gorilla in the room. Based on Daniels’ account, we have a man who had an affair just months after getting married, and just months after he had a son.
But hey, Stephen. Go right on ahead and say it doesn’t matter.
(featured image courtesy ASACP/RTA, available under a Creative Commons-BY license)
