Yesterday was sort of a crazy day with political stories, and most of them involved Rudy Giuliani saying a lot of sh-t that completely incriminates his client, one Donald Bigly Trump. Giuliani admitted on Wednesday night, live on Hannity’s Fox News show, that Trump had paid Michael Cohen back for the $130K payout to Stormy Daniels. Giuliani even drew a direct line between the hush money to Stormy and the election, meaning the hush money was directly tied to the campaign and the loan was an illegal campaign contribution. Giuliani kept giving interviews, over and over again, digging the hole deeper and deeper. Here’s what he told NBC News last night:
President Donald Trump only recently found out that he reimbursed his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 nondisclosure agreement with adult performer Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 election, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani claimed Thursday. In a telephone interview with NBC News, Giuliani insisted he only shared details of the payment with Trump about a week ago.
“I don’t think the president realized he paid him (Cohen) back for that specific thing until we (his legal team) made him aware of the paperwork,” he said. Giuliani said the president responded, “‘Oh my goodness, I guess that’s what it was for.’”
Giuliani says the president was subsequently on board with the decision to go public with the reimbursement. “You’re not going to see daylight between the president and me,” he said. “We’re going to work hard to have a consistent strategy.”
Previously, Trump denied covering the cost of the agreement. Cohen had said he took a home equity credit line to cover the payment to Daniels. When asked how many payments Trump had made, Giuliani told NBC News the president started paying Cohen back in January 2017 and that altogether there were “about 12 installments of $35,000 each.” The money, totaling an estimated $420,000, also covered other expenses and fees for Cohen, Giuliani said, but he was unable to provide details.
WAIT WHAT? WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING?? Let’s take this piece by piece.
One, are Trump’s not-so-bigly assets not even liquid enough where he could pay out a few hundred thousand dollars in one lump-sum payment? Isn’t he supposed to be a billionaire? LMAO. He’s so broke. Trump probably had to borrow from Russian banks to pay back Michael Cohen in installments. Trump was literally paying hush money on layaway!!!!
Two, Cohen’s finances are so shady – he claimed he had to take a home equity loan to pay Stormy and yet… he was buying millions of dollars worth of real estate in Trump-owned buildings?
Three, why would Trump “pay back” Cohen $420K when the Stormy Daniels hush money was $130K? What are the other expenses and fees? Who else was getting hush money?
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I love how they keep sending him out, you would think after the first incriminating statement they would pull him back for a while
He and the boss are said to be perfectly in sync.
May this little bromance continue…with many televised interviews.
Yes!!!! More fame whoring Rudy please! Dig that pit Rudy!!!
I’m sogood glad they didn’t and I LOVE that they just proved Michelle Wolf is on the money about everything.
HOW BROKE IS HE?
LOL
That’s what I’m thinking, “how broke is he” that he had to pay back MC in installments. OMG, when is all this lying going to 🛑. We are not sheeps.
I have a feeling broke doesn’t even begin to cover it. Pretty sure he’s been borrowing money for years, if not decades, just to maintain the appearance of being a successful businessman.
It’s so unfunny for the rest of the world, if it’s true, that you can be as broke as Trump is and live like he does.
Trump would’ve been better served paying the hush money to Giuliani!!
My hubby and I are scream-laughing at your comment!
Truer words were never spoken.
“Hey guys, can we hurry this up? I’m supposed to do 25 more talkshow appearances today. I’m trying to make it like an advent calendar, you know, where I reveal a different crime on each one.”
https://youtu.be/K1K8s-tQGqY?t=3m29s
Don’t forget to look at it from the very beginning… Swipe the red dot to the left or:
https://youtu.be/K1K8s-tQGqY
Is there anyone Kate hasn’t played?
I am totally confused too but isn’t there the possibility that Trump paid smaller amounts to try to avoid disclosure requirements?
Right. I believe any transaction over $10,000 is recorded by somebody so he was flying under the radar. ALWAYS A SCHEME with Casserole Brains.
Except he paid in installments of $35,000.
LMAO at Casserole Brains. Although that moniker could apply to a number of people in this scenario.
Presumably because the payments were illegal. This is money laundering 101, so I have heard.
Indeed it is. And his attorney has just admitted that the payments were for NO services rendered, which puts BOTH Trump and Cohen’s “Firm” in the IRS stewpot. A twofer!
It could be construed as campaign related, if the money was used to benefit his election chances.
As Giuliani said, basically, “imagine if it came out during the debate?”, yeah, about the election.
“Trump was literally paying hush money on layaway!!!!” I cackled!
i think there’s money laundering going on. Can’t wait until they all get carted out in handcuffs.
So much money laundering in this family. I can’t even imagine the flow charts taped up all over the offices as they try and trace these people and their shady dealings.
Mueller filed a request for 70 subpoenas in the Eastern District of VA. Wonder how many Rethuglicans will be caught in the crosshairs. I’m LOLing at every damn one of those complicit, corrupt aholes.
you gotta figure there’s a lot of kompromat there, just because of the way that they’ve been protecting 45.
Me too! That is an awesome phrase. And money laundering most definitely. These morons keep opening their mouths and providing Mueller with more ammunition. Keep talking!
When putin requested a puppet regime here in the US it was mistranslated as the spinal tap version of the Sopranos.
This is absolute gold!
It goes to eleven, stunads!
Whattayagonnado? I loved that episode of Sopranos when his mother died, and Tony kept saying, “Whattayagonnado?” in Jersey brogue.
Ahhhh. Comment gold is why I come to this site. Thanks, Celebitchies!
Emmett Flood must have a huge retainer to cover all the stress his new clients must be causing with their antics.
Oh, yes, Emmet Flood.
“The Clintons are despicable and crooked liars, thieves and uranium-dealing, Monica Lewinsky-cigaring, Benghazi traitors!!”
“Someone get me the number for their lawyer….”
lmao
Seriously, this Emmett Flood thing really confuses the hell out of me. I know lawyers are often shady, but…this guy was Bill Clinton’s lawyer, and Clinton is supposed to be really smart, no? So surely he would have been smart enough to hire a SMART lawyer? And surely a smart lawyer would take one look at all this and be like “uncooperative client, lies publicly, history of stiffing clients…hard pass, thanks”. Is Emmett Flood really hard up for clients or something?
Emmett Flood may be smart and may now be looking for a graceful way to get out of this mess as opposed to just running for the door.
Plus, does anyone else read “Elmer Fudd” every time they see his name? Or is it just me?
I don’t think there are that many lawyers that have specialized in impeachment. So I totally get why Bigly has gone for Clinton’s lawyer. It really proves that he’s not that stupid. He knows he’s a serious trouble now.
As for why Flood would take on Bigly as a client, I’m at a loss. But don’t forget Trump and the Clintons were friends before the election. As were Ivanka and Chelsea. Trump might already have a prior relationship with Flood through his social connections.
Yeah, I think the fact that he was Clinton’s impeachment lawyer is pretty telling. Someone is telling Bigly he’s in deep trouble. Probably all the other lawyers as they run screaming from his team.
Under our Constitution, everyone is entitled to zealous, legal representation to mount a legal defense and ensure due process. John Adams represented the British troops involved in the Boston massacre. Someone like Flood would approach this in that vein. He is also the type who would be behind the scenes at this point and we won’t hear from him.
Lightpurple is right. Mueller actually said Trump needs to get more experienced lawyers. Our system requires a balance between expertise of prosecution and defense. You don’t want a Michael Cohen type up against a Mueller. Even Mueller wants a more even match. Otherwise they could quite rightly appeal based on incompetent representation.
I heard Flood is replacing McGahn. McGahn resigned today. So basically Flood is the WH atty paid with our money – not his personal goon posse.
And the popcorn moments keep coming.
I know, right? Every interview by Giuliani is just a Mueller cross-examination waiting to happen.
Soon to be a worldwide popcorn shortage because there is not enough popcorn in the WORLD for everyone watching this story.
I suggest buying popcorn by the case. Which I do, pre-popped since my microwave is older than many people here and struggles. I can recommend Lesser Evil coconut oil popcorn and Erin’s reduced sodium. They don’t generally have any tooth-breakers. And yes, I have a case of each in stock.
A crime family has taken over the White House. Let’s hope we survive this.
I agree. That statement about how the public will “never see the light of day” (ie the TRUTH) is GUILTY with a capital Gangster Giuliani. This is really epic. Giuliani gains fame from taking down the mob, then gets in bed with the Dumps who have been linked to organized crime for decades and have gone global with their Illegal Russian deals and now Giuliani is basically taking them down from the inside by out-incompetencing the most incompetent crooks in Washington…it is as if Giuliani is some kind of Anti-Godfather, or prosecutor-savant.
Giuliani’s rep as a mob takedown artist is complicit advertising. It has been alleged for a long time that he was in deep with the mob and only targeted mobsters that someone wanted to be taken down. It is an excellent way to sanitize someone and keep them in a power position to protect particular people.
He’s always been a dirty liar with no conscience.
I took it as he was employing the saying “you won’t see daylight” between them, as in they are so close that there would be no space between them. He was using it to say that he’s not speaking out of turn; that he and 45 are on the same page. As if Trump would even know…
Follow the money. I have always believed shady finances are the root of potential charges.
Cool Ghoul is apparently trying to claim that his beloved hero paid an inflated retainer, not really knowing where the money was going. Someone known to repeatedly stiff contractors is going to proactively shell out money for unknown expenses, right?
Also, I incorrectly referred to Ghoul as an octogenarian yesterday. He’s actually closer to his hero’s age. He looks and talks like someone at least a decade older.
Doing shady things will age you. It all shows on their faces, CONway, Suckabee, Hicks, Orangino. They all look way older than their age.
Trump has NEVA made money off of ANYTHING that’s sustainable…the money he’s made in the last 20 years is BASICALLY based off of his bootleg fool’s gold branding…and his family lives like cheesy kings, which is why they got into hawk with the Russians…cause they have NO BUSINESS ACUMEN AT ALL!!! That whole family should have BEEN put in jail over the horrific deals they made with condos that were never built…bilking folks out of MILLIONS of dollars…and yet the government just let them skate cause they could use that Russian graft to pay off the right folks…He’s broke…for his status I mean…hell, naw…for ANYBODY’S STATUS…because at the end of the day…it’s about the money you have in the bank and the value of your holdings..and the debt you have against it…His family lives off of credit…like MOST broke folks…which is why when it comes to hard cash…he has to pay back in installment…LIKE MOST BROKE FOLKS!
All the fake outrage over M. Wolf’s jokes about Sarah took away from other topics she brought up in her roast. Wolf at least twice mentioned that she thinks Orange is not as rich as he claims. She said he might be Idaho rich, but not really NYC wealthy.
Which has ALWAYS been the thorn in his side….not REALLY being NYC wealthy and hob-knobbing with the elite! Because if he TRULY had the cash…he COULD HAVE… And the blue-bloods knew it…and made sure they KNEW he KNEW it!
Of course he’s not what he claims. It’s all a house of cards, and Mueller has been revving up his leaf blower.
Exactly. 45 has never been as wealthy as he claims and has never been a billionaire. He impressed people who didn’t know his rep in NYC. He has always been an outsider con artist and is now probably cash poor.
In other news, the tenants in a bldg branded “TRUMP PLACE” just won their lawsuit against this clown. They wanted to remove the tainted name from the building and Orangino sued them to stop them. This morning a judge said they can dump the name.
That brand will never recover – even if they don’t go to jail.
The Trump brand was zooming down in value as soon as Trump started running for President. Foot traffic to properties like Trump Tower (which had restaurants and shops available to non-residents) dropped off fast. More and more people were turned off by the way he talked, the fear-mongering and general obnoxiousness.
Only about 1/4 of registered voters actually voted for him and some of those didn’t like him but believed the smear campaigns about Hillary and/or just wanted the tax cuts he promised. The average income of a Trump supporter was $75,000, more than anybody in my family ever made. Hillary actually did much better with lower income folk than Trump did. He appeals to the selfish as well as the racists and xenophobes. They may be loud but they aren’t actually the majority.
😂Do I have the timeline correct? Rudy goes on Hannity Wednesday night and drops his bombshells. Early the next morning, Rudy is BACK on Fox to clarify bombshells. He reveals more “stuff”. 😂 He goes back again, for a third time within 24 hours, in order to fix those mistakes. Bwahaha! I’ve got a feeling RG isn’t getting any sleep lately. I cannot stand him, so this makes me smile all day long.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 This fool. Just lock Rudy in the closet. He isn’t helping.
Keep him talking. The more he says, the stupider and more guilty they look. Funny watching Suckabee squirming around questions about this and finally had to admit she knew nothing about Trump paying Cohen back until Rude Ghoul blabbed about it on Fux News
Isn’t this in the form of replenishing his legal retainer with Cohen? If so, this is not uncommon nor earth shattering. You put money in trust, the lawyer uses it, you put more in. I *think* what they’re implying here is that Trump neither discussed nor requested/studied any itemized billing for the expenses. So he’s playing dumb as to where the money went, though he admits paying it into his trust account.
No. A retainer is for professional services. Not a payoff.
Maybe that’s why Cohen said he wasn’t reimbursed? Hope they have his itemized bills.
A problem with the “Trump didn’t know the details” is that he’s a well-known penny pincher and micromanager when it comes to his own money. He was stiffing vendors and contractors routinely. He brings people from Eastern Europe to work as maids and waitresses and cooks, and brought in Polish construction workers at one point. This stuff hasn’t been done without his knowledge and orders.
All of which makes me worry they’re going to start going for the “I don’t remember anything – (he must be demented)” defense.
The fact that a multi-millionaire has to pay off his lawyer in instalments had me LOL’ing all day – someone clearly doesn’t have any money.
This is bloody hilarious! What a bunch of crooked, dumb tw@ts! I’m thinking Giuliani won’t be long for the chop, like others before him. Hey, Bigly, I know a guy who knows a guy who can do you a bigly deal on a revolving door…
Despite being “in sync,” Emperor Zero is hoping molting season returns quickly so that Nosferatuliani goes back in his coffin.
“Boy oh boy this is gonna be great!”
–Flounder from Animal House
Hahahahahahhaha! Thanks for the laugh this lovely Friday, Eric!
Oh my I missed the Nosferatu reference.
Behold Nosferatuniali in his tender years circa 1922.
https://www.happeningmadrid.com/cine-verano-terror-madrid-nosferatu-musica-directo/nosferatu-5/
This is too embarrassing to read. I can’t believe this is actually happening. It is too much.
Agreed. My brain is starting to short circuit with all this. I can’t seem to be able to take it all in, just too painful.
Did Micheal Cohen say that trump never paid him back?
I read one theory that I find interesting. Could these be Guiliani’s payback against trump? Rudy was passed over for Attorney General, Chief of Staff, and for the ambassador of the Vatican.
There is just too much to dissect. I am anxious to find out who is getting voted off the island. It is Friday.
I don’t know…I get the desire to ascribe ulterior motives to these crooks but I don’t think they are as deceptive or thoughtful as many people might think. I believe that Ghouliani is much like Trump in that he is narcissistic and arrogant with no regard to consequences. He thought he could out-maneuver the media and Mueller and get ahead of the game but he f*cked it up because he’s impetuous, heedless and foolhardy like his boss.
Ghoulie seems happy to be in the limelight. Being remotely competent is way down the list at this point.
Agree that these egomaniacs are not strategic thinkers.
Christin, I SO agree! Ghoulinani is just SO thrilled to be on TV he doesn’t care WHAT he says at this point! All the better! lol
Hopefully, Dump and his family, as well as all the complicit Republithugs, will all go down in flames. If there is a God…🙏🏻
No , I think Guiliani is getting this out now so that Trump won’t be caught lying in a deposition. Now Trump can say the truth under oath and it won’t be a bombshell to the public. The chaos is happening now, not then.
Today would be a good day for Emperor Zero to release his tax returns.
I’m especially interested in the 1099-Misc forms.
Thanks for keeping the hope alive! Miscellaneous income sounds intriguing! 😉
So good to know not *everyone* has forgotten about those!
I don’t think we’ll EVER see those those 🙁
The staff at SNL are most likely having spasms over the smorgasbord.
OMG MUST WATCH TV for sure.
On Weekend Update, during Michael Che’s part a picture of Kanye was shown with the headline Kanye Says Slavery Was a Choice. Che just shook his head and passed over to Colin Jost…
Oh this is so perfect. Rudy is not just letting the cat outta the bag, he is dumping and shaking the cat outta the bag.
The sooner the better, Trump and his never ending revolving team are running the country into the ground.
Trump and Rudy are both unbearable. Rudy was good for a laugh as he just kept shoving his foot in his mouth. Quick someone, give him more TV interviews! Let’s see what else he blurts out.
My guess is that Trump pays and has paid Cohen a monthly retainer of $35k for years and they’re now trying to say he paid Cohen back via those payments. I’m betting these $35k payments preceded the NDA agreement and were ongoing throughout Cohen’s work as Trump’s fixer. They’re reaching.
Ghoulie’s shot himself in the feet so many times he’s gonna need a series of foot transplants. The WH is like the political version of the Three Stooges.
Except we’re the ones getting our eyes poked, our feet stomped on, and our heads bonked together. Excuse me while I go look for the generic Excedrin…
Guiliani’s a sh-t attorney. He quit the prosecutor’s office in like 1989, hasn’t tried a case since, and got his butt handed to him on appeal (reversals) several times on cases he DID do. Of course the idiots in charge think he’d be qualified to represent Trump in any way. *RME*
Installments? World leaders, they’re just like us?
Don the Con lied again this morning saying Rudy “just started yesterday.” That’s a lie, Rudy started two weeks ago. Cannot believe The Dotard on the slightest info coming to us from him. He has told over 3,000 lies since becoming president.
Have a look at @theviewfromLL2 on Twitter. Interesting analysis.
That’s my girl Susan, co-host of The 45th podcast. She is f*cking AMAZING at covering all the Russia stuff through an attorney’s lens.
She’s brilliant – kudos! Great analysis of this and other matters. 45th and Undisclosed are so good.
This would be comical if not that he sits in the tricking White House, smdh!
Not to be a killjoy but for all that’s been said thus far Trump hasn’t been charged with anything yet and may not end up getting charged with anything.
Giuliani definitely said on Fox News that the $35,000 per month to Cohen was a retainer. It makes no sense that that was used to reimburse for the hush money payoff in installments. That’s why Cohen was saying he was never reimbursed for the payment – he wasn’t, if all he was getting was his usual retainer of $35,000 per month. Giuliani knows that, but he is banking on the fact that most people don’t understand retainers.
You get a retainer to hold time open for a client’s jobs each month, whether or not they need you that month. It is compensation for lost income, since you need to turn down other jobs in case they need you since you must keep a chunk of time reserved for that client. You don’t save up the retainer to pay off people like Stormy.
If you do some work for the client one month, you can discount their bill up to the amount of the monthly retainer. But you don’t apply last month’s retainer (when the client had no work for you) to this month’s bill, then you would be losing the income from potential jobs last month without compensation.
Cohen apparently really had only one steady client: Donald Trump. But he received $35,000 per month regardless of whether or not Trump has a problem needing fixing. I doubt very much that Cohen intended to not be compensated directly for the $130,000 that he paid to Stormy. The $35,000 per month was his retainer to compensate for otherwise lost income from other clients, not a reserve fund for payoffs. Giuliani made it sound as though payment of Cohen’s retainer represented installments to pay for dealing with Stormy including the payoff, which makes no sense. Cohen would bill in the months he did work for Trump, simply subtracting the retainer for that month from any bill. Otherwise he would be losing money due to the jobs turned down to make room for Trump.
This was really informative. Thanks!
Any time I have used the services of an attorney I have signed a “retainer agreement”. I meet with the attorney, tell him what is going on and he tells me how much he requires as a retainer. Then, as his work proceeds, he bills against the retainer. In every case the retainer carried over from month to month. So if the retainer was $5000K and the first month the attorney did $2000 worth of work (itemized billing provided) then I went into the second month with a credit balance of $3000. If he then did $1000 worth of work the second month, at the beginning of the third month I would have a credit of $2000. And so on.
This is a pretty standard method for run-of-the-mill legal matters. The type of a retainer agreement where the attorney is paid a certain sum per month whether they perform services or not is different.
I suspect there are various types of “retainer agreements”. But my understanding of the Trump-Cohen situation is that Trump began paying $35K/month in January 2017.
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Re: Rudy. He’s a delight to watch. Trump could not have chosen a better legal representative. I so enjoy watching the hosts when he makes an appearance.
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Re: Elmer Fudd/Emmett Flood If his claim to fame is that he represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment, well Clinton got impeached. So what does that say about his legal skills?