Donald Trump Announces 2016 White House Bid

spaminator

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Who is Stormy Daniels and what did she say happened with Donald Trump?
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Published Mar 30, 2023 • 4 minute read

Former President Donald Trump was indicted in New York City on Thursday on criminal charges arising from alleged hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to avoid a scandal ahead of the 2016 U.S. election.


Daniels has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, the year after he married his third wife Melania and more than a decade before the businessman-turned-politician – at the time known for a popular reality TV show – became president. Trump has denied the relationship and has said the payment was made to stop her “false and extortionist accusations.”


Here are facts about the Daniels and her alleged relationship with Trump.

STORMY DANIELS, ADULT FILM STAR
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is 44 years old and from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She has been a well-known personality for more than two decades in the adult film business, appearing in and directing numerous videos.


WHAT SHE SAYS SHE DID WITH TRUMP

Daniels has said she was introduced to Trump in July 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. She said he invited her to dinner and they dined at his hotel suite, where he showed her a copy of a golf magazine with his picture on the cover.

“And I was like, ‘Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it,'” Daniels told the CBS program “60 Minutes” in 2018.

“So he turned around and pulled his pants down a little – you know had underwear on and stuff – and I just gave him a couple swats,” Daniels said.

She said Trump asked her about herself and whether she would like to appear on his TV show “Celebrity Apprentice.”

“He was like, ‘Wow, you – you are special. You remind me of my daughter.’ You know, he was like, ‘You’re smart and beautiful, and a woman to be reckoned with, and I like you. I like you,'” Daniels said.


She said she excused herself at one point to use the bathroom and when she returned Trump was “perched” on the edge of the bed.

“I realized exactly what I’d gotten myself into. And I was like, ‘Ugh, here we go,” Daniels told “60 Minutes.” “And I just felt like maybe … I had it coming for making a bad decision for going to someone’s room alone.”

She said the two had consensual sex.

Daniels said Trump made telephone calls to her over the following year and she met him again at his request in July 2007 at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles to discuss her possible appearance on “Celebrity Apprentice.” Daniels said he wanted to have sex again at the hotel but she declined. She said Trump called her a month later to tell her he had not been able to get her booked on “Celebrity Apprentice.”


PAYMENT AND NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT
On Oct. 28, 2016, in the waning days before the presidential election that Trump won, Daniels signed a non-disclosure agreement in which she pledged not to publicly discuss her relationship with him in exchange for a $130,000 payment, according to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court. The pact was signed by Keith Davidson, her lawyer at the time, and Michael Cohen, then Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer. The document included a spot for Trump’s signature, but he never signed it.


In 2018, after the Wall Street Journal reported on the payment to Daniels, Cohen stated publicly that he paid her using his own money and was not directed to do so by Trump. Daniels sued Trump and Cohen seeking to have the agreement invalidated.


Trump’s lawyers subsequently acknowledged he did not sign the non-disclosure agreement and would not seek to enforce it. A judge dismissed her lawsuit because the matter was resolved.

DEFAMATION LAWSUIT
Daniels filed a 2018 defamation lawsuit against Trump in federal court over a Twitter post in which he accused her of a “con job” after she described being threatened over publicizing her account of an alleged sexual relationship with him. A Los Angeles-based federal judge decided in 2018 that Trump’s remarks were not defamatory and were protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. The judge’s decision was upheld on appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021 declined to review the matter.

Daniels has said an unknown man approached her and her infant daughter in 2011 in a Las Vegas parking lot and made threats after she agreed to talk about her relationship with Trump in a media interview.

In 2018, she released a sketch of the man. Trump responded on Twitter to the release of the sketch, writing: “A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!”

— Compiled by Will Dunham and Luc Cohen
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

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I am not sure anyone involved in this truly understands what hush money is or more specifically what the definition of hush is. Based on the publicity generated (and the legal battles) Trump would have been better off just letting her blab and let the 15 minutes in the spotlight pass and disappear in the rear view mirror.
 
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Twin_Moose

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I am not sure anyone involved in this truly understands what hush money is or more specifically what the definition of hush is. Based on the publicity generated (and the legal battles) Trump would have been better off just letting her blab and let the 15 minutes in the spotlight pass and disappear in the rear view mirror.
They're trying to pin it to campaign violation or influencing an election, there is no case there it was already decided in court and Stormy was found liable and had to pay Trump's legal fees
 
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spaminator

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I'm not afraid of testifying against Donald Trump
Author of the article:Bang Showbiz
Bang Showbiz
Published Mar 31, 2023 • 3 minute read

Stormy Daniels insists she’s not frightened of facing Donald Trump in court as nothing could be “scarier” than seeing him naked.


The ex-porn star, 44, who is at the centre of the former U.S. president’s historic indictment, also warned the legal action against the 76-year-old could ignite “death and destruction,” and told how it has led to her being targeted with a wave of fresh death threats over her links to him.


Referring to Trump’s infamous “grab ’em by the p****’ scandal, she told Britain’s The Times newspaper about him facing criminal charges showing no one is “untouchable”: “No matter what your job or bank account says, you’re held accountable for what you’ve said and done, and justice is served.

“It’s vindication. But it’s bittersweet. He’s done so much worse that he should have been taken down (for) before.

“I am fully aware of the insanity of it being a porn star. But it’s also poetic; this p**** grabbed back.”



She added about being unafraid of the prospect of facing Trump in court: “I’ve seen him naked. There’s no way he could be scarier with his clothes on.”

Opening up about the new death threats she has received since Trump’s indictment on Thursday, she said: “The number and the intensity is the same as it was the first time around, but this time it’s straight-up violent.

“The first time it was ‘gold digger,’ ‘s***’, ‘whore,’ ‘liar,’ whatever.

“And this time it’s, ‘I’m gonna murder you.’ They’re way more violent and graphic.

“I’m not afraid of him, or of the government, but it just takes one crazy supporter who thinks they’re doing God’s work or protecting democracy… you don’t want blood in the water. It kind of encourages the sharks… it’s especially scary because Trump himself is inciting violence and encouraging it.”


She added about being fearless over being asked to testify against Trump: “I hope that I do have to. I’m not afraid, I have nothing to hide, and I look forward to telling everybody what I know.”

Stormy – born Stephanie Gregory Clifford – also hailed his indictment as “monumental” and “epic,” adding: “He’s already gotten away with inciting a riot, and causing death and destruction. “Whatever the outcome is, it’s going to cause violence, and there’s going to be injuries and death.”

Trump’s lawyer says the scandal plagued businessman – the first ex-U.S. president to be indicted in history – will not be handcuffed when he’s arrested on Tuesday on what is thought to be around 30 charges, but he could face fingerprinting and a mugshot.


His attorney Joe Tacopina confirmed the no-cuffs deal had been struck between Trump’s legal team and prosecutors in Manhattan, where the former U.S. commander-in-chief will surrender to authorities after a grand jury voted he should face criminal charges over a $130,000 hush money payment to former porn star Stormy during the 2016 presidential race.



Stormy claims she had a fling with Trump in 2006.

He denies they had an affair and has called it a “witch hunt,” but has admitted directing his then lawyer Michael Cohen, 56, to pay Daniels $130,000 for her silence.

The adult star claimed Cohen deployed “intimidation and coercive tactics” to get her to sign on to the statement denying her affair with Trump.

Cohen told a federal court in Manhattan Trump directed him to make the payments, and was eventually sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges stemming from his part in the payments.
 

justfred

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With the pending indictment that old Donnie is facing, if the scuttle butt turns out to be true (more charges being filed) then would it be in someone’s (45) best interest to stop whining on his un-truth social, and spend his time working on a defence? If he tries to delay each of the charges, does that say he is GUILT, GUILTY on all charges? I think if he is innocent, he would be in court with evidence to clear his name.
 

pgs

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With the pending indictment that old Donnie is facing, if the scuttle butt turns out to be true (more charges being filed) then would it be in someone’s (45) best interest to stop whining on his un-truth social, and spend his time working on a defence? If he tries to delay each of the charges, does that say he is GUILT, GUILTY on all charges? I think if he is innocent, he would be in court with evidence to clear his name.
Maybe he is waiting for the state to prove it’s claim .
 

Twin_Moose

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spaminator

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Biden review of chaotic Afghan withdrawal blames Trump
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Zeke Miller And Nomaan Merchant
Published Apr 06, 2023 • Last updated 16 hours ago • 6 minute read

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday laid the blame on his predecessor, President Donald Trump, for the deadly and chaotic 2021 withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that brought about some of the darkest moments of Biden’s presidency.


The White House publicly released a 12-page summary of the results of the so-called “hotwash” of U.S. policies around the ending of the nation’s longest war, taking little responsibility for its own actions and asserting that Biden was “severely constrained” by Trump’s decisions.


It does acknowledge that the evacuation of Americans and allies from Afghanistan should have started sooner, but blames the delays on the Afghan government and military, and on U.S. military and intelligence community assessments.

The brief document was drafted by the National Security Council, rather than by an independent entity, with input from Biden himself. The administration said detailed reviews conducted by the State Department and the Pentagon, which the White House said would be transmitted privately to Congress on Thursday, were highly classified and would not be released publicly.


“President Biden’s choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor,” the White House summary states, noting that when Biden entered office, “the Taliban were in the strongest military position that they had been in since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country.”

The report does fault overly optimistic intelligence community assessments about the Afghan army’s willingness to fight, and says Biden followed military commanders’ recommendations for the pacing of the drawdown of U.S. forces.

“Clearly we didn’t get it right,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday, but sidestepped questions about whether Biden has any regrets for his decisions and actions leading up to the withdrawal.


Kirby said of the report that “the purpose of it is not accountability,” but rather “understanding” what happened to inform future decisions.

The White House asserts the mistakes of Afghanistan informed its handling of Ukraine, where the Biden administration has been credited for supporting Kyiv’s defence against Russia’s invasion. The White House says it simulated worst-case scenarios prior to the February 2022 invasion and moved to release intelligence about Moscow’s intentions months beforehand.

“We now prioritize earlier evacuations when faced with a degrading security situation,” the White House said.

In an apparent attempt to defend its national security decision-making, the Biden administration also notes that it released pre-war warnings over “strong objections from senior officials in the Ukrainian government.”


Republicans in Congress have sharply criticized the Afghanistan withdrawal, focusing on the deaths of 13 service members in a suicide bombing at Kabul’s airport, which also killed more than 100 Afghans.

Former Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, who was badly wounded in the explosion, told a congressional hearing last month that the withdrawal “was a catastrophe” and “there was an inexcusable lack of accountability.”

Shawn Vandiver, a Navy veteran and founder of #AfghanEvac, an effort to resettle Afghans fleeing the country, called the NSC report an “important next step.”

“We are glad to see acknowledgement of lessons learned and are laser focused on continuing relocation and resettlement operations,” Vandiver said in a statement.


But Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tweeted Thursday that the withdrawal was “an unmitigated fiasco,” adding, “Passing the buck in a blame-shifting report won’t change that.”

The administration’s report appears to shift any blame in the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, saying it was the U.S. military that made one possibly key decision.

“To manage the potential threat of a terrorist attack, the President repeatedly asked whether the military required additional support to carry out their mission at HKIA,” the report said, adding, “Senior military officials confirmed that they had sufficient resources and authorities to mitigate threats.”

Kirby credited U.S. forces for their actions in running the largest airborne evacuation of noncombatants in history during the chaos of Kabul’s fall.


“They ended our nation’s longest war,” he told reporters. “That was never going to be an easy thing to do. And as the president himself has said, it was never going to be low grade or low risk or low cost.”

Since the U.S. withdrawal, Biden has blamed the February 2020 agreement Trump reached with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, saying it boxed the U.S. into leaving the country. The agreement has been blamed by analysts for undercutting the U.S.-backed government, which collapsed the following year.

The Afghan government released roughly 5,000 Taliban prisoners after the Doha agreement as a condition of having peace talks with the Taliban. Kirby noted that release and other examples of what he said was a “general sense of degradation and neglect” inherited by Biden.


But the agreement also gave the U.S. the right to withdraw from the accord if Afghan peace talks failed — which they did.

The agreement required the U.S. to remove all forces by May 1, 2021. Biden pushed a full withdrawal to September but declined to delay further, saying it would prolong a war that had long needed to end.

Since the withdrawal, the U.S. carried out a successful operation to kill al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri — the group’s No. 2 leader during the Sept. 11 attacks — which the White House has argued is proof it can still deter terrorist groups in Afghanistan.

But the images of disorder and violence during the fall of Kabul still reverberate, including scenes of Afghans falling from the undercarriages of American planes, Afghan families handing infants over airport gates to save them from the crush and violence of the crowd, and the devastation after the suicide bombing at the Abbey Gate.


A February report by the U.S. government’s special inspector for Afghanistan placed the most immediate blame for the Afghan military’s collapse on both the Trump and Biden administrations, and cited the speed with which Biden insisted on carrying out the withdrawal: “Due to the (Afghan security force’s) dependency on U.S. military forces, the decision to withdraw all U.S. military personnel and dramatically reduce U.S. support to the (Afghan security forces) destroyed the morale of Afghan soldiers and police.”

Pressed by reporters Thursday afternoon, Kirby repeatedly defended the U.S. response and effort to evacuate American citizens and argued with reporters who referred to the withdrawal as chaotic. At one point, he paused in what appeared to be an effort to gather his emotions.


“For all this talk of chaos, I just didn’t see it, not from my perch,” said Kirby, who was the Pentagon spokesman during the withdrawal. “At one point during the evacuation, there was an aircraft taking off full of people, Americans and Afghans alike, every 48 minutes, and not one single mission was missed. So I’m sorry, I just won’t buy the whole argument of chaos.”

Biden will not declassify portions of the report itself, Kirby said, citing the ongoing work of a bipartisan Afghanistan war commission and the sensitivity of the documents.

The release of the NSC review comes as the State Department and House Republicans battle over documents for classified cables related to the Afghanistan withdrawal. Last week, Rep. Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, took an unprecedented step in subpoenaing Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a cable written by dozens of diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul shortly before the withdrawal.

The July 2021 communication reportedly warned Blinken about the potential fall of Kabul via a special “dissent channel,” which allows State Department officials to issue warnings or express contrarian views directly to senior agency officials.

— AP writers Josh Boak, Ellen Knickmeyer, Seung Min Kim, Lolita C. Baldor and Farnoush Amiri contributed.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Helicopters lifting off from the Saigon embassy roof.

Hey, guess what, geniuses? When shit goes sideways, it can be kinda ugly.

Real life. Deal with it.
 

spaminator

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Will Donald Trump attend his rape trial? Judge wants to know
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Larry Neumeister
Published Apr 10, 2023 • 2 minute read

NEW YORK — A federal judge wants to know if ex-President Donald Trump plans to attend a New York trial this month resulting from a columnist’s claims that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.


Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued an order Monday directing parties in the case to notify him by April 20 whether they will be present throughout the trial, scheduled to start April 25 in Manhattan federal court.


A writer, E. Jean Carroll, sued Trump in November, saying he raped her in early 1996 after a chance meeting at the Bergdorf Goodman department store. He has repeatedly and emphatically denied it in language sure to be highlighted for a jury that will decide whether the rape occurred and if Trump defamed Carroll with his comments.

The rape claims were made immediately after a temporary state law took effect allowing adult rape victims to sue their abusers, even if attacks happened decades ago.

Trump’s lawyers did not respond Monday to requests for comment on Kaplan’s order.


Attorney Roberta Kaplan, no relation to the judge, said Carroll “intends to be present for the entire trial.”

In his order, the judge asked “each party” to notify him in writing whether he or she intends to attend the entire trial. If not, he asked to be told what dates and times each individual will be absent.

The judge said the order was not to be construed to suggest whether either side is obliged to be present throughout the trial or what legal consequences could result from a decision not be present the entire time.

The judge was likely interested in learning exactly when Trump might be in court because of the special security arrangements that would be required for a Secret Service-protected former president who is campaigning for a second term in office.


Last week, Trump arrived in a motorcade for a New York state court arraignment on a 34-count felony indictment charging him with repeatedly breaking the law in a quest to silence women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with him years before his successful campaign for the presidency on the Republican ticket in 2016.

In October, Trump underwent a videotaped deposition in which he was questioned about Carroll’s claims, which were first made publicly in a 2019 memoir by the former longtime Elle magazine columnist.

In the deposition, Trump was dismissive of Carroll’s claims, saying: “Physically she’s not my type.”

Even if Trump decides not to attend the trial, it is likely that significant portions of his deposition will be watched by the jury.

In recent weeks, the judge has denied requests by Trump’s lawyers to exclude testimony from two women who made sexual abuse claims against Trump in circumstances similar to those alleged by Carroll and from two individuals who worked at the department store at the time the rape allegedly occurred.

He also has ruled that jurors can hear misogynistic remarks Trump made about women in 2005 on an “Access Hollywood” tape.
 

spaminator

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Kansas man sentenced in Capitol riot 'ridiculously ashamed'
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Apr 10, 2023 • 1 minute read

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Kansas City, Kansas, man said he was “ridiculously ashamed” before he was sentenced Monday to four months of incarceration for joining a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.


U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan also ordered 48-year-old Kasey Hopkins to pay $500 restitution in a video conference hearing. His incarceration will be followed by 24 months of probation, The Kansas City Star reports.


Hopkins acknowledged during the hearing that he was sent to prison in 2002 for a rape conviction. He said that after getting out, he tried to make amends and started a business.

But on Jan. 6, 2021, Hopkins breached the Capitol twice and entered a senator’s private office, where he took pictures of rioters ransacking the room.

“I’m ridiculously ashamed to be here right now,” he said, adding that “the mob mentality is a very, very real thing.”

Chutkan praised Hopkins for undergoing “personal transformation,” but she said his involvement in the riot “boggled my mind.” Court documents said that Hopkins proposed “forming a group of ‘Proud Felons for Trump’ when he heard the Proud Boys might not accept men with felony convictions.”

Hopkins initially was charged with four misdemeanors, but prosecutors dropped three of them in exchange for him pleading guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

About 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes in the riot that temporarily halted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory and left dozens of police officers injured.