Oh look, more evidence of Trump’s criminality
by digby
Trump loves to quote the moral scold Ken Starr defending him on Fox News:
“The evidence has to be overwhelming, and it is not. It’s not even close.” Ken Starr, Former Independent Counsel— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2019
Golly, maybe the Democrats should have impeached Trump for the crime we have incontrovertible proof of since Ken Starr and the rest of the boys continue to say that you can’t impeach a president without one.
This is from USA Today last July:
A day after the public heard Donald Trump boasting about grabbing women’s genitals in a leaked “Access Hollywood” outtake, the Republican presidential candidate and some of his top aides began an urgent effort to silence a pornographic actress, according to court records unsealed Thursday.
The documents, part of the FBI’s investigation of a hush-money scheme, show agents gathered evidence that Trump participated in an effort to pay off Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who claimed to have had an extramarital affair with him years earlier. Authorities laid out a timeline of emails, text messages and phone calls – some involving Trump himself – that “concerned the need to prevent” Daniels from going public with her story.
Trump denied knowledge of the payments after they became public. The FBI told a judge it obtained telephone records showing he participated in some of the first conversations about the scheme, which prosecutors said violated federal campaign finance laws.
Federal prosecutors said in court filings last year that Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, orchestrated payments to Daniels and another woman, Karen McDougal, “in coordination with and at the direction of” Trump. The documents unsealed Thursday offer an account of the extent of Trump’s involvement in that effort, which came at a particularly sensitive moment weeks before the 2016 presidential election.
The Justice Department told a judge Monday that it “effectively concluded” its investigation of the payoffs, signaling the end of one of the criminal inquiries that shadowed Trump’s presidency.
Federal prosecutors’ decision to end the investigation relied at least in part on long-standing Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime, a person familiar with the matter said.
Ken Starr recommended impeachment of President Clinton based upon one alleged lie he told in a civil deposition in a case that was dismissed by a judge.
The Republicans went crazy, screeching for months about “the rule ‘o law” and wringing their hands over what they could tell the children because of the president’s grotesque personal behavior.
But they are fine with this:
And they are fine with Trump illegally paying off porn stars from the oval office too:
I’m sure you remember seeing those checks signed by the president after he won the election.
I understand why the Democrats decided not to impeach Trump for this. It’s icky. But it’s a real crime and the evidence is there and he’s going to get away with it.
It’s good to be a Republican.
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