I’m torn between being slightly impressed that he actually put in the minimal effort of signing them himself, and shaking my head at the stupidity of doing it himself.
Well, that certainly establishes that he is a very busy Chief executive.
Such a seamless garment — of corruption.
While I’m as prepared to think the worst about DJT as the next TPM reader, if Cohen only paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, why was he “reimbursed” $385,000? It doesn’t make sense. Could it be it really was a retainer, as Trump claims? Was it a slush fund to cover other payments? Maybe Cohen paid David Pecker back for the Karen McDougal “catch and kill” payment. Still much to learn about the inner world of the corrupt Trump organization.
Middle man.
Ya was a nice boyy, Mikey. Here’s da check, and a liddle sumthin for your trouble.
Trump’s signature indicates that he is a self-serving megalomaniac.
Nice work if you can get it, I suppose. All it cost him was 3 years in jail, and most of his wealth.
I’m pretty sure Cohen himself explained the discrepancy: In order to support the “retainer” lie he paid taxes on those payments and $385K insured that he’d be fully reimbursed for the $130K hush payout. Who says they ain’t smart?!
Also, since it was a loan, there was interest.
I haven’t heard anyone comment on this angle but because Trump org was pretending these were retainer payments to Cohen they probably took them as tax deductions and I don’t think hush payments are generally considered business expenses…
There has to be an administrative infrastructure here. Who prepared the checks? Who put them in front of him? Who explained to Trump what they were for? This was done on government property. Were any government employees involved in his private business? I would also ask these questions.
Cohen explained that in order for him to be fully reimbursed for the $130K, he would need to be paid at least $260K as his marginal tax rate was ~50% (NYC resident) since he would declare the income, the balance was his actaul “fee”…
Note to headline writers: “Check Republic”
These days crime is committed by check. Gotta be sure about that paper trail!!
Well, this puts the lie to the assertion that you can’t investigate, or indict a sitting president because it would “distract” him from important duties.
Who knew trump could write checks play golf, eat hamburders, and conduct “executive time” all at once!
Hey Trump can multi task with the best of the crime bosses.
Cartoon shoulda said "leave the gun and check, take the happy meal.