Donald Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer’ Michael Cohen pleaded guilty last year to breaking campaign finance laws by making a “hush money” payoff to AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels, to keep Daniels quiet about a sexual encounter with Trump that took place in 2006, ensuring that the episode would not become public in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. Cohen has also said that, as AVN.com reported, Trump directed the cover-up operation nearly every step of the way.
But on Wednesday, in his first sworn testimony in an open, public hearing, Cohen added a new development to the Daniels cover-up saga, naming Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as a participant in the conspiracy. According to Cohen's testimony. Trump Jr. signed a $35,000 check to Cohen from a Trump trust fund—a check to reimburse Cohen for a portion of the $130,000 payoff to Daniels, which would have been part of the illegal campaign contribution, as the legal site Law & Crime reported.
Cohen also released a copy of that check to the House Oversight Committee. An image of that check is viewable at this link.
The check was also signed by the Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, who has been granted immunity from prosecution by federal prosecutors, in exchange for providing information about Trump.
“Does this mean that Donald Trump Jr. authorized Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to make the payment from the trust?” asked former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti on his Twitter account.
In court documents filed by prosecutors with Cohen’s guilty plea a Trump executive identified only as “Executive 2” was named as the person who authorized the reimbursement checks to Cohen, which were disguised as a “retainer,” in order to cover up their true purpose as part of the Daniels hush money deal. Mariotti asked whether Cohen’s testimony shows that Trump Jr. is, in fact, “Executive 2.”
In a Politico article published in December, Mariotto said that “Executive 2,” who now appears to be Trump Jr., may be the “ultimate target of the New York federal criminal investigation.”
Daniels herself issued a statement after Cohen’s testimony about the cover-up surrounding the hush money payment she received—and over which she has sued Trump and Cohen.
“Michael, I’m proud of you for finally beginning to tell the truth about what you did, and trying to repair some of the harm you have caused,” Daniels wrote in the statement. “You spoke about how the president and his attorney put you and your family in danger by calling you a liar and a rat and disparaging you in public. I understand your fear, Michael. I have a family, too.”
Photo By Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons
