The calm before the Stormy

The calm before the Stormy

by digby




We're all about to hear details of Trump in bed. Oh my God:

There are credible allegations that the President of the United States engaged in an affair with an adult film actress, paid her over $100,000 to keep quiet about it weeks before the election, and is now actively engaged in an elaborate cover-up.

On January 12, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump, through his lawyer Michael Cohen, had paid Stephanie Clifford $130,000 one month before the election to buy her silence about an affair she had with Trump in 2006. Clifford is an adult film actor who performs under the name Stormy Daniels. The affair allegedly took place shortly after Trump’s third wife, Melania, gave birth to his son Barron.

Cohen then released a letter — purportedly by Daniels and dated two days before the story published — denying she ever had a sexual relationship with Trump.

The letter directly contradicts the contemporaneous account of another adult film actor, Alana Evans, who said she talked to Trump on the phone when he was with Daniels and he invited her to come over and “party.” Evans says Daniels later told her she had sex with Trump.

It also contradicts an interview Daniels gave to In Touch in 2011, according to a new report from the magazine. “[Sex with Trump] was textbook generic. I actually don’t even know why I did it, but I do remember while we were having sex, I was like, ‘Please, don’t try to pay me,” Daniels said, according to In Touch.

This scandal had not garnered the intense media coverage one might expect of a story about a porn actor’s affair with a president: At yesterday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders did not receive a single question about the alleged affair with Daniels or the payment.

It's going to explode soon because In Touch is going to release the full 5,500 word interview with Daniels from 2011 in which she describes sex with Trump in excruciating detail.

I'm getting my brain bleach ready.

Think Progress points out that this is a bigger story than just Trump having affairs. First of all, it shows that he lies about his sexual escapades. Stop the presses. But it also shows that he has been subject to blackmail and that his protestations that he couldn't possibly have done what the Steele dossier said he did because he's a germophobe are overblown.

Daniels says he didn't use protection.


And then there's this:

The story suggests Trump is vulnerable to blackmail and extortion.
According to reports, Daniels was able to extract a $130,000 payment to keep quiet about her affair with Trump. How many other women have stories about Trump that he does not want told? This is potentially a very dangerous predicament for a sitting president. In the unverified Steele dossier, there is an allegation that Russian officials have information about Trump’s interactions with sex workers in Moscow that Russian agents are using as leverage. There is not evidence that this is true (although Trump’s bodyguard confirmed he was offered the sexual attention of prostitutes) but Daniels’ story suggests similar circumstances may be possible. Trump, reportedly, has things to hide and is willing to go to substantial lengths to hide them.

This is what's important I think. I don't care what Trump does with porn stars and I really don't want to know the details. But it is important that he was worried enough about it that he paid them off. And it is important that his excuse that he couldn't have done anything untoward in Russia because he's a germophobe.

It makes you wonder just what were the "dark whispers" about Trump's longtime former bodyguard Keith Schiller to which Michael Wolff referred in "Fire and Fury." He's the guy who knows about this stuff.

It may be that there's nothing to the kompromat rumor. I tend to believe it's unlikely. But this new scandal makes it seem a little less unlikely than it was before.


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