Dem
51
GOP
49
As long as we are on the topic of Donald Trump's legal situation(s), there were two other developments on that front on Monday. First, we bet you haven't thought about Trump's dalliances with porn stars Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal in many months. Certainly, we hadn't. However, the former dalliance just reared its ugly head once again.
It certainly seemed, by all indications, that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg just wasn't interested in going after Trump. He kinda backed off on the financial crimes investigations, leaving the ball primarily in the court of New York AG Letitia James. As it turns out, however, Bragg might be very interested after all. He has recently impaneled a grand jury to look into whether the former broke the law with his payments to Daniels. He is also negotiating with former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who was party to the transactions. Pecker was once a close Trump ally, but he's also someone who puts his own skin ahead of anyone else's. So, he's apparently willing to spill his guts. You might say that if Trump faces off in court against the porn star, he'll have to do it without help from his Pecker. And that's really a terrible place to be.
Of course, Trump is also the plaintiff in plenty of lawsuits, and he just added a new one to the list. His target is Bob Woodward, and the claim is that Woodward damaged Trump by releasing audio tapes of the interviews conducted for Woodward's book Rage. Trump is demanding $49 million.
We are not experts in the law, particularly such a nuanced corner of it. However, we are inclined to suspect that Trump gave up any rights to confidentiality when he consented to be recorded. We further suspect that's doubly true because he's a public figure. And we are absolutely certain that Woodward and his publishers consulted with many highly paid lawyers before releasing a single second of audio so as to make sure that no laws were being broken.
In other words, this sure looks like another Trump nuisance suit. He surely can't win, and he may well be at risk of getting fined again, apparently not having learned much from the fine that was assessed against him and his lawyer a couple of weeks ago. Then again, maybe it's worth it. If he can fleece his supporters for $2 million by kvetching about a lawsuit that ultimately costs him $1 million in fines, then he's profited to the tune of $1 million. Which would probably be in the top 10% of Trump's business transactions, all-time, when it comes to profitability. (Z)