Dem
51
GOP
49
Monday is a day ending in 'y,' and on days ending in 'y,' Donald Trump's legal troubles are sure to be in the news. The biggest news yesterday was that CNN acquired a copy of the now-infamous recording in which Donald Trump talks with several people about a classified plan for an attack on Iran. You can listen to the recording at the link; it's just a bit over 2 minutes long.
After the CNN story broke, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said: "the audio tape provides context proving, once again, that President Trump did nothing wrong at all." This is what is known as gaslighting. In the tape, it is just as the indictment alleges—Trump says: "This, was done by the military and given to me. See, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret." It really couldn't be clearer that the former president knew the information was classified, knew he had no ability to change that fact, and knew he was being naughty by sharing the information.
Meanwhile, you had to figure that Trump would find a way to avoid paying his legal bills. And, per reporting from Maggie Haberman and Shane Goldmacher of The New York Times, he has. His campaign has set it up such that when a person donates, 10% of the money goes to the Save America PAC, which is effectively the "Pay Trump's Legal Bills PAC." Since Save America PAC is not a campaign committee, per se, it is apparently legal for it to cover Trump's legal bills. Or, at least, it's a gray enough area to make it worth the gamble. After all, campaign finance violations are tough to punish, and if Trump ever gets popped for this, he'll have been popped for other, more serious things long before that.
All of this said, Trump's political organization is not the money magnet it once was. And his legal bills in the past year have been roughly $100 million—and that's before he was facing multiple criminal indictments. So, while he might get the MAGA faithful to cover some of his costs, it sure looks like he's going to have to go out-of-pocket to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. Because he hates that, and because he's so badly exposed, one wonders if it will motivate him to reach a plea deal. Guess it comes down to which thing he hates more: spending money or admitting guilt.
And finally, on the subject of legal problems and money, Trump took steps yesterday to put $5.5 million in a court-controlled escrow account, so as to cover the judgment awarded to E. Jean Carroll. This doesn't mean the former president is conceding; it's merely the case that he has to pony up before he's allowed to appeal the judgment against him. Still, we are one step closer to Carroll being paid. Meanwhile, there's still another $10 million case pitting her against him, and set to go to trial early next year. Being as shady as Trump just isn't cheap. (Z)