'He wrote all of it down?': Prosecutors claim to have handwritten notes of Trump hush money scheme

[WorldWatcher]

What's the status of limitations on this supposed crime?

If mean Statute of Limitations. Then 10 years (IIRC 5 years for felony and a maximum of 5 additional years if the defendant is out of the state).

WW

 

[bigrebnc1775]

If mean Statute of Limitations. Then 10 years (IIRC 5 years for felony and a maximum of 5 additional years if the defendant is out of the state).

WW

The statute of limitation has run out

 

[WorldWatcher]

The statute of limitation has run out

Let's see, the catch and kill events occurred in 2016, the falsification of business records occurred in 2017.

• 2016 + 10 = 2026
• 2017 + 10 = 2027

So...

..... ..... Felony Statute of Limitations hasn't run out.

WW

 

[Mac1958]

Pecker says he and Trump had a symbiotic "catch and kill" type relationship with Trump for a long time. That lets the defense say that what he did for Trump during the campaign was not unusual.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Let's see, the catch and kill events occurred in 2016, the falsification of business records occurred in 2017.

• 2016 + 10 = 2026
• 2017 + 10 = 2027

So...

..... ..... Felony Statute of Limitations hasn't run out.

WW

For the crime of flashing records limitation is not 10 years try again

 

[para bellum]

No one has been charged with any violation of the IRS code. Grossing up the payment to Cohen to cover the taxes isn't illegal.

Cohen is responsible for declaring the $420K as income. The question of expensing the $130K to Daniels is not clear to me. Normally that would be an allowable business expense, and he would deduct it from his income. Daniels is the person who received the money, and she would report it as income, minus the portion her attorney retained...

No one is saying Trump deducted the payments to Cohen on his taxes, and the payments were not from a Trump business entity.

$105K was from The DJT Revocable Trust (which holds Trump's business entities as separate LLC's). $315K was from Donald Trump's personal checking account.

No money from the campaign was involved.

AMI was not reimbursed, so the money paid to the doorman and McDougal were considered excessive campaign contributions and AMI was fined by the FEC. That can legitimately be called a campaign finance violation.

Cohen was reimbursed. It was always the plan for him to be reimbursed. The money was Trump's personal funds, and Trump is not limited by any campaign finance restrictions.

I do not think that was ever a campaign finance violation by Cohen.

Nevertheless, Cohen pled guilty to making an excessive campaign contribution, as part of his plea agreement for the other fraud and tax evasion charges. The DOJ refused to separate the charges and treat the campaign finance charge as a separate matter even though it was completely unrelated to the other charges.

I do not believe Cohen committed the campaign finance violation that he pled guilty to- I believe that guilty plea was made under duress. There was never any intention by Cohen or Trump that the money to pay Daniels would come out of Cohen's pocket.

I also do not believe the payments to Cohen even classify as Trump organization "business records". Neither Trump the individual, or the DJT Trust are business entities that engage in commerce independently. All of Trump's business transactions occur within one LLC or another, and they each have their own separate P&L's and Schedule C's and so on.

Overcharging:

An individual should not be treated as a business for his personal expenditures. That is 27 counts on the indictment- 9 invoices, 9 checks, 9 GL entries.

Even if you call the DJT Trust a business, that would only be 7 counts on the charge- 3 invoices, 2 checks, 2 GL entries.

If Trump had paid Cohen in one payment of $420K, there would only be 3 counts on the indictment- One invoice, one check, one GL entry...

 

[para bellum]

right. The indictment is sparse, but it may be crimes including, but not limited to, campaign finance.

The "another crime" has been revealed as NY Election Law 17-152 which states:

"Any two or more persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means and which conspiracy is acted upon by one or more of the parties thereto, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."

 

[para bellum]

Let's see, the catch and kill events occurred in 2016, the falsification of business records occurred in 2017.

• 2016 + 10 = 2026
• 2017 + 10 = 2027

So...

..... ..... Felony Statute of Limitations hasn't run out.

WW

Your calculation is wrong. The person has to be "continuously" out of the jurisdiction and that did not apply. For this case it was determined to be:

5 years, plus
1 year 47 days covid tolling.

6 years 47 days.

 

[WorldWatcher]

For the crime of flashing records limitation is not 10 years try again

There is not crime in flashing records.

There is a felony crime for falsifying business records and when done to commit another crime or hide/aid in another crime.

WW
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[WorldWatcher]

Your calculation is wrong. The person has to be "continuously" out of the jurisdiction and that did not apply. For this case it was determined to be:

5 years, plus
1 year 47 days covid tolling.

6 years 47 days.

NYS Open Legislation | NYSenate.gov

www.nysenate.gov

Time out of State (such as living in DC or FL) also counts, don't know why you think only COVID counts.

Notice the "or" connector, meaning that either condition suspends tolling. Both are not a requirement.

WW

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Because he illegally wrote those expenses off as business expenses, labeling then legal expenses.

NDAs are deductible, legal fees are deductible.

 

[marvin martian]

Trumpnis charged with falsifying business records to cover up another crime.

What other crime?

 

[para bellum]

NYS Open Legislation | NYSenate.gov

www.nysenate.gov

View attachment 937680

Time out of State (such as living in DC or FL) also counts, don't know why you think only COVID counts.

Notice the "or" connector, meaning that either condition suspends tolling. Both are not a requirement.

WW

Notice the word "continuously" that your big red arrow points to, and also that Trump's whereabouts was never uncertain.

If you disagree with the calculation, take it up with Merchan. 6 years 47 days was his ruling...

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

I thought this was about campaign finance violations.

Were these hush money payments illegal?​

Yes. While a hush money payment is not necessarily illegal, Cohen and AMI have both admitted they broke laws by making these payments in an effort to hide unflattering information before the 2016 election.

Cohen pleaded guilty to two campaign finance charges in August 2018: causing an unlawful campaign contribution for his involvement orchestrating the payment from AMI to McDougal, and making an excessive campaign contribution for the payment to Daniels.

AMI, now known as a360media, was not criminally charged by federal authorities but did admit to making the payment to McDougal. The company paid a $187,500 fine to the Federal Election Commission for making an unlawful campaign contribution.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/13/politics/donald-trump-hush-money-trial-explained/index.htmln

Hiding unflattering information before an election isn't illegal.

 

[para bellum]

Hiding unflattering information before an election isn't illegal.

Well they're making it illegal, and anyone who aided in suppressing the Hunter Laptop story should be charged with the crime.

The Congress should have it's hush money fund taken away, and any politician who benefited from it should also be charged...

 

[marvin martian]

Well they're making it illegal, and anyone who aided in suppressing the Hunter Laptop story should be charged with the crime.

Starting with these traitors:

 

[para bellum]

And you are beng contrarian out of loyalty to your orange mangod, but know I am correct.

Well that was easy.

The misdemeanors will be easy to prove. For the reasons I mentioned.

No, I was finished with Trump over his tacit endorsement of Lindell's election lies.

You guys brought me back.

I have no loyalty to Trump the man (I do think he was a good POTUS). My objection is to the use of the courts as the enforcement arm of the democrat party.

 

[para bellum]

NDAs are deductible, legal fees are deductible.

And revenues are not income.

Income is what's left after expenses are deducted.

And there is no claim by anyone that Trump deducted the payments to Cohen on his taxes, business or otherwise.

I don't think it applies in this case, but the IRS made a rule change in 2017 that disallows NDA's related to sexual harassment or abuse as tax deductions under section 162.

Certain payments related to sexual harassment and sexual abuse | Internal Revenue Service

No deduction for certain payments made in sexual harassment or sexual abuse cases.

www.irs.gov

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

What's the statue of limitation?

Doesn't matter, in this case. The orange slob was nice enough to move out of State and pause the clock.

 

[scruffy]

It of course was fraudulent, as Trump definitely intended to mask the payoff intended to influence the election as a legal expense for his business. You cannot do that. That will be the easy part. That's just the misdemeanor.

Fine. Now let's see where Biden's 20 million went.