Donald Trump is a self-professed rich guy. Or at least he used to be: On Monday, it was revealed that his wealth took a big hit thanks to the social media ghost town that is Truth Social. Still, in 2016 he could certainly afford to pay off a porn star with whom he had allegedly slept and think nothing of it. But Trump, like others who are (allegedly) obscenely wealthy, is also at heart a cheapskate, so much so that he’s accused of trying to weasel out of making the payment that has turned him into an indicted crook.
On Tuesday, Trump returned to the hometown that hates his guts to be arraigned as the first U.S. president to ever be indicted on criminal charges. He faces 34 felonies. He of course pled not guilty to all of them. Afterwards Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg released a “statement of facts” detailing each of the charges. Buried deep into the document, at number 19, was the allegation that Trump tried to delay the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels till the last possible second, in the hopes he could keep his $130,000.
Oh man Trump tried to renege on the payoff after making the deal: pic.twitter.com/qFah4HPsbz
— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) April 4, 2023
“The Defendant directed Lawyer A to delay making a payment to Woman 2 as long as possible,” the document reads. “He instructed Lawyer A that if they could delay the payment until after the election, they could avoid paying altogether, because at that point it would not matter if the story became public.”
Lawyer A is, of course, Michael Cohen, who did jail time for the hush money payment. Woman 2 is Stormy Daniels, who has been very vocal about not enjoying her alleged tryst with the future 45th president. Bragg and team will have to prove this allegation, but one thing seems certain: Trump’s base, even the evangelicals among them, really didn’t give a crap that their favorite president allegedly had it off with a porn star then tried to cover it up.
Trump has denied everything, including the affair, all the while using the indictment to further beg his sometimes cash-strapped supporters for scratch. But unlike in 2016, it seems like this time he really needs it.