Joe.My.God. LGBT News
CNBC reports:
Court documents related to hush money payments arranged by President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen were filed unsealed Thursday.
The documents include a description of an Oct. 8, 2016, phone call Cohen received from Trump’s campaign communications chief Hope Hicks, during which “Trump joined the call,” which federal investigators believed was related to an effort to keep porn star Stormy Daniels from going public with her claims of having had sex with Trump a decade earlier.
Hicks was interviewed by the FBI about the phone calls with Cohen, the documents indicate. The filing by federal prosecutors in New York came a day after the judge in Cohen’s criminal case ordered their release, saying that the end of a probe into those payments meant they should be made public.
ABC News reports:
In between phone calls with Hicks and Trump, Cohen communicated by text and phone with two executives at American Media Inc., publisher of the The National Enquirer, at times immediately afterwards. In those discussions, Cohen repeatedly invoked the name “Keith,” referring to Keith Davidson, the lawyer representing adult film-star Stormy Daniels.
The content of these communications is not made explicit by the FBI agent, but the timing suggests the group was discussing the hush-payment deal with Daniels.
In a footnote in the documents, the FBI special agent says Hicks later told investigators that “to the best of her recollection, she did not learn about the allegations made by Clifford until early November 2016. Hicks was not specifically asked about this three-way call.”
BREAKING: The unredacted Michael Cohen search warrants describe a series of calls on October 8, 2016 between Trump, Cohen, and Hope Hicks – the purpose of which the FBI says was to keep Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels) from going public with her story – @Tom_Winter reports
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) July 18, 2019
Detailing Cohen’s illegal hush-money payments, the unsealed pages dispensed with ‘Individual-1.’
“There is probable cause to believe that Cohen made an excessive in-kind contribution to the presidential election campaign of then-candidate Donald Trump.” https://t.co/mPxl5CbVfb
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 18, 2019
MORE: @MichaelCohen212 spoke with @KellyannePolls (then the @realDonaldTrump campaign manager) around the time settlement funds were transferred to @StormyDaniels pic.twitter.com/Fz3omKP61x
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) July 18, 2019
NEW: Unsealed court documents show that Hope Hicks was involved in discussions between @MichaelCohen212 & @realDonaldTrump that resulted in Cohen agreeing to make an illegal campaign contribution by paying off @StormyDaniels pic.twitter.com/XLyNfbBh2A
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) July 18, 2019