As soon as you read Stormy Daniels, your mind was already made up. This isn't a opinion piece as much as I will try to lay out the saga and get the facts straight, because that is one thing we need more of, facts. If some facts form an opinion, then there is little I can do. For example. Hilary Clinton lied about her emails and was caught. That is a fact. The fact forms a perception that Hilary is a less then trustworthy individual and did a bad thing. We can debate the importance and meaning of facts, but if people are unaware of what is happening, then how can we even have a discussion. It is important to examine a couple things. The Affair, The Payment, The court battle, and Michael Cohen.

Where it all began

Please read the post first, fap later Source credit Wicked entertainment

Lake Tahoo 2006

At a celebrity golf outing Trump and Ms. Stephanie Clifford (Stormy Daniels) became acquainted and allegedly engaged in a affair during an evening. At the time Melania Trump was pregnant with their son Baron.

Source credit the Guardian

The story had been circling the rumor mill for years, but it wasn't until the presidential cycle the story reemerged. Stormy Daniels had shopped the story back in 2006-2008 to no avail, but when Trump was making his presidential run she was re-approached and offered lucrative offers to recall and open up about the affair. Instead, no story came fourth and it wasn't until January of this year (when the stories started breaking), that things started to develop.

The Affair

The heart at the beginning of the story was, did Stormy Daniels have an affair with Donald Trump? Before even getting to if it matters, this needs to be established. Tabloids and then mainstream news outlets resurfaced the story in January. Before it became a household topic Michael Cohen released a signed memo from Ms. Clifford denying the affair
source credit Fox News

This coincided with both lawyers, pundits and Sarah Huckabbe Sanders claiming there was no affair between the two parties, and there certainly wasn't any payment. This went on for a little while until a court filling to null and void aNDA (non-disclosure agreement) that was signed between stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen and Danny Dennison (alias for Trump) was presented, along with assertions from Stormy herself that the affair had taken place.

This presented a immediate paradox for Trump and his legal team. If no affair ever happened, why would there need to be a NDA? In the research I did, there has never been a NDA signed between two parties for an event that never happened. Still, continued denials came from the podium and surrogates that no affair took place. Cohen (Trump's attorney, also filled a 20 million doller defamation lawsuit against Daniels. Daniels claimed she lied and signed the denial because she felt pressured and scared. Avenatii (lawywer for Daniels) began making is increasingly frequent television appearances during this time. He claimed there was evidence to prove and affair and cover up. He also teased that there would be a interview where it was exposed. It is also interesting to note that Avenatii is in his own legal trouble for unpaid back taxes and overdue debts

The interview took place with 60 minutes

CBS

Most of the information contained within the interview had already been public or leaked beforehand so there weren't many bombshells. There was a new claim that Ms. Clifford was threatened while at her car with her child during the time she was shopping around her affair with gossip magazines. A sketch later was released of the supposed assailant.
The interview, and information detailing the night were extremely detailed, and followed a evening that sounded believable. Both in the dialogue and actions that took place. Trump denied the claims and said it was a lie, but provided no detail or evidence to refute any claim Daniels has made against him. In the first months, it was a discussion whether an affair took place. Now, with the evidence that was come forth,( and lack of any evidence in refutation except the original denial from Stormy, as well as admissions made by the Trump team, that affair very much took place and Trump lied to the public.

• The Trump team again claimed that no payment was made, until proof emerged of the wire transfer.
• The narrative then switched to the payment was made, but no affair took place (the Bill Riley defense). Bill Riley paid 32 million in a NDA, but claimed he was just being extorted and the women was lying.
• The narrative kept shifting further and further away from the initial claims unsurprisingly. The narrative has moved so far by this point it is incredible and sad where it began.

Now, we can have a discussion on if or why this matters. Feel free to comment below an opinion.

Here's mine: Is it surprising Trump had an affair? No, he has bragged before about them and recounted on Howard Stern that one of his fondest memories is when two women fought over him on vacation. I don't think someone who cheats on his pregnant wife is a good person. I don't think someone who continuously lies about it and claims everyone else is lying about it, is a good person, but that doesn't matter to people who support him. When Bill Clinton had the affair with Monica Lewinsky, a majority of democrats said it didn't matter. As long as "you're side" is in power, Americans generally don't give a shit how morally repugnant their guy is as long as they feel they are "fighting" for them. They also think that giving someone the most power of any being on the planet completely reverses their moral coarse. This is really sad in my opinion and speaks to the ugly side of humanity. legally speaking though an affair doesn't mean anything for the president, especially one that happened a decade ago, that trouble begins if there was a cover up and if laws were broken. I do think Stormy Daniels is in part doing this for publicity, fame and money, but also because she has been called a liar and fraud by the president and has the evidence to disprove it. She met tougher matches in front of the camera.
So let's get to that.

The Payment

A payment has been proven to be made from a shell company set up by Cohen, to Stormy Daniels in the amount of $130,000 and took place 2 weeks prior to the 2016 election. (It is reported that Cohen took out a line of credit from his house to make the payment (bank fraud) and then wired the money from his bank in Los Angeles to the shell company (wire fraud). Ethics watchdogs have also flagged this as a campaign finance violation because it exceed the individual contribution limit for a candidate ($4,000). The payment made from Michael Cohen could be considered a in kind contribution because it tried to influence the campaign for Turmp. Rudy Giuliani further confirmed that this payment was for that in a series of mind boggling interviews on cable channels. While this would be considered a federal crime, it is entirely unlikely Trump would be implicated if this were the only finding, as a campaign deals with hundreds of millions and even though it is his personal attorney the gray area and legal wiggle room in this would prevent any competent team from getting ensnared in it, but Trump and his team have not been competent. Interestingly a recent senator had a similar campaign finance violation (paying a mistress) and it cost him his job.

-Trump first claimed no payment happened,

• Then on air force one Trump said he didn't no where Michael Cohen got the money and was unaware of the payment ---Then Rudy Giuliani (Trumps lawyer) said the president did pay Michael Cohen back. He first said directly, then contradicted himself and said it was a slush fund retainer for Michael "to take care of these things"
• The narrative switched becasue evidence was coming out that Trump did pay Cohen back through a series of smaller payments
• What we are no suppose to believe is that Michael Cohen (completely on his own and without any Trump knowledge) Contacted Ms. Clifford to establish a NDA for a affair that happened a decade ago. He paid her through a shell company $130,000 which he got from opening up a line of credit on his house. He then made up a alias for Trump and used it in the NDA. He then received no repayment and never told the president about that matter. Oh wait, that was the narrative before....Now he did receive reimbursement for it, but the president didn't know what he was paying for... got it.

Now we can discuss and debate it more, feel free to comment below.
My opinion. Legally speaking this is bad for Cohen. It appears he broke multiple serious laws. Legally speaking for Trump, he is in a bind, but not necessarily one that threatens his presidency or anything (speaking about this incident on its own). He already has lied multiple times about the payment and when/if he knew about it. He may have to testify under oath due to the lawsuits filed by Avenati. This could create a perjury situation similar to Bill Clinton. Certainly if it were to progress to this, it would be embarrassing and Trump would again be exposed for lying about the entire situation. Like many scandles, it isn't about the act, it's about the cover up.Again, morally speaking it's pathetic. This is the right rand lawyer to the president breaking the law and doing seriously unethical things and to the assertion Trump didn't know about it, I don't believe it for a second. He knew about it and either didn't know that law or didn't care. He repeatedly lied to the public about it. It shows more poor leadership and morality on his part.

The Court Battles

First there was the court battle to legally null the Non-disclosure agreement drafted between Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen on behalf of the third party Mr. Denison (Trump). It was argued that the agreement was never really implemented because Trump never signed the agreement. This litigation continues to be ongoing, but most legal experts concur that the Stormy never violated the NDA because it never went into legally binding effect due to the aforementioned missing signature.

There are two defamation suits against each party. This litigation is ongoing. There also is a lawsuit over filed by Mr.Cohen for the breach of contract committed by stormy Daniels. This depends a lot upon if the NDA is proven to be invalid.

There is an investigation involving campaign finance violations in regards to the Stormy Daniels payment

There is an investigation in the southern district of New York into Michael Cohen and his business dealings and whether he participated in bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, illegal lobbying and other financial and ethical crimes. There is also the Mueller angel of the investigation which takes these events and other in relation to President Trump and the greater collusion question.

My opinion: Theres' a lot of litigation to be had and I'm sure some of it will never come to fruition. Either due to one investigation trumping another, plea agreements, pleading the 5th (which Cohen did in the Stormy Daniels case). Pleading the 5th means you have the right to not self incriminate. Meaning, if you testify under oath you have the right to not incriminate yourself. I like to wait until I see an indictment or even more information to come out to cement anything.

Donald Trump puts it best

Michael Cohen

This is where the most significant developments lie and where the greatest risk to Trump is. Cohen is in deep legal trouble. He has already pleaded the fifth in the Stormy Daniels case and there will likely be charges filed in the southern district of New York against him. The special council investigation headed by Robert Muller passed a referral onto the district attorney in the southern district of New York for an investigation into Michael Cohen. It is most likely the special council found criminality in his actions, but was outside the scope of his Russian collusion investigation so he passed on the information to the corresponding district for in which those crimes occurred. The implications of this information were enough to get warrants signed off by federal judges, The deputy attorney general and the southern district D.A. who was appointed by Trump and even donated to his campaign. The documents seized in that raid are now being reviewed by a magistrate that will decide what is attorney client privileged and what investigators are able to use.

One can only speculate the information prosecutors have, but one glimpse is what was released by the attorney for Stormy Daniels, Michael Avenatii released recently.

Fox News

He had bank records proving that the shell company Michael Cohen set up received well over 3 million dollars from private companies and a Russian Oligarch

• One such company was the drug maker Novartis. They paid Michael Cohen 1.2 million dollars for "Insight into Trump healthcare policy" They have admitted to the payment and said the CEO is no longer with them. The CEO held a private meeting with Trump in Davos Switzerland

• Another company was AT&T who paid $500,000 to Cohen for "Consultation involving the AT&T/Time Warner merger" In which Trumps justice department was deliberating on. They also wanted consultation on net neutrality.

• A third company whos parent company is owned by a Russian Oligarch with very close ties to Putin, and whos brother heads the company in the U.S. paid Cohen $500,000 for "Consultation on Russia/U.S. Foreign relations" The brother and Russian Oligarch then where hosted to a private meeting in Trump tower that was caught on film.

• There are millions more, but these are some of the most noteworthy and recognizable. More information on the inner workings of this shell company will surly be released in the future.

One other tidbit of info that came out in court is that Michael Cohen only has three clients. Donald Trump, another billionaire who made a settlement payment to a mistress who got an abortion, and Sean Hannity. The later did nothing but rail against the investigation and raid, all while not disclosing that he was a client of Cohen.

My opinion: This is the most distributing thing about the entire saga. The personal attorney to the president is selling influence and presumably Trumps ear. This is corruption at the highest level and the exact opposite of "swamp draining". How much if any direct influence this had on Trump and policy is unknown, but that is beside the point. One, it is illegal to lobby without first registering as one, two, THIS IS FUCKING UNREAL. How anyone could look at this and not think its a big deal is beside me. lobbying is a shady practice enough, but this is far, far beyond that. To have someone so close to the president getting paid to influence him is something that hasn't been seen for many decades. And I think Trump knew. Listen to this crazy interview he had on Fox News

He reference many times that Cohen has business and he is less a lawyer then a businessman. In fact, he does very well as a business man. That business was selling access to the president and Trump knew that.

I certainly understand if people don't care about the cheating, but everything else in this scandal is significantly immoral, unethical, and often times illegal. Not to mention that the administration has lied at every turn and attempted to undermine all investigation and all who conduct them. I'm not sure what should or will result of this if anything, but I hope at the very least Cohen is put behind bars, because if there are no consequences to actions such as his, then it will only get worse and corruption will worsen.

Let me know what ya think steemians