The payment was made before the election and because of the election. This was documented in real time! The facts have a way of staying the same regardless of the spin.
http://twitter.com/TheLastWord/status/992233888016732160
No wriggling out of the fact that it was an illegal campaign contribution. Illegal because it was larger than was permissible and needed to be disclosed if it was a personal payment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeffrey-toobin-rudy-giuliani-stormy-payment_us_5aeb67bae4b041fd2d247360
The fact that Trump moved the payment through a law firm suggests his intent was to hide it.
Subsequently, he again concealed the payment when he failed to acknowledge it in financial disclosures, which are signed and subject to an action for perjury in the event of a misstatement.
http://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/992019328492032001
The Trump team may have decided that admitting this was their least bad option. They will argue it is a civil matter resulting from Cohen's mistake, and not Trump's. But Giuliani's comments still put them in the doodoo as he has described the vehicle of the concealment and apparently revealed Trump's state of mind in doing so.
Intentional misstatements are a crime. Ouch!
No wonder they are worried about Cohen. The raid on his office has already caused them to change their story about Stormy. They are already embracing perjury as their least bad option.
What else did SDNY get their hands on?
It turns out the truth is not Trump's friend. Every statement his side makes should be treated as legal positioning and not as an honest account of the history.
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