Nicolle Wallace was off and running today with an absolutely deadly breakdown of what happened to be going on in Trump's agenda book on the days he wrote and/or signed checks to Michael Cohen to keep the Stormy Daniels affair out of the news. Personally I couldn't help but notice that the first check was cut on the same day he pressured Comey to pledge loyalty to him and let Flynn go unbothered into the sunset. Wallace, however, listed everything that happened on the days these checks got cut, showing that their importance in his mind ranked right up there with moving the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and whispering sweet nothings into Vlad's ear over the phone.
I want to go through the checks. We have the six new checks that are out. New reporting in the The New York Times illustrates how the president's hush money operation collided routinely with both his official duties as president, and major flashpoints in Robert Mueller's investigation. As the The New York Times lays it out, starting February 14, 2017, the day after Trump's National Security Adviser Mike Flynn resigned. And the day Trump pressured Jim Comey to let the Flynn investigation go. His trust cut Michael Cohen a check for $70,000. On March 17, Trump playing president, hosted German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Oval Office, something she won't soon forget, as his trust is writing Cohen another check for $35,000. May 23, as Trump is on an overseas trip, meeting with world leaders trying to negotiate peace between Israel and Palestine, he finds the time to write a $35,000 check to Cohen, this time out of his own funds. On August 1, we learn Trump personally dictated the false statement about the Trump Tower meeting on Air Force One. Trump signs another check that same day. On September 12, 2017, he said the Justice Department should consider prosecuting Comey. Trump, you guessed it, found time to write another check. October 18, embroiled in controversy over his phone call with to the widow of La David T. Johnson, Trump signs a check — hush money check number six, that we know of. November 21, Trump pardons a turkey, publicly defends Roy Moore, speaks by phone to Vladimir Putin, he also -- get it, guys -- signs a which check to Cohen for $35,000. And finally, on December 5, a momentous day in U.S. foreign policy, Trump declares the American embassy in Israel will move to Jerusalem and signs a $35,000 check to Michael Cohen that very same day. Just four months later, the FBI raids the home and offices of Michael Cohen as part of a massive investigation into this ongoing scheme, a raid the president has famously called an attack on our country. And fast forward to December, the president is named as Individual One for his role in directing — DIRECTING — the hush money scheme that Michael Cohen is now, in part, going to jail for.
Donny Deutsch made the fantastic point that for a man who was famous for hardly EVER paying his contractors even once their jobs were complete, he sure was making it a priority to get Michael Cohen his payments for THIS particular job — on time and with regularity, and in the midst of the very official presidential business (such as it was) he purportedly conducted. The depth Trump's depravity is oceanic, and his soul is so shallow it's practically translucent.
Is it Friday, yet?
