Ex-Miami Beach Pool Attendant Received $1.8 Million Loan From Falwells

Falwell and former pool attendant to whom he loaned $1.8 million.

Try as he might to brush off allegations that former Trump fixer Michael Cohen facilitated fixing a "problem" with racy, intimate photos involving anti-gay bigot and Trump BFF Jerry Falwell, Jr., many in the media are continuing a feeding frenzy over the questions swirling around the alleged photos and an individual some reports are referring to as a "pool boy" who may have been the party who sought to put a financial squeeze on Falwell.  As the Miami New Times is reporting, one Giancarlo Granda, a former Fontainebleau Hotel pool attendant, bizarrely received $1.8 million in loans Jerry Falwell Jr.  It goes without saying that the loans look curious at best.  Meanwhile, Granda is in a pique over news reports referring to him as a pool boy.   Ironically, the story is something that one would expect to see in Trump's former protectors at the National Inquirer. I am sorry if some may believe I am enjoying Falwell's media misfortunes, but time and time again over the life of this blog anti-gay politicians, advocates of ex-gay conversion therapy, and holier than though religious "leaders" have proved to be total hypocrites and have been exposed to have engaged in the very behaviors they condemn while fleecing their followers.  Remember anti-gay zealot Ted Haggard or former GOP Virginia 2nd District Congressman Ed Schrock, just two of numerous examples?  Here are article excerpts (The Advocate also has coverage here):

Giancarlo Granda, the former Fontainebleau pool attendant whose business bizarrely received $1.8 million in loans from famous evangelist Jerry Falwell Jr., wants the world to stop calling him a "pool boy." He finds the term demeaning.

And, perhaps more notable, he officially denies knowing anything about alleged "racy" photos referenced in a Reuters story published yesterday. Reuters investigative reporter Aram Roston obtained a clandestine recording made by comedian Tom Arnold in which Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen said he helped Falwell Jr. hide intimate photos that a lawyer "in Florida" had obtained. In the recording, Cohen — a man who has ostensibly seen his fair share of shenanigans — said even he found one of the photos to be "terrible."

Roston was also the reporter who broke the news that Falwell Jr. had mysteriously loaned Granda's business a ton of money and that Cohen was aware of a lawsuit involving Falwell and Granda. Reporters have, ahem, speculated that Granda was the Floridian who had obtained said photos and that Cohen might have leveraged the scandal to get Falwell Jr. to endorse the infamously lecherous and not-at-all Jesus-like Trump in 2016.

But today, Granda's lawyer, Aaron Resnick, denied Granda had anything to do with this. Everything about the Falwell Jr. story is extremely weird. To summarize: In 2012, Granda was working as a pool attendant at the luxurious Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. While Granda was employed there, Falwell Jr. and his wife Becki stayed at the resort and, according to court records, "befriended" Granda. From there, Granda grew very close to the Falwell family: According to court filings first reported by Roston, Granda, along with Falwell's son Trey, bought a hostel on Alton Road in Miami Beach and has been managing it ever since. (A Politico reporter even stayed there and implied the place was gay-friendly, which would be pretty darn hypocritical for the infamously homophobic Falwell family.) The Falwells also reportedly flew Granda around in a private jet and even took him to meet Trump. Falwell Jr., meanwhile, has denied the existence of any lurid photos. He told Fox Radio host Todd Starnes there are "no compromising or embarrassing photos" of himself.

"While we have a long-standing friendship with Michael Cohen, we never engaged or paid Cohen to represent us in any legal or other professional capacity, and Cohen did not ever resolve any legal matter on our behalf," Falwell added. "This report is not accurate."
Since the story broke, the internet has been awash in rumors that Granda was somehow involved in the affair.

"Media outlets have been referring to Mr. Granda as a 'pool boy,'" Resnick said. "The term 'pool boy' is being used to demean Mr. Granda, sully his name, and infer negative connotations.

I can't help but wonder if I could claim I had "prayed away the gay" and befriend the Falwells and get my own $1.8 million loan.   On second thought, probably not: ex-gays are a right wing myth and I'm not as young and nice looking as Granda.

Michael Cohen: Trump Knew Roger Stone Talked with WikiLeaks

As Donald Trump kisses the ass of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, his former consigliore, Michael Cohen prepares to spill his guts before Congressional committees.  Among the expected bombshells: Trump knew of the Roger Stone communications with Wikileaks and that Trump knew of the Trump Tower meeting between Donald Jr. and Russian operatives.  Personally, I have always assumed that Trump was fully aware of all of this. A piece in CNN sums up Cohen's coming testimony this way: Cohen calls Trump a "racist," a "con-man" and a "cheat."  The big issue will be whether Cohen has corroborating documentation and/or whether others will knowledge will stop covering for Trump.  Here are excerpts from the CNN piece:

Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen is prepared to testify that Trump was aware of longtime adviser Roger Stone's efforts to reach out to WikiLeaks in advance of its release of damaging information about Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, according to a copy of his public testimony submitted to Congress and obtained by CNN.

In a stunning 20-page statement provided Tuesday night to lawmakers, Cohen details a wide range of allegations against Trump -- from making racist comments about African-Americans to participating during his presidency in an illegal hush-money scheme to keep his alleged extramarital affairs quiet -- as well as suggesting Trump faked a medical condition to get out of serving in the Vietnam War. And Cohen will provide new details saying Trump was engaged in an aggressive pursuit of a major project in Russia in 2016, alleging the [Trump's] President's attorneys edited Cohen's 2017 testimony when he lied to Congress, downplaying the efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

 In short, Cohen calls Trump a "racist," a "conman" and a "cheat." In the testimony, Cohen will allege that, in 2016, he witnessed Trump taking a phone call from Stone, who was on speakerphone.  "Mr. Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that, within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton's campaign," Cohen will say, according to his prepared testimony. Trump responded, according to Cohen: "Wouldn't that be great." Cohen's allegations, if true, would amount to the first time anyone with direct knowledge has said that [Trump] the President had advance knowledge of the WikiLeaks dump of Clinton emails. Cohen also said [Trump's] the President's personal lawyers "reviewed and edited" his 2017 statements when Cohen lied to Congress about the Trump Organization's pursuit of a massive project in Moscow. Cohen's opening statement also suggests that Trump may have been aware in advance of a 2016 meeting set up by Donald Trump Jr. and Russians at Trump Tower -- something that Trump and his eldest son have long denied. Cohen will tell Congress that he witnessed Trump Jr., in June 2016, tell his father: "The meeting is all set." Cohen acknowledges not knowing for sure that Trump's son's comments were in reference to the meeting with Russians. "I also knew that nothing went on in Trump world, especially the campaign, without Mr. Trump's knowledge and approval," Cohen will say. "So I concluded that Don Jr. was referring to that June 2016 Trump Tower meeting about dirt on Hillary." According to a copy of the opening statement he prepares to deliver to the House Oversight Committee Wednesday, Cohen says Trump lied repeatedly about a number of matters -- and made a host of racist statements. [I]n the testimony, Cohen recounts how he was visiting Trump in February 2017 in the White House when the President assured him his reimbursement checks were coming in the mail. He said Trump made 11 payments of $35,000 each to reimburse him in the hush-money scheme, saying he's providing the House panel with a copy of an August 2017 check signed by[Trump] the President from his personal bank account. "The President of the United States thus wrote a personal check for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws," Cohen will say.

Get out the pop corn.

Manhattan D.A. Considers Criminal Charges Against Trump Organization

Donald Trump's pardon powers are limited to FEDERAL charges and convictions.  He holds no power to pardon those convicted of state law violations. Hence, the reason that some hope that the Commonwealth of Virginia and New York State may seek indictments against Paul Manafort and/or Michael Cohen that could lead to convictions or plea deals which would be outside the reach of Trump's efforts to basically bribe individuals with a promise of a pardon.  Along this line, the Manhattan district attorney is now considering criminal charges against the Trump Organization in the aftermath of Michael Cohen's plea deal with federal prosecutors.   A piece in the New York Times looks at this new development and the implications it could have for Cohen, Trump and Trump Organization officers.  Here are highlights:

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is considering pursuing criminal charges against the Trump Organization and two senior company officials in connection with Michael D. Cohen’s hush money payment to an adult film actress, according to two officials with knowledge of the matter.

A state investigation would center on how the company accounted for its reimbursement to Mr. Cohen for the $130,000 he paid to the actress, Stephanie Clifford, who has said she had an affair with President Trump, the officials said.

State charges against the company or its executives could be significant because Mr. Trump has talked about pardoning some of his current or former aides who have faced federal charges. As president, he has no power to pardon people and corporate entities convicted of state crimes.
 The Trump Organization recorded the reimbursement as a legal expense. But Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s longtime fixer, said on Tuesday that he paid Ms. Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, to buy her silence during the 2016 campaign. Federal prosecutors have said the reimbursement payments were for sham legal invoices in connection with a nonexistent retainer agreement. Mr. Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance charges, did no legal work in connection with the matter, prosecutors said.

“On its face, it certainly would be problematic,” said one of the officials familiar with the district attorney’s office review, noting that listing the reimbursement as a legal expense could be a felony under state law.

As the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., considers opening an investigation, the New York State attorney general’s office has moved to open a criminal investigation into whether Mr. Cohen has violated state tax law, an inquiry that would be unrelated to the federal tax evasion charges that he pleaded guilty to on Tuesday, according to a person with knowledge of the state matter.

The attorney general, Barbara D. Underwood, in recent days sought a referral from the state Department of Taxation and Finance, which is needed to conduct such an inquiry and to prosecute any violations of state tax law it might uncover, the person said. Such requests are seldom denied. The state’s double jeopardy laws do not apply to tax crimes.

Manhattan prosecutors are focused on whether business records were falsified, one of the officials said. That could be charged as a low-level felony, or as a misdemeanor. It’s a misdemeanor for a person or company to make a false entry in a business record or cause one to be made, with intent to defraud. It becomes a felony if it is done to commit or conceal another crime.
 Court papers in the federal case against Mr. Cohen said he ultimately received $420,000 from the Trump Organization to reimburse him for his $130,000 payment to Ms. Clifford. That is because the Trump Organization included money to cover his taxes on the $130,000, a bonus for him and reimbursement for other campaign expenses.

The company, according to the court papers, accounted for the payment as legal expenses and Mr. Cohen issued phony monthly invoices for $35,000 “pursuant to retainer agreement.”

If Mr. Vance decides to proceed, it would not be the first time he investigated members of the Trump family. He was faulted for not pursuing charges against Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who were under criminal investigation in 2012 over allegations that they misled buyers interested in the Trump SoHo condominium project.  

 Personally, I'd love to see Ivanka spend a few years in orange prison garb.  Ditto for Trump, Jr.

How Michael Cohen May Take Trump Down

As many commentators have said over and over again, no one should be surprised as Donald Trump is exposed as morally and legally deficient.  He's always been who he is and just as he operated his real estate business by skirting the law and consorting with crime figures and shady Russians, he did the same throughout his campaign and into his regime.  Anyone who claims shock as revelations unfold is either a liar or a fool.  We have the equivalent of a crime boss who is the embodiment of the seven deadly sins in the White House and evangelical Christians and closeted white supremacist (some, not so closeted) put him there.  And what about Mike Pence, the allegedly "devout Christian" who happily signed onto the toxic and morally bankrupt regime?   A column by former Republican,  Jennifer Rubin, in the Washington Post looks at what Michael Cohen's cooperation with federal authorities could reveal, none of it good for Trump and his knuckle dragging supporters.  Here are highlights:

Trump was right to be panicked back in April, and since then we’ve all learned of more damaging facts that Cohen may substantiate. Cohen is at the intersection of at least three possibly disastrous legal stories.

First, Cohen was involved in the payment of hush money to silence multiple women with whom Trump allegedly had extra-marital affairs. The political fallout will depend on how many women and the circumstances of those payments. The criminal liability here concerns violation of campaign-finance rules as part of a deliberate attempt to conceal large amounts of money from voters. Blaming Cohen exclusively will be hard for Trump to pull off, given the tape we already have heard. If there is other evidence documenting Trump’s involvement, his legal problem worsens.

Second, Cohen has been Trump’s “fixer” and dealmaker for years. He was at the center of the failed Trump Tower project in Russia and likely would have been privy to other Russia-related transactions, if any, over years. Trump has insisted the special counsel not go into his personal finances. The chances that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his team are doing just that and will continue digging with Cohen as a guide has gone up dramatically.

Third, Cohen may have plenty of other information relating to Trump campaign contacts with Russia and to Trump’s own efforts to conceal them and disable the investigation. Goodness knows what recordings, documents and firsthand recollections he may have. What, for example, does he know about the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016? What, if anything, does he know about contacts that members of the Trump team had with Russia during the campaign and/or the transition? Given that the White House counsel Donald McGahn, who is not Trump’s personal lawyer, has spent 30 hours or more with the special counsel, it is not as if Cohen would be the only witness to possible impropriety. Cohen and McGahn may bolster one another’s accounts.

Cohen matters because he may have critical information relating to all three of these evolving stories. Moreover, he cannot be written off as someone peripherally related to Trump. He cannot be written off as a coffee boy or as someone who went in and out of Trump’s orbit in a matter of weeks. In short, Cohen’s plea is a crushing blow because he is the first cooperating witness that could implicate Trump directly in all three matters — the women and campaign money, Trump’s business dealings, and the Trump campaign’s Russia connections.

Constitutional scholar Larry Tribe tells me, “Whether or not called an unindicted co-conspirator, that’s what the sitting president IS as of close of business today, Aug. 21, 2018, a day that will live in legal infamy.” He explains, “That’s the import of two of Michael Cohen’s guilty pleas on charges of making knowingly illegal campaign contributions at Trump’s behest in the form of hush money to keep his sex scandals quiet as the election date approached.” He adds that with the conviction of Trump’s campaign chair, Paul Manafort, on eight counts, “the only possible conclusion is that this criminal administration is coming unglued.”

Buckle up. Trump now goes from the frying pan into the fire.

Firm with Kremlin Ties Made Payments to Cohen Firm that Paid Stormy Daniels

While Donald Trump was seemingly hoping that his announcement to blow up the Iran nuclear deal would keep the mainstream news media completely preoccupied so that other breaking news reflecting badly on Trump and/or stories that make the Trump/Michael Cohen operations look even more suspicious and sinister.   Among the stories Trump did not want noticed are (i) Penthouse Magazine's interview with Stormy Daniels - a must read - and (ii) suspicious Russian payments to Michel Cohen's shell entity which ultimately paid hush money to Stormy Daniels.  Risking new wars in the Middle East seemingly is less concern to Trump than covering his large, nasty ass. Here are highlights from a piece in the New York Times that looks at the attention getting payments by a Russian oligarch to Cohen's shell entity:

A shell company that Michael D. Cohen used to pay hush money to a pornographic film actress received payments totaling more than $1 million from an American company linked to a Russian oligarch and several corporations with business before the Trump administration, according to documents and interviews.

Financial records reviewed by The New York Times show that Mr. Cohen, President Trump’s personal lawyer and longtime fixer, used the shell company, Essential Consultants L.L.C., for an array of business activities that went far beyond what was publicly known. Transactions totaling at least $4.4 million flowed through Essential Consultants starting shortly before Mr. Trump was elected president and continuing to this January, the records show.

Among the previously unreported transactions were payments last year totaling about $500,000 from Columbus Nova, an investment firm in New York whose biggest client is a company controlled by Viktor Vekselberg, the Russian oligarch.

Other transactions described in the financial records range from hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments by Fortune 500 firms with business before the Trump administration, to small amounts related to unexplained activities in foreign countries.

References to the transactions first appeared in a document posted to Twitter on Tuesday by Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film star who was paid $130,000 by Essential Consultants to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Mr. Trump.

The Times’s review of financial records confirmed much of what was in Mr. Avenatti’s report. In addition, a review of emails and interviews shed additional light on Mr. Cohen’s dealings with the company connected to Mr. Vekselberg, who was stopped and questioned at an airport earlier this year by investigators for Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel examining Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating Mr. Cohen for possible bank fraud and election-law violations, among other matters, according to people briefed on the investigation. Stephen Ryan, a lawyer representing Mr. Cohen, declined to comment.

Mr. Cohen also used the same company to collect $250,000 after arranging payments in 2017 and 2018 by a major Republican donor, Elliott Broidy, to a former Playboy model he allegedly impregnated, according to news reports last month.

Among the other payments to Mr. Cohen’s company described in the financial records were four for $99,980 each between October 2017 and January 2018 by Novartis Investments SARL, a subsidiary of Novartis, the multinational pharmaceutical giant based in Switzerland.

AT&T made four payments totaling $200,000 between October 2017 and January 2018, according to the documents. AT&T, whose proposed merger with Time Warner is pending before the Justice Department, issued a statement on Tuesday evening confirming that it made payments to Mr. Cohen’s firm. 

“Essential Consulting was one of several firms we engaged in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new administration,” the statement said. “They did no legal or lobbying work for us, and the contract ended in December 2017.”

So far, no proof of criminal activities, but many of the payments would seem inexplicable other than providing a slush fund to Cohen/Trump.

The Growing Menace of the Trump/Pence Regime

If a fiction writer wrote about a White House like the one now on daily display even as recently as five (5) years ago, everyone would have condemned the narrative as "ridiculous" or "unbelievable."  Now, with each passing day we become increasingly aware that the occupant of the White House operates more or less like a crime boss, dealing with underworld figures, Russian oligarchs, cavorts with porn stars and then threatens them with physical violence while simultaneously trying to silence them with hush money.  Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin - who likely has his own cashe of blackmail materials - smiles on as American prestige and engagement with the world as a super power lurches from one embarrassment to another.  The story line put out by Trump sycophants and Republicans  - whose willingness to prostitute themselves to the morally bankrupt that would shame a tawdry whore - has been that "adults in the room" would rein in Trump's worse excesses.  As we are witnessing, this storyline is a crock of bullshit.   Every decent, honest American - which I am sad to say excludes evangelical Christians who put this human refuse in the White House - should be appalled and gravely worried.  A column in the New York Times looks at the rolling disaster.  Here are excerpts:

Since the beginning of this nightmare administration, we’ve been assured — via well-placed anonymous sources — that a few sober, trustworthy people in the White House were checking Donald Trump’s worst instincts and most erratic whims. A collection of generals, New York finance types and institution-minded Republicans were said to be nobly sacrificing their reputations and serving a disgraceful president for the good of the country. Through strategic leaks they presented themselves as guardians of American democracy rather than collaborators in its undoing.

Last August, after the president said there were “very fine people” among the white supremacist marchers in Charlottesville, Va., senior officials rationalized their continued role in the administration to Mike Allen of Axios. “If they weren’t there, they say, we would have a trade war with China, massive deportations, and a government shutdown to force construction of a Southern wall,” Allen wrote. Since then, we’ve had a government shutdown over immigration, albeit a brief one. A trade war appears imminent. Arrests of undocumented immigrants — particularly those without criminal records — have continued to surge.

Over the past 14 months we’ve also seen monstrous levels of corruption and chaos, a plummeting of America’s standing in the world and the obliteration of a host of democratic norms.

Increasingly, however, the people who were supposed to be the adults in the room aren’t in the room anymore. The former Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell left in January. Gary Cohn, head of the National Economic Council, announced his resignation on March 6. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was terminated by tweet on Tuesday. National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster will reportedly be among the next to go, and Trump may soon fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions, possibly as a prelude to shutting down the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

The self-styled grown-ups are, for the most part, being replaced by lackeys and ideologues. Larry Kudlow, the CNBC pundit Trump has appointed to succeed Cohn, is known for the consistent wrongness of his predictions. Tillerson was a terrible secretary of state, but unlike his chosen successor, the director of the C.I.A., Mike Pompeo, he never trafficked in nut-job Benghazi conspiracy theories or anti-Muslim invective. John Roberts of Fox News reported that McMaster could be replaced by uberhawk John Bolton . . . .

This new stage of unbound Trumpism might make the administration’s first year look stable in comparison. That would partly vindicate the adults’ claims that things would be even messier without them. But it would also mean that by protecting the country from the consequences of an unhinged president, they helped Trump consolidate his power while he learned how to transcend restraints.

Whatever their accomplishments, if from their privileged perches these people saw the president as a dangerous fool in need of babysitting, it’s now time for some of them to say so publicly. . . . Of course, unlike Omarosa Manigault Newman, who confessed horror at her former boss’s presidency on “Celebrity Big Brother,” they haven’t. Their defenders among anti-Trump Republicans say it’s because some of them still have a role to play in staving off potential disaster. One Republican in regular contact with people in the White House told me that Powell and Cohn “need to protect their capacity to reach in and help manage in the event of any national crisis.”

I don’t find this entirely convincing. If these people see the administration as unequipped to handle an emergency, they owe the country a firsthand account of our vulnerability.

[I]f there’s one person who has no excuse for not speaking out, it’s Tillerson, once one of the most powerful private citizens in America, now humbled and defiled by his time in Trump’s orbit. . . . . There’s little doubt that Tillerson holds Trump in contempt and disagrees with large parts of his agenda. After Charlottesville, Tillerson refused to say that the president’s words represented American values.

“Rex is never going to be back in a position where he can have any degree of influence or respect from this president,” my Republican source said. Because of that, the source continued, “Rex is under a moral mandate to do his best to burn it down.” That would mean telling the truth “about how concerned he is about the leadership in the Oval Office, and what underpins those concerns and what he’s seen.”

In this case, patriotism and self-interest point in the same direction. Before entering this administration, Tillerson was a vastly more respected businessman than Trump . . . . Now the first line of his obituary will be about a year of abject failure as the country’s lead diplomat, culminating in a humiliation fit for reality TV.

The only way he will ever change that is by joining those who would bring this despicable presidency down. If Tillerson came out and said that the president is unfit, and perhaps even that venal concerns for private gain have influenced his foreign policy, impeachment wouldn’t begin tomorrow, but Trump’s already narrow public support would shrink further.

Last year, Axios’s Allen and Jim VandeHei half-jokingly called the insiders trying to circumscribe Trump the “Committee to Save America.” Now the committee, having failed, is disbanding. The least they could do is be frank with the rest of us about what we’re up against.

Trump, Porn Stars and Evangelical Christian Moral Bankruptcy

Here in Richmond in the afterglow of the inauguration of three decent and moral leaders who will lead Virginia for the next four years, one has to pause to recall that the majority of evangelical Christians voted against these new leaders who reject the values and ugliness of Trumpism.  Meanwhile, these same "Christians" continue to support the current occupant of the White House who continues to put his moral depravity on constant display.  Between the continuing international fallout and condemnation for his "shit hole" remarks directed at majority non-white nations and new disclosures of Trump's payments of hush money to porn stars with whom he allegedly cheated on his current wife, one has to wonder (i) what is wrong with these "Christians" and (ii) why does anyone give them any deference.  They need to be condemned like their "dear leader" and avoided by decent, moral people.  The following are highlights from a piece in the Washington Post and The Daily Beast that look at Trump's sexual immorality.  First these highlights from the Post:

An adult-film star was paid $130,000 by a lawyer for Donald Trump in the weeks before the 2016 election to not talk publicly about a sexual relationship with the then-Republican candidate, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The lawyer, Michael Cohen, allegedly paid Stephanie Clifford to remain silent about an encounter at Lake Tahoe in 2006, a year after Trump married his third wife, Melania, according to the Journal. The Journal said the payment was made to a client-trust account at City National Bank in Los Angeles.

Cohen has called himself Trump’s “fix-it man” and has become part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election for his emails to Russian officials about a business project there, including a note to Vladi­mir Putin’s spokesman.  

In the days before the 2016 election, the Journal reported that Clifford was in talks with ABC’s “Good Morning America” to air her story about Trump. That report came days after The Washington Post released a video from a 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording in which Trump said he could grab women by the genitals because he was famous.

The Journal also reported in 2016 that the National Enquirer — a publication owned by a close friend of Trump — paid Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for her story about an affair with Trump but never published it. 

Then there is this in the Daily Beast:

The Daily Beast was informed late Friday that porn star Jessica Drake is not allowed to discuss President Donald J. Trump on account of a non-disclosure agreement she signed barring her from any such talk. NDAs are often deployed as part of settlements to silence accusers.

“Jessica’s NDA blankets any and every mention of Trump, so she’s legally unable to comment,” her publicist informed The Daily Beast. “Jessica signed a non-disclosure agreement after her allegations of misconduct, and she can’t do as much as peep his name publicly.”

In late October 2016, Drake became the 14th woman to accuse then-candidate Trump of sexual misconduct. At a public press conference, Drake, flanked by her attorney Gloria Allred, claimed that after she met Trump in July 2006 at Nevada’s American Century Celebrity Golf Championship, where she was working a promotional booth on behalf of the adult film company Wicked Pictures, he made a pass at her. Trump’s wife, Melania, had recently given birth to their son Barron at the time. She alleged that Trump later called her and asked, “'What do you want? How much?” and then offered her $10,000 for sex. “This is not acceptable behavior for anyone, much less a presidential candidate,” Drake said at the presser. The Drake NDA news comes on the heels of a Friday report in The Wall Street Journal that President Donald J. Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, had arranged a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels “as part of an agreement that precluded her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump.” Around the time Drake came forward, then-candidate Trump issued a vow of revenge, threatening to sue every woman who came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct. “Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign,” Trump announced at a rally in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on Oct. 22, 2016. “Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”   Thus far, he has not sued a single one. 

The reason one doesn't sue is because one in litigation, Trump could be sworn under oath and the courts could order the production of banking records, etc.  Trump will never sue these women because he'd lose and they would likely be shown to have been telling the truth - something that is unknown to Trump.

As for the evangelicals who continue to support this vile man, it's the height of hypocrisy that they say the gays threaten the "sanctity of marriage" even as they support this serial sexual predator and hate-filled man. Oh, and as for porn stars, they are more honest, in my view, than many of the "godly folk" who pretend to be something that they are not.

Australia: Catholic Church Paid $43 Million to Keep Abuse Secret

Pope Francis may be Time Magazine's 2013 Person of the Year, but that accolade is not keeping the new explosions of the world wide sex abuse scandals under wraps.  Just as the Roman Catholic Church went into a free fall in Ireland after government investigations into sexual abuse blew the lid off of the perversion and abuse that had been deliberately hidden by high Church clerics, now the Royal Commission in Australia is turning up more and more lurid details of sins committed by bishops and cardinals who sought to silence victims of clerical sex abuse.  It now appears that at least $43 million in hush money was paid since 1996 to keep abuse victims silent and away form the police or the media.  The question thus becomes once again one of what Francis will do to hold bishops and cardinal accountable and to punish those involved in this criminal conspiracy.  The Daily Telegraph has details.  Here are highlights:

THE Catholic Church has admitted paying at least $43 million in hush money to victims of its paedophile priests, as the church's barrister outraged victims yesterday by quoting from the Bible. 

 

In some cases, victims were not even allowed to tell their husbands, wives or children about the secret settlements negotiated through the church's controversial Towards Healing process.

The royal commission into child sex abuse was yesterday also told how a Brisbane Catholic priest, Father Frank Derriman, ran a cult-like group sexually abusing young girls and giving them all the surname Brown, borrowed from the Peanuts comic strip's Charlie Brown.

As the church apologised for its behaviour through the commission, survivors who were abused as children in orphanages and homes, walked out of the Sydney hearing in tears when the church's counsel, Peter Gray SC quoted from the Gospel of Mark.

It is the first time the church has been forced to reveal the extent of compensation paid to victims, although it does not include out-of-court settlements or other payments made outside the Towards Healing process.

Counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness SC, said that between January 1996 and September 2013, $43 million had been paid by all church authorities with the Christian Brothers the most notorious.

The second largest number of complaints were made against the Marist Brothers and then the De La Salle Brothers.

In that time, 2215 victims had approached the Towards Healing process and 1700 people went ahead with it, although not all were pursued or substantiated.

The most complaints, 43 per cent, were made against religious brothers, 21 per cent against diocesan priests and 14 per cent against religious priests. Most of the abuse happened between 1950 to 1980 in orphanages and schools.

There are many more lurid details, so read the whole piece.  It is shocking - or at least to anyone who hasn't followed the sex abuse scandal closely - and underscores the cesspool nature of the Church hierarchy.   If Francis wants to live up to the tile given to him by Time, he needs to begin cleaning house big time.  And forcing bishops and cardinals into retirements where they continue to live like princes is not enough.  They need to be thrown out and left on the street with no retirements, no plush living quarters, and no titles and deference.

More Revelations in the Ted Haggard Gay Sex Scandal

UPDATE: Don't be surprised if even more men come forward about the sexual appetite of Haggard and/or other New Life Church leaders. It never seems to fail that the churches that are the most homophobic are the ones that harbor the predator closet cases. New Life sounds like quite a cesspool. Here are highlights from the Gist:

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Former Denver escort Mike Jones, who blew the whistle on former New Life Church pastor Ted Haggard, came on the show today in the wake of the latest revelations from a young former church member, Grant Haas, who says that Haggard masturbated in front of him -- without his consent -- and sent him over 1000 sexually charged text messages. Haas says he stayed silent about it all for over two years because the New Life Church paid him hush money.

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Jones told me he not only spoke with Haas about his experiences with Haggard about a month about, but that there were two other men who also came to him with similar stories but who are fearful of going public. One of them, Jones says, was sexually harassed/abused by another New Life Church "elder" and Ted Haggard knew all about it. The other one had non-consensual sex with Ted Haggard himself, Jones said. MS: Were these two other men who were connected to the church, or members of the church?MJ: Yes, in fact I know one of them, their parents still go to church, New Life Church, which makes that more difficult for 'em.

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It's amazing how the Ted Haggard/New Life Church gay sex scandal just keeps on going like the Energizer Bunny. More and more surprising and sordid revelations keep springing up. These revelations include but are not limited to the fact that (i) New Life Church agreed to pay nearly $180,000 in apparent hush money to a young church volunteer with whom Haggard had an affair and (ii) Haggard's wife has admitted that she had known about her husband's"struggles" for many, many years. With all the gay sex and hush money, one would almost think that New Life Church was trying to be a mini version of the Roman Catholic Church. It will be interesting to see whether the HBO pulls its "The Trials of Ted Haggard" set to air on Thursday, January 29, 2009, if it turns out that Haggard lied in that documentary. First, here are some highlights from KRDO News Channel 13:

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COLORADO SPRINGS - For more than two years, Grant kept a secret from those he considered his family. "It's a lot of pain, a lot of mistrust with that church," reveals the former New Life volunteer. . . . Back in the summer of 2006, Grant was invited to go to Cripple Creek by the man he trusted and looked up to as a mentor. "He asked me if we were going to be godly or bad that night," Grant says, recalling their trip. The former volunteer says that meant either hanging out as friends, or buying Haggard porn and masturbate.

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"I told him that I didn't want that," says Grant. After a day in the small mountain town, both went back to Haggard's hotel room. Grant says he just wanted Haggard to be his pastor and friend, but according to the young man, as they were lying in bed Haggard asked if he could masturbate. Grant told him no, but says Haggard did it anyway. Grant was fearful to say anything to anyone. "He kind of made me have a guilt trip about it, so I wouldn't say anything about it," Grant remembers.

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Before the encounter in Cripple Creek, Grant came to Colorado Springs after being kicked out of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. The college recommended he come to Colorado Springs to get help with his struggle with homosexuality. Four months into attending New Life Church, Pastor Ted Haggard personally introduced himself. According to Grant, Haggard asked, "What's your story and what are you doing here?" At first, Grant lied about why he was kicked out of Moody Bible, but finally admitted to him that he thought he was gay. "It seemed like at that moment his eyes lit up and his whole attitude toward me changed," says Grant.

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Grant tells NEWSCHANNEL 13 that as their relationship grew, Haggard began text messaging him, sometimes in the middle of the night. "Texting me all kind of weird things, texting me about all the different sexual positions, practices he was engaging in and it was just really weird," says Grant. Over the next several months he would get between 1,000 to 2,000 text messages a month. . . . NEWSCHANNEL 13 obtained a recorded phone conversation between Haggard and Grant. In the conversation, which was recorded in July of 2007, Grant tells Haggard that he deleted those messages.

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I would be happy, happy to find you money for you to move somewhere." Haggard then asks Grant to "forgive." But Grant says he couldn't when the church continually neglected to pay his medical bills - something he says church leaders promised. "I really felt the church staff did what they could to get me to move to a different city, to get me to stop going to the church, to make these promises to do whatever they could to help, but their main focus was to cover it up," says Grant. "They think Ted Haggard is not a harm to this community and I really think they're wrong, they're dead wrong."

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Grant still hasn't seen all the money he was promised. He tells NEWSCHANNEL 13 he is due one more payment check - $46,000. Once all the payments are made, Grant would receive a payout of $179,000. As for the money already paid out, Senior Pastor Brady Boyd says he won't be demanding the money back from Grant for violating the settlement agreement. Boyd also told his congregation on Sunday the money was paid by insurance, not member's tithings.

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Then there is this tidbit about what Haggard's wife has recently admitted as reported by Newsweek:

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Former evangelical pastor Ted Haggard's wife says she knew about his struggles with same-sex attraction for years and felt he was "winning the battle" before a scandal involving a male prostitute triggered his downfall in late 2006.

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Gayle Haggard makes the remarks in an appearance with her husband on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to air Wednesday. She said she was shocked when Haggard first told her the truth about the allegations against him. "The first words out of my mouth were, 'Who are you?'" she said, according to a publicity release issued Tuesday by Harpo Productions.

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However, Gayle Haggard also said her husband told her early in their 30-year marriage that he "struggled with some thoughts." "I felt it was the thing that could destroy Ted if he gave in to it," she said. "So I prayed for him and I felt as though he was winning the battle."