Lanny Davis, who is the attorney for Michael Cohen, the former lawyer and fixer for President Donald Trump, says that based on the evidence that has already been revealed, there is no good reason why Donald Trump Jr. has not yet been indicted. According to a report in The Hill , Davis says that based on what is already known about Trump Jr.’s participation in the scheme to pay off former adult film star Stormy Daniels for her silence about an alleged affair with his father, Trump Jr. could and should be under indictment himself. That’s because Trump Jr. is the one who signed the check that Cohen was given to hand off to Daniels. The purpose of that check was allegedly in order to buy her silence over the alleged affair, which constitutes an illegal campaign finance violation.
“Donald Jr., based upon signing a hush money check for his father — out of a trust fund, by the way, that was set up to prevent any money being spent that would help Donald Trump while he was president — out of that trust fund is where the Donald Jr. check was written, that is a crime,” Davis said.
“He should be, in my opinion, respectfully, indicted, based upon just the signing of that check.”
During his testimony before the House Oversight Committee in February, Cohen presented the committee with a pair of checks made out for $35,000 each, which he claimed were partial reimbursements for the $130,000 he was directed to give to Daniels during the 2016 campaign. One of those checks was signed by Trump himself, and the other was signed by Trump Jr. and the Trump Organization’s CFO.
Davis added that those checks were part of an “illegal hush money scheme” purportedly as part of legal services retainer that he characterized as “fictitious.” He went on to suggest that the signed checks were part of a fraudulent operation to aid Trump during his campaign for president by keeping Daniels’ story out of the media, and as such constitutes evidence of a felony.
“They can’t indict a president, but they can indict Don Jr. because the second check was signed by Don Jr., the same $35,000 a month installment payment for the hush money.”
Cohen, who will report in May to begin serving his three-year sentence stemming from his conviction for lying to Congress, bank fraud, tax fraud, and various campaign finance violations, is currently cooperating with prosecutors working for Southern District of New York. The SDNY is investigating numerous allegations of financial malfeasance by the president and his company, as well as figures in his family and others who are currently working in the White House.
