I left New York City 50 years ago, but I still imagine myself a New Yorker—such is the power of a Bronx childhood and the unique character of the place and its people. One of the things that brought me to Berkshire County, and what would probably drive me nuts if I lived in New York City now, was/is the lack of space in the city, personal space on the sidewalks, the buses, the subway, the lines for everything, and the never-ending quest for a parking place. Far too many people in such a small space. While that overwhelming never-ending pulsating and chaotic energy is great for the young, it is more problematic for the old.
But the thing I miss most is the probably now-extinct affordable neighborhood places to eat out, from the simple slice; the local Cuban-Chinese restaurant; my favorite breakfast spots (Tom’s, Duke’s, and Flamingo’s); or lunch/dinner places like the Green Tree for Hungarian cold cherry soup, V & T’s for Italian, or the Shanghai under the IRT all from my City College, Upper West Side days.
After much neglect, I am back paying attention to New York, New York, for the city is once again center stage. For politicos, it is The People of the State of New York v Donald J. Trump, the very first trial with the prospect of jail time for an ex-president of the United States who, miracle of miracles, happens to be the current leading Republican candidate to wreak White House havoc one more time. Then there is the extraordinary ascendance of my beloved New York Knicks and their exceeding-all-expectations, all-star point guard, Jalen Brunson. For me, there is no real contest: The Knicks exemplify perseverance and offer pleasure; Donald Trump in every respect brings pain.
The Knicks are a team of hard-working overachievers, an exuberant example of multi-racial cooperation. They bring a city-like toughness to the task—prodigious talent, never-ending effort with heartfelt modesty. And there is nothing like a full Madison Square Garden when the Knicks excel. The Knicks lift us up.
On the other hand, Donald J. Trump travels with his own dark cloud, spreading grievance and bile, angrily directing venom at anyone who refuses to embrace or, far worse, bravely challenges the ever-changing and often contradictory delusions. Luckily for Trump and his MAGA followers, we have descended into a time in America where research, reason, and science count for far less than superstition and ignorance, making it easier for Trumpovians to embrace an ever-changing murky orthodoxy. This cult seems to sustain itself even if most believers can’t ever provide a consistent compelling justification that survives challenge, living in a world where Vladimir Putin isn’t a brutal thug and lethal viruses ought to be treated with horse medicine.
Nothing better illustrates our current condition than the trial we unfortunately can’t watch for ourselves. This case, however, is the quintessential New York City story. Donald J. Trump can pretend to be a golfer and even an ex-president, but he is at heart the New York City son of a slumlord. Like many a child of the wealthy, he has never eclipsed, let alone truly flourished without, his father. All of his success—mostly faux success—can be traced to the multi-millions Fred Trump time and again had to divert from his own pocket to save his never-do-well son. The art of the steal.
Fred kept him from serving in Vietnam, got him into college, bailed him out of multiple bankruptcies, even lent him Roy Cohn to school him in the dark arts of lying and scheming and swindling. No matter how hard he tried, nothing ever could hide the fact that Donald was from Queens, so many millions of miles from Park and Madison Avenues, and thus so very removed from NYC aristocracy. For all his ranting about those who do anything and everything to travel thousands of miles to come here, there is no Mayflower in his history, and his roots can easily be traced back to Fred’s father’s illegal immigration—not to mention his latest wife who snuck her way past far more worthy applicants for citizenship.
Nothing betrayed Donald more than his boorish behavior, his absolute lack of grace and taste. I can still remember feeling absolutely appalled watching how proud he was to welcome the “Apprentice” TV cameras to his garish, tasteless, gold-plated Trump Tower apartment.
The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump is a morality tale writ large taking place at a time when so many Americans seem to have misplaced morality. And so, the great challenge will be for the jury to commit themselves to discard bias and weigh the evidence without prejudice. I have been on two juries and watched that happen, and so, in spite of the many reasons not to be, I am still hopeful.
While much of the press continues to call this the hush money case, it is far more than that. Let’s take some time to look more closely at the case:
One of the key elements of this case is the link between the charge of “Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree” with the additional charge of committing that crime “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime.”
The Statement of Facts explains that connection and provides a very helpful map to the charges:
Most importantly, the real story is about the 2016 presidential election and the activities Donald Trump and his associates engaged in to increase his chances of winning: “The defendant DONALD J. TRUMP repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.”
These actions were taken to “benefit the Defendant’s electoral prospects. In order to execute the unlawful scheme, the participants violated election laws and made and caused false entries in the business records of various entities in New York.” And as we have seen thus far, David Pecker, former owner and decider of all things National Enquirer, has already provided incredibly damaging testimony about how he used his tabloid to promote a very false vision of Donald Trump while smearing his opponents.
As the Statement of Facts alleges, these were well practiced behaviors. Most people are focused on adult film star Stormy Daniels, but before there was Stormy Daniels, there was Trump’s ongoing relationship with and reliance on the National Enquirer’s David Peck (AKA the AMI CEO), as well as the role Trump fixer/attorney Michael Cohen played as the go-between for Peck and Trump. Not every New York City real estate developer who desires to be president needs his own supermarket tabloid to make sure past sins and the truth never makes it out to the public. But as The Statement of Facts explains:
Let’s be clear: It is certainly not the role of the independent press to serve as the “eyes and ears” of any campaign. Not only that, we’re told that both David Pecker and Michael Cohen (Lawyer A) “have admitted to committing illegal conduct in connection with the scheme.” The Statement of Facts explains:
In August 2018, Lawyer A pleaded guilty to two federal crimes involving illegal campaign contributions, and subsequently served time in prison. In addition, in August 2018, American Media, Inc. (‘AMI’), a media company that owned and published magazines and supermarket tabloids including the National Enquirer, admitted in a non-prosecution agreement that it made a payment to a source of a story to ensure that the source ‘did not publicize damaging allegations’ about the Defendant ‘before the 2016 presidential election and thereby influence that election.’
MSNBC legal consultant Andrew Weissman has repeatedly characterized this arrangement as ironically providing “fake news” on behalf of Donald Trump. And Ron Filipowski’s tweet offers visual evidence of this analysis:
Donald Trump, the King of Fake News & Election Interference. It was all rigged. pic.twitter.com/EvQ6p1HiiH
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) April 23, 2024
So, yes, before there was Stormy Daniels, there were also the Doorman and Woman #1. The Doorman tried to turn rumors and/or facts into gold. In a section entitled “Suppressing the Doorman’s Story,” the Statement of Facts notes:
… in or about October or November 2015, David Peck, the AMI CEO learned that a former Trump Tower doorman (the ‘Doorman’) was trying to sell information regarding a child that the Defendant had allegedly fathered out of wedlock. At the AMI CEO’s direction, AMI negotiated and signed an agreement to pay the Doorman $30,000 to acquire exclusive rights to the story.
(Find that agreement here.)
As The Washington Post reported on April 23, 2024, on the second day of David Pecker’s testimony, that the prosecution linked the National Enquirer’s purchase of Dino Sajudin’s silence with Donald Trump’s political ambitions and the 2016 election, “Pecker added later, ‘I made the decision to purchase the story to avoid potential embarrassment it would have to the campaign, the campaign and Mr. Trump.’”
As to the question of whether or not Donald Trump knew what was happening as this plan evolved, The Post continues:
‘How would you describe [Trump] as a businessman?’ prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Pecker, who said he has known the former president since the late 1980s. ‘Very knowledgeable,’ Pecker said. ‘I would describe him as very detail-oriented, almost as a micromanager from what I saw … ‘He looked at all of the aspects of whatever the issue was,’ Pecker added.
Back to the Statement of Facts and the perversion of journalism to political persuasion:
When AMI later concluded that the story was not true, the AMI CEO wanted to release the Doorman from the agreement. However, Lawyer A instructed the AMI CEO not to release the Doorman until after the presidential election, and the AMI CEO complied with that instruction because of his agreement with the Defendant and Lawyer A.
You think maybe the ghost of Roy Cohn advised extra special caution. Best be careful: What’s a few extra months and 30 grand?
Enter Woman #1, Stormy before Stormy:
The Statement of Facts reveals this critical piece of evidence:
In a conversation captured in an audio recording in approximately September 2016 concerning Woman 1’s account, the Defendant and Lawyer A discussed how to obtain the rights to Woman 1’s account from AMI and how to reimburse AMI for its payment. Lawyer A told the Defendant he would open up a company for the transfer of Woman 1’s account and other information, and stated that he had spoken to the Chief Financial Officer for the Trump Organization (the “TO CFO”) about ‘how to set the whole thing up.’ The Defendant asked, ‘So what do we got to pay for this? One fifty?’ and suggested paying by cash. When Lawyer A disagreed, the Defendant then mentioned payment by check. After the conversation, Lawyer A created a shell company called Resolution Consultants, LLC on or about September 30, 2016. (Emphasis added.)
We know the chief financial officer for the Trump Organization (the “TO CFO”) is Allen Weisselberg, who, after having been sentenced to five months in jail for the role he played in the Trump Organization’s tax fraud scheme, is currently serving his second prison term for perjury. And we know that Woman #1 was former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Having suffered through years of Trumpovian drama, I admit I had forgotten more than I remembered about this story. Luckily, Wikipedia provides additional context:
In November 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported that McDougal had told a friend that she had an affair with a married Donald Trump from 2006 to 2007 … It also reported that American Media, Inc.(AMI), the owner of the National Enquirer, had paid McDougal $150,000 for exclusive rights to her story, but never published it …
Add these interesting tidbits: Having gotten McDougal’s memoir, Ronan Farrow wrote about the affair in February 2018 for The New Yorker. McDougal claimed she had met members of the Trump family but that he made sure they would avoid a paper record. She always paid cash when she came to see him, but then he always reimbursed her. She wrote that he had promised to buy her New York City apartment.
Just a reminder about the timing of all of this: On October 7, 2016, just about a month before the election, the Access Hollywood tape became public. On their way to an interview, Billy Bush, the host of Access Hollywood, and Donald Trump had the following conversation with the cameras rolling:
TRUMP: I moved on her. Actually, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and f*** her. She was married.
BUSH: That’s huge news.
TRUMP: Nancy [O’Dell, former co-host of Access Hollywood], no this was … and I moved on her. Very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said ‘I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.’ I took her… I moved on her like a b****. I couldn’t get there and she was married. And all of a sudden I see her. She’s now got the big phoney t*** and she’s totally changed her look.
BUSH: Sheesh, your girl’s hot as sh**. In the purple.
TRUMP: Whoa! Yes! Whoa!
BUSH: Yes! The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man!
[cross talk]
BUSH: It better not be the publicist. No it’s her, it’s …
TRUMP: Yeah that’s her in the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs [breath fresheners] just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful … I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.
BUSH: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.
By the way, if you have been wondering about why the prosecution might call Trump confidante Hope Hicks, Wikipedia reminds, “Hope Hicks, speaking for the Trump campaign, denied the existence of an affair between Trump and McDougal, saying that the notion was ‘totally untrue.’”
The Statement of Facts connects some of the Access Hollywood dots:
… both the Defendant and his campaign staff were concerned that the tape would harm his viability as a candidate and reduce his standing with female voters in particular. Shortly after the Access Hollywood tape became public, the AMI Editor-in-Chief contacted the AMI CEO about another woman (‘Woman 2’) who alleged she had a sexual encounter with the Defendant while he was married. The AMI CEO told the AMI Editor-in-Chief to notify Lawyer A.
So, on October 10, 2016, Pecker connected Cohen with Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, and Cohen negotiated a deal to buy Stormy Daniels’ story for $130,000.
The Statement of Facts reveals that, in Typical Donald Trump fashion:
[Trump directed Cohen] to delay making a payment to Woman 2 as long as possible. He instructed Lawyer A that if they could delay the payment until after the election, they could avoid paying altogether, because at that point it would not matter if the story became public … Ultimately, with pressure mounting and the election approaching, the Defendant agreed to the payoff … The Defendant did not want to make the $130,000 payment himself, and asked Lawyer A and the TO CFO to find a way to make the payment. After discussing various payment options with the TO CFO, Lawyer A agreed he would make the payment. Before making the payment, Lawyer A confirmed with the Defendant that Defendant would pay him back.
On or about October 26, shortly after speaking with the Defendant on the phone, Lawyer A opened a bank account in Manhattan in the name of Essential Consultants LLC, a new shell company he had created to effectuate the payment. He then transferred $131,000 from his personal home equity line of credit (‘HELOC’) into that account. On or about October 27, Lawyer A wired $130,000 from his Essential Consultants LLC account in New York to Lawyer B to suppress Woman 2’s account.
In a section entitled “The Defendant Falsified Business Records,” the Statement of Facts continues:
Shortly after being elected President, the Defendant arranged to reimburse Lawyer A for the payoff he made on the Defendant’s behalf. In or around January 2017, the TO CFO and Lawyer A met to discuss how Lawyer A would be reimbursed for the money he paid to ensure Woman 2’s silence … The TO CFO and Lawyer A agreed to a total repayment amount of $420,000. They reached that figure by adding the $130,000 payment to a $50,000 payment for another expense for which Lawyer A also claimed reimbursement, for a total of $180,000. The TO CFO then doubled that amount to $360,000 so that Lawyer A could characterize the payment as income on his tax returns, instead of a reimbursement, and Lawyer A would be left with $180,000 after paying approximately 50 [percent] in income taxes. Finally, the TO CFO added an additional $60,000 as a supplemental year-end bonus. Together, these amounts totaled $420,000. The TO CFO memorialized these calculations in handwritten notes on the copy of the bank statement that Lawyer A had provided. (Emphasis added.)
Significantly, the Statement of Facts continues:
The first check was paid from the Defendant’s Trust and signed by the TO CFO and the Defendant’s son, as trustees. The check stub falsely recorded the payment as ‘Retainer for 1/1-1/31/17’ and ‘Retainer for 2/1-2/28/17.’ The second check, for March 2017, was also paid from the Trust and signed by two trustees. The check stub falsely recorded the payment as ‘Retainer for 3/1-3/31/17.’
The remaining nine checks, corresponding to the months of April through December of 2017, were paid by the Defendant personally. Each of the checks was cut from the Defendant’s bank account and sent, along with the corresponding invoices from Lawyer A, from the Trump Organization in New York County to the Defendant in Washington, D.C. … The Defendant signed each of the checks personally and had them sent back to the Trump Organization in New York County. There, the checks, the stubs, and the invoices were scanned and maintained in the Trump Organization’s data system before the checks themselves were detached and mailed to Lawyer A for payment. (Emphasis added.)
I am guessing the jury will be interested in these details about pressure Donald Trump put on Michael Cohen once he discovered that the FBI had raided Cohen’s apartment and office:
The pressure from the Trump camp intensified:
On or about June 14, 2018, Lawyer C emailed Lawyer A a news clip discussing the possibility of Lawyer A cooperating, and continued to urge him not to cooperate with law enforcement, writing, ‘The whole objective of this exercise by the [federal prosecutors] is to drain you, emotionally and financially, until you reach a point that you see them as your only means to salvation.’ In the same email, Lawyer C, wrote, ‘You are making a very big mistake if you believe the stories these ‘journalists’ are writing about you. They want you to cave. They want you to fail. They do not want you to persevere and succeed.’
On August 21, 2018, Lawyer A pleaded guilty in the federal investigation. The next day, on or about August 22, 2018, the Defendant commented on Twitter, ‘If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of [Lawyer A]!’ (Emphasis added.)
If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018
The Statement of Facts goes on:
Later that day, the Defendant posted to Twitter again, stating, ‘I feel very badly for’ one of his former campaign managers who had been criminally charged, saying, ‘[U]nlike [Lawyer A], he refused to break’ — make up stories in order to get a ‘deal.’
I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. “Justice” took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to “break” – make up stories in order to get a “deal.” Such respect for a brave man!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018
And then more:
Ultimately, other participants in the scheme admitted that the payoffs were unlawful.
In or about September 2018, AMI entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in connection with AMI’s payoff of Woman 1, admitting that ‘[a]t no time during the negotiation or acquisition of [Woman 1’s] story did AMI intend to publish the story or disseminate information about it publicly.’ Rather, AMI admitted that it made the payment to ensure that Woman 1 ‘did not publicize damaging allegations’ about the Defendant ‘before the 2016 presidential election and thereby influence that election.’ (Emphasis added.)
It turned out that Lawyer A, Michael Cohen, was nowhere near as accomplished a fixer as Roy Cohn. In return for trying to keep former Playboy Bunny Karen McDougal from talking about her affair with Donald, and paying Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen earned himself 13 and a half months at the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, along with an additional year and a half in home confinement.
I hope these excerpts have helped make more real the issues involved in these proceedings.
It seems to me, in many ways, Donald Trump was a victim of his own bad timing. He might easily have kept these affairs from the public if he hadn’t been such a big mouth and braggart. Some learn to keep their bigotry, their contempt of women to themselves. But I imagine folks like father Fred and Roy Cohen and others like Roger Stone, along with the complicity of Melania, have imbued Donald with the delusion of invincibility and the conviction that he will never have to pay for his sins like ordinary folk.
If ever you wanted or needed a clear and compelling comparison of the light and dark of New York, New York, here it is. On Friday, April 19, 2024, a troubled conspiracy theorist immolated himself a short distance from the Trump courtroom. The next evening, the New York Knicks faced the imposing Philadelphia 76ers with the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, Joel Embiid, and his all-star point guard, Tyrese Maxey. And while they mostly neutralized NY Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, limiting him to close to 10 points lower than his recent per-game average, the Knicks’ second unit made up for Brunson’s deficit and all contributed more than usual to defeat Philadelphia before almost 20,000 delirious fans at Madison Square Garden, the world’s most famous arena. Then, on Monday, April 22, 2024, during the second game of the series, the Knicks scored eight points with 27 seconds left to win 104–101.
Donald Trump, in the next many weeks, will be sitting in the same courtroom with, I’m guessing, several Knicks fans who, while celebrating the accomplishments of their team, will do their best to listen to the evidence, then deliberate without bias and deliver justice.
