Hoover donald is paying ex-accountant hush money

Former President Donald Trump has had another hush money arrangement to try to avoid getting held civilly or criminally responsible for anything related to the Trump Organization, reported The Daily Beast — this time, with his family's longtime former CFO Allen Weisselberg.

Weisselberg, according to the report from Michael Daly, "signed a $2 million separation agreement with the Trump Organization as he began a five-month jail term for tax evasion in January 2023. The agreement called for eight payments between March 31, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024. Five have been made, so Trump is still on the hook for three more. In return, Weisselberg agreed not to 'induce, encourage, instigate, aid, abet or otherwise cause any other person entity to bring or file a complaint, charge, lawsuit or other proceeding' against Trump or anyone associated with his company."

This arrangement, which according to the report is completely legal, effectively means Trump is buying one of his former employees' silence in his financial proceedings — which includes a case about him unlawfully trying to conceal payments to buy an adult film star's silence.

While the arrangement itself wasn't illegal, Weisselberg himself has admitted to breaking the law in order to honor it in the civil fraud trial brought by Attorney General Letitia James. In that trial, where Trump was accused of systematically manipulating the value of his properties to reduce his tax liabilities and interest payments to banks, Weisselberg admitted to perjuring himself when he said he was unaware of Trump's assessment of Trump Tower square footage.

This marks the second time Weisselberg, who has worked as the Trump family's top accountant since before Trump himself even took over the business, has gone to jail in connection with his dealings with the former president.

"The 74-year-old Weisselberg remained hushed in an 11-by-13 foot cell in the West Facility at Rikers Island yesterday morning as Trump set off from the 11,000-square-foot penthouse he tried to pass off in loan negotiations as a mere 31,000 square feet," noted Daly. "Trump descended from a residence that is on the 58th floor of Trump Tower — not the 68th, as he has claimed — and arrived by motorcade for the start of jury selection.

“The allegations are in substance," New York judge Juan Merchan told prospective jurors, "that Donald Trump falsified business records to conceal an agreement with others to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election."

Merchan understands that the core issue in the trial is not the payments made in October 2016 to an adult film star to conceal their alleged sexual relationship, but why Trump made them.

The crime alleged in this case is felony document falsification, as the judge detailed. That requires intent to conceal, aid or commit another crime. Here, the prosecution alleges that the intent was to violate federal campaign finance laws and also the state statute prohibiting the 'unlawful influence' of an election — i.e., election interference.

Prosecutors structured their evidence during the first part of the day's proceedings, which were set aside to resolve remaining legal disputes, to put Trump's alleged crimes in chronological order, showing how the scheme unfolded through 2015 and 2016.

New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg formally asked Tuesday for Donald Trump to be held in contempt in his hush money trial for allegedly violating Justice Juan Merchan's gag order.

The legal action stems from an April 1 court order that prohibited Trump from making or directing public statements about potential witnesses in the case, including Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels. The order was aimed at preventing any influence on the testimony or intimidation of individuals involved in the trial.

Despite the order, Trump reportedly made several posts on social media targeting Cohen and Daniels shortly after the restriction was put in place. This included a post on April 10 where Trump shared a statement by Michael Avenatti, a former lawyer for Daniels, criticizing the fairness of the gag order and calling Cohen and Daniels "sleaze bags."

In an 11-page motion filed on Tuesday, Bragg argued that Trump's actions were a "willful" violation of the court's directive and demonstrated a deliberate attempt to "intimidate this Court and impede the orderly administration of this trial."

The district attorney's office has requested that the court impose sanctions on Trump, including fines and the removal of the offending social media posts. The memorandum emphasized the importance of upholding the integrity of the judicial process and ensuring that the trial is conducted fairly and without undue influence.

"This Court should now hold defendant in criminal contempt for willfully disobeying a lawful mandate," the filing stated. "Defendant is not above the law, and he cannot simply disregard judicial orders that upset him."

Merchan said he would hold a hearing on the matter next week.