Late this summer, federal prosecutors in New York promulgated a 22-page list of Michael Cohen's sins against the U.S. legal code. The charges against President Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer included this paragraph:
"In or about August 2015, the Chairman and Chief Executive of Corporation-1 ("Chairman-1"), in coordination with Michael Cohen, the defendant, and one or more members of the campaign, offered to help deal with negative stories about Individual-1's relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided."
On Wednesday, in a non-prosecution agreement, the feds revealed Corporation-1 to be National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc., which admitted making a $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Further, NBC News reported that the “one or members” of the Trump campaign at this August meeting with tabloid publisher David Pecker was the candidate himself, Donald Trump – confirming what the Wall Street Journal had reported last month.
So in August 2015, we have the beginnings of what could be called a top-level conspiracy to handle the fallout from Trump’s physical relationships with women.
No precise date is given for its start, but it’s worth remembering a parallel event from that same month.
On Thursday, Aug. 6, in a first, crowded debate of GOP presidential candidates. then-Fox News host Megyn Kelly had homed in on Trump’s attitude toward the opposite sex, noting that he had “called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.”
The next day, Trump went on CNN to dump on Kelly: "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever." Many took that to be a rude reference to menstruation.
One of them was Erick Erickson, the WSB Radio talk show host, who had put together a three-day national gathering of 700 conservative activists that would begin that same Friday. The event was in Buckhead. (The AJC and WSB Radio are both owned by Cox Media Group.)
The draw was a parade of 10 presidential wannabes, including Trump – who was offered the prized final Saturday speaking slot.
It didn’t happen. Trump’s remarks about Kelly prompted Erickson to scratch his appearance. From the AJC report that followed:
Erickson, calling the remarks inappropriate, said Trump bullied the reporter for asking a tough question.
"I don't want Donald Trump in the room with my daughter tonight, so that's why he was disinvited," Erickson said, an announcement that was greeted by applause and a smattering of boos from the 700 attendees as the day began.
Trump later tried to claim he was not talking about menstruation and anyone who thought otherwise was a "deviant." In a statement via his campaign, Trump said "her wherever" meant Kelly's nose.
"Many of the 900 people that wanted to hear Mr. Trump speak tonight have been calling and emailing --- they are very angry at Erickson and the others that are trying to be so politically correct," Trump's statement read. "To them Mr. Trump says, 'We will catch you at another time soon.' "
Of the presidential candidates who attended the Atlanta event, only former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush backed up Erickson’s play. “Do we want to turn away 53 percent of voters? Your decision is the right one," Bush told Erickson.
In other words, the August 15 meeting to set up a “catch and kill” system to counter Trump’s relationships with women wasn’t a single event. It was that month’s theme. The crescendo would come 14 months later, just before the 2016 election, with the release of the “Hollywood Access” recording.
To a degree, Erickson would make his amends with Trump supporters, but he still can find himself on the outside. On Thursday, the WSB Radio host made this announcement via Twitter:
Note to my listeners: Starting January 3rd, my radio show will start an hour earlier as the station moves the second hour of Sean Hannity's show to 8pm and starts me at 4pm.
One of the replies that followed resulted:
Bad move. Why can't we just get rid of you never trumpets? Haven't you idiots learnt anything?
Riposted Erickson:
Yes we have -- it's that being honest and not just being a Branch Trumpidian actually wins out in the end.
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DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond is resigning from the state governing board of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, which oversees doings at the granite edifice with the giant Confederate carving.
Thurmond is currently the only African-American on the board, and has championed revision of the Civil War history told at the mountain. His resignation was the result of an appointment to The ATL board, a new state entity intended to oversee transit in metro Atlanta. Legislation establishing the board precludes members from serving on any other state governing body.
Gov. Nathan Deal’s office is expected to announce a replacement for Thurmond today. The new member of the Stone Mountain board, we’re told, will be African-American – and from DeKalb.
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Stacey Abrams watch: The former Democratic gubernatorial candidate was featured Thursday on Samantha Bee's show on an episode that focused on voter suppression claims.
Near the end of the segment, the host asks Abrams about her 2020 plans. Says Abrams: "I have to be a part of making it better for others. Because I am going to run again. And the next time, I'm going to win outright, without any question. And I'll be able to do even more."
What she’ll run for is the question. Steve Phillips, a prominent Abrams supporter and a founder of Democracy in Color, called on Abrams, Andrew Gillum and Beto O’Rourke to run for the same office again in four years.
There is no shortage of credible and strong contenders for the presidency. What Democrats don't have are candidates who are perfectly positioned to be the next senator from Texas, governor of Georgia, and governor of Florida.
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There weren't the same public fireworks as the now-infamous Pelosi-Schumer meeting, but Gov.-elect Brian Kemp's West Wing confab with President Donald Trump and a dozen of his newly-elected counterparts on Thursday still made for an interesting scene.
The press was able to witness only a brief slice of Kemp's meeting, which also included Vice President Mike Pence, several Cabinet secretaries and advisers such as Jared Kushner.
Sandwiched between first daughter Ivanka Trump and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Kemp thanked Trump for his administration’s response to Hurricane Michael and also gave a shout-out to Agriculture Secretary and former Gov. Sonny Perdue, who wasn’t in the room. “It's going great on the ground,” Kemp said of the hurricane clean-up effort. “Long recovery, but we appreciate the response and interest that you guys have shown.”
Reunited with Kemp for the first time since their raucous pre-election rally in Macon, Trump congratulated the Republican for his victory over Stacey Abrams. Without mentioning her by name, he took a dig at the Democrat's celebrity supporters. "You and I felt very lonely there for a while, right? They had everybody in the world coming down but you ran a great race," Trump told Kemp. "Congratulations."
A Kemp spokesman said the governor-elect also discussed the Savannah port, the tax overhaul and economic development with the president.
Kemp and his wife Marty also met with Pence and attended one of the White House Christmas parties.
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Speaking of presidential shout-outs, U.S. Rep.-elect Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, got big one from Barack Obama earlier this week. As the former president accepted an award from the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights non-profit in New York City, he cited McBath's path from grieving mother to gun control advocate to Congress as one of hope.
McBath called the mention “surreal.”
"President Obama often says, 'We must be the change we seek,' and I have tried to live by these words," she tweeted Thursday.
Obama endorsed McBath ahead of her upset victory over U.S. Rep. Karen Handel, R-Roswell, in the Sixthl District congressional race
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Washington is bracing for a Christmastime shutdown showdown, leaving many staffers, lawmakers -- and Capitol Hill scribes -- grousing about the possibility of cancelled vacations.
But U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Monroe, is urging President Donald Trump to stand firm on his border wall before Democrats take over the House in January.
In an op-ed in the Washington Examiner, the two-term Republican and candidate to lead the House Freedom Caucus said the party received a "clear directive" from voters to act on the issue in 2016 but have yet to deliver:
"The time for half measures is gone. The time for anything other than doing what we said is over. This is the last chance we have to change the status quo. If not now, then we will be squandering yet another opportunity under our unified government, while breaking the trust of the forgotten men and women who we promised to represent — perhaps for good."
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Via social media, a giddy Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., on Thursday showed off an early Secret Santa present from U.S. Senate colleague Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois. (Hint: it's Bulldog-themed. And worthy of your time.)
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