Former President Donald Trump’s biographer recently claimed that Trump might have paid off adult film actress Stormy Daniels because he was scared of his wife, Melania Trump.
Trump is facing a potential indictment regarding his role in the Stormy Daniels scandal.
A grand jury is now hearing evidence over Trump’s possible role in paying a hush-money settlement to Daniels. Michael Cohen, Trump’s one-time fixer turned nemesis, testified in front of a New York grand jury on Monday afternoon in what could potentially be a final step before a possible Trump indictment. If convicted, Trump risks felony-level charges, which could carry a jail term.
It has been reported that Trump is facing a potential indictment regarding his role in the payment, which was made through his former attorney Michael Cohen at the former president’s direction. Cohen was reimbursed for the payment through his own legal fees. Federal investigators found that the timing of the payment, which was made to Daniels shortly before the 2016 election in an effort to stave off a potential scandal, could potentially constitute an illegal campaign contribution.
In 2018, Cohen pled guilty to eight charges including campaign finance violations, tax fraud, and false statements to a bank.
Donald Trump’s biographer talks about the matter
“I don’t think he was only worried about his campaign potentially getting blown up. I think he was also worried about his marriage getting blown up,” O’Brien told MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House” on Sunday.
“Donald Trump has a long history of cheating on his wives, and I think he was probably more afraid at that point of Melania Trump than he was of the electorate, so he had a motivation to try and get this out of the way,” O’Brien added.
O’Brien wrote the 2004 biography, “TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald.” He’s now the senior executive editor of Bloomberg’s opinion desk. O’Brien isn’t the first person to claim that Trump is afraid of his wife.
“He reserves — he listens to many of us, but he reserves fear for one person, Melania Trump,” Kellyanne Conway, who was formerly a senior Trump White House aide, testified in November to the House panel investigating the Capitol riot.
Separately, several women have claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Daniels says she had an affair with Trump in 2006, a year after he married Melania Trump. Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, also claims to have had an affair with Trump in 2006. Cohen says he made hush money payments to McDougal in 2015, at Trump’s direction.
