A White House in the ‘Eye of the Storm(y)’
Stormy Daniels wants to tell her story.
It’s a story that involves a certain future president whom she claims was her lover back in 2006.
Ms. Daniels, an adult film actress, once told her story to a magazine back in 2011.
That she’d first had sex with Trump shortly after his wife had given birth to their son.
But nearly two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, she was paid $130,000 to stop talking about the times she helped Donald Trump cheat on his wife.
Surely, Trump isn’t the only occupant of the White House to be accused of having an affair.
But the specter of a presidential candidate, who was already under heightened scrutiny about that notorious “Access Hollywood” tape, apparently caused team-Trump to avoid further scrutiny by offering a handsome non-disclosure agreement.
Since then, Daniels has made the TV talk show rounds, hinting about the details of the agreement, while chomping at the bit to reveal more about the liaisons.
She’s no dummy. Or, she’s not exactly a “Quiet Storm.”
While Trump has denied he’s ever had that affair, his attorney, Michael Cohen, has admitted he’s the person who did, in fact, prepare the agreement and facilitate the payment.
I know a few attorneys.
I don’t know any of them who’d simply pay somebody out of the goodness of their heart.
Meanwhile, Ms. Daniels and her attorney have hatched a plan.
Last week, she filed suit to allow her to speak freely, since the agreement that she signed, hadn’t been signed by Trump.
Instead it was only signed by his attorney — Cohen.
“Stephanie Clifford (her real name) a.k.a. Stormy Daniels (her adult film name), a.k.a. Peggy Peterson (another Daniels alias), an individual, Plaintiff, vs. Donald J. Trump a.k.a. David Dennison (his supposed alias), an individual,” was the heading for the suit.
Mr. Trump, who seems to love the word “collusion,” or “collude,” still denies he ever “colluded,” with Daniels.
(Since he’s been elected, he’s tweeted those words more than 40 times, to deny he “colluded” with the Russians who interfered with the 2016 elections)
Of course, he’s earned quite the reputation for rarely “colluding” with the truth.
Besides, this isn’t even the first time he’s been the subject of this kind of rigmarole.
Last month, New Yorker magazine published an extensive (3,600 words) article that chronicled another alleged affair Mr. Trump had with a Playboy Playmate of the Year named Karen McDougal.
Her story, too, had been buried.
Ms. McDougal had, in effect, been paid by $150,000 by the National Enquirer, which, in turn, never published the story.
It’s widely known that David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media, is a close friend of Trump.
And that the National Enquirer has been known to engage in the practice known as “catch and kill.”
That’s when a publication will pay for the exclusive rights to a negative story, then simply not publish it – thus it becomes a creative way of keeping news about extramarital affairs from ever reaching newsstands.
But Karen McDougal has friends, too.
Those friends were in possession of contemporaneous notes about the affair.
And they provided a clear picture of how the McDougal met Trump, and they continued to meet between 2006 and 2007.
Meanwhile, the White House keeps complaining that reporters are more concerned about its scandals, than about real issues.
But this administration has become a scandal-machine.
The Stormy Daniels saga is merely the latest.
For reporters, it provides a “Perfect Storm,” of debauchery and official deceit.
When Trump proclaimed in March of 2016 that, “I can be more presidential than anybody (except Abe Lincoln),” he was telling potential voters that he hadn’t been – and that he knew it.
So far, he still hasn’t been.
He’s been a businessman, who’s still trying to play the role of somebody who doesn’t really care about the rules, or propriety.
And if Stormy Daniels gets to tell her entire story, it’ll be clear he doesn’t care about common decency, either.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.