Trump - Clinton or Capone?

Last Sunday’s “60 Minutes” episode was its highest rated in a decade. Americans turned in to watch the interview with Trumps alleged former mistress Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels. I didn’t watch because I wasn’t interested in his randy behavior as it really is none of my concern.

Bill Clinton suffered through years of investigations attempting to find evidence of misdeeds but it was his libido and attempt to cover up that nearly brought him down. I’ve always wondered what would have happened if Clinton had said “a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell” or “none of your business”, when being questioned under oath about his liaison with Monica Lewinsky. Or perhaps if he’d said “Yes, we had sex. So what?” It was his lie that allowed the impeachment to go forward. In the end even a dozen Republican senators didn’t believe his falsehood was significant enough to warrant removing him from the presidency though his law license was suspended by the state of Arkansas.

Donald Trump doesn’t seem to have learned anything from Clinton as he continues to deny affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. It’s pretty clear that both women have evidence to support their claims and are likely telling the truth. Given that he’s in office now and isn’t even up for election for another three years it would seem Trump would do well to admit these as well as any others might also come out and clear the air. Instead his continued denials may yet lead to his downfall.

Unfortunately for Trump, his extra-marital affair with Daniels isn’t his big problem, it’s the cover up that may end up his Waterloo. It appears likely that he or at the very least members of his campaign broke campaign finance laws when they paid Daniels $130,000 in hush money. The watchdog group Common Cause which has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission calls it an in kind contribution which is required to be reported on disclosure forms. Allegations of threats and intimidation by his lawyer don’t help his case but aren’t material to the campaign finance case. As in Watergate this is a case of “follow the money”.

I’ll laugh my head off if the Stormy Daniels cover-up turns out to lead to Trump’s impeachment when there seems to be so much more significant material to work with like money laundering for Russian mobsters and oligarchs through his hotels and real estate businesses. Of course, there’s also the possibility he was complicit in the Russian efforts to get him elected such as the theft and publication of the DNC emails. Then there’s the Russian bots unleashed on Twitter, Facebook and other social media that may have been coordinated with his campaign. And we still don’t know enough the possible connections between Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates and Russian government operatives to say for sure whether or not there was a conspiracy though there’s plenty of smoke suggesting a good size fire.

Al Capone was never convicted of bootlegging, murder or any of his other violent and noteworthy crimes, instead it was tax evasion that put him in the federal penitentiary. Like Capone before him, I’m betting on Trump getting punished for something other than what most of us would consider his more substantial crimes.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - March 30, 2018