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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Saturday, December 15, 2018 3A
Cohen: Trump knew hush
money payments wrong
BY MICHAEL BALSAMO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Shaken and fac
ing a prison term, President Donald
Trump’s longtime personal lawyer
said Friday that Trump directed him
to buy the silence of two women during
the 2016 campaign because he
was concerned their stories of
alleged affairs with him “would
affect the election.” He says
Trump knew the payments
were wrong.
Michael Cohen — who for
more than a decade was a key
power player in the Trump
Organization and a fixture in
Trump’s political life — said he
“gave loyalty to someone who,
truthfully, does not deserve loyalty.”
Cohen spoke in an interview with ABC
that aired Friday on “Good Morning
America.”
Cohen said that “of course” Trump
knew it was wrong to make the hush-
money payments, but he did not pro
vide any specific evidence or detail in
the interview. Federal law requires
that any payments made “for the
purposes of influencing” an election
must be reported in campaign finance
disclosures.
Speaking to ABC’s George Stepha-
nopoulos, Cohen appeared shaken over
the series of events that swiftly took him
from Trump’s “fixer” to a man facing
three years in prison.
“I am done with the lying,” Cohen
said. “I am done being loyal to Presi
dent Trump.”
He added: “I will not be the villain of
this story.”
Cohen was sentenced on Wednesday
to three years in federal prison after
pleading guilty to several charges,
including campaign finance violations
and lying to Congress. Prosecutors have
said Trump directed Cohen to arrange
the payments to buy the silence of porn
actress Stormy Daniels and former
Playboy model Karen McDougal in the
run-up to the 2016 campaign.
The decisions to pay off Daniels, who
alleged she had sex with a married
Trump in 2006, during the run-up to the
2016 election was made soon after an
old “Access Hollywood” tape surfaced,
in which Trump was heard
talking about groping and try
ing to have sex with women,
Cohen said.
“He was very concerned
about how this would affect the
election,” Cohen said.
The hush money wasn’t ini
tially reported on campaign
finance documents and, in any
case, far exceeded the legally
acceptable amount for in-kind
contributions. The federal limit on indi
vidual contributions is $2,700.
As to whether Trump knew it was
wrong to make the payments, Cohen
said, “First of all, nothing at the Trump
organization was ever done unless it was
run through Mr. Trump. He directed me
to make the payments, he directed me
to become involved in these matters.”
Trump has denied directing Cohen
to break the law and has asserted in a
barrage of tweets over the last several
weeks that Cohen is a “liar” who cut a
deal in order to get a reduced prison
sentence and to help himself and his
family.
Loyalty has long been a core value
for Trump, who has been stung by
the behavior of Cohen and other for
mer associates who have dissociated
themselves from the president, intent
on saving themselves. That list also
includes former White House staffer
Omarosa Manigault Newman and for
mer National Security adviser Michael
Flynn.
“He knows the truth. I know the truth.
Others know the truth,” Cohen said.
“And here is the truth: People of the
United States of America, people of the
world, don’t believe what he is saying.
The man doesn’t tell the truth. And it is
sad that I should take responsibility for
his dirty deeds.”
“Instead of him taking responsibil
ity for his actions, what does he do? He
attacks my family,” Cohen said.
White House spokesman Hogan
Gidley said Friday that reporters
were “giving credence to a convicted
criminal.”
When asked specifically about
Cohen’s claims that Trump had
directed Cohen to make the payments,
Gidley said: “I understand that. He’s a
self-admitted liar. You guys all know
that and for him to say, ‘I’m going to
start — I’m going to stop lying starting
now,’ is somewhat silly.”
Cohen insists that Trump is a differ
ent person now than when he was run
ning his real estate empire in New York
and said he believes the pressure of
being the president of the United States
is “much more than he thought it was
going to be.”
Daniels, whose real name is Stepha
nie Clifford, was paid $130,000 as part
of a nondisclosure agreement that was
signed days before the 2016 election
and she’s currently suing to dissolve
that contract.
In August 2016, the parent com
pany of the tabloid National Enquirer
reached a $150,000 deal to pay McDou
gal for her story of a 2006 affair, which
it never published, a tabloid practice
known as catch and kill.
Cohen insisted he just reviewed the
McDougal deal and said the payment
was negotiated directly between Trump
and David Pecker, the chief executive
officer of the tabloid’s parent company.
Both Cohen and American Media
Inc. now say they made hush-money
payments were to help Trump’s 2016
White House bid. The U.S. attor
ney’s office in Manhattan reached a
non-prosecution agreement with the
company.
Cohen
EU: UK must
make decision
on Brexit plans
Officials defend actions in detention
of 7-year-old girl who died in custody
BY COLLEEN LONG,
ASTRID GALVAN AND
SONIA PEREZ D.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - U.S.
immigration officials on Fri
day defended their actions in
the detention of a 7-year-old
Guatemalan girl who died
two days after she and her
father were taken into cus
tody along a remote stretch
of the U.S. border.
The girl, identified by a
Guatemalan official as Jack-
eline Caal, had gone days
without food and water, a
Department of Homeland
Security statement said. Yet
immigration officials said
she did not appear to be ill
when detained.
A Border Patrol form
completed shortly after she
was stopped said she was
not sweating, had no trem
ors or visible trauma and
was mentally alert. “Claims
good health,” the form reads.
Jackeline’s father appeared
to have signed the form,
which was obtained by The
Associated Press.
But, hours later, after
Jackeline was placed on a
bus, she started vomiting. She
was not breathing when she
arrived at a Border Patrol
station. Emergency medical
technicians revived her and
she was flown to a hospital
in El Paso, Texas, where she
was found to have swelling in
her brain and liver failure,
officials said. She later died.
The agents speak Spanish,
but the father and daugh
ter were from an area in
northern Guatemala called
Raxruha in Alta Verapaz and
may have spoken a Mayan
dialect, not Spanish.
An autopsy was scheduled
to determine the girl’s death.
The results could take weeks.
“The agents involved are
deeply affected and empa
thize with the father over the
loss of his daughter,” said
U.S. Customs and Border
Protection Commissioner
Kevin McAleenan. “We can
not stress enough the dan
gers posed by traveling long
distances, in crowded trans
portation, or in the natural
elements through remote
desert areas without food,
water and other supplies.”
The girl’s identity was
provided to AP by an official
with Guatemala’s foreign
ministry, who identified the
father as 29-year-old Nery
Caal. The official requested
anonymity because he was
not authorized to share
information. It was later con
firmed by Customs and Bor
der Protection officials.
Caal was driven to El Paso
n s
RUSSELL CONTRERAS I Associated Press
A U.S. Border Patrol agent patrols Sunland Park along the
U.S.-Mexico border, Jan. 4, 2016, next to Ciudad Juarez.
and was at the hospital when
his daughter died, officials
said. He is not detained.
Jackeline’s death comes
as increasing numbers of
children and families are
making the dangerous trek
north from Central America
and as immigration officials
are being increasingly criti
cized for their treatment of
migrants who arrive at the
U.S.-Mexico border. Home
land Security’s watchdog will
review what happened in the
girl’s case, officials said.
The pair were taken into
custody at about 9:15 p.m.
Dec. 6 in a group of 163 peo
ple in remote New Mexico,
about 90 miles from the
nearest Border Patrol sta
tion in Lordsburg. The group
was apprehended by four
Border Patrol agents. The
rugged, mountainous area
is mostly deserted, home to
ghost towns and abandoned
buildings from Old West
homesteader days. It’s an
unforgiving terrain where
Geronimo made his last
stand and it remains largely
isolated with no cell service
and few paved roads.
There’s a Border Patrol
base near where the group
was found with food, water
and bathrooms, but no medi
cal help. They were found
near the Antelope Wells port
of entry, which was closed
when they arrived. It’s not
clear if they had been trying
to cross legally.
The migrants were bused
from the area to Lordsburg in
two groups, including about
50 minors without parents in
the first group, officials said.
The girl and her father didn’t
start the journey until 4:30
am, when the bus returned.
The father said the girl was
vomiting on the bus. When
they arrived at the Border
Patrol station in Lordsburg
at about 6:30 a.m. Dec. 7, she
was not breathing, officials
said. Emergency medical
technicians discovered the
girl’s fever was 105.7 degrees
Fahrenheit, and she was air
lifted to a hospital. She died
shortly after midnight on
Dec. 8.
White House spokesman
Hogan Gidley called Jack
eline’s death “a horrific,
tragic situation” and called
for “commonsense laws to
disincentivize people from
coming up from the border,”
crossing illegally.
Guatemalan consular
officials said they have spo
ken with the father who was
deeply upset.
“It is important to show
that, unfortunately, the
places where migrants now
enter are more dangerous
and the distances they travel
are greater,” consular offi
cials said.
BY JILL LAWLESSS
AND LORNE COOK
Associated Press
BRUSSELS - British
Prime Minister Theresa
May launched a rescue mis
sion for her ailing Brexit
deal Friday, after the
European Union rebuffed
her request to sweeten the
divorce agreement so she
can win over hostile law
makers at home.
EU leaders meeting in
Brussels showed little appe
tite to resolve May’s Brexit
impasse for her, saying the
U.K. Parliament
must make up its
mind. The choice
was either back
the Brexit agree
ment or send Brit
ain tumbling out of
the bloc in March
without a deal and
into unknown eco
nomic chaos.
“There is one accord, the
only one possible,” French
President Emmanuel
Macron told reporters at
the end of a two-day sum
mit. He said it was “the
British parliament’s time”
to decide whether to accept
or reject it.
The Brexit gridlock has
left Britain’s future looking
like a high-stakes gamble
with a wide range of out
comes. There could be an
orderly or a disorderly
Brexit. May’s Conservative
government could fall and
an early election be held.
Britain could make a last-
minute request to the EU
to give it more time and not
leave the bloc on March 29.
Some are even pressing for
the U.K. to hold a second
referendum on Britain’s
EU membership.
May came to the EU
summit seeking legally
binding changes to the
agreement, which is
opposed by a majority of
British lawmakers.
But the 27 other EU
leaders offered only reas
surances. They said they
would seek to move swiftly
on forging a new trade deal
after Britain leaves the
bloc, and promised that a
legally binding insurance
policy to keep the Irish
border open would only be
used temporarily.
They rejected British
pressure to put a fixed end
date on the border guaran
tee, and refused to re-nego-
tiate the Brexit agreement,
a 585-page legal text set
tling issues including the
size of Britain’s divorce
bill and the future rights of
Europeans living in Britain
and Britons living in the
EU. It also includes a docu
ment laying out the two
sides’ hopes for future rela
tions, which isn’t legally
binding.
European Commission
President Jean-Claude
Juncker accused
Britain of failing to
give detailed pro
posals on Brexit,
saying it was “up
to the British gov
ernment to tell us
exactly what they
want.”
May was filmed
speaking sternly to
Juncker as leaders arrived
at Friday morning’s session
of the summit. She said
they had had a “robust”
exchange.
Nonetheless, May told
reporters in Brussels that
she welcomed the EU’s
reassuring words — and
that, as formal conclusions
of an EU summit, they
“have legal status.”
“There is work still to
do. And we will be holding
talks in coming days about
how to obtain the further
assurances that the U.K.
Parliament needs in order
to be able to approve the
deal,” May said.
European Council Presi
dent Donald Tusk, how
ever, said no talks with
Britain were scheduled.
“I have no mandate to
organize any further nego
tiations,” Tusk said. “But of
course, we will stay here in
Brussels, and I am always
at Prime Minister Theresa
May’s disposal.”
But May’s against-the-
odds optimism contrasted
with a pessimistic tone
from many on the EU side.
EU leaders expressed deep
doubts that May could live
up to her side of their Brexit
agreement and vowed to
step up preparations for
a potentially-catastrophic
“no-deal” scenario for Brit
ain’s departure.
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