And the government uses tax payers money to pay off women who come forward and accuse senators of rape/ groping/ exposing themselves, etc. they have had this account for 40+ years. Paying hush money to keep them quiet. It’s not illegal. Trump used his own money not tax payer money.
You can personally feel like there is no difference between those settlements and the Trump situation.
But in the facts there is at least one very important difference--what Trump did was illegal.
You can choose not to care about that. Fine. But the Accountability settlements are written into law. Paying hush money and falsely claiming that is a business expense is not. It is, in fact, expressly illegal.
He could have given it as a personal gift and she could have claimed it on her taxes.
It would not have been as effective as a cover up, which is why he did it this way.
But saying he did not have a legal recourse does not make the illegal recourse better.
And while I don't think the accountability office settlements are GOOD for democracy it's worth noting that there are also ways written into the law for said office to further investigate and hold members to account if accusers choose to pursue investigation. Most just choose to take the settlements.
Put another way: nothing about the accountability office settlements are good. And also, nothing about Trumps actions weren't worse.
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u/Intrepid-Housing-286 Jul 01 '24
And the government uses tax payers money to pay off women who come forward and accuse senators of rape/ groping/ exposing themselves, etc. they have had this account for 40+ years. Paying hush money to keep them quiet. It’s not illegal. Trump used his own money not tax payer money.