Mediaboss Marketing

Updated 20 March 2023

Image source, Getty Images

President Donald Trump denies the allegations made by Stormy Daniels

Former US President Donald Trump is facing possible criminal charges over allegations he covered up hush money payments to ex-porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Ms Daniels claims she and Mr Trump had sex, and that she accepted $130,000 (100,000) from his former lawyer before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence on the encounter.

The lawyer, Michael Cohen, was later jailed on multiple charges.

The former president has denied he had any sexual involvement with Ms Daniels since the allegations surfaced in 2018.

Stormy Daniels goes public with affair claim

Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said in media interviews that she met Mr Trump at a charity golf tournament in July 2006.

She alleged the pair had sex once in his hotel room at Lake Tahoe, a resort area between California and Nevada. A lawyer for Mr Trump "vehemently" denied this at the time.

"He didn't seem worried about it. He was kind of arrogant," she said in response to an interviewer's question asking if Mr Trump had told her to keep quiet about their alleged night together.

Mr Trump's wife at the time, Melania Trump, was not at the tournament and had just given birth.

Threats and payments to stay silent

In 2016, days before the US presidential election, Ms Daniels said Mr Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen paid her $130,000 in "hush money" to keep her quiet about the affair.

She said she took it because she was concerned for the safety of her family.

Ms Daniels said she was legally and physically threatened to stay silent.

In 2011, shortly after she agreed to give an interview to In Touch magazine about the alleged affair, she said an unknown man had approached her and her infant daughter in a Las Vegas car park and told her to "leave Trump alone".

The interview with In Touch would not be published in full until 2018.

Before the 60 Minutes episode aired, a shell company linked to Mr Cohen threatened Ms Daniels with a $20m lawsuit, arguing she had broken their non-disclosure deal (NDA), or "hush agreement".

Ms Daniels told the CBS show she was risking a million-dollar fine by speaking on national television, but "it was very important to me to be able to defend myself".

To play this content, please enable JavaScript, or try a different browser

Stormy Daniels told CBS News 'I was threatened' in a 2018 interview

Is it illegal to pay hush money?

It is not illegal to pay someone compensation in exchange for an NDA.

But since the payment was made a month before the presidential election, Mr Trump's critics argued the money could amount to a campaign violation.

In August 2018, Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to tax-evasion and breaking campaign finance rules, in part related to his payment to Ms Daniels and another alleged Trump lover.

Although he initially said that Mr Trump had nothing to do with the payments, Mr Cohen later testified under oath that Mr Trump had directed him to make the hush payment of $130,000 days before the 2016 election.

He also said the president reimbursed him for the payment.

Mr Trump has acknowledged personally reimbursing the payment, which isn't illegal, but denied the affair and any wrongdoing regarding campaign laws.

Mr Cohen was jailed on multiple counts after he pleaded guilty to violating laws during the 2016 presidential election.

Could Trump be indicted?

Over the weekend, Mr Trump said he believes he will be arrested on Tuesday.A spokesperson later clarified they had not been notified about any coming indictment.

Earlier this year, New York City District Attorney Alvin Bragg set up a grand jury to investigate whether there was enough evidence to pursue a prosecution against the former president over the money paid to Ms Daniels.

He is the person who will decide whether or not there will be an indictment, if one were issued.

A grand jury is held behind closed doors, and set up by a prosecutor to determine whether there is enough evidence to pursue charges in a case.

If charges are issued, it would be the first criminal case ever brought against a former US president.

On his social media network, Truth Social, Mr Trump called the investigation a political witch-hunt by a "corrupt, depraved, and weaponised justice system".

Read more:
What happened between Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump? - BBC

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) Trips to Mar-a-Lago. Glowing speeches. Front-row seats at major events.

The first Republican presidential primaries are nearly a year away and the candidate field is unsettled. But already, a shadow contest of another sort is underway with several Republicans openly jockeying to position themselves as potential running mates to Donald Trump, the early front-runner for the nomination.

A lot of people are right now auditioning, Trump boasted to supporters in Florida last month.

The mere mention of a running mate this early in the process is a departure from the traditional timeline of presidential primaries, where candidates typically spend the opening months of a campaign introducing themselves to voters and sharing their visions for the country. But as a former president, Trump needs no introduction and is eager to project an air of inevitability around his campaign, particularly as attention builds around Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely seen as his toughest potential GOP rival.

Trump campaign officials insist that the vice presidential search is not something they have been actively discussing.

We appreciate all support for President Trump, but the clear focus is on making sure that he wins the Republican nomination and is well-positioned to win the general election in 2024, said Jason Miller, a longtime Trump adviser.

That, however, hasnt stopped some could-be candidates from taking full advantage of opportunities to be in close proximity to Trump, at his club and at events. The dynamic was on full display earlier this month at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where a trio of women who have been mentioned as possible contenders sat in the audience to cheer Trumps headline speech.

They were Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Elise Stefanik of New York and Kari Lake, the news anchor-turned-failed-Arizona gubernatorial candidate who ended her remarks at a keynote event dinner by kissing a portrait of Trump that was placed on stage.

While Trump, according to people who have spoken to him, is in no rush to make a decision and understands that he has to let the nomination process play out, he has nonetheless talked through possible choices since well before he formally announced his candidacy last fall. In those conversations, he has indicated his interest in selecting a woman this time around.

But allies say Trump is looking, first and foremost, for someone who will be unabashedly loyal after feeling burned by former Vice President Mike Pence for refusing to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

In 2016, running as a celebrity businessman with no experience in politics, Trump chose a person who was, in many ways, his total opposite, picking the Indiana governor and former congressman who could bolster his standing with conservatives and the religious right.

Trump, this time, is looking for someone more like himself, said Michael Caputo, a longtime friend and adviser who believes Stefanik would be Trumps best choice.

I think the president learned a lot from his experience with Pence, he said. I think this time Trumps going to be looking for someone cut from the same cloth he is, not from a different, complementary cloth.

While Trump is looking for someone with star power, he has also signaled that he is reluctant to choose someone who might overshadow him in the race.

Among those who are seen as most eager for the job is Lake, who is popular with Trumps MAGA base and won and then promoted a CPAC straw poll that asked audience members whom they would like to see as the Republican vice presidential nominee. She is seen as unequivocally loyal to the former president, but detractors note she lost her only race and continues to dispute the results, which would draw attention to Trumps own election failures and intensify criticism that he is too focused on the past.

She said in a statement that she is 100% dedicated to serving as Arizona Governor even though Democrat Katie Hobbs, who defeated Lake, now holds the job and will also work to make sure President Trump gets back in the White House ASAP. Anything outside of those two goals is nothing but a distraction.

A person close to Lake said that she has had no formal discussions about the role and is currently gearing up for a potential run for the Senate. But the person, who, like others, insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations, also said Lake is unapologetically pro-Trump and would likely do anything he asked.

Greene, the flame-throwing congresswoman who recently proposed a national divorce between red and blue states, is also seen as eager for the role. She was a constant presence at Trumps midterm rallies, often speaking during the pre-show program, and has been a frequent visitor to Florida, including sharing dinner with Lake at a local restaurant, Roccos Tacos, on Valentines Day.

She sees herself on the short list for Trumps VP. Paraphrasing Cokie Roberts, when MTG looks in the mirror she sees a potential president smiling back, Steve Bannon, Trumps former chief strategist who frequently hosts Greene on his podcast, told NBC, referring to the late political reporter.

When asked about her vice presidential ambitions recently, Greene told reporters, Thats up to President Trump who he chooses.

Stefanik is also frequently mentioned as a likely contender, but has taken what allies describe as a more subtle approach. She endorsed Trump before he even announced he was running, and has become one of his chief defenders on the Hill. During CPAC, Stefanik used her speech to call for Trumps reelection and introduced him at a private event organized by his super PAC. Trump, in turn, praised her as a rocket ship.

People close to Stefanik say that, instead of overtly angling for the position, she is focused on doing her job as GOP conference chair and a member of the House Intelligence Committee, believing that if she does it well, good things will follow. But she nonetheless has the support of several Trump allies, who see her as disciplined and less risky than other potential options, and also point to her record for winning swing, suburban districts.

Stefanik, in an interview, said she had not discussed the position with Trump, though she has previously said she would be honored to serve in his administration.

We have a lot of work to do over the next two years and I am gonna work no matter what to make sure that we have a Republican president, House and Senate in 2024, she said. So thats what I focused on, and its a big job.

Trump has also discussed other potential running mates, including his former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, who has been reluctant to criticize the former president since launching her bid. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who would be the first Black man on a Republican presidential ticket, is seen as another potential option.

Allies say both are serious about running for president in their own right, not in hopes of angling to serve as vice president or in another Cabinet post, though many believe Haley, in particular, would be open to an offer.

Also mentioned as possible contenders: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who is considering her own presidential run; Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a supporter of the former president in 2016 and 2020; and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who appeared alongside the former president as he visited the state Monday.

Were going to have a lot of great choices for vice president. Were gonna pick a great one, Trump said during his swing through Iowa.

___

Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Meg Kinnard contributed to this report.

Go here to see the original:
Trump's VP? Some in GOP already jockeying for consideration - The Associated Press

As he runs for the White House a third time, former President Donald Trump appears to be embracing a campaign tradition he mostly avoided during his first two presidential campaigns: small scale retail politicking.

While Trump was known for his large rallies during his successful 2016 presidential campaign and his unsuccessful 2020 re-election bid, he rarely made small stops to talk with voters at restaurants, diners, coffee shops and fast-food joints.

During his trip last week to Iowa his first to the state that leads off the GOP presidential nominating calendar since launching his 2024 White House campaign in mid-November Trumps large-scale event at the Adler Theater in Davenport and his comments targeting likely rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis grabbed headlines.

POLL SUGGESTS TRUMP WIDENING LEAD OVER DESANSTIS IN 2024 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE

But just as telling about his campaign was his unannounced stop ahead of the rally to a Machine Shed restaurant, which is a popular chain in the Hawkeye State, where he mingled with patrons.

WHO'S IN AND WHO'S ON THE SIDELINES YOUR GUIDE TO THE 2024 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Last month, after visiting the site of a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, Trump stopped by a McDonald's fast-food restaurant.

FIRST ON FOX: DESANTIS HEADING TO NEW HAMPSHIRE FOLLOWING STOPS IN IOWA, NEVADA

And following his campaign kick-off event in South Carolina on Jan. 28, the former president whose love of fast food is well documented - surprised employees and customers as he stopped at Zesto of West Columbia, a restaurant known for its fried chicken, burgers and chocolate dipped ice cream cones.

Trump 2024 campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News "these types of visits garner a lot of eyeballs and attention, not just media-wise but social media-wise as well. But were still going to do rallies. This is not something in place of rallies."

"Its just another tool in the toolbox to get the president out there, meeting and interacting with people face-to-face," Cheung emphasized.

Trump announced this week that he would hold a large-scale rally in Waco, Texas, March 25 and his campaign said Saturday that any potential indictment from the Manhattan district attorney's office would not interrupt those plans.

The rest is here:
Donald Trump is doing something different as the former president runs for the White House a third time - Yahoo News

(Reuters) - (The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)

Class action and mass tort critics have been griping for years about television advertising by plaintiffs' lawyers who spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on TV ads exhorting purported victims to sign up and file lawsuits.

I havent seen similarly intense criticism from groups like the American Tort Reform Association and the U.S. Chambers Institute for Legal Reform to a newer and, arguably, more sophisticated form of trial lawyer advertising: internet sites that aggregate information about class actions and mass torts, allowing plaintiffs' lawyers to reach out to prospective plaintiffs via webpages describing investigations of potential claims.

Thats why I was so intrigued by a filing from the plaintiffs' firm Berger Montague on Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan. Berger Montague is trying to quash Robinhood Financial LLCs subpoena demanding information from the parent company of the website ClassAction.org.

The website, as the quash brief makes clear, facilitated Berger Montagues selection of lead plaintiffs for a Seattle federal court class action accusing Robinhood of breaching Washington state consumer law by sending unsolicited text messages to contacts of the trading platforms customers.

Both of the lead plaintiffs in the class action have said in declarations that they heard about the case from a webpage announcement at ClassAction.org. The online notice, which said that Robinhood text recipients in Washington state could be eligible for $500 or more, invited consumers to fill out an online form.

The information they supplied, the ad said, would be forwarded to Berger Montague, who has sponsored this investigation. Both lead plaintiffs said they signed retainer agreements with the firm after making contact through the ClassAction.org ad.

Robinhood is now demanding to know, via a subpoena to ClassAction.org parent Season 4 LLC, who else responded to the online ad. The subpoena also calls for Season 4 to disclose its communications about the ad with Berger Montague.

Robinhood lawyers Kenneth Payson and Lauren Rainwater of Davis Wright Tremaine did not respond to my email query on the subpoena but they are presumably looking for information related to class certification in the spam text case. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein of Seattle denied the companys dismissal motion last August. Berger Montagues class certification brief is due in September.

Berger Montagues Michelle Drake also didnt respond to my query. The firm argues in its motion to quash that Robinhoods subpoena demands information shielded by attorney-client or work-product privilege, citing a promise on the ClassAction.org page that consumers responses would remain confidential.

The two lead plaintiffs filed a separate motion to quash, also asserting that Robinhoods subpoena seeks privileged information. Berger Montague, which is handling both quash bids, has asked for the cases to be consolidated before U.S. District Judge John Cronan of Manhattan, who called for Robinhood to respond to the law firms motion by April 7.

If Robinhood prevails, I suspect lots of other defendants will try to squeeze information from the website. (Im assuming, because I havent seen quash motions from other plaintiffs' firms, that Robinhood is blazing this particular trail.)

ClassAction.org, after all, has webpages promoting dozens of class actions and mass tort cases, some already settled, some in litigation and some in preliminary investigative stages, like the Robinhood text case when Berger Montague ran its ad.

Berger Montague described the site as providing technical expertise and infrastructure that connects law firms with potential plaintiffs who have "experienced potential corporate misconduct and are seeking legal advice. Berger Montague has sponsored at least 10 ClassAction.org webpages calling on prospective plaintiffs to send contact information to the firm, based on my search of the sites pages for different cases.

But it's not the only firm making use of the site to connect with prospective clients. Among the other shops listed as sponsors of ClassAction.org webpages describing various ongoing and prospective cases are Simmons Hanly Conroy; Cohen, Placitella & Roth; and Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman.

The main ClassAction.org website says that the site's professionals, who are not themselves lawyers, have relationships with plaintiffs' lawyers across the country. Parent company Season 4 said on its separate website that the companys founders spun off their marketing and tech business from plaintiffs megafirm Morgan & Morgan in 2015.

Season 4 founders Tara Voss and Patrick Hanan, who are also listed as ClassAction.org leaders, did not respond to my email.

I did notice one other recent hint that defendants are beginning to realize the important role of sites like ClassAction.org. It came in last months report from the U.S. Chambers Institute for Legal Reform on the rise of mass arbitration.

The report described how plaintiffs firms now use websites, including ClassAction.org, to come up with long rosters of clients, in addition to the traditional methods of television and radio advertising. As you might expect, the report expresses concerns about whether prospective clients actually know that law firms are sponsoring these recruitment webpages. (For what its worth, I didnt have any trouble finding sponsorship information on the ClassAction.org pages I checked but I was specifically looking for it.)

Ill be interested to see how Robinhood justifies its demand for information from the site when it responds next month to Berger Montagues quash motion.

Read more:

U.S. Chamber blames judges, arbitrators and lawyers for mass arbitration 'abuses'

Mass tort TV ads fell in 2020 amid drop in Roundup advertising

Reporting By Alison Frankel; editing by Leigh Jones

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Thomson Reuters

Alison Frankel has covered high-stakes commercial litigation as a columnist for Reuters since 2011. A Dartmouth college graduate, she has worked as a journalist in New York covering the legal industry and the law for more than three decades. Before joining Reuters, she was a writer and editor at The American Lawyer. Frankel is the author of Double Eagle: The Epic Story of the Worlds Most Valuable Coin.

Continued here:
Robinhood hits class-action marketing firm with subpoena in spam ... - Reuters

By Calum Muirhead For The Daily Mail 22:32 22 Mar 2023, updated 10:34 23 Mar 2023

Advertising giant WPP has snapped up a marketing firm whose co-founder had criticised its strategy as not fit for purpose.

The FTSE 100 firm bought Goat, a social media-focused agency based in Londons Millbank Tower, for an undisclosed sum to merge with its influencer marketing arm INCA.

The deal could be worth as much as 400million, handing founders Arron Shepherd, Nick Cooke and Harry Hugo a handsome payday.

Influencer marketing is when companies and brands partner with popular online personalities to promote products to their audiences on sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

WPP said the acquisition will create the sectors first truly global influencer marketing agency with chief executive Mark Read saying the area was a key growth priority for the industry and for WPP.

Goat co-founder and boss Shepherd said they couldnt be happier to be joining the ad giant.

The comments are a major shift from Shepherds previous attitude to WPP. He previously said the firm hadnt quite worked out digital yet.

In an interview with The Influencer Marketing Lab podcast last March, Shepherd used the agency as an example of a group that was not doing that well.

The size of WPP, there might be 30 per cent to 40 per cent of their business that is literally not fit for purpose in the next three or four years, he added.

Shepherd also said at the time that Goat was considering a listing on the stock market and it hoped to become a similar entity to S4 Capital.

S4 is a marketing agency that was set up in 2016 by WPPs ex-boss Martin Sorrell after he resigned from the company amid misconduct allegations which he denies.

WPP shares rose 0.5 per cent, or 4.4p, to 953.6p after news of the deal.

While the takeovers worth was not disclosed, a source close to the matter indicated Goats value was not a million miles from past reported price tags.

These included reports from April last year that the firm was mulling a sale for a potential value of up to 400million.

Goat has worked with several major firms to sell products through online personalities.

It counts computer maker Dell, taxi app Uber and supermarket Tesco among its clients.

The company was founded in 2015 by Shepherd and his two partners Cooke and Hugo who, according to Goats website, met while working for a social media group in 2012.

It now has more than 150 staff across offices in London, New York and Singapore.

According to latest accounts filed with Companies House, the firm had a profit of 6.5million in 2021, more than triple the 1.8million reported the previous year.

The acquisition comes as WPP tries to shift away from traditional advertising models and towards new methods of reaching consumers amid the growing importance of social media and internet marketing.

WPP is also targeting the use of technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) in the industry, with Read saying last month AI was fundamental to the future of the business.

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

See the original post:
Influencer agency that criticised WPP sells out to WPP - This is Money