Now Reading
TESTIMONY: Kellyanne Conway called in for questioning by NY prosecutors

TESTIMONY: Kellyanne Conway called in for questioning by NY prosecutors

TESTIMONY: Kellyanne Conway called in for questioning by NY prosecutors

Kellyanne Conway, the former counselor to disgraced ex-president Donald Trump, was called to meet with prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office today in their investigation of Trump’s hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, according to a report in The New York Times.

The move is seen as a sign that the prosecutors are stepping up their rejuvenated probe of the payments made to Daniels by Trump through his former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, during the 2016 presidential campaign to keep the news of their illicit affair from leaking to the press and damaging his chances of election.

Seeking to hide evidence of his infidelity from the evangelical voters who made up a sizeable portion of his base, Trump had Cohen send his porn star lover a $130,000 payment in the last weeks of his 2016 campaign, in a clear violation of campaign finance laws.

Why has Kellyanne Conway been brought in for questioning?

Michael Cohen explained her role in the 2020 memoir he wrote while in prison for his own role in the payments.

“I called Trump to confirm that the transaction was completed, and the documentation all in place, but he didn’t take my call — obviously a very bad sign, in hindsight,” Cohen wrote.

With Trump unavailable, Cohen said that Conway “called and said she’d pass along the good news.”

In addition to Conway, five other witnesses have reportedly given testimony to the prosecutors in the investigation that was reopened by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in January, including

  • Jeffrey McConney and Deborah Tarasoff, both employees of the Trump Organization;
  • David Pecker and Dylan Howard, senior executives at The National Enquirer, which had a hand in arranging the payments; and
  • Keith Davidson, a former lawyer for Ms. Daniels.

Bragg had initially put the case on hold for what other people involved in the case thought was a mistaken impression that it would be a difficult case to win. Mark Pomerantz, one of the senior prosecutors originally assigned to the investigation, resigned at that time in protest over the move.

With the addition of Kellyanne Conway to the list of people being interrogated about the payments, it’s now possible that Bragg has shed any concerns he may have previously had about the strength of the evidence in any case against Trump.

The questioning of senior players in the hush money saga could mean that Bragg is close to a decision as to whether he should actually indict Trump for campaign finance violations.

According to The New York Times:

“In Manhattan, any case would likely center on whether Mr. Trump was involved with the falsification of business records related to the payment to Ms. Daniels. When Mr. Trump repaid Mr. Cohen for the $130,000 payout to Ms. Daniels, the Trump Organization falsely recorded the reimbursements as legal expenses.”

“It can be a crime in New York to falsify business records. But to make it a felony, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors would have to show that Mr. Trump was involved in the falsification of the records to help commit or conceal a second crime — in this case, likely a violation of New York State election law, a legal theory that has not been tested.”

With Trump claiming that the investigation is just another political witch hunt, one of the key questions that Bragg must consider is how a jury would react to testimony from Michael Cohen, who pled guilty to federal charges in relation to the payments and admitted to initially lying when questioned about them.

With Trump facing multiple investigations in both Georgia and Washington DC for 2020 election fraud and his role in instigating the January 6th insurrection, it would be appropriate if the first indictment he’s handed comes from his earlier crimes and happens in his hometown of New York.

Nonetheless, we’ll take whatever indictment comes first.

Original reporting by Sean Piccoli, Jonah E. Bromwich, Ben Protess, and 

Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.

Vinnie Longobardo
Managing Editor
Vinnie Longobardo is the Managing Editor of Occupy Democrats. He's a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.

© 2022 Occupy Democrats. All Rights Reserved.

Scroll To Top