In mid-April 2018 the WSJ reported that a $1.6 million payment had been agreed upon to be paid under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to Shera Bechard, the supposed mistress of Elliot Broidy, then deputy finance chair of the GOP and major Trump fund raiser. It was further disclosed that the woman had become pregnant and was going to have or had an abortion. There are several coincidences in this story that suggest all may not be as it seems.
- The WSJ story of the Broidy mistress/pregnancy/abortion/NDA came four days after the federal agents raided Michael Cohen’s offices and residences.
- Curiously, the parties to the NDA use the same pseudonym for Broidy as was used for Trump in the Stormy Daniels NDA—David Dennison. They also use the same pseudonym for Ms Bechard, Peggy Peterson.
- Michael Cohen is the lawyer for Broidy in the matter of the NDA just as he was for Trump.
- Keith Davidson is the lawyer for the mistress just as he was for Stormy Daniels in her NDA with Trump and just as he was for Linda MacDougal in her NDA with Trump.
- Reports are that Broidy, though not a paragon of virtue, did not have a reputation of promiscuous behavior; his reputation was more as the one who paid off the mistresses of politicians rather than paying off his own.
- The first payment under the NDA with MS Bechard was made in early December 2017 concurrent with Broidy being awarded a hundred million dollar plus contract with UAE for which he lobbied for through advocacy against Qatar with the Trump administration. He met with Trump in early December.
- And finally, Michael Cohen was reluctant to name his third client—after naming Trump and Broidy—at the hearing with the judge regarding setting up review procedures for the materials the FBI seized during the raid of Cohen’s offices/residences. Why? After eventually naming Hannity, Hannity seemed to react with some surprise in discussions of the matter.
There is not enough data to reach a definitive conclusion but the circumstantial evidence lays out enough dots to plausibly point to Donald Trump as the exclusive client of Michael Cohen. In view of the FBI raid of Cohen properties, it seems there would be a natural interest in shuffling off a recent Trump paid-for abortion to Broidy. If there is another Trump paid-for abortion in the bushes that has not but which may come to light, some loyal soldier’s name would be useful as a preemptive stand-in client to shield Trump from the likely blow back from his evangelical base for being an ongoing abortion machine. Conclusive? No. But certainly plausible based on Trump’s conduct in such matters and the strange and baffling coincidences noted above. (JAMESS post on apr 14 covers much of this same ground)