TXAggie2011 said:
Ag with kids said:
So...
Let's just assume the following as facts...
Trump paid Cohen, a lawyer, for having him get SD to sign an NDA.
An NDA is a legal document.
The attorney was performing a job he had been tasked with - a legal service.
So, explain to me how classifying these as "legal expenses" is in any way incorrect.
Is there a ledger entry that should chosen that said "illegal campaign contribution for legal expenses"?
An NDA is a contract. Payments made to another party per a contract aren't "legal fees." Legal fees are what you paid the lawyer to negotiate and draft the contract.
Mike Elko's salary isn't "legal fees" for A&M even though its a payment per a written contract negotiated and drafted by lawyers. Or, more analogous, Jimbo Fisher's payout isn't "legal fees" even though A&M's lawyers negotiated a contract for Jimbo to not coach.
Lets say you owned a trucking business and you had a contract to lease 50 trucks for $XXXX per month, which you're lawyer negotiated. Those monthly payments aren't legal fees, even though it was negotiated by a lawyer.
If at least some of the payments marked as legal fees weren't actually for legal services, but were actually for Stormy Daniels or to reimburse Cohen for paying Stormy Daniels, then they at least were making an accounting mistake, even if the state doesn't prove a crime.
(***With the obvious exception of payments to a lawyer per a contract for legal services would be legal fees.)
You're splitting hairs. Again.
All of the examples you stated above ultimately resulted in counsel being retained for - and billing for - negotiating and drafting of the contract. Period.
The Trump case is different. To expand on one of your examples above, if A&M hired a consultunt to "take care of the Jimbo Fisher" problem, that could concievably include negotiating, drafting and compensating JF for his departure. Then, the consultant would bill A&M for the whole thing, including compensation.
You are suggesting that if said consultant fails to break down what was negotiating, what was drafting, and what was consulting, then the responsibility is on A&M for the lack of clarity in the invoice.
Based upon your rationale, any construction contract has the potential to be "criminally" miscoded because it was bid and invoiced as a lump sum contract. However, in reality, there was materials, there was labor, there were subcontracts, and there was overhead and profit Your analogy assumes that the building owner now could bear some responsibility of how the contractor invoiced his billings.
Your whole line of reasoning is unreasonable.
You are kind of losing the whole "Baffle them with BS" game. Your might consider packing it in.