How many have come to presume by now that Melania’s behavior is simply the result of having previously signed the “Mother of All NDA’s”?
As in, “You are not allowed to divorce me while I am President.”?
I’ve found though, that the evidence based on Trump’s actual previous behavior is cumulatively overwhelming in favor of this, that some people have dismissed to me as being highly improbable.
I say, “Yeah for me, maybe for you, I dunno.” Trump though has pages of historic and very public evidence, of his lack of restraint in this regard. For him, it seems all too natural an act. He’s done everything else in regards to exerting ultimate power over all other people around him, why would this be such a leap, for Trump?
The Atlantic.com; 1–17–2018; “Donald Trump’s Long History of Paying for Silence; The president denies paying a porn actress not to speak about an alleged affair, but he’s often linked payments to confidentiality agreements in the past.”:
(…) “The suggestion of hush money is easier to credit because it fits with a pattern from Trump in the past. Faced with the prospect of damaging revelations about his personal life, the otherwise parsimonious Trump has often paid out. As part of his 1992 divorce from Ivana Trump, the developer agreed to divide assets, but imposed a sweeping gag order on his ex-wife:
‘Without obtaining [the husband’s] written consent in advance, [the wife] shall not directly or indirectly publish, or cause to be published, any diary, memoir, letter, story, photograph, interview, article, essay, account, or description or depiction of any kind whatsoever, whether fictionalized or not, concerning her marriage to [the husband] or any other aspect of [the husband’s] personal, business or financial affairs, or assist or provide information to others in connection with the publication or dissemination of any such material or excerpts thereof.’(…)
(…) “If Ivana broke the agreement, Donald could cut off all benefits to her. The agreement seems to have had some curious repercussions. During a deposition for the divorce, Ivana accused him of marital rape, as Harry Hurt reported in his book The Lost Tycoon. But when the book came out, Donald’s lawyers provided a statement from Ivana, printed in the book, that sought to soft-pedal the allegation. “I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense,” it said.
When Trump’s marriage to Marla Maples, for whom he left Ivana Trump, crumbled, she too, signed a confidentiality agreement, as he revealed in 1999, when he floated a presidential run and she told a British newspaper, “If he is really serious about being president and runs in the general election next year, I will not be silent. I will feel it is my duty as an American citizen to tell the people what he is really like.” Trump withheld an alimony payment.
‘I mean you have a confidentiality agreement; you’re not allowed to talk,’ he told Fox News, as BuzzFeed reported in 2016. “And she goes out and says, ‘I wouldn’t this, I wouldn’t that.’ So I say, ‘Why am I paying money to somebody that’s violated an agreement?’ But we’ll see what happens in the future and if in the future she continues I guess I’ll have to take very strong measures.” Maples has been generally complimentary during Trump’s latest turn in politics.”(…)
Fortune.com; 1–25–2017; “Trump Administration Puts Gag Order on Several Government Agencies”
Washington Post.com; 3–18–2018; “Trump had senior staff sign nondisclosure agreements. They’re supposed to last beyond his presidency.”:
Salon.com; 1–24–2017; “Donald Trump is already trying to muzzle leakers — but government employees have broad free speech rights”:
“For decades now, one of Donald Trump’s main weapons has been the nondisclosure agreement, known in the business world as the NDA. Such contracts generally require the person signing it to remain publicly silent about anything he or she learns over the course of a job or business arrangement. Interestingly, the agreements that Trump used in his real estate business also forbade a signee from ever offering any public criticism of Trump for the rest of time.
As the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape shows, Trump likely has good reason to want everyone he interacts with to be bound to silence about their experience, which is why his lawyers compulsively force these contracts onto literally everyone that they can: his employees at the Trump Organization, his campaign staff, his transition team and so on.
His wives have all signed prenuptial agreements compelling their silence, and he has threatened to yank alimony to keep it that way.
Unsurprisingly, Trump also forced Miss Universe contestants to sign contracts denying them the right to criticize him publicly or reveal anything they learned about him. (Alicia Machado, a Miss Universe winner who publicly shared a story about Trump fat shaming her, won her crown before Trump acquired the beauty pageant. This may be why she was able to speak more forthrightly than other contestants.) Trump even tried to force his campaign volunteers to sign nondisclosure agreements.”(…).
