Alyssa Mastromonaco, former deputy chief of staff for operations in the Obama administration recently wrote, “When you go to work in the White House, you divest yourself of your secrets for the same reason you divest yourself of your financial holdings: so people can’t blackmail you.”

Jared and Ivanka Trump both lied about their debt while filing their disclosure forms with the FBI for their security clearances. They initially claimed their debts were somewhere between $19 million to $98 million. Later, they had to resubmit to claim their debts were actually somewhere between $31 million to $155 million. They’re either liars or they don’t own a calculator.

People working in the West Wing who don’t come clean about the amount of their debt, or who they’re indebted to, or the fact they’re wife beaters, are susceptible to blackmail. This doesn’t apply just to people who work for the president, but the person who is the president. Our first warning sign was the fact he wouldn’t release his taxes.

Donald Trump is the first president in the modern era not to release his taxes. He promised he would and then reneged on that promise. Whether his supporters care or not, he’s got something to hide. While we initially thought he was hiding the fact he’s not as rich as he claims, it’s come to light that he’s hiding where his money is coming from and who he’s indebted to.

While Donald Trump may be more of a collection of horrible traits than an actual human being, the horrible trait of being exposed to blackmail may be the most serious and dangerous to our nation.

There shouldn’t be a debate whether Trump is susceptible to blackmail because blackmail has been paid in the past to protect him. It may not ever come to light that Trump ever paid blackmail himself, as his friends at the National Enquirer and his lawyer have covered his ass for him in the past.

The National Enquirer buys stories from women who claim they’ve slept with Trump, sign the rights so the publication has the exclusive story, and then never publish the story. Trump’s lawyer claims he paid off porn star Stormy Daniels without ever consulting with his client, was never paid back by Trump, the Trump Organization, or the Trump campaign. Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer, claims he used his home equity line to pay Daniels $130,000. He just hasn’t admitted what that payment was for, though we all know what it was for.

Cohen could be disbarred for violating ethic rules. He is also in trouble for violating campaign finance rules, as his payment, a few days before the election, was to help Trump’s campaign. Cohen did not make the payment out of the goodness of his heart. He’s a lawyer for a right-wing scumbag. He doesn’t have a heart.

Is Stormy Daniels the only woman who has been paid to keep quiet about an affair with Trump? If not, who has made those payments in the past? More troubling, if Trump will pay blackmail to hide infidelity and other assorted sex scandals, how far will he bend for more serious players, like Vladimir Putin? How clean can someone be when the main selling point for their property is that it’s great for money laundering?

A person open to blackmail is not a person we want negotiating with Vladimir Putin or even Kim Jong Un. The fact Trump hasn’t criticized Putin, enacted authorized sanctions against Russia, or even attempt to protect our nation from Russia is an indication that someone somewhere connected to Russia has something on Trump.

When Trump is questioned by Robert Mueller, he’ll be asked about Stormy Daniels and the payoff. Republicans considered perjury an impeachable offense for Bill Clinton. It should still be an impeachable offense when Trump lies about Stormy Daniels.

The Stormy affair may not be dangerous to the nation, but if it removes Trump from office it will protect us from more dangerous players.

Here’s the video.

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