Fox News host Laura Ingraham raised eyebrows Monday with a thorough analysis of former President Donald Trump's relationship with Stormy Daniels, the adult film star at the heart of his criminal hush money trial.
Ingraham addressed viewers hours after Trump appeared in Manhattan criminal court for the first tumultuous day of his falsifying-business-records trial, in which District Attorney Alvin Bragg contends the former president covered up payments paid to Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
"Stormy Daniels thought she had leverage over Trump back in 2016 and she used that leverage to extract some money," Ingraham said. "Like other politicians who had made embarrassing mistakes, Donald Trump was apparently trying to get that episode behind him."
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges, tied to a $130,000 hush-money payment Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, gave Daniels. Prosecutors contend Trump's reimbursement constituted fraud.
And Trump denies he had an affair with Daniels, claiming that the payments were to protect his family from false claims. He has stated many times that he believes Bragg's case is a politically motivated witch hunt.
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That's why Ingraham's comment caught the eye of legal analyst Bradley Moss after a clip was shared on social media.
"Wait, is Ingraham admitting that Trump had the affair?" Moss asked. "Because Trump certainly hasn't admitted that."
Moss wasn't the only one surprised by Ingraham's take.
"So wait, Laura Ingraham is basically saying, 'Who among us hasn't paid off someone we were having an affair with so we can move on and get elected President?'" replied X user Russell Drew.
"The amount of knots that conservative commentators tie themselves into to defend Donald Trump remains breathtaking."
"Laura Ingraham is going through some things today," added Art Candee. "The cope is strong."