What is the next dot in this picture?

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Cohen forms a limited liability company, Essential Consultants, LLC to funnel money to Stormy Daniels/Stephanie Clifford:

President Donald Trump’s lawyer used a private Delaware company to pay a former adult-film star $130,000 in return for her agreeing to not publicly discuss an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, according to corporate records and people familiar with the matter.

The lawyer, Michael Cohen, established Essential Consultants LLC, on Oct. 17, 2016, just before the 2016 presidential election, corporate documents show. Mr. Cohen, who is based in New York, then used a bank account linked to the entity to send the payment to the client-trust account of a lawyer representing the woman, Stephanie Clifford, one of the people said.

He used pseudonyms to mask the true identities of the people involved:

To further mask the identities of the people involved in the agreement, the parties used pseudonyms, with Ms. Clifford identified as “Peggy Peterson,” according to a person familiar with the matter.

Cohen writes a public statement for Ms. Clifford to release to the public:

In a statement provided by Cohen from Daniels, she also calls the article "absolutely false."
"My involvement with Donald Trump was limited to a few public appearances and nothing more," she wrote in a statement, dated January 10. "When I met Donald Trump, he was gracious, professional and a complete gentleman to me and EVERYONE in my presence. Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false. If indeed I did have a relationship with Donald Trump, trust me, you wouldn't be reading about in the news, you would be reading about it in my book. But the fact of the matter is, these stories are not true."

She had apparently been contemplating going public until the payment had been made:

We both spoke to Daniels and to Gina Rodriguez, a former porn actress turned agent, who Daniels was using to negotiate with media organizations. I gathered that Daniels was also discussing going public on Good Morning America. At one point she considered holding a press conference in Dallas, where she lives.

And then, about a week before the election, Daniels stopped responding to calls and text messages. A friend of hers told me Daniels had said she’d taken the money from Trump after all.

Common Cause files a complaint related to the payment:

The pair of complaints filed by Common Cause said that the source of the $130,000 payment remains unknown, but they added that regardless of where it originated — even “if Donald J. Trump provided the funds” — the money was aimed at affecting the election and then never reported.

Cohen says he paid the money out of his own pocket (like that makes it all better):

"I am Mr. Trump’s longtime special counsel and I have proudly served in that role for more than a decade. In a private transaction in 2016, I used my own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Ms. Stephanie Clifford," Cohen said.

Ordinarily the next step would involve some kind or larger investigation or filing of criminal charges or somebody resigning in disgrace. None of that will likely be next. The question is , what will be next?

[Orsino]

1. What comes next is the Edwards indictment. n/t

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

2. Do you think so?

Will it be against Cohen or Trump? I think Cohen just opened himself up to disbarment at a minimum. In the great scheme of things this is on the lower side of Trump crimes. Sometimes its the little things that cause the most trouble.

[Orsino]

6. Cohen is clearly trying to take the fall by pretending it was all his idea.

We will discover that this was far from the first such arrangement, and charging Cohen will be easy. That won't translate into the magical ability to indict a sitting president.

That can come later, if President Pence finds his predecessor too radioactive to pardon.

[NCTraveler]

3. I would love to see the financials for these companies.

The dirt is here.

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/TrumpFinancialDisclosure20150722.pdf

[global1]

4. Dumb Question Here: Is Daniels In Any Trouble For Accepting The Hush Money?...nt

[OnDoutside]

5. As long as she declares it on her taxes, i don't see a problem.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

7. That's not a dumb question

She could be if she asked for the payment. That would be blackmail. I think that would have been the first thing we would have heard from Mr. Cohen if true.