The consequences of our actions almost always go well beyond ourselves.

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OPINION

A lawyer wakes up from surgery and asks, “Why are the blinds drawn?” The nurse responds, “There’s a huge fire across the street…we didn’t want you to think you died.”

Lawyer jokes…there are thousands of them…and some are funny. They’re not so much true, of course, though we might like to believe they’re true. Lawyers - good and bad - are the used-car salesmen of professionals to many folks…and so, we like to poke fun at them.

This is a story about two lawyers. They are the same man. He did the wrong thing…and the right thing. His name is Cameron Stracher. He was general counsel for American Media Inc. (AMI) in 2015 and 2016 - when he did wrong - until 2018…when he did right. AMI, then owner of the National Enquirer, changed its name to A360 Media, then sold the tabloid in 2023.

The 99-year-old National Enquirer practices “check-book journalism”…they pay people for “tips” or outright stories and sometimes they pay for the right to own a story…so that it never gets published…anywhere.

(DON THOMPSON / iNFOnews.ca)

Stracher wrote contracts for this latter version of journalism for the National Enquirer…a so-called “catch and kill” strategy in tabloid parlance. Then-Publisher David Pecker - a friend of Donald Trump - began protecting this man with a checkered past as he started his first presidential campaign.

In late 2015, Dino Sajudin, a former Trump Tower doorman, claimed Trump had an affair with a former housekeeper…and Trump fathered a secret love-child. Pecker authorized a payment of $30,000 for Sajudin’s story…with Stracher writing the contract…both knowing the story would never run.

Then, in June of 2016 - four months before the election - Karen McDougal came forward claiming scandalous behaviour by Trump. McDougal swore she had an affair with Trump. Once again, Pecker opened his check-book…this time paying  $150,000 for her account. As before, the story never ran. Pecker and Stracher, who gave legal counsel, saw to that.

There’s no evidence that the Sajudin story was anything more than fantasy…a journalistic blackmail scheme that worked and might have been believed given Trump’s dubious reputation.

The McDougal affair…is a different story. The story leaked…running in The Wall Street Journal just days before the November 2016 presidential election. It was one of what would become dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump over the years.

A month earlier the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape surfaced…with Trump describing his attempt to seduce a married woman. He said - on tape - that he might even start kissing a young woman that he and “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush were about to meet…with an assertion that he could do this because of who he was.

Trump said, "I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything...grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Even this revelation had little effect on Republican voters. Many Right Wing commentators simply argued that Trump’s remarks were nothing more than truth…sexual consent is easier to obtain for the famous and wealthy. Republican voters bought it.

Recently, Stracher wrote about his feelings then and now in The New York Times. Stracher tortures himself some in the opinion piece…he questions whether he could have made a difference regardless of his actions.

Stracher surmised that even if he hadn’t written the contracts ultimately protecting Trump…no doubt some other lawyer would have. Such are the what-ifs in Stracher’s opinion piece.

He freely admits knowing the payoffs “would have the effect of silencing people with stories to tell, legitimate topics (certainly in Ms. McDougal’s case) for investigation and discussion during a presidential campaign.”

In 2018, Stracher faced writing a contract on a different high-profile story. He looked at it with fresh eyes…stood his ground and gave good counsel…but lost his job for it. Today, Stracher feels all the better for it…knowing he did the right thing.

Still, he tortures himself some…wondering if the world might have been a different place based on his actions. That kind of torture simply isn’t right. I have little doubt that Stracher is an excellent lawyer…a man with a sharp legal mind…and ethics…even if found a hair too late to save the world from a Trump presidency.

There are other good lawyers out there…many who are or were in the Trump Administration. Remember the interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon. She quit earlier this year rather than buckle under to Justice Department and White House demands to drop prosecution of New York Mayor Eric Adams.

A lot of lawyers in the Justice Department have left or announced their intentions to resign…nearly 100 whose consciences and appreciation of the rule of law trumps simply keeping a job.

We all face the challenges of doing the right things…perhaps some more critical to world peace than others. But we should all recognize that the consequences of our actions almost always go well beyond ourselves.

It turns out lawyer jokes are no laughing matter some times. As for Cameron Stracher…I’d call him for a legal opinion anytime.

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.

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