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Breaking: Manafort Found Guilty on 8 of 18 Counts, Cohen Pleads Guilty to 8 Counts
Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for candidate Donald Trump, was facing 18 criminal counts. The jury found him guilty on eight of the counts, which included five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The jury said that they could not reach consensus on 10 of the counts, so those were declared a mistrial.
At about the same time the Manafort verdict came in, Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to eight counts. He admitted that he paid a pornographic actress for her silence during the 2016 presidential campaign and pleaded guilty to multiple charges of bank and tax fraud.
JUST IN: Cohen tells court under oath that he violated campaign law *at the direction* of the candidate, Donald Trump; says he acted for the purpose of influencing the election, @CNN/@Reuters report.
— Mark Albert (@malbertnews) August 21, 2018
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Published in General
We shall see how things stand on Wednesday, November 7, 2018 the day after the Blue Wave, after we lose the House and numerous Senate and Governor seats that we should have won.
At that point, we realize that if we do not dump Trump, the country will dump us.
Depends.
But my example is not the CIA acting in an official capacity. My example is HRC paying a lawyer to pay a foreign agent for information from an “enemy government” in order to influence the outcome of the election. And she disguised these payments to avoid campaign finance law (I’m just throwing that one in gratis). Note that this actually happened; she didn’t take a meeting, hear someone out, then end the meeting with no more action. So what the hell are we talking about any of this for again? If what Trump Jr did was wrong, then what HRC did was treasonous. Personally, I am happy to classify it all as sleazy but not wrong, illegal, or traitorous. Until of course the Obama administration was brought on board and it became a real big league deal IMO.
When you conspire, the two parties to the conspiracy would actually have to come to some agreement to commit a crime.
Meeting with a Russian whom you are not certain of their relationship to Putin and not knowing what “dirt” they have, nor the origin of said “dirt” would only be a criminal conspiracy, if the Putin operative gave the “dirt” to the Trumps, if the said “dirt” was obtained illegally, and if the Trump team used the dirt to damage HRC.
None of that happened.
The Trump team met with a Russian who was a client of Glen Simpson of Fusion GPS for the purposes lobbying for the repeal of the Magnitsky Act(The Russian lawyers purposes …. Yes it certainly appears Donald Jr was hoping he was possibly getting “dirt” on HRC). Glen Simpson testified that he dined with the Russian lawyer both on the day before the Trump Tower meeting as well as the day of the meeting …. that’s a huge something is hinky red flag given Fusion GPS was also being paid by the HRC campaign to dig up “dirt” on Donald Trump.
Can you point me to the evidence that they knew the person was an agent of the Russian government before the meeting happened rather than just a Russian? I mean I’ve heard it speculated a number of times and it may well be true, but it seems to have moved from the realm of speculation to that of known fact without much comment.
Russia is a problem, but I don’t perceive it as an existential threat the way some do. The current iteration of the Russian Empire is a bunch of gangsters rather than a organization bent of the spread of the atheistic, international communist movement. Putin’s vision is regional and petty while Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler’s vision was terrifyingly grand. In any event, anyone serious about containing Russia would be pumping up Poland’s offer to move our bases there rather than complaining that Trump was mean to Belgium and Germany. While it is defensible to say that Russia is our enemy in a colloquial sense, it is not an “enemy declared;” this distinction has legal consequences.
I didn’t vote for Trump, but I have come to realize it is not unfair to some of his opponents to call them neo-John Birchers. It would be narrowly unfair to the John Birchers though. Whatever their other faults, at least their conspiracy theories were built around an actual existential threat (i.e. the old USSR). No word on whether the never-Trumpers are members of Antioch Baptist Church though.
Given the connection both the Manafort and Cohen cases have to Russian collusion I’m guessing our quarterback Mueller lays down a suicide squeeze bunt to try to find a Russian somewhere in the next 120 seconds
Mueller was appointed in mid-May 2017, so 15 months ago. That’s the longest half ever. Perhaps he can come up with something relevant in another 15 months, but I wouldn’t bank on it based on his lack of progress to date.
I heard he gives people cancer.
And there’s that dog on the roof thing.
He should probably be in jail over the bankruptcy of KB toys.
The inconvenient fact that nothing happened at the meeting is also never addressed in the lame attempts to insert collusion into the narrative. But “possible intent to collude” just doesn’t have the same ring for those for whom facts are a passing fancy.
This just needs to be repeated four or five more times.
Because failure to actually steal something makes burglary okay?
And for keeping women in binders like that.
And another thing related to Russia. Based on what is currently in the public record, Carter Page was spied on because he was favorable to Russia. He has been open about his Russia favoritism. When Russia tried to recruit him to spy, he informed the FBI and helped him out. It seems reasonable to infer, at least from the public record, that his Russia favoritism was what launched the FISA warrant rather than anything underhanded on this part. In fact, given is prior cooperation, it would seem that he was not inclined to help Russia in an underhanded way even as he advocated for a change in our relationship. I don’t share Mr. Page’s views, but it is concerning that you can be investigated for thinking in a different way then the intelligence community. It seems that once the intelligence community has decided to hate a particular country (and given the Obama administration’s previous statements regarding Russia, I’m not convinced they are not pretending to be concerned about Russia to stir things up), there can be no dissent. The fact that people are ok with this is problematic.
Heck, the Trump campaign was perceived as being more pro-Russia than Hillary, so why would anything pro-Russia that Trump does be surprising regardless of whether he worked with Russia to steal the election. If the question is, “Can the American people elect someone who wants to change our relationship with someone who the intelligence community has determined to be an enemy?” recent events and rhetoric indicates that no, no they can’t. They are allowed to.
I think you might be mixing sports metaphors here. I also think you aren’t mixing enough sports metaphors.
Let me see if I can straighten it out:
Mueller is trying to execute a statute [sic] of liberty play with 2 outs, 2 men on base, and a penalty shot with 2 periods remaining in a dead rubber match with a sticky wicket, but he’s got 3 men offsides in the scrum while the QB is attempting a punt fake. Or something like that.
How did Trump Jr try to burgle somebody simply by taking a meeting?
[EDIT: Never mind. This too is a well worn rut.]
Nice try …. not even close.
There was a great play in the College World Series, or playoffs preceding them. A close game. Players on the corners. One out. Both runners take their leads. The player on first breaks for second, and then falls face down to the ground. While the pitcher is distracted, the player on third scampers home. The pitcher throws to home, but too late. The runner on the ground gets up and saunters to second.
Have you ever seen how long other Special Counsel have taken? Mueller is moving at light speed.
Wow. Burglary is a crime in and of itself. Attending a meeting is not.
Delightful!
I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it’s immaterial as stated in any event. One would have to compare the matters under investigation, and the resources at the disposal of the prosecutor. Without such comparisons, the amount of time spent is meaningless.
Doesn’t that depend on what the meeting is about? I mean if Mafiosos “attend a meeting” it can be evidence of a crime depending on what was the purpose of the meeting.
It depends on a lot of things actually. Which is why some are balking at your comparison of this meeting to attempted burglary.
Maybe, maybe not. It would likely be part of a conspiracy, but conspiracies require a criminal act somewhere in the mix. There is no crime here as far as we know, and I’m not sure that there would be one even if the “dirt” on Hillary had actually been discussed (although it would look worse). The fact that it wasn’t is just further indication of what a reach hanging one’s hat on the meeting is. It’s pretty ironic, after the revelations about Fusion GPS and Steele, that there’s more evidence of collusion by the Clinton campaign (at least to date).
From the New York Sun:
A prosecutor is acting like a prosecutor? Heaven forfend!
Right, couple this with the Popodopalous revelations about them knowing about the Wikileaks stuff (hacking of emails by Russian agents) prior to release and there is probable cause to investigate a conspiracy to access illegally obtained information to influence the election I’m not saying that’s what happened, in fact it’s highly unlikely, but I’d stil like to know if it did.
Bret Stephens, who I dare not refer to as a NeverTrumper, has called for Trump’s impeachment in the wake of Cohen’s guilty plea. Wonder if there was a door prize at the Times for being the first to go there after yesterday’s events.