Cohen pleads guilty to false statements to Congress about Trump Tower Moscow project
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I don't know about you, but if I were a prosecutor trying to build a case, I would pressure the cooperating witnesses to plead to the ultimate crime or a conspiracy with respect thereto. Instead Mueller has all of his star cooperating witnesses admit they are liars. That tells me that Mueller isn't building a case--because there is no case. Instead he is building a report. For those in Rio Linda he is building a smear.
A crazy question might be why all these people lied to a prosecutor. I would think every one of their lawyers told them the importance of not lying, absolutely every tv pundit/lawyer stressed that point over and over again. Do not lie to a prosecutor under oath. Yet it appears many successful people went out there and did just that. So maybe their lawyers aren't very bright, these successful people aren't very bright, or there is an attempt to hide something bigger. I'm far from sold on that last one, but it has to be well inside the realm of possibility.
You are a lawyer, would you not have stressed the importance of not lying to your client?
You have no idea exactly what Mueller has done- all you see is what’s made public. Which is very little. Remember a few things.
1. Mueller has access to a grand jury. Very few details have emerged from those sessions.
2. Mueller is working his way up the ladder. And, it takes time to procure corroborating information obtained from those along the way. Especially when it’s not in this country (Deutsche Bank, for example).
3. The pubs in the senate aren’t making a fuss about the investigation. I don’t trust a damn thing the house group does (like Nunes, Jordan), because it was clear they were only out to protect Trump, not find the truth.
If there was nothing there, then they’d be raising help right now. They have a much clearer picture than you or I do. Or for that matter, anybody on this board.
4. There will be several developments this week. Flynn is being sentenced, the plea agreement related to Cohen will be released & other actions relating to Manafort will be addressed. They may tell us something, or they may not. But there is definitely movement.
5. Trump was named in Cohen’s case (“individual 1”). And we know now that Trump (or agent(s) of Trump with jisnapproval) was/were actively negotiating to build Trump tower while he was running for the GOP nod, and while he was the presumptive nominee. Trump and his folks vehemently denied that this was the case- and several appear to have perjured themselves in testimony to the senate and House. That’s clear from the record.
Why did they all lie?
Also, it wasn’t coincidence that he Cohen news about continued contact with Russia (after Trump lies about it) dropped right after Trump submitted his written answers. Trump’s answers to at least two questions lined up with Cohen’s former position- the ones he admitted to lying about. In other words, it appears Trumpbwas lying on their answers.
Again, why would he lie, and deny contact with the Russians about business opportunities past a certain point?
A big part of any case regarding wrongdoing it motive. It looks like that picture is becoming more clear. Trump clearly still valued Russian business opportunities (even if it meant doing it in secret, with a Bank that was and still is under sanctions fromthe US ((VSB)). Keep in mind that all of this is happening while wiki leaks is receiving and then releasing hacked Dem emails. And Trump is actively asking Russia to help him in that area at campaign rallies. Don’t forget that the US intelligence agencies view wiki leaks as essentially an arm of Russian intelligence now.
In other words, it looks like the Russians switched from dangling the Trump tower opportunity to hooking him with assistance with getting and revealing dirt on Clinton. That’s why Stone will likely be indicted soon, as well as Corsi.
Don’t ever forget about the Trump tower meeting. Clearly, the Russians were interested in helping Trump in some way, so they have something that he compromised on to hold over his head. Classic kompramat.
6. This is a huge web of activity/people. It’s not going to happen fast- especially when the president’s Party has been working to actively undermine the investigation, and won’t cooperate fully.
Trump could’ve sped this up considerably by sitting down with the special counsel for an innoerson interview. And he’s avoided doing it, and took forever to answer written questions.
In short, there’s been a lot of reporting that suggests what we’ve seen is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. And Trump has been referenced in some court filings involving Cohen.
7. Mueller knows that Manafort lied to him- and he has to prove that to a court to rip up the cooperation agreement with Manafort. That tells me he’s got evidence that we don’t know about. It doesn’t make sense to interpret that any other way.
I suggest you start reading different news sources about what’s going on. Clearly, your news bubble isn’t keeping you in the loop. There’s a LOT going on, and we’ll start to see more and more. This week has a lot of potential.
Sometimes you crack me up CO. You’re so willing to ignore all the smoke- which at this point is a massive dark cloud hovering over the presidency.
Much of the lying was not to Mueller. They were lying to IRS and congress. The FBI didn’t even think Flynn was lying, yet he pleaded to that under the financial and family pressure Mueller brought to bear.
One interesting aspect of this is that Mueller’s report need not contain exculpatory information he has uncovered. In a prosecution, Mueller must disclose exculpatory information to the defense. Apparently this was a problem with Mueller’s Cohen information.
A couple of them lied to save taxes. Flynn may not have lied. I have no idea why Cohen lied to Congress because the truth was not evidence of a crime. Maybe he wanted to keep the generous Trump retainer. The others are so far down in the weeds that they really don’t matter. In any event, the lies don’t have a common purpose other than to prove the witnesses are all liars.
That is true. But even the Trump clan (Jr.) lied about the Russian contacts re: Trump tower project. That’s per some senators that have referred the testimony they got from him to the special counsel’s Office.
Whatever it is, I’m going to assume that they’re somehow related- because Mueller isn’t going to keep digging if there’s nothing there. Clearly, he’s got evidence that we have no idea about right now. Between Gates, Flynn & Cohen (and Trump’s accountant Weiselberg who took a plea deal), he’ll have plenty of info to go check out.
Do you think it’s Ok for a presumptive presidential candidate to actively seek a deal with a hostile foreign power, with financing from a sanctioned bank? And then lie about it, repeatedly?
I certainly don’t. And I suspect that’s just the beginning.
LOL. There was nothing there when Mueller was appointed. That is the point Dershowitz, Turley, McCarthy et. al. have been making for more than a year. Nothing there doesn't stop Mueller.
My memory of the time line isn't the same of yours. By the time Trump became the "presumptive nominee" I think negotiations were already terminated. That would be June of 2016. As a practical matter, as the Cohen testimony shows, the negotiations were going nowhere and probably practically ended months before that, maybe in January.
Trump repeatedly said he had no business ties to Russia. The evidence about efforts to build a hotel do not disprove that. IIRC, the parties never even got to a LOI stage with the proposed hotel.
Google is your friend. Sometimes it’s like you just to want to seek counter info. I don’t understand CO- you’re a smart guy. It’s almost as if you’ve just stopped being intellectually curious, and just follow the tribe these days.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ow-deal-michael-cohens-latest-plea-agreement/
It’s pretty clear they wanted to keep the ongoing talks secret- after it was pretty clear that Trump was either going to have a strong shot to win the pub nomination, or was actually the presumptive nominee.
If there was nothing wrong with it, why go to such great lengths to deny it? And, why all the meetings and attempts at back channels AFTER the negotiations here ceased? Why has Trump never said a bad word about Putin/Russia, when he attacks everything and everyone? That doesn’t interest you in the slightest bit?
Again, you’ve got to start reading better news sources. If you’ve read what I’ve read (actual reporting and analysis from experts vs opinion pieces trying to debunk the probe), you’d probable have a different outlook. Or, maybe not.
The dots are there. Mueller is connecting them. It takes time. And we’re all essentially in the dark (with a few bread crumbs coming from Mueller’s office) to sustain us until the report comes out.
I’ll give you a clue as to what’s going on- anytime Rudy Giuliani goes on the attack re: Mueller, there’s clearly something there that Trump is trying to get in front of at the moment. The latest was a leak proclaiming the answers to two of the written questions. Which, lined up with Cohen’s previously testimony- which was full of lies.
I won’t engage COH on this, and most topics. Don’t forget he created a narrative that the Mueller team was “leaking like a sieve” despite every shred of evidence showing the exact opposite.
It just seems this is going to boil down to physical evidence. If Cohen has anything that proves that Trump knew of the plan to offer the $50 million penthouse to Putin, it is very big trouble for Trump in my opinion. It could be a recorded conversation, an email, a text, or possibly even contemporaneous notes. Bribing foreign officials is a crime and will lead to the House at least entertaining impeachment.
But if there is no other evidence than Cohen's word that he brought it up with Trump, I doubt it gets into an impeachment debate (but I am certain there would still be a public House committee hearing). Cohen's veracity is somewhat in question. Even if we think he's telling the truth, getting past reasonable doubt would be very tough. I do suspect there are enough Democrats who would hold that reasonable doubt thought to prevent impeachment hearings. Bringing impeachment hearings and failing to get the votes to impeach would be a disaster.
But if there is no other evidence than Cohen's word that he brought it up with Trump, I doubt it gets into an impeachment debate (but I am certain there would still be a public House committee hearing). Cohen's veracity is somewhat in question. Even if we think he's telling the truth, getting past reasonable doubt would be very tough. I do suspect there are enough Democrats who would hold that reasonable doubt thought to prevent impeachment hearings. Bringing impeachment hearings and failing to get the votes to impeach would be a disaster.
I don’t mind it- as long as someone is willing to read the links/debate actual facts on an issue/situation.
I DO wish that sometimes folks broadened their news bubble. I read it all- even the stuff that I suspect going in will p!ss me off. It’s always possible they’ll enlighten me on something I haven’t seen yet, or will make me think about changing my position. Re: Mueller investigation, there’s a TON of little pieces that are starting to add up. The info is out there- but you have to be willing to engage it.
IMO, it’s pretty clear that Trump wanted to do business in Russia, and actually did business with a lot of Russians (via shell companies that were fronts for Russians trying to get $$$ money out of Russia, and they did so by buying some of his properties).
When the NYT’s reported about Cohen meeting with Russians in the middle of 2016, it became clear to the Russians that having some financial leverage over him wasn’t going to work, at least not in the form of the Trump tower deal.
So they switched tactics. And offered assistance via Wikileaks, to take down HRC. Wikileaks is essentially an arm of Russian intelligence. It’s oretty clear to me that the Trump campaign had a heads up at the least on what was going to happen, and welcomed it. At the least. Don’t ever forget about all the changing stories about the Trump tower meeting? Also, don’t forget how small the Trump business group actually is- it’s the very definition of a family business. What one knew, they all knew. The bad news for Trump is that Cohen was at least on the periphery of the family- so he knows a lot. How else do you explain him giving 70 hours of testimony to the special council? Clearly it wasn’t just about his own crimes. Also, Don McGann spent over 20 hours talking to the special council. And Flynn is about to be sentenced after cooperating. And Gates will be also.
All insiders. If there was no “there”, there, why would they have spent that much time with the special counsel?
Also, how the hell else do you explain the dozens of Russian contacts, and all the already exposed “alternative facts” (lies) about those meetings? If it was all innocent, wouldn’t this be over by now?
In the real world, there simply 0 chance that all these things are coincidences. You can explain away a few of them, but collectively they signal that Trump is in trouble.
But, the beauty of it all is that we shall see eventually. The truth will come out- and I’m ready for it either way.
The NSA will figure in at some point. It won’t be solely about someone’s word- all these folks have issues with the truth.
Trump doesn’t email, but he does talk to a lot of people. And Cohen documented everything- so once you know about something, it’s a matter of tracking down corroborating evidence.
Well, yeah, you're on top of this except for the part where you have no idea what other evidence Mueller has available in his back pocket to bring out at an actual trial if needed.
However, save your post and fast forward to the day that Mueller goes to trial and this turns out to be all the evidence he has. In that eventuality, you might well be right. Are you a transaction lawyer?
Did you know there actually is a "spokesman" for the Special Counsel's office?
What a cake job. I wonder what it pays.
"Individual 1" says "Hell yes!"
WTF! He has something to confess?
Soon to be followed by:
In fact, we’ve over-criminalised all laws related to government officials.
We really need to get government out of crime. American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. They are job creators.
#RealFreedom
#Lawsareforpussies.
Soon to be followed by:
- We’ve over-criminalised corruption
- We’ve over-criminalised money laundering
- We’ve over-criminalised bribery
- We’ve over-criminalised treason
- We’ve over-criminalised sexual assault
In fact, we’ve over-criminalised all laws related to government officials.
We really need to get government out of crime. American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. They are job creators.
#RealFreedom
#Lawsareforpussies.
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More rule of law are for pussies:
It will be two interesting parallal universes between the House and the Senate next year.
It will be two interesting parallal universes between the House and the Senate next year.
Like having one body of Congress grounded in reality and the other being run by republicans?
While Trump clearly will not be indicted before his term ends...and if he's re-elected the statue of limitations will have expired...that really isn't the point. These alleged felonies will serve as the basis for impeachment and all it will take is a simple majority of the House to send the case to the Senate for trial.
I wanted to comment on this comment from Hatch. This is truly disgusting. I get that the MAGA hat crowd doesn’t care about the truth and facts, but the bar for a United States Senator should be a little higher, regardless of party affiliation. But nope. Hatch says out loud what many of us think about the current GOP - they have no principles and have sold out the country for party power. God do I miss Dick Lugar.
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