Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen, in guilty plea, says made payments at candidate's direction

[mtls2005]

16 minutes ago, Basil B said:

Well I am sure false accounting, tax evasion and money laundering is illegal.

 

Cohen's Ukrainian wife is his book-keeper; she co-signed many of the fraudulent documents (loan applications, tax returns, etc.). She potentially faced serious legal challenges. Her mother and father, Yasya Shtayner and Semyon,(Cohen's in-laws) are Chicago tax cab "moguls", and also probably faced legal challenges.

 

 

[riclag]

4 minutes ago, jcsmith said:

 

That's without even opening the can of worms that is Devin Nunes.  If Trump is truly innocent of these ridiculous charges, then why has he invested so much time into obstructing the investigation? Because he certainly hasn't acted like an innocent man. He's acted like a guilty person who is doing everything in his power to attack the investigators, to stop the investigation, and to paint himself as a victim. If he were innocent he could have sat down with Mueller when he promised to. Told his side of the story and cleared his name. 

 

How has he obstructed?How is a man suppose to act before his accusers !

Perjury trap awaiting PT,if he tells his side of the story. Any lawyer with any salt will recommend not sitting with Mueller! 

[billd766]

4 hours ago, BobBKK said:

Laundered Russia money?  maybe, any evidence, data, links those types of things?

Send an email to Mr Mueller. I am sure he will be only too happy to give you chapter and verse.

 

4 hours ago, BobBKK said:

Not at all I was for Bernie and think Trumps a megalomaniac but I want truth, not petty liberal 'get him at all costs'.  If he's done wrong let's see it in cold, hard facts.  Paying off girls is unsavory but endemic I want to see the BIG stuff like collusion.

 

The sit quietly and wait like the rest of us.

[jcsmith]

9 minutes ago, riclag said:

How has he obstructed?How is a man suppose to act before his accusers !

Perjury trap awaiting PT,if he tells his side of the story. Any lawyer with any salt will recommend not sitting with Mueller! 

 

- He asked Comey to let it go on Flynn (sticking his finger into an investigation of his own administration, and one where he likely ordered Flynn to make the call).

- While he can claim he didn't do that, and it would be his word (the word of a pathological liar) against the word of a boyscout... if he didn't ask him to do it why did he ask everyone else in the meeting to leave before asking the question? That bit of information has been corroberated with other people in the meeting.

- He fired the man investigating him, and admitted on national television it was over "this Russia thing". 

- He then reportedly tried to fire Mueller but was stopped by his own lawyers refusing to give the order.

- He has repeatedly griped about Sessions recusing himself from the investigation. 

- He would have fired Sessions if the GOP didn't sternly warn him against it, and instead he's publicly and privately tried to shame him into stepping down.

- He's used Devin Nunes to try to impeach Rosenstein for the same reason. He needs to get rid of them so he can get rid of Mueller. Nunes was part of his campaign, and we know he had interactions with the white house when he tried to push the conspiracy theories that they fed him as something he discovered and was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. 

- He's publicly gone after the people investigating him out of spite. He's smeared them. He fired McCabe hours before he was going to retire. He removed Brennan's security clearance. He's going after Orr currently on Twitter. 

- He helped concoct the lie about the Tower Meeting then later admitted that it was about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton.

 

About the "perjury trap". It's only a trap if he is untruthful. If he has nothing to hide, answer the questions honestly and he can clear his name. He's obviously not innocent. He's going to lie to try to cover it up. That isn't a perjury trap, that is a guilty man who is afraid to incriminate himself.

[mtls2005]

6 minutes ago, jcsmith said:

About the "perjury trap". It's only a trap if he is untruthful. If he has nothing to hide, answer the questions honestly and he can clear his name. He's obviously not innocent. He's going to lie to try to cover it up. That isn't a perjury trap, that is a guilty man who is afraid to incriminate himself.

 

This sort of logical, brief, succinct argument will cause the heads of those who only watch Fox News to explode.

 

tRUmp is cornered, who knows what he'll do? 

 

He seemed off his game at tonight's rally. The chants of "lock her up", "drain the swamp" and "build the wall" seemed muted. And when he rambled on about his beautiful apartments and houses the WV crowd was silent, perhaps stunned.

 

 

[riclag]

57 minutes ago, jcsmith said:

 

- He asked Comey to let it go on Flynn (sticking his finger into an investigation of his own administration, and one where he likely ordered Flynn to make the call).

- While he can claim he didn't do that, and it would be his word (the word of a pathological liar) against the word of a boyscout... if he didn't ask him to do it why did he ask everyone else in the meeting to leave before asking the question? That bit of information has been corroberated with other people in the meeting.

- He fired the man investigating him, and admitted on national television it was over "this Russia thing". 

- He then reportedly tried to fire Mueller but was stopped by his own lawyers refusing to give the order.

- He has repeatedly griped about Sessions recusing himself from the investigation. 

- He would have fired Sessions if the GOP didn't sternly warn him against it, and instead he's publicly and privately tried to shame him into stepping down.

- He's used Devin Nunes to try to impeach Rosenstein for the same reason. He needs to get rid of them so he can get rid of Mueller. Nunes was part of his campaign, and we know he had interactions with the white house when he tried to push the conspiracy theories that they fed him as something he discovered and was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. 

- He's publicly gone after the people investigating him out of spite. He's smeared them. He fired McCabe hours before he was going to retire. He removed Brennan's security clearance. He's going after Orr currently on Twitter. 

- He helped concoct the lie about the Tower Meeting then later admitted that it was about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton.

 

About the "perjury trap". It's only a trap if he is untruthful. If he has nothing to hide, answer the questions honestly and he can clear his name. He's obviously not innocent. He's going to lie to try to cover it up. That isn't a perjury trap, that is a guilty man who is afraid to incriminate himself.

You have been watching to much MSNBC and CNN,your mimicking all their  anti Trump narratives.He hasn't committed a crime ,it's all accusations to sway the public opinion! No evidence! No sitting down with  Comey's friend! You do recall Comey's interview with ABC news?Steffanoplis asked did you tell the POTUS at his first intel briefing that the Opp research  was paid for by the DNC and Clinton Campaign"No that wasn't my goal"Some boy-scout!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Cohen and Manafort on the same day... What a wonderful pair of surprises!

 

"All the President's (Crooked) Men".

 

And indeed, we've been down this road once before with the U.S. presidency.

 

We can only hope that Trump ends up going the same way as Nixon, although I doubt Trump has the grace or good judgment to resign even amid his complicity in federal criminal (campaign finance) offenses -- not to mention all the other c**p that he's probably been involved in.

 

[FritsSikkink]

22 minutes ago, riclag said:

You have been watching to much MSNBC and CNN,your mimicking all their  anti Trump narratives.He hasn't committed a crime ,it's all accusations to sway the public opinion! No evidence! No sitting down with  Comey's friend! You do recall Comey's interview with ABC news?Steffanoplis asked did you tell the POTUS at his first intel briefing that the Opp research  was paid for by the DNC and Clinton Campaign"No that wasn't my goal"Some boy-scout!

You don't want to see the evidence, stop talking nonsense. He filled the White House with criminals.

[attrayant]

2 hours ago, riclag said:

"Under U.S. election law, campaign contributions, defined as things of value given to a campaign in order to influence an election, must be disclosed. A payment intended to silence allegations of an affair just before an election could constitute a campaign contribution, some experts have said".  Some experts have opinions that conflict with other experts!

 

Here's what Cohen said in court:

 

“I participated in this conduct . . . for the principal purpose of influencing the election”

 

That kind of makes third party opinions moot, doesn't it?

[riclag]

6 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

You don't want to see the evidence, stop talking nonsense. He filled the White House with criminals.

 Nonsense! Who in the WH is or was  convicted for a crime? to be a criminal you must commit a crime, son

[utalkin2me]

6 hours ago, Monomial said:

 

Unfortunately nothing is over. This is just a small bump that may or may not have any significance. Al Capone was judged by a system that wanted him convicted. Trump will be judged by Congress...most of whom have done far worse than he is being accused of, and are likely terrified of setting a precedent that could come back on them.

 

No, this is a show. Nothing more. Nothing is over. Clinton was caught dead to rights in a perjury scandal, and walked away without a scratch. This is a minor bump by comparison, and anyone who thinks most politicians at that level haven't illegally colluded to win an election (Really? A politician paying someone off to hide a scandal is news?) during their career is living in fantasy land.

 

Is Trump guilty? Of course. Does it matter? Probably not.

 

There are so many skeletons in so many closets that this has very little chance of meaning anything.

 

It is over. I am not saying tomorrow he is out, he may finish his term, but he is done. You do not buy your way out of this. 

[jcsmith]

40 minutes ago, riclag said:

You have been watching to much MSNBC and CNN,your mimicking all their  anti Trump narratives.He hasn't committed a crime ,it's all accusations to sway the public opinion! No evidence! No sitting down with  Comey's friend! You do recall Comey's interview with ABC news?Steffanoplis asked did you tell the POTUS at his first intel briefing that the Opp research  was paid for by the DNC and Clinton Campaign"No that wasn't my goal"Some boy-scout!

If that's your best response to that mountain of evidence, then there isn't much else to say. All accusations? There is an actual email from Russians to Donald Trump Jr. that was also forwarded to Kushner and others where they clearly state in the email that it is about the Russian Governments effort to aid the Trump campaign and that it was about dirt on Hillary Clinton. After that email he responded, "I love it!" and took the meeting. That isn't accusations. That is pure fact.

 

The Dossier was also funded originally by republicans to get dirt on Trump. Then later taken over by Hillary Clinton.

[riclag]

10 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

Here's what Cohen said in court:

 

“I participated in this conduct . . . for the principal purpose of influencing the election”

 

That kind of makes third party opinions moot, doesn't it?

Yup,and how many years is he facing in jail if he doesn't compose! Some time ago   he said "he'd take a bullet for Mr. Trump" .Facving jail time  he's singing jail house rock

[attrayant]

8 minutes ago, riclag said:

Who in the WH is or was  convicted for a crime? to be a criminal you must commit a crime, son

 

 

Not enough for you?  Don't worry there's more coming!

[riclag]

1 minute ago, jcsmith said:

If that's your best response to that mountain of evidence, then there isn't much else to say. All accusations? There is an actual email from Russians to Donald Trump Jr. that was also forwarded to Kushner and others where they clearly state in the email that it is about the Russian Governments effort to aid the Trump campaign and that it was about dirt on Hillary Clinton. After that email he responded, "I love it!" and took the meeting. That isn't accusations. That is pure fact.

 

The Dossier was also funded originally by republicans to get dirt on Trump. Then later taken over by Hillary Clinton.

Yup ! It's not a crime to research opposition party dirt! Russian ,China or American

[riclag]

2 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

 

Not enough for you?  Don't worry there's more coming!

OMG! Hogwash! The poster said criminals in the WH! Manafort was never in the WH,,MF hasn't been convicted or gone to trial. GP hasn't been to trial and the list goes on

[attrayant]

1 minute ago, riclag said:

It's not a crime to research opposition party dirt! Russian, China or American

 

Yes, it is.  The crime is accepting things of value from foreign nationals.  From 52USC 30121 and 36USC 510:

 

"A foreign national shall not, directly or indirectly, make a contribution or a donation of money or other thing of value, or expressly or impliedly promise to make a contribution or a donation, in connection with any Federal, State, or local election."

 

And you needn't actually be successful in obtaining anything of value.  As long as you've tried to get something of value (from a foreign national) to use for election purposes, you're guilty.

[riclag]

6 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

Yes, it is.  The crime is accepting things of value from foreign nationals.  From 52USC 30121 and 36USC 510:

 

"A foreign national shall not, directly or indirectly, make a contribution or a donation of money or other thing of value, or expressly or impliedly promise to make a contribution or a donation, in connection with any Federal, State, or local election."

 

And you needn't actually be successful in obtaining anything of value.  As long as you've tried to get something of value (from a foreign national) to use for election purposes, you're guilty.

Show me the value.Where is it!  Where is the anything!In news stories that are looking for the quintessential I Gotcha moment,please 

[attrayant]

1 minute ago, riclag said:

OMG! Hogwash! The poster said criminals in the WH! Manafort was never in the WH

 

Okay, since you're moving the goalposts again I guess I have to ask - is it any specific room in the White House that the criminal has to be in?

 

I think most of us understood "in the White House" to mean 'in the administration'.  These people are at arm's length from Trump, so they are essentially "in the White House". 

[mtls2005]

41 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Cohen and Manafort on the same day... What a wonderful pair of surprises!

 

"All the President's (Crooked) Men".

 

Add a dash of Chris Collins and Duncan Hunter to the daily swamp stew for a quadfecta.

 

 

[riclag]

1 minute ago, attrayant said:

 

Okay, since you're moving the goalposts again I guess I have to ask - is it any specific room in the White House that the criminal has to be in?

 

I think most of us understood "in the White House" to mean 'in the administration'.  These people are at arm's length from Trump, so they are essentially "in the White House". 

The people  that are resisting  this coup must follow the accusers, possible incorrect accusations ,after all they have a potential of swaying public opinion!Nobody in the WH are criminals!

[riclag]

goodnight it's 2:30

[attrayant]

Show me the value.Where is it!

 

Opposition research is always paid for. It’s a commodity in elections. Do you think people provide this stuff for free?

 

[heybruce]

2 minutes ago, riclag said:

goodnight it 2:30

Not in Thailand. 

[heybruce]

21 minutes ago, riclag said:

Yup,and how many years is he facing in jail if he doesn't compose! Some time ago   he said "he'd take a bullet for Mr. Trump" .Facving jail time  he's singing jail house rock

So far there's been no talk of Cohen cooperating with Mueller.  From what I've read and heard Cohen handled Trump's domesticate affairs ('affairs' both figuratively and literally).  Cohen may not have much of interest to Mueller that Mueller doesn't already have.

 

Manafort is a different matter.  And of course there is much about Mueller's investigation that we don't know yet.

[heybruce]

2 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

Opposition research is always paid for. It’s a commodity in elections. Do you think people provide this stuff for free?

 

Unless it's provided by a hostile foreign power that wants an ally in the White House.  That's why accepting dirt on opponents from foreign governments is illegal.

[mtls2005]

21 minutes ago, riclag said:

OMG! Hogwash! The poster said criminals in the WH! Manafort was never in the WH,,MF hasn't been convicted or gone to trial. GP hasn't been to trial and the list goes on

 

Flynn has pled GUILTY.

 

Papadopolous has pled GUILTY.

 

Rick Gates has pled GUILTY.

 

Manafort has been CONVICTED.

 

Cohen has been CONVICTED.

 

The WH racists, wifebeaters, gamblers have "resigned", or quietly slunked away in the dead of night.

 

I will stipulate that not all of those convicted "worked in the WH".

 

 

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 minutes ago, riclag said:

MF hasn't been convicted or gone to trial. GP hasn't been to trial and the list goes on

 

Fraid not....  When people enter guilty pleas, that precludes the necessity for a trial. But guilty is guilty.

 

Gates pleads guilty:
 

Quote

 

Feb. 23, 2018

WASHINGTON — A former top adviser to Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign has agreed to cooperate with the special counsel inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election after pleading guilty on Friday to financial fraud and lying to investigators.

The adviser, Rick Gates, is a longtime political consultant who once served as Mr. Trump’s deputy campaign chairman.

 

 

 Papadopoulos pleads guilty:

Quote

 

Oct. 30, 2017

A former Trump campaign adviser struck a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, secretly pleading guilty three weeks ago to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Kremlin-connected Russians.

The bombshell announcement about George Papadopoulos, 30, came shortly after indictments against former campaign chair Paul Manafort and Manafort associate Rick Gates were unsealed, alleging financial crimes that predated Trump's candidacy.

 

 

Flynn pleads guilty:

 

Quote

 

Dec. 1, 2017

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, pleaded guilty on Friday to lying to the F.B.I. about conversations with the Russian ambassador last December, becoming the first senior White House official to cut a cooperation deal in the special counsel’s wide-ranging inquiry into election interference.

 

 

[mtls2005]

8 minutes ago, attrayant said:

Opposition research is always paid for. It’s a commodity in elections. Do you think people provide this stuff for free?

 

So the Steele Dossier is a go?

 

Roger that.

 

6 minutes ago, heybruce said:

So far there's been no talk of Cohen cooperating with Mueller. 

 

Actually, Cohen's lawyer has said that his client knows a lot about the conspiracy with the Russians, and is willing to cooperate with Mueller. Cohen's activity as trump's bag-man included international locales.

 

Mueller's in-box is probably at capacity with urgent messages from everyone in the trump campaign looking for a deal. Even Eric has probably called.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

13 minutes ago, riclag said:

Nobody in the WH are criminals!

 

Well, the president certainly is, and last time I checked, he was in the White House occasionally, when not out at Mar-a-Lago.

 

Quote

 

Mr. Cohen acknowledged the illegal payments while pleading guilty to breaking campaign finance laws and other charges, a litany of crimes that revealed both his shadowy involvement in Mr. Trump’s circle and his own corrupt business dealings.

He told a judge in United States District Court in Manhattan that the payments to the women were made “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” implicating the president in a federal crime.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/nyregion/michael-cohen-plea-deal-trump.html