Cont: Mueller Investigation pt3

[The Shrike]

Uhhh... it's coming down for real.

Michael Cohen, Pres Trump’s former personal attorney, reaches new plea deal with Mueller this morning. Expected to enter guilty plea for false statements to Congress coupled with dozens of hours of testimony potentially damaging to Pres Trump--Special Counsel values testimony.​

 

[Stacko]

Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, is pleading guilty to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate deal in Russia. Cohen made a surprise appearance in a New York courtroom and began entering the plea.​

 

[varwoche]

Mueller should start talking to the states where he avoided taxes about prosecuting him on state charges.

US democracy may lie in the hands of NY state.

 

[JoeMorgue]

I can't wait to see how this manages to... not affect Trump at all.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

I think now's the time to start curating all of the strong statements of support from sitting political figures, before the writing hits the wall and they delete their tweets and pretend never to have liked him. Anyone know if someone's doing that?

 

[JoeMorgue]

I think now's the time to start curating all of the strong statements of support from sitting political figures, before the writing hits the wall and they delete their tweets and pretend never to have liked him. Anyone know if someone's doing that?

I don't think they can. I don't think the world works that way anymore.

 

[GlennB]

I can't wait to see how this manages to... not affect Trump at all.

I wonder if getting wind of this development explains his recent total delirium about the Russia probe?

 

[Stacko]

CONTACT between Cohen and Peskov's assistant, or put another way, direct communication between the Trump Org and the office of the President of Russia in January 2016​

 

[Stacko]

CONTACT between Cohen and Peskov's assistant, or put another way, direct communication between the Trump Org and the office of the President of Russia in January 2016​

Seems significant to me that they attribute a specifically obstructive intent to Cohen here​

 

[Stacko]

This may be the most important phrase in Michael Cohen's charging document. Shows the special counsel takes lying to Congress seriously.

That's a warning shot to everyone who has already testified before even that dysfunctional body.​

Ruh roh Junior.

 

[JoeMorgue]

Again so? The only people who can do anything are the Senate, who won't because of a Republican majority, the SCOTUS, who won't because of a Republican majority, and the American electorate who won't because the .0000000000008% who even bother to show up are so entrenched in their partisan tribalism that a standing President from their party could eat a live baby during the State of the Union speech and they'd still vote for him because sure he eats babies but whatabout when the other side did this...

Right now every Trumper, if they are even deigning to care about this, is having the same thought. "Yeah I guess this is bad I suppose, but if it kept Hillary out of office it's acceptable."

Politics has become total war, where everything you do to beat "the other side" is justified.

Trumps already done stuff he could have gotten impeached for. How is this different?

 

[Stacko]

This is an interesting coincidence:

Breaking News: Deutsche Bank's headquarters were raided as part of a money-laundering investigation involving hundreds of millions of euros​

They've been Trump's main lender since he became too toxic for any rational lender to deal with.

 

[Arcade22]

Trump did not write this.

Don't forget about the absence of ALL CAPS and excessive amounts of exclamation points that Trump usually uses when he attacks the RIGGED WITCH HUNT!!!!!!

 

[Childlike Empress]

Great to see how the pathetic little propagandist Luke Harding's latest stunt with the fake news rag The Guardian is blowing up in their faces. But for people who take it for granted that Cohen lied before and now tells the truth, and not the other way around after he got into trouble, there is always the suggestion that it was Putin who tricked Harding and his rag into publishing this junk, like some other pre$$titutes suggest. .

 

[The Big Dog]

Perjury trap for Cohen?

TBD says No.

 

[Stacko]

Source says feds showed up this am, asked everyone to leave and put brown paper on the doors.​

Alderman Burke's law firm represented Trump's businesses for 12 years.​

 

[Belz...]

Again so? The only people who can do anything are the Senate, who won't because of a Republican majority, the SCOTUS, who won't because of a Republican majority, and the American electorate who won't because the .0000000000008% who even bother to show up are so entrenched in their partisan tribalism that a standing President from their party could eat a live baby during the State of the Union speech and they'd still vote for him because sure he eats babies but whatabout when the other side did this...

Right now every Trumper, if they are even deigning to care about this, is having the same thought. "Yeah I guess this is bad I suppose, but if it kept Hillary out of office it's acceptable."

Politics has become total war, where everything you do to beat "the other side" is justified.

Trumps already done stuff he could have gotten impeached for. How is this different?

I hate it when cynics are right.

 

[phiwum]

Trump Tweets

When will this illegal Joseph McCarthy style Witch Hunt, one that has shattered so many innocent lives, ever end-or will it just go on forever? After wasting more than $40,000,000 (is that possible?), it has proven only one thing-there was NO Collusion with Russia. So Ridiculous!

Wow, that's $10,000,000 overnight!

Hookers. Hookers and jagermeister. Not cheap.

 

[The Big Dog]

Source says feds showed up this am, asked everyone to leave and put brown paper on the doors.​

Alderman Burke's law firm represented Trump's businesses for 12 years.​

Alderman Ed burke's City Hall office was raided and his firm represented literally thousands of clients doing property tax appeal work.

Rolled my eyes when I saw Renato's tweet, what a goofball.

Burke was also subpoenaed by the Feds in 2012 for the workers comp program he runs for the City

 

[phiwum]

I wouldn't call this a rookie mistake. Mueller's approach is textbook federal prosecutor stuff, but the added complexity of a criminal president with the power to pardon makes this largely uncharted waters.

Manafort and his lawyers are making a hell of a gambit. If his lawyers really did keep communicating confidential info with Trump's lawyers after Manafort began cooperating, that's a huge ethical problem given the obvious conflict of interest. That communication is potentially unprotected. The lawyers have likely ended their careers as federal defense attorneys, as there is no reason for any prosecutor to trust them. Manafort has torpedoed any leniency he was going to receive in exchange for a guilty plea, which he can't rescind, and likely faces a very harsh sentence. The only rational explanation is that he's doubling down hard on getting a pardon from Trump.

I don't see how such a pardon doesn't cause an instant constitutional crisis, but not coming through with it means leaving Manafort out to dry.

I am a bit surprised Manafort's lawyers would do this. They come from prominent law firms and have a professional reputation to protect. It's hard to imagine them pissing that away for a client, even a prestigious one.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if there was no confidentiality agreement, then they are within their rights to share information and shouldn't be punished for doing so.