The Porn Star and the President - Part IX

 

The Porn Star and the President – Part IX

(A Story of Lying) 

The porn star and the future president.

IN PART VIII, TRUMP’S FORMER LAWYER, MICHAEL COHEN BRINGS CHECKS TO CONGRESS, PROVING THAT THE PRESIDENT KNEW ALL ABOUT PAYOFFS TO STORMY DANIELS AND OTHERS.

 

3/13/19: We all know President Trump is the only chief executive ever to claim he could pardon himself. 

(That should teach you all you really need to know about the man and his ethics.)

 

Today we have fresh news regarding pardons. Emails between Michael Cohen and lawyers for Mr. Trump have surfaced. 

 

“Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places.” 

Before diving into this story, it helps to go back to April 9, 2018. That was the day federal law enforcement raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel suite and confiscated his electronic devices. From that moment on, it was clear authorities believed the president’s lawyer was involved in some kind of criminal enterprise. Prosecutors soon charged Mr. Cohen with eight felonies – while also listing President Trump as an unindicted coconspirator, or “Individual 1.” 

Cohen had to find out. Was he going to be protected by his longtime boss and top client, now the President of the United States? 

And his longtime boss had to find out. Would his former fixer still take a bullet for him and clamp his mouth? 

What made this unlike your garden variety criminal case was the president’s ability to grant pardons for federal crimes. Cohen had to be pondering his predicament. Lawyers for Cohen had to be wondering. How could their client make it clear he’d keep quiet if a pardon were coming? How could Trump’s lawyers hint to Mr. Cohen that a pardon would be forthcoming, and how could they make it clear what they expected in return? There has been a good deal of arguing in recent weeks about whether Cohen asked for a pardon first, or whether the president and his lawyers were all but guaranteeing a pardon in return for sealed lips. 

What is not in dispute is that the president has said he would not take pardons off the table (hint: for witnesses who protected him). That means any discussion related to pardons might devolve into classic obstruction of justice.

 

Initially, the president was all in on support for Cohen. Trump made this clear while speaking to reporters from the Oval Office just hours after the Cohen raids:

 

So I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, a good man and it’s a disgraceful situation. It’s a total witch-hunt. I’ve been saying it for a long time….And it’s a disgrace, it’s a real disgrace. It’s an attack on our country in a true sense. 

 

On April 21, 2018, Trump signaled again where he stood regarding Mr. Cohen when he tweeted: 

 

So, what were Trump’s defense lawyers, and Cohen and his team, discussing that very day? Recently revealed emails allow us to see. 

“I just spoke to Rudy Giuliani and told him I was on your team,” Robert Costello wrote in the first email. It was one of two from Mr. Costello that popped up in Cohen’s email inbox on April 21, 2018. Costello was a longtime friend and associate of Giuliani and was serving as intermediary between the president’s old lawyer, now in serious legal jeopardy, and his new lawyer, Horndog Rudy, whose full-time job was keeping the president out of similar jeopardy. 

Rudy “asked me to tell you,” Costello wrote, “that he knows how tough this is on you and your family and he will make (sure) to tell the President. He said thank you for opening this back channel of communication and asked me to keep in touch.” 

We don’t know if Cohen responded. But CNN has seen a second, follow-up email, later that day. 

This time, Costello assured Cohen he had spoken with Giuliani and their conversation was “very very positive.” “There was never a doubt and they are in our corner,” Costello continued. “Rudy said this communication channel must be maintained. He called it crucial and noted how reassured they were that they had someone like me whom Rudy has known for so many years in this role.”  

Finally, he added, “Sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places.”

 

So, was this a veiled hint to Cohen – keep your yap closed and you can expect a pardon? If you have an ounce of objectivity, you know it is. Costello, however, told CNN that such an interpretation was “utter nonsense.”  

Well, CNN wanted to know, had a pardon been dangled in front of Cohen, or not? 

Costello scoffed:

 

Does dangled mean that he raised it and I mentioned it to Giuliani, and Giuliani said the President is not going to discuss pardons with anybody? If that’s dangling it, that’s dangling it for about 15 seconds. The first time I kind of danced around the issue because Michael brought it up with me and I told him, “Look, this is way too premature.... But if you want me to bring it up, I will bring it up.” And I did.

 

Premature, yes. 

On the table? No doubt. 

CNN tracked down Giuliani for this story and inquired: What about the “friends in high places” comment? 

What exactly could these friends in high places do for Mr. Cohen – and who might those friends be? 

“That was about Michael Cohen thinking that the President was mad at him [Cohen],” Giuliani told CNN. “I called (Costello) to reassure him that the President was not mad. It wasn’t long after the raid and the President felt bad for him.” 

Yes, the president felt bad for Cohen at the time – just like the president feels bad for Paul Manafort, as of today.

___ 

 

3/19/19: President Trump received a double dose of bad news today. First, he learned that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, his nemesis at the DOJ, would not be stepping down “for a little longer.” 

Second, he had fresh insights which indicated where the Mueller investigation might be headed.

 

____________________ 

“A veritable smorgasbord of criminal conduct.” 

Judge William H. Pauley III

 ____________________ 

 

Once again Mueller’s team reveals that they already have far more evidence than pundits on cable news can ever guess. Only now do we learn that the first search warrant, asking for Michael Cohen’s emails (dating to January 1, 2016), was filed on July 18, 2017. Two more warrants followed, one for cloud backup files on his phone, the other for emails dating to June 2015. 

We know that Mr. Cohen is going to jail for what Judge William H. Pauley III has called “a veritable smorgasbord of criminal conduct.” But these filings hint that Trump’s old lawyer wasn’t the only one sitting down to dine. We now know that F.B.I. agents received permission to collect “historical location data for two AT&T cellphones, from October 1 to November 8, 2016. This could be highly important, because there have been rumors Cohen traveled to Prague sometime before the election and met with Russian hackers to discuss how to cover up ties to the Trump campaign.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE (3/22/23): Again, to be fair, this story about Cohen in Prague with hackers has not held up.

 

In all, the court filings total 895 pages, often duplicated in multiple applications for search warrants. But when we come to page 38, we find a section 18 ½ pages long, headed “The Illegal Campaign Contribution Scheme.” This entire section is redacted. What crimes and accomplices are listed beneath those pages, we cannot know. But in Trump World there has to be intense fear. 

The court records include a number of clues. In early 2018 we learn Cohen and his wife took a three month rental on Room 1728, an expensive suite at the Loews Regency Hotel in New York. Authorities decided to include a search of that suite in a fresh warrant. Agents made it clear they were after two cellphones they had been tracking, using a “triggerfish” device, and believed would be found at the hotel. These phones they believed would contain evidence of “bank fraud,” “wire fraud,” “illegal campaign contributions” and “conspiracy as it pertains to other Subject Offenses.” 

Most of the 895 pages relate to crimes committed by Cohen. Still, the depth and detail of information prosecutors have assembled must terrify any Trump aides or family members who may have committed crimes of their own – and that could be just about every other Trump aide and family member, save Tiffany, Barron, and Melania. We learn, for example, that “on or about October 26, 2016, Cohen opened a new bank account for Essential Consulting L.L.C., ostensibly to allow him to operate a real estate investment consulting firm. On January 31, 2017, Cohen’s account received the first of seven checks totaling $583.332.98 from a holding company controlled by Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian national, based in Switzerland. 

That’s right. Throw another Russian into the mix! 

Even before they raided Cohen home, office, and hotel investigators probably had him dead to rights. They knew Cohen used “encrypted communications applications,” including, “but not limited to, WhatsApp, Signal and Dust.” On page 81 of the filings, even the name of the F.B.I. Special Agent involved is redacted. Another section is redacted after an agent claims “there is probable cause to believe that Subject Premises-3 [Cohen’s offices] will contain evidence of the Bank Fraud Offenses.” 

In a warrant application filed on February 28, 2018, a judge agreed to a grant of a “non-disclosure order” for a search of an email account owned by Mr. Cohen. The Court ruled that if the search was revealed it might lead to “destruction of or tampering with evidence or flight from prosecution, or otherwise…seriously jeopardize an ongoing investigation.” Therefore, the warrant should not be disclosed for up to 180 days, “subject to extension” if required. 

The last warrant was issued on April 7, 2018, for permission to search “A Device containing the Results of Three Email Searches.” But that line was crossed out and replaced by hand with “Three Electronic Devices.” An agent, name and title again redacted, explained that based on “conversations with witnesses” and reviews of other testimonies he or she was asking to expand the search, in particular because “there is probable cause to believe that the Subject Devices contain evidence of violations” of federal statutes related to “illegal campaign contributions.” 

Another warrant, this one to obtain information from Cohen’s cellphones, notes:

 

Cellphone service providers have technical capabilities that allow them to collect at least two kinds of information about the locations of cellphones to which they provide service (a) precision location information, also known as E-911 Phase II Data, or latitude-longitude data, and (b) cell site data, also known as ‘tower/face’ or ‘tower/sector’ information.”

 

Then, a few pages later, a seventeen page section is redacted once more. In fact, in one section we learn that “Michael Cohen, a lawyer who holds himself out as the personal attorney of President Donald J. Trump” is under investigation for “violation of the campaign finance laws.” 

Then we have this:

Page with redactions.

We can’t read between the lines because there are no lines to read. 

We can guess that the name of the President of the United States may be currently hidden from view.

April 10, 2018: "Attorney-Client Privilege" Does not Shelter Criminal Activity

 

4/10/18:  Trump wakes up angry as he often does. He can’t manage to kill the Stormy Daniels story. His personal lawyer just got raided. His pal, Vladimir, is causing problems in Syria. 

Naturally, his first order of business is to tweet: “Apr 10, 2018: Attorney-client privilege is dead!” 

As usual, Trump doesn’t have his facts straight. This much is true: The F.B.I. did seize documents and records involving communications between Trump and Cohen. Now special agents at the Bureau will have to peruse these materials and make sure attorney-client privilege is not undermined. Unfortunately, if you’re the president, attorney-client privilege is not protected in cases when attorney and client are conspiring to commit fresh crimes.

 

Next, Trump decides to watch a tape of Lou Dobb’s performance on Fox Business Network, Monday night. 

“This is now a man that has to be brought under control, it would seem to me,” Dobbs says, not in reference to Cohen or Trump, but Special Counsel Mueller. “Frankly, I can’t imagine, because each of us has to come to terms with our own heart and conscience – I would fire the SOB in three seconds if it were me.” 

Yes, Lou, we know you would. It’s increasingly clear. You’re ready to thrust out your right arm and salute. 

Get your armband ready.

BLOGGER’S NOTE (6/9/2022): We know now that Cohen will be indicted not long after this raid. We know he will be convicted on eight felony counts and sentenced to prison. We know an unindicted co-conspirator will be named in that indictment, labeled only “Individual 1.” 

We know now who “Individual 1,” was: Donald J. Trump. 

We know the only reason Trump wasn’t indicted and placed on trial at the same time was that he was the President of the United States, and Department of Justice policy holds that a sitting president cannot be indicted while in office.

August 21, 2018: If Donald J. Trump Weren't President He'd Already Face Felony Charges

 

8/21/18: If Donald J. Trump seems rattled lately, it’s no surprise. Friday, Special Counsel Mueller filed an eye-popping sentencing document related to former Trump 2016 campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, regarding the ongoing Russian investigation. 

_______________________ 

“The defendant’s false statements were intended to harm the investigation, and did so.” 

Sentencing document for George Papadopoulos

_______________________ 

 

Papadopoulos, center, with dark glasses. 

Fresh news breaks this afternoon. Michael Cohen has pled guilty to bank fraud, tax evasion and violating campaign finance laws. Two of eight felonies were, according to Cohen, carried out at the behest of “a candidate for federal office.” 

That would be Donald J. Trump! 

The president suffers a second stinging defeat when former campaign manager Paul Manafort is convicted on eight felonies.

 

Even ignoring the felonious pair, this has been a bad week for Trump. Consider the case of George Papadopoulos, which came to an end (we think) recently. (His sentencing document is now available.)

 

Papadopoulos, billed as a Trump foreign policy adviser during the 2016 campaign, was interviewed by the F.B.I. in January 2017, just seven days after Trump took office. He was arrested in July and pled guilty to a felony count of perjury in October 2017. At the time of his plea we were told he had been a cooperating witness for months. There were even hints he might have been wearing a wire. 

Team Trump began dissembling at once. “George Who?” everyone from Trump down to Kellyanne Conway wondered. 

The president responded via Twitter at the time – because of course he did. He called any idea that members of his campaign had been colluding with Russians “Fake News.” He rolled out his “I’m Rubber, You’re Glue” Defense and blamed Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the Grinch Who Stole Christmas for all the problems in his campaign. “Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George,” he claimed, “who has already proven to be a liar [emphasis added here and below]. Check the DEMS!” 

Michael Caputo, another campaign adviser, was even more forceful in his response to the Papadopoulos deal. “The leaders of the Washington office of the campaign didn’t even know who he was until his name appeared in the press,” Caputo insisted. “The guy was – he was the coffee boy. I mean, you might’ve called him a foreign policy analyst [no, Trump called him that], but, in fact, you know, if he was going to wear a wire, all we’d know now is whether he prefers a caramel macchiato over a regular American coffee in conversations with his barista. He had nothing to do with the campaign.” 

The veracity of these denials was undercut when a picture of Papadopoulos sitting in a high-level meeting with Trump and his campaign team was posted and no signs of an order from Starbucks were seen in his hands.

Papadopoulos seated to the left of the man in the blue tie. 

 

* 

The president hires a LOT of liars. 

SO: LET’S SEE how such denials hold up now that the sentencing document has been issued. It begins: 

The government submits this memorandum in connection with the sentencing of George Papadopoulos scheduled for September 7, 2018. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a).

 

Of course, if Trump fans read that first sentence, we can expect them to start slobbering about some “perjury trap” that snapped closed on poor George’s left toes. 

One lie! He told one lie! Does a poor “coffee boy” deserve to go to jail for that? No! Jail Hillary! And do we really want the president going into the same lion’s den, where “17 angry Democrats” await, ready to chew off both legs and maybe other favorite presidential appendages? 

What “trap” did Papadopoulos step into? The sentencing document is clear: 

The defendant’s crime was serious and caused damage to the government’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The defendant lied in order to conceal his contacts with Russians and Russian intermediaries during the campaign and made his false statements to investigators on January 27, 2017, early in the investigation, when key investigative decisions, including who to interview and when, were being made.

 

…the defendant repeatedly lied throughout the [January] interview in order to conceal the timing and significance of information the defendant had received regarding the Russians possessing “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, as well as his own outreach to Russia on behalf of the campaign. The defendant’s false statements were intended to harm the investigation, and did so.

 

In other words, Papadopoulos lied about contacts with Russians. He lied in January 2017, at the start of the investigation. 

Why? Why would a humble “coffee boy” perjure himself if all he did was ask other members of Team Trump, “Would you like cream and sugar with your coffee? 

Papadopoulos didn’t want investigators to know he had been riding a broom during the campaign. He didn’t want them to know who told him to mount that broom and fly off to meet suspicious characters – who “happened” to be Russians – who “happened” to have dirt on Hillary. 

You know: Exactly the kind of people and information that would help throw the election to Trump.

 

The sentencing document also makes it clear F.B.I. agents warned the Coffee Boy not to lie. “The defendant said he wanted to help the agents with their investigation” and “proceeded to answer questions, and to lie, for more than two hours.” 

[Papadopoulos] lied about his contacts with Russians and Russian intermediaries during the course of the campaign to minimize both his own role as a witness and the extent of the campaign’s knowledge of his contacts…while serving as a policy advisor to the Trump campaign, the defendant met a professor of diplomacy in London (the “Professor”) who introduced the defendant to a Russian woman (the “Female Russian National”) and to a Russian national connected to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the “Russia MFA Connection”). The Professor told the defendant that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” and the defendant had a series of communications over a period of months with the Professor, the Female Russian National, and the Russia MFA Connection in which they discussed arranging a meeting between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.

 

Here, any semi-literate citizen would be forced to pause and ponder. Caputo (he of the “coffee boy” comment), helped set up a secret meeting with a representative of the Russian government and Roger Stone, in May 2016. 

In June, three of the top Trump campaign people –and more Russians offering more dirt on Clinton –met at Trump Tower in New York City. 

A sensible person must wonder: What else was the campaign up to and why was the “coffee boy” trying so hard to lead investigators astray? 

Papadopoulos lied with abandon: 

With respect to timing, the defendant acknowledged that the Professor had told him about the Russians possessing “dirt” on Clinton, but he stated multiple times that this occurred before he joined the Trump campaign and that it was a “very strange coincidence” to be told of the “dirt” before he started working for the campaign. [That was a lie.]

 

…the defendant met the Professor for the first time on or about March 14, 2016, after the defendant had already learned he would be a foreign policy advisor for the Trump campaign; the Professor showed interest in the defendant only after learning of his role on the campaign; and the Professor told the defendant about the Russians possessing “dirt” on Clinton in late April 2016, more than a month after the defendant had joined the campaign.

 

The “coffee boy” was clearly lying to cover up for the campaign. 

The defendant also falsely told the FBI that he met the Female Russian National before he joined the campaign, that he had “no” relationship at all with her, and that the extent of their communications was her sending emails – “Just, ‘Hi, how are you?’ . . . That’s it.” In truth, however, the defendant first met the Female Russian National on or about March 24, 2016, after he had joined the campaign; he believed that she had connections to high-level Russian government officials and could help him arrange a potential foreign policy trip to Russia; he informed the campaign of his beliefs regarding her connections; and during the campaign he emailed and spoke over Skype on numerous occasions with her about the potential trip to Russia.

 

The defendant also did not reveal his extensive interactions with the Russia MFA Connection, including over Skype, even though he was asked if he had met during the campaign with any Russian nationals or “[a]nyone with a Russian accent.”

 

Papadopoulos knew he was making connections with Russian government agents. He knew they were going to give the campaign dirt on Clinton. He informed the campaign about his connections. 

He kept lying: 

On at least a dozen occasions during the interview, the defendant falsely insisted that his interactions with the Professor took place before the defendant joined the Trump campaign. At various points during the interview, the defendant said the interactions took place “prior to even talking to anybody on Trump”; they had “nothing to do with Trump”; “this was before I even got with-with Trump”; “I wasn’t even on the Trump team”; “that wasn’t even on the radar”; “I wasn’t even on the orbit of Trump at the time”; and “This isn’t like [the Professor’s] messaging me while I’m in April with Trump or something.” 

 

Papadopoulos expected to be rewarded for lying. 

Eventually, Papadopoulos hired a lawyer. In February 2017, he spoke with the F.B.I. a second time. He was offered a chance to “correct his false statements” but chose not to. Meanwhile, he “deactivated his Facebook account that contained communications with the Professor and the Russian MFA Connection and obtained a new phone.” 

Prosecutors note that in the hours following his first F.B.I. interview, Papadopoulos was unfazed. As far as he could tell his lies had worked. Papadopoulos expected to be repaid for any risks he had taken. 

The sentencing document notes that on that same day he began talking to other members of the campaign about a future high-level position, 

…with the National Security Council, the State Department, or the Energy Department. On January 27, 2017, in the hours after being interviewed by the FBI, the defendant submitted his biography and a description of work he did on the campaign in an effort to obtain a position as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Energy Department.

 

Instead, he found himself headed for jail.

BLOGGER’S NOTE (12/22/20): It can be interesting to note how these stories play out later. The “Coffee Boy,” a person Trump has already labeled a “liar,” will later get a full pardon from…President Trump.

November 29-30, 2018: The Trump Tower Moscow Deal - and a Bribe for Vladimir Putin

 

11/29-30/18: President Trump departs for the G-20 Summit in Argentina on Thursday. You wonder if he’ll come back. 

Mueller apparently has documents!!! 

____________________ 

“Because I think that would be a conflict.” 

President-elect Trump

____________________ 

 

Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, who worked for Trump for many years, opens a Pandora’s Box brimming with legal and ethical questions when he admits lying in court about the Trump Tower Moscow deal. 

Cohen lied, he says, to ensure his story meshed with the tall tale Candidate Trump was telling at the time. 

And it won’t be just a case of, “Cohen said, the president said.” Mueller has documents to back up what Trump’s fixer said.

When you kick over a rock in Trumpistan, a felon is exposed to the light.

Felix Sater, left.

 

First the lies: Cohen previously testified before Congress that efforts to win a contract for a Trump Tower in Moscow ended in January 2016. Thursday, he admitted that contacts with Russian officials continued into June. 

In other words, Cohen was trying to cover up the fact that Team Trump was working on a lucrative deal with Russians while Candidate Trump was deep into a campaign to become the next President of the United States. 

How lucrative? Some experts say it could have been Trump’s biggest deal ever. The deal was big enough to convince Cohen and other Trump associates to offer to sweeten it by gifting Putin a penthouse worth $50 million. 

“NO COLLUSION,” Trump loves to tweet. Well, then, how about a $50 million bribe, offered to the leader of a hostile foreign power? 

At the same time we know Candidate Trump was telling anyone who would listen, that he did not have financial ties with Russia. “How many times do I have to say that?” he asked at a news conference in July 2016. “I have nothing to do with Russia. I have nothing to do with Russia.” 

With Trump, of course, the lying continued. In a presidential debate on October 16 he responded to Hillary Clinton’s claim that Russia was interfering in the election, in hopes he’d win: 

I notice, anytime anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians are – she doesn’t know if it’s the Russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking. But they always blame Russia. And the reason they blame Russia because they think they’re trying to tarnish me with Russia. I know nothing about Russia. I know – I know about Russia, but I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia. I don’t deal there. I have no businesses there. I have no loans from Russia.

 

That statement, read today, obviously includes a series of brazen lies. By then his advisers already knew the Russians were doing at least some of the hacking; his campaign had already been offered dirt on Clinton by Russians; and he had been dealing in Russia, just not with success. 

As president-elect, Trump continued lying. At a press conference on January 11, 2017, he told reporters, “So I have no deals, I have no loans and I have no dealings. We could make deals in Russia very easily if we wanted to. I just don’t want to because I think that would be a conflict. So I have no loans, no dealings, and no current pending deals.” 

That statement contains an additional falsehood and a fundamental truth. First, he’s lying when he says he doesn’t want to make a deal. 

Second, here’s the fundamental truth. Trump is aware that efforts to land a deal in Moscow while running for office would have been a conflict.

 

* 

TODAY, WE KNOW that a confluence of events occurred in June 2016. The “Fake News” people and investigators have slowly laid this out. George Papadopoulos, a campaign aide, met in March and April with a man he believed could provide dirt on Clinton. Papadopoulos lied about it later and the man he met disappeared. Roger Stone met with a Russian in May and later told Congress he didn’t. The Russians knew Trump and his team were open to cutting a deal. In June, the two sides – Trump campaign and Russians – came to an understanding of some sort. 

Mueller is still working to find out what that understanding was. But he’s gathering documents. 

That month, the Trump campaign/Russian support starts to mesh: 

June 3: Rob Goldstone, the agent for the Russian singer Emin Agalarov, who Don Sr. and Don Jr. know from working with Emin and his father on the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, sends Don Jr. an email. 

Goldstone says an official high in the ranks of the Putin government is “offering material that will incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.” 

Don Jr. doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t notify the F.B.I. He responds within hours: “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”

 

June 6: Trump knocks out his last remaining opponent in the Republican primaries: “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz. 

Cohen claims that top campaign officials and Don Jr. held a strategy meeting that day to discuss plans to meet with the Russians and see what dirt they could provide; and Don Sr. was aware of and green-lighted the meeting. 

(BLOGGER’S NOTE 5/23/22: This particular meeting has never been proven.)

 

June 7: Candidate Trump announces to the nation: 

I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week [June 13] and we’re going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons.

 

I think you’re going to find it very informative and very, very interesting. I wonder if the press will want to attend. Who knows? Hillary Clinton turned the State Department into her private hedge fund. The Russians, the Saudis, the Chinese all gave money to Bill and Hillary and got favorable treatment in return. It’s a sad day in America when foreign governments with deep pockets have more influence in our own country than our great citizens. 

(See: Trump Tower deal in Moscow!)

 

June 9: Don Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort meet secretly at Trump Tower in New York City with Russians they believe are bearing gifts, frankincense, myrrh, and dirt on Hillary. 

June 10: Leaders of the campaign suffer an attack of mass amnesia. No one in the meeting the day before remembers having had the meeting, discussing it beforehand, talking about it after, having dreams and/or nightmares about it, what was discussed by participants, or who participants were.

 

June 13: Monday comes and goes. The major speech promised by Candidate Trump fails to materialize. 

June 14: It’s Flag Day. Members of the Trump campaign seem confused about which flag they serve. 

According to the latest Mueller indictment, revealed this week, it is then, on June 14, that Trump and his people finally pull the plug on the Moscow deal. Suddenly, they realize Trump could be elected. 

The Russians know a victory is a longshot but they’re more than happy to help, because Putin hates Hillary. And they know Trump and his lackeys are willing to accept any aid they can provide.

 

* 

AS TRUMP FLIES OFF to Argentina he has to understand something ominous is brewing. Mueller has documents – he’s gathering more – and the president knows it. On Thursday, F.B.I. agents raid the Chicago offices of Ed Burke, a man the Chicago Sun-Times describes as having “dodged dozens of federal investigations over five decades in Chicago politics.”  Agents “kicked everyone out and papered over the windows.” Later they debarked with boxes of documents and computers in hand. 

Burke has previously done property-tax-appeal work for Trump. 

Could this raid be related to the president’s burgeoning legal problems? We don’t know. We do know Cohen did the dirty work for Trump for years and knows where the rotting corpses are interred. 

And we’re still not done listing suspicious characters and corporations. In Germany, a wave of police, prosecutors and tax authorities descends on the Frankfurt headquarters of Deutsche Bank. Electronic records and documents are seized at five locations as part of an investigation “into whether the lender helped criminals launder money through offshore tax havens.” 

 

Greed drives everyone in this story. 

Again, we can’t know if this has anything to do with Trump; but if you don’t think the people he hangs with and does business with aren’t willing to commit every imaginable crime to reap fortunes, you’re watching more Fox News than is good for your mental health. Seek counseling at once. Deutsche Bank was fined $425 million last year “for helping clients of its Moscow office illegally move $10 billion out of Russia.” 

The bank has been fined before for failing to monitor transactions that involved cash going to terrorists. 

Does Trump do business with Deutsche – known for working with money-launderers? Of course! This past May it was reported that Mueller subpoenaed bank records related to our fearless leader’s finances. Market Watch reported that the president had liabilities (basically: outstanding loans) totaling between $356 million and $480 million, including $175 million owed to Deutsche. 

Here’s what we do know. None of these developments prove that the President of the United States is a gigundous crook. But we know greed drives him and everyone in this story. 

If all else had failed, and Clinton had defeated him, Trump could still hope to land a huge financial windfall in Moscow by building his hotel. 

Or: with Russian help, he could win the highest office in the land.

 

* 

WE DEFINITELY KNOW that Special Counsel Mueller takes Cohen’s plea deal seriously. Mueller signed it himself, a first during the investigation. 

 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PLEA AGREEMENT 

If you want to understand which witches investigators might be hunting, you need go no further than the first sentence of the charging document recently revealed in Cohen’s latest plea agreement. 

The case laid out in United States v. Michael Cohen begins: 

From in or around 2007 through in or around January 2017, MICHAEL COHEN, the defendant, was an attorney and employee of a Manhattan-based real estate company (the “Company”). COHEN held the title of “Executive Vice President” and “Special Counsel” to the owner of the Company (“Individual 1”).

 

For months now, “Individual 1” has been firing shots at Mueller and his team, if nothing else, in hundreds of tweets. 

Here you have the first fire returned by Mueller, directed at “Individual 1,” Donald J. Trump. 

The sad fig leaf of denial Trump has been trying to position to shield his orange privates is stripped away. 

Last April, when evidence – again including documents – of Cohen’s role in payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal began to blow up, Trump tried to downgrade his relationship with Cohen. In an interview with Fox News, he insisted, “This doesn’t have to do with me. Michael is a businessman. He’s got a business. He also practices law. And they’re looking at something having to do with his business. I have nothing to do with his business.” 

Asked how much legal work Cohen did for him, Trump claimed, “As a percentage of my overall legal work, a tiny, tiny little fraction.” 

In August, when Cohen plead guilty to an array of crimes and started cooperating with investigators, Trump tried to downgrade their ties even further. Suddenly, all the president’s sycophants began clamoring, “Cohen is a liar!” Trump said nobody should hire Cohen for legal work, he was a terrible lawyer, and only worked for him for a very short decade. If you listened to Trump, he would hardly have recognized Cohen if he walked into the Oval Office and said, “Hey, Boss, do you want me to pay off the porn star or not?” 

Mueller starts off the latest charging document by blasting that fantasy defense to bits.

Cohen was a Trump guy.

 

The legal meat of the matter is easy to explain. In January 2017, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (“SSCI”) and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (“HPSCI”) in the U.S. House of Representatives began to investigate possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign. The Senate panel managed to develop a level of bipartisan cooperation. The House panel, led by Rep. Devin Nunes, couldn’t have found a Russian if Nunes and the other Republicans on the committee jetted to Moscow and roamed the streets for a month. 

 

“Individual 1.” 

Mueller now makes it plain. Cohen lied to both committees. Cohen had testified that the project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow was ended in January 2016. Cohen, himself, testified, “I determined that the proposal was not feasible for a variety of business reasons and should not be pursued further.” 

Cohen had provided a legal shield for his boss. “To the best of my knowledge,” he said at the time, “[Individual 1] was never in contact with anyone about this proposal other than me on three occasions…I did not ask or brief [Individual 1], or any of his family, before I made the decision to terminate further work on the proposal.” 

Cohen further claimed that he never agreed to travel to Russia in connection with the Moscow project. He “never considered” asking “Individual 1” if he should go. Instead, he claimed he “primarily communicated” with a Moscow-based company “through a U.S. citizen third-party intermediary, [Individual 2].” 

(“Individual 2” would be Felix Sater.) 

Sater asked Cohen to travel to Moscow to push the deal forward. Cohen claimed he “never agreed to make a trip to Russia.” He never asked Individual 1 “to travel to Russia in connection with this proposal.” Yes, he testified, he did send Russian officials several emails about the project; but there was little interest. So, in January 2016, “I decided to abandon the proposal… [and from that time forward] do not recall any response to my email, nor any other contacts by me with [Russian Official 1] or other Russian government officials about the proposal.”

 

By the time of the Iowa caucuses, in February, the story was, Trump had terminated all contacts with Russians about building business ties in that country. Cohen issued a public statement to that effect in September 2016. On October 25, 2016, he so testified before Rep. Nunes’ GOP-controlled committee. 

Mueller’s team now has documents and can lay out all kinds of lies. If you’re the president or one of his many shady friends, you immediately start to perspire. It’s not just Cohen agreeing to cooperate that represents a threat. Investigators have documentation. Mueller makes the case: 

In truth and in fact, and as COHEN well knew, COHEN’s representations about the Moscow Project he made to SSCI and HPSCI were false and misleading. COHEN made the false statements to

 

1.     minimize links between the Moscow Project and Individual 1 [emphasis added] and

 

(2) give the false impression that the Moscow Project ended before “the Iowa caucus and . . . the very first primary,” in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations. COHEN attempted to conceal or minimize through his false statements the following facts:

a. The Moscow Project was discussed multiple times within the Company and did not end in January 2016.

 

“Instead, as late as approximately June 2016,” investigators know, Cohen and Sater were still discussing efforts to obtain Russian government assistance with the project, and Cohen “briefed family members of Individual 1” about the proposal. Cohen made plans to travel to Moscow to pursue the deal – and he and Individual 1 – by then the presumptive nominee for president – discussed plans for Individual 1 to travel to Russia. 

It only gets “better” as you continue to dig through the evidence. Cohen asks “a senior campaign official about potential business travel to Russia.” The official is not named; but like every other member of Team Trump, that official apparently forgets ever having had the discussion. 

 

Russians willing to cooperate with the campaign. 

In fact, as late as May 2016, the project seems more on than off. Sater writes to Cohen on May 4: 

“I had a chat with Moscow. ASSUMING the trip does happen the question is before or after the convention . . . Obviously the pre-meeting trip (you only) can happen anytime you want but the 2 big guys where [sic] the question. I said I would confirm and revert.” COHEN responded, “My trip before Cleveland. [Individual 1] once he becomes the nominee after the convention.”

 

The next day, Sater writes Cohen again, assuring him that, 

[Russian Official 1] would like to invite you as his guest to the St. Petersburg Forum which is Russia’s Davos it’s June 16-19. He wants to meet there with you and possibly introduce you to either [the President of Russia] or [the Prime Minister of Russia], as they are not sure if 1 or both will be there. . . . He said anything you want to discuss including dates and subjects are on the table to discuss.

 

Note that last line – the willingness of the Russians to cooperate with the campaign on any subject they might introduce. 

On May 6, Sater asks Trump’s lawyer to confirm those dates, if they would work for him to travel. Cohen replies, “Works for me.” 

On June 9, we know, Don Jr., Jared Kushner and now-convicted-felon Paul Manafort agree to meet with Russians in Trump Tower, offering anti-Clinton gifts. Mueller’s investigators have proof that 

From on or about June 9 to June 14, 2016, Individual 2 sent numerous messages to COHEN about the travel, including forms for COHEN to complete. However, on or about June 14, 2016, COHEN met Individual 2 in the lobby of the Company’s headquarters to inform Individual 2 he would not be traveling at that time.

 

Does that mean the Moscow project is on hold, or even dead, at last? Or does it mean the people at the top of the Trump campaign know an even better deal has been placed on the table? 

That is: do they realize the Russians are willing to offer direct assistance to help defeat Hillary Clinton? This would be a switch from the mad pursuit of cash to what would, in wartime, amount to treason. If Trump and Cohen and other top aides know Russia is willing to help them – and they’re now willing to jump into bed with a hostile power – you can understand why they’ve been fighting so hard for more than two years to wipe out their tracks. 

 

POSTSCRIPT: By the time Trump hired Sater, the latter had been convicted of multiple felonies, including participation in a $40 million securities fraud scheme. He stayed out of jail in that matter only by turning informant for the F.B.I. 

Naturally, any thoughtful individual would be inclined to ask: “What kind of businessman would hire this kind of guy?”