Showing posts with label Paul Manafort. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paul Manafort. Show all posts

Thursday, March 23, 2023

The Porn Star and the President - Part IV

 

The Porn Star and the President – Part IV

(A Story of Lying)



IN PART III, ALL KINDS OF LIARS TRIED TO EXPLAIN WHO PAID A PORN STAR FOR SILENCE – AND WHY. WE ALSO HAD A JUICY STORY ABOUT ANOTHER PLAYBOY BUNNY, WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN IMPREGNATED BY THE FUTURE PRESIDENT, DONALD J. TRUMP. 

THAT STORY HAS NEVER BEEN SUBSTANTIATED; BUT AGAIN WE ENJOYED A BOUNTY OF LYING. 

MELANIA TRUMP HASN’T BEEN HEARD FROM:


6/6/18: Mrs. Trump makes her first public appearance in weeks. Her devoted husband tells reporters she’s doing fine. 

The First Lady smiles but does not speak. 

Earlier, the president tweeted angrily – his forte – about how the press was treating her. Really, most of his anger had to do with what the press was saying about the First Lady’s relationship with him.

 

The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania. During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!

 

Suddenly, the president is interested in “fairness.” I suspect this is a quality rarely associated with Donald J. Trump.

 

In faraway Israel, Rudy Giuliani gives a speech. A member of the audience asks about Stormy Daniels. Rudy says when it comes to the president’s word vs. a porn queen, that the First Lady takes Donald’s word every time. There was no sex between the future president and the porn lady in 2006! 

“She believes her husband,” Rudy says of Melania. “She knows it’s not true.” 

This blogger is unconvinced. The fact that Rudy is getting divorced by his third wife (who was his mistress when he was married to his second), because at 74, he’s been gallivanting about with another mistress? I don’t think he or his boy Don should be saying anything about who we can trust in such situations.

Also, the First Lady has no doubt listened to the Access Hollywood tape – and more than once. 

That’s the one where Donald says of some other man’s wife. “I did try to fuck her.” And, “I moved on her like a bitch.”

___ 


7/2/18: That engine you hear revving up is the bus getting ready to run over Trump. The man at the wheel is Michael Cohen, Trump’s former self-described “fixer” and “pit bull” lawyer. Cohen once claimed he’d “take a bullet” for the president. Now he says he’d rather duck. 


____________________ 

Not even willing to take a shot from a Nerf gun.

____________________ 

 

In a 45-minute interview Saturday with George Stephanopoulos on ABC, Cohen was asked if he was ready to cooperate with investigators if indicted, not that we are saying he will be. I mean, what kind of crimes could he have committed to keep Donald J. Trump out of legal jeopardy? 

As for Cohen – whose felonies could easily reach double digits – he’s not ready to go to jail yet. Recently, he hired a new lawyer, Guy Petrillo, “a highly regarded former federal prosecutor who once led the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan – the very same office currently conducting the criminal investigation of Cohen.” Once Petrillo takes charge, Cohen is expected to withdraw from a joint defense agreement with Mr. Trump. That agreement allows defendants to share information and documents with each other. 

(Note that Trump’s legal team favored a joint defense, at first.)


From that point forward, the bus is warmed up and ready to roll. In his interview with Stephanopoulos, Cohen made clear. He’s no longer willing to take a bullet for the president. He’s not even going to take a point-blank shot from a Nerf gun. “My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will,” Cohen explained. “I put family and country first [emphasis added, here and below].” 

If that’s true, Trump is in peril. 

On several key points, Cohen made it clear he was distancing himself from the president. For example, Stephanopoulos asked, did Trump know about the $130,000 payment to Stephanie Clifford, a.k.a. Stormy Daniels, less than two weeks before Election Day in 2016?

Trump has sworn he did not. 

Cohen originally said he made the payment on his own. Stephanopoulos wanted to know if that was true. 

“I want to answer. One day I will answer,” Cohen replied. “But for now, I can’t comment further on advice of my counsel.” 

What about the idea that the F.B.I. raid on Cohen’s New York offices and properties was a break-in, an “attack on our country, in a true sense,” as the president angrily claimed? Was it really “an attack on what we all stand for?” 

“I don’t agree with those who demonize or vilify the F.B.I.,” Cohen responded. 

What about the Mueller investigation, Stephanopoulos asked: Was it legit? 

“I don’t like the term witch hunt,” Cohen said. Cohen condemned Russia for interfering in the 2016 election. “As an American, I repudiate Russia’s or any other foreign government’s attempt to interfere or meddle in our democratic process, and I would call on all Americans to do the same.” 

How about all the Trump campaign clowns who did participate in that infamous Trump Tower meeting in June of 2016 with several Russians after being promised dirt on Hillary Clinton? 

Did Trump know about the meeting before it happened? Trump has said a thousand times that he did not, and that’s not counting all the times that the people who attended said no meeting occurred. 

“I can’t comment under advice of my counsel due to the ongoing investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York,” Cohen said. 

With that, he revved the engine again. 

The bus was ready to roll.

 

UPDATE (4/15/24): Clearly, Trump dodged the bus in 2018; he could dodge all the busses again in 2024. 

This blogger has listened to the phone call he made to Georgia officials, asking them to “find” 11,780 votes so he could win the state in 2020, however. I don’t think anyone, not even a trained acrobat, could dodge the bus in that case. 

As for the Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016 – which Team Trump representatives insisted did not happen – we eventually learned:

 

A.    That it did.

 

B.     That no one on Team Trump would admit it took place until the free press (namely The New York Times) began reporting that it had.

 

C.    That the Times had emails to prove it.

 

D.   That it wasn’t a meeting set up to discuss adoption of Russian children by American parents, which Don Jr. tried to say it was.

 

E.     But the free press had emails.

 

F.     That Don Sr. helped draft a letter with Don Jr., saying the meeting was all about adopting kids.

 

G.    But the free press had emails.

 

H.   That Team Trump lawyers insisted Don Sr. never helped draft the letter.

 

I.       Then we learned that he did.

 

J.       That the real purpose of the meeting was to share dirt on Hillary Clinton, with the Russians offering to help the Trump campaign.

 

K.    Yeah. Emails.

 

L.     That Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer at the meeting, was later indicted on other matters – but fled to Russia ahead of arrest.

 

M.  That Paul Manafort, who was at the meeting, was indicted on an array of tax fraud charges and found guilty.

 

N.   Then he got indicted and convicted again – this time on charges of conspiracy and witness tampering.

 

O.   And, finally, we learned that Manafort got a Golden Pardon from Trump – most likely for not telling investigators everything he knew.



Veselnitskaya fled to Russia.

___ 

 

7/30/18: The battle to bolster the crumbling credibility of President Trump continues to falter. In one poll a majority of Americans, 54 percent, now believe he acted illegally or unethically in dealing with the Russians during the 2016 campaign. 

Only 36 percent think he did not.

 

____________________ 

“I’ve got a scoundrel on my hands.” 

Rudy Giuliani

____________________ 

 

Sensing danger on several fronts, Horndog Rudy turns up once again on Fox News. He’s there for one reason: to trash the reputation of Michael Cohen. Rudy explains that he has been listening to dozens of tapes that Trump’s former lawyer secretly made. Suddenly, it hits him, he tells the hosts of Fox & Friends. 

“I’ve got a scoundrel on my hands.” 

Giuliani decides to mention a new report, which hasn’t yet appeared in print or on TV. Apparently, Cohen is prepared to tell investigators that that Don Jr., Jared, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, “and possibly two others,” attended a strategy session on June 6, 2016, in which they discussed plans for the meeting scheduled for June 9, with agents of the Russian government. No one has ever heard of this June 6 meeting before. Nevertheless, Rudy is at pains to say the president wasn’t there. Giuliani is clearly implying that the meeting did occur. Otherwise, there would be no need to stress that then-Candidate Trump wasn’t in attendance. 

A few hours later, realizing he’s shat the bed on TV, Rudy calls Fox News and tries to explain his explanation. This time he gets Harris Faulkner on the phone. Oh, no, he tells her, he wasn’t unclear. He has been saying all along that there was no collusion. But if there was (and there wasn’t), it won’t matter. 

Because collusion is no crime! 

How does Old Horndog know? He has been looking through the federal statutes just to be sure. 

For once, Giuliani gets his facts in a row. If “collusion” is no crime, however, “fraud” and “conspiracy” are. 

The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus gives this definition first, for the word “collude:” “come to an understanding or conspire together, esp. for a fraudulent purpose.” 

If we go to “conspiracy,” the Oxford Dictionary has this: “a secret plan to commit a crime or do harm, often for political ends; a plot.” 

One of the synonyms listed: “collusion.” 

Rudy insists no such meeting – as he says Cohen was about to allege occurred on June 6  – ever occurred. He tells Ms. Faulkner, who is clearly baffled by Rudy’s verbal dance, that he contacted the lawyers of four of the six men supposedly involved. All said the story, if it does come out, would be untrue. 

(Lawyers always claim their clients are innocent up to the moment juries decide they’re not, and often long after.) 

Old Horndog goes on to say that the Mueller probe is not entitled to ask his client, the President of the United States, any questions about “obstruction of justice.” Why not? Rudy insists that the U.S. Constitution gives any president the right to remove the head of the F.B.I. 

Again, that’s true. 

The Constitution does not give a president or any other member of the federal government the right to act in such a way as to thwart an investigation into possible criminal behavior in which they are subject. 

___ 

 

8/21/18: Fresh news breaks this afternoon. Michael Cohen has pleaded 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 felony counts.

 

Bad felon, good felon! 

The President of the United States decides he needs to comment on recent developments in court. He ponders the fates of felons, and tweets. First, he slams the former. “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” 

Okay, got it: bad felon! 

As for Manafort, he garners the president’s sympathy in a pair of heartfelt tweets: 

 

I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. “Justice” took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to “break” - make up stories in order to get a “deal.” Such respect for a brave man!

 

A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the Paul Manafort case. Witch Hunt!

 

Got it: good felon! 

 

UPDATE (4/15/24): Don’t forget. Cohen was a good felon until he made it clear he was going to flip. (See: 4/9/18.) 

Also worth noting: Manafort later admits in court that the ten counts against him that could not be decided (the jury voted 11-1 to convict) he did commit. And he will later be indicted again, the next time for conspiracy and witness tampering. And he’ll get convicted. Again. He’ll still be getting dragged into court, long after Trump leaves office. And he’ll still be losing. 

On March 6, 2023, Manafort will agree to pay a $3.15 million fine to settle a lawsuit regarding foreign bank accounts he failed to declare.

 

*** 

If you would like to see how seriously Trump took the threat of Manafort talking to Robert Mueller, consider text messages sent from Sean Hannity to Manafort (and later released by a federal judge) over the course of several months, when it seemed he might break in the face of a long prison sentence. 

If you don’t think Hannity is promising a pardon – without saying so, which would be a felony – you need reading glasses. 

(See my blog entry on the topic for 6/22/19.)



Paul Manafort during one of many court appearances.


___
 

 

9/20/18: ABC News reports that Michael Cohen is talking to Mueller’s investigators. The president’s former personal lawyer has had “multiple interview sessions lasting for hours.” Those interviews have been held in both Washington D.C. and New York City, where Cohen has spoken to prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.

 

Topics of interest include: 

Trump’s dealings with Russia – including financial and business ties (possible crime: money laundering). 

Collusion with Russians during the 2016 campaign (legally speaking: possible conspiracy). 

Any pardon offers Cohen might have received (i.e. obstruction of justice; witness-tampering). 

The inner workings of the Trump family charity and Trump Organization, where Cohen served as executive vice president for ten years (tax fraud). 

___

 

 

10/18/18: A judge has dismissed one of two lawsuits filed by Stormy Daniels against our beloved Chief Exec. In case you live under a bridge where the Three Billy Goats cross, Stormy is the porn star Trump paid off in 2016 so she wouldn’t talk about their one-night stand.

 

With “victory” in hand, Trump couldn’t resist a tweet. Would his tweet demean the office of the presidency? Trump pondered a moment, giving it the same kind of consideration he used to give before grabbing women by the pussy. Then he started to type:

 

“Federal Judge throws out Stormy Danials lawsuit versus Trump. Trump is entitled to full legal fees.” @FoxNews Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas. She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!

 

(I, for one, am trying to imagine Abraham Lincoln communicating in the same way. Maybe, during a debate: “Get ‘Liddle Toadstool’ off this stage! Am I the only candidate who thinks Stephen Douglas looks like a midget?”)

 


Stephen Douglas.

 

Well, Stormy is a porn star with large breasts. She’s not easily embarrassed. She fires back at once:

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present your president. In addition to his...umm... shortcomings, he has demonstrated his incompetence, hatred of women and lack of self control on Twitter AGAIN! And perhaps a penchant for bestiality. Game on, Tiny.

 

“Tiny!” It has a certain ring. Even more insulting, in the Trumpian style, than “Lyin’ Ted” or “Crooked Hillary.”


Now Trump calls her "Horseface."

 

We also know that Michael Cohen has been talking to Robert Mueller’s crew. And talking a lot. Like 50 hours, so far. 

His old boss, the president, is worried enough to start downing Cohen at every opportunity. In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Trump says Cohen’s claim – that then Candidate Trump told him to pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 to buy silence – is “totally false.” 

Trump says he hardly remembers the man! Cohen was nothing but “a PR person who did small legal work.” 

Compare this with Trump’s previous statements about Cohen, a “good man,” being dragged into the “witch hunt.” (See Part I: 4/9/18.)

The Porn Star and the President - Part V

 

The Porn Star and the President – Part V

(A Story of Lying)


Bozo and the Bimbo.



IN PART IV, WE LEARNED THE “DIFFERENCE” BETWEEN GOOD FELONS, ON TEAM TRUMP, AND BAD FELONS. EITHER WAY, THERE ARE A LOT OF FELONS. 

MICHAEL COHEN, A “BAD FELON,” CONTINUES TO BE A GRAVE THREAT TO THE PRESIDENT.

 

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

Robert 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 related. 

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 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 multiple Russians; and he had been dealing in Russia, just not successfully. 

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 didn’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, 2016: 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, 2016: Trump knocks out his last remaining opponent in the Republican primaries: “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz.

BLOGGER’S NOTE (4/15/24): Cohen later 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. This particular meeting has never been proven.


June 7, 2016: 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, 2016: 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. 



Not until July 2017, will Don Jr. "remember" he took part in this meeting.



June 10, 2016: 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, or even what was discussed by participants, and who participants were. 

June 13, 2016: Monday comes and goes. The major speech promised by Candidate Trump fails to materialize. 

June 14, 2016: 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.

 

* 

WE ALSO KNOW that Michael Cohen has signed a plea deal, and that Robert Mueller takes it seriously, having signed it himself, a first during the Russia 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 2016, 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. On October 25, he so testified before Rep. Nunes’ GOP-controlled committee. 

(There’s a plethora of lies here; keep up if you can.)

 

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 F.B.I. informant. 

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

___

 

12/3/18: Trump spends another day as president tweeting insults and tampering with witnesses. Clearly, he realizes the Mueller investigation is closing in. He also knows, if he ends up in jail, Melania is not coming to visit. 

First, he attacks Michael Cohen, his former fixer, for pleading guilty and fingering him in the process. According to Trump the rat should go to jail forever. His wife and parents ought to go to jail too – and his children – and his dog – and his pet goldfish! Trump is judge, jury, and asshole, rolled into one. Trial by tweet! It takes the president two shots to lay out his “case.” 

 

“Michael Cohen asks judge for no Prison Time.” You mean he can do all of the TERRIBLE, unrelated to Trump, things having to do with fraud, big loans, Taxis, etc., and not serve a long prison term? He makes up stories to get a GREAT & ALREADY reduced deal for himself, and get.....

 

 ....his wife and father-in-law (who has the money?) off Scott Free. He lied for this outcome and should, in my opinion, serve a full and complete sentence.

 

First, we have the president putting an orange thumb on the scales of justice and pushing down. 


Next, we have a little not-so-subtle witness tampering! Trump tried this gambit with Cohen back in April, insisting he’d never turn against him. (Wink, wink: Michael, hold out and you can expect a pardon!) 



Trump still loves Cohen.

 

But Cohen flipped. Now, Trump says, Cohen is “weak.” 

Knowing the circle is being closed around him, Trump flails away. This time he’s hinting at a pardon for a different underling:

 

“I will never testify against Trump.” This statement was recently made by Roger Stone, essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about “President Trump.” Nice to know that some people still have “guts!”

   

“In the face of great personal danger.” 

Stone is the guy who testified in front of Congress that he never met with any Russians during the 2016 campaign. Then he had to amend his testimony and admit he did (after the “Fake News” people uncovered the details). 

Finally, Trump lashes out at Special Counsel Mueller: “Bob Mueller (who is a much different man than people think) and his out of control band of Angry Democrats, don’t want the truth, they only want lies,” Trump tweets. “The truth is very bad for their mission!” 

In other words, Stone has “guts” because he’ll lie to protect Trump. Mueller is not the man people think he is. 

Coming from Trump, there’s a bit of irony in these tweets. Mueller had the “guts” to join the Marines and saw combat in Vietnam. When Trump’s feet hurt too much to serve, Mueller was bleeding for his country. As a Marine officer he was caught in one firefight and awarded a Bronze Star with “V” for valor for leading his men out of a danger. In a second firefight, on 22 April 1969, Mueller was “seriously wounded.” For his actions that day he was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal with “V” for valor. A squad-size patrol under his command had come under fire from a large enemy force in ambush. “Completely disregarding his own safety,” the commendation reads,

 

First Lieutenant Mueller led the remainder of his platoon in an attempt to relieve the beleaguered squad…By his courage, aggressive leadership and steadfast devotion to duty in the face of great personal danger, First Lieutenant Mueller inspired all who observed him and upheld the finest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.


Robert Mueller. A real patriot. No bone spurs.

 

By comparison, Stone had “guts” like Trump had “guts.” He managed to avoid serving in the military. Born in 1952, he was the perfect age to enlist in 1970, had he wished. No thanks. He wished to head to college, where he would remain safe and sound and un-punctured by enemy fire. 

In 1972 he did go to work for the Nixon campaign, making him a small cog in the most corrupt administration (until now) in U.S. history. 

In 1976 Stone was elected president of the Young Republicans. His campaign manager was Paul Manafort. 

In 1980 the two men formed a lobbying partnership with a third individual; and because they lobbied for a variety of brutal dictators, the firm won the nickname, “The Torturers’ Lobby.” 

These are the kinds of people you continually uncover when you look under the rocks of Trumpistan.