FBI raids Michael Cohen's office

[onekidanddone]

4 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

I hope @JMarie can do a Hannity recap for us! Hell, I almost wish Judge Jeanine's show was on tonight so we could hear her nutty spin on today's news.

When you hitch your wagon to an old Buick with balding tires and a cracked windshield, don't be surprised when you end up in the bar ditch waiting for the tow truck.

@JMarie is the bravest soul in the FJ universe.  

[JMarie]

52 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

@JMarie is the bravest soul in the FJ universe.  

Well, I am known as the Faux News Investigator....

[AmazonGrace]

Hannity has uncovered a top secret law enforcement organizations scheme to wilfully and recklessly enforce the law

https://twitter.com/neal_katyal/status/1032026699062333440?s=19

[AmazonGrace]

 

The full video in the replies 

[AmazonGrace]

Lanny Davis on CNN saying Cohen knows things about Trump history and Trump org. (Well duh.) 

Think some of what he knows would have to be state level and implicate the fredos. 

I hope Cohen is in a secure place, there could be a hit on him

[fraurosena]

 

[Howl]

Heh, Cohen -- No honor among thieves. 

This is all so epic.  Anyway, good lawyers are always learning.   The current trend, obviously, is to get out in front of the story by getting on cable news shows and Sunday morning talk shows to spin your client in the best possible light.  Cohen is a mobbed up, scumbag, tax-cheating fixer who was very good at threatening people, but his lawyer is telling us that he's just a nice, humble guy who really, really, REALLY, just wants to tell the truth, no matter how much it hurts. 

Also, by saying your client has so much more to share.....If I truly gave a shit about these people (WH aides), which I don't, I'd feel sorry for them, because Hair Furor is going to be in full-on, melt-down rant mode for the foreseeable future.  They are probably frantically speed dialing Ronny-in-exile in some sub-basement to discuss bulk orders of anti-anxiety meds, Ambien and uppers from a pharmaceutical warehouse just to survive the ongoing shit storm.  Hopey was fortunate to get the hell out when she did. 

7 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

I hope Cohen is in a secure place, there could be a hit on him

No kidding.  It's not an unrealistic scenario.  However, the damning information was secured when Cohen's office was raided.  I rather think a hit on Cohen would be to send a message to others, rather than to stop him from testifying about Trump, or maybe it would be a two-fer.  

But ya know what?  I don't think anything is going to happen, because Congress is totally spineless.  They are just not going to act on this information.  The base will be  unfazed, because as Hannity noted, HER EMAILS!

Plus, if impeachment happens, then fucking Pence.   

[AnywhereButHere]

For a first response - this is kind of tame. And if it were anyone else saying it, it's almost kind of funny.

Since it's coming from Caligula though, I'm assuming it's the first crack in the dam and the deluge of crazy is coming.

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

Plus, if impeachment happens, then fucking Pence. 

Not if he's also implicated. I'm quietly confident that will happen. I can't say this often enough, but he was caught lying about Mike Flynn during an interview with the press. He was head of the Transition team, and he had to have known about what Flynn was up to, yet he denied it publicly. You can bet that Mueller is all over that, and much more that we don't even know about. 

(Also, small detail, but still important to remember: Impeachment does not equal removal from office. Clinton was impeached, then acquitted, and remained in office. Nixon never was impeached, as he resigned before they could.)

[AnywhereButHere]

I never understood why establishment republicans in the house and senate didn't jump right on the impeach train right out of the station. Pence should have been their ideal candidate. Get the initial love and support of Democrats by helping get rid of President Crazypants, and sneak in President Christian Taliban.

Are they really that afraid of the frothing at the mouth, openly racist base? Do they secretly agree with said frothing base? Did they think they could control the crazy enough to push an agenda through while using it as a distraction? Are they enjoying the chaos (can't see this one -Republicans seem to hate change)? Some combo of all these? I still don't get it.

I get the saying about how you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, but enough already. The eggs are all over the floor and any omelette at this point is unsalvageable and inedible!

[AmazonGrace]

Mostly I just think that Trump privately threatens people with dirt uncovered in the RNC hacks so protecting him is in their self interest.

  Any  chance they think Pence could be implicated on something too? He was picked by Manafort and lied about Flynn. The Racist party might never recover if they impeached Trump and then had to do it all over again with Pence too. 

[kpmom]

If the Dems can win a majority in Congress or Senate, or both, in November (and if not now, when??) at least they could hamstring Pence for the next two years if he ends up Prez.  Hopefully, he'd only be a placeholder until 2020.

[Howl]

Yeah, so far Pence has avoided any spatter from the ongoing shit storm.  Not a peep; nothing.  "They" will work very hard to keep him stain free and viable.  

And I hate to bring this up, but Trump has (considering everything) an incredibly high approval rating among Republicans.   Personally, I don't think this will faze the base at all. 

So far, right wing news splainers have done their usual good job of spinning, spinning, spinning to blame it on Hillary, whataboutism and on and on.  They will not let up for one second, because Trump's survival (and theirs) depends on it.  Folks in the bubble will never have to do any critical thinking, because their outlets have given them talking points; they already know their marching orders.  

I'm not going to get into how successful amplification works through a bazillion AM talk show radio hosts on a bazillion reich-wing radio stations in a bazillion small to medium sized cities in our country.  Radio is a cheap, effective and extremely underrated form of political communication that has been used to brutal effect by the Right. 

 

Edited August 22, 2018 by Howl

[fraurosena]

20 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Mostly I just think that Trump privately threatens people with dirt uncovered in the RNC hacks so protecting him is in their self interest.

If you replace "Trump" with "Russians" I believe you may be nearer the truth. For the rest, I'm in total agreement. I simply don't believe everyone in the GOP suddenly is on the presiduncial train of their own accord. They are being coerced.

As to Pence... he's in up to his ears in this shit. 

I think the GOP will never recover. They know this. The only way for them to hold on to power is by conspiring with the Russians in hacking the electoral system, gerrymandering the hell out of every county, and voter suppression any which way they can get away with. We can all see with our own eyes they are (and have been for many years) quite busy implementing the latter two points. As to the first? I don't know when it started, but it sure as hell is going on as we sit here. That's why they are so reluctant to do anything about it. Because if they left things up to a truly democratic process, they will be wiped out and obliterated.

[AmazonGrace]

 

MIchael Cohen and Lanny Davis begging for money to help him to "tell the truth".

Telling the truth was free the last time I checked. 

[AmazonGrace]

 

And Avenatti is saying that he expects to be able to subpoena Cohen (and Trump) in September if the stay is lifted in a hearing.

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

Some reporter asks, who is the candidate you're talking about.

So many options.

[Howl]

4 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

MIchael Cohen and Lanny Davis begging for money to help him to "tell the truth".

Telling the truth was free the last time I checked. 

Heh.  Translation: Please, folks, help me help a man to tell the truth!  My hourly rate is $_______, and I'm sucking the guy dry, I mean I'm hoovering up the last of his savings.  His kids may have to go to public school.  Please. Help. Even small donations are a step toward the truth. 

Edited August 22, 2018 by Howl

[fraurosena]

Jennifer Rubin's latest opinion piece.

What you might have missed in the Cohen plea

Quote

President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen has accused Trump of directing him to commit crimes with the intention of improperly influencing the 2016 election. That is stunning and will have ramifications, I suspect, for voters and every Republican officeholder who does not support an immediate serious investigation by the House and/or Senate Judiciary committees. If the accusations are true, Trump will have committed a crime, should be impeached and, after leaving office, prosecuted. The framers surely would agree that committing a crime in order to obtain the presidency falls in the category of “High Crimes & Misdemeanors.” This is not a prediction of what will occur, but what should follow from our constitutional system.

In case you doubt the strength of the case: Did you notice all the other people implicated in Cohen’s plea? There is “Corporation-1,” presumably American Media Inc. (AMI), which owns the National Enquirer (“Magazine-1”). Members of Corporation-1 (including editor in chief, or “Editor-1”) would presumably have information and be able to corroborate Cohen’s account regarding the Karen McDougal payoff. The information document filed against Cohen also notes the existence of a text between Editor-1 and Cohen, corroboration of the arrangement to pay off a second woman, presumably Stormy Daniels. An encrypted phone call is also mentioned, as is an attorney (one more witness!) who represented both women. And let’s not forget the “executives of the Company” [Trump’s] who “grossed up” the reimbursement to Cohen; that’s two or more additional witnesses. We learn that “Executive-1” received the request or reimbursement and shared it with more executives. More witnesses. In Count 7, Cohen is accused of enabling Corporation-1 to make an illegal corporate campaign donation. That means the company and/or its executives might have liability as well. Count 8 mentions campaign executives (who might they be? how many?) who worked with Cohen to effectuate the scheme.

In sum, it’s not Cohen’s word against Trump’s, but rather a raft of witnesses whom prosecutors have or will be able to talk to (some to avoid liability of their own) and documents as well. There is, in short, a ton of evidence out there concerning the campaign finance scheme to make sure two women didn’t mess up Trump’s chances of getting elected. If Trump learned anything from the Paul Manafort trial, it should be that discrediting a single witness doesn’t eradicate piles of complementary evidence. Trump might try discrediting Cohen, but it’s Cohen who has the corroborating documents and witnesses to back him up.

While the legal implications of Cohen’s plea are stunning, let’s not forget the immediate political ramifications when a president is accused of breaking the law to get elected. Trump was afraid voters’ awareness of two women with whom he had extramarital affairs would wreck his election chance, so a scheme was cooked up to prevent them from finding out. It stands to reason that Trump gained the presidency illegitimately. Certainly 78,000 votes in three critical states might have gone the other way (or 78,000 more Hillary Clinton voters could have shown up to vote). We’ve been considering whether solicitation of help from Russia or former FBI director James B. Comey’s improper interruption of the election with new “evidence” in the Clinton email case means Trump didn’t really win fair and square. But more than these factors, it is very possible that Trump was right — the revelations about Daniels and McDougal, in addition to the “Access Hollywood” tape, could have sunk him. He thought that was the case, so why shouldn’t he pay them off? (This isn’t Watergate, where the break-in was the difference between winning and losing. The irony is that Nixon clobbered George McGovern, meaning the break-in was thoroughly unnecessary.) In considering whether to rush through the swing seat on the Supreme Court without benefit of his whole record, the Senate should ponder how the Supreme Court’s legitimacy would be affected by confirming the pick of a president who allegedly broke the law to get elected. (It is also important to keep in mind that this is just the beginning of the Cohen redemption tale (wherein he regains his reputation and guarantees future income for his family by, as John Dean did, cooperating to take down a corrupt president).

We should also dispense with the notion that Cohen won’t be obligated in some way to cooperate with prosecutors, therefore opening up new leads to pursue. Cohen will still need the prosecutors’ help if he wants a reduced sentence and to avoid other charges from being leveled. It’s inconceivable that Cohen, to obtain the benefit of the plea deal, wouldn’t be required to testify and provide other assistance (e.g. letting prosecutors into his phone). “No way Cohen would’ve entered guilty pleas to eight felony counts in NYC today without either a sealed cooperation agreement or a confidential understanding with [special counsel Robert S. Mueller III], which the plea agreement in [the Southern District of New York] expressly left open,” tweeted constitutional scholar and Supreme Court litigator Larry Tribe. “So he still has key information on Trump to share.”

Cohen has the means and the motivation to expose Trump, at the very least with respect to the payoffs that helped get Trump elected. Cohen therefore not only poses a legal threat to Trump but also has the ability to delegitimize Trump’s presidency. This is big — really big.

 

[fraurosena]

Uh-oh...

[fraurosena]

Wow, he must really be desperate for funds.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

Things are going from bad to worse for the presidunce. 

Why Cohen could get worse for Trump: Prosecutors say they've got receipts

Quote

When it comes to Michael Cohen’s claim that he was directed by an unnamed candidate in 2016 — Donald Trump — to make payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal to influence the 2016 election, there’s something important to remember.

Prosecutors say they have audio recordings, text messages and phone records about Cohen’s payments — and the intent behind them.

As NBC’s Tom Winter has highlighted, here are the prosecutors from Tuesday:

The proof on these [campaign-finance] counts at trial would establish that these payments were made in order to ensure that each recipient of the payments did not publicize their stories of alleged affairs with the candidate. This evidence would include:

Records obtained from an April 9, 2018 series of search warrants on Mr. Cohen’s premises, including hard copy documents, seized electronic devices, and audio records made by Mr. Cohen.

We would also offer text messages, messages sent over encrypted applications, phone records, and emails.

So, lordy, there are tapes. And emails. And phone records. Of course, we already know of one tape — of Cohen apparently talking about one of the payments to Trump — which CNN reported on last month.

In his interview with Fox News, Trump was asked about Cohen’s payments to Daniels and McDougal.

FOX NEWS: Did you direct him to make these payments?

TRUMP: He made the deal. He made the deals. By the way, he pled to two counts which aren't a crime which nobody understands. I watched a number of shows, sometimes you get some pretty good information by watching shows, those two counts aren't even a crime. They weren't campaign finance.

FOX NEWS: Did you know about the payments?

TRUMP: Later on I knew. Later on. But you have to understand, Ainsley, what he did - and they weren't taken out of campaign finance. That's a big thing. That's a much bigger thing. Did they come out of the campaign. They didn't come out of the campaign. They came from me.

Let’s repeat those last two sentences: “They didn’t come out of the campaign. They came from me.” That is PRECISELY the allegation of illegal activity here — funds intended for a campaign are SUPPOSED to come from the campaign, not from another source.

 

As if that wasn't bad enough, Pecker's been granted immunity.