# A Thread for the Mueller Investigation Results and Outcomes (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 28, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093 "2017-10-28T20:14:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 343
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6843 "2018-08-25T03:38:26Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Ex-Trump World Tower doorman releases ‘catch-and-kill’ contract about alleged Trump affair > > [https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/24/politics/trump-tower-doorman-contract-ami/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/24/politics/trump-tower-doorman-contract-ami/index.html) > > Guy was signed to a contract which prevented him from telling his knowledge of a Trump love child. Because of Peckers cooperation, he has been released from the agreement. When it rains it pours. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6844 "2018-08-25T03:44:23Z")
Since Tuesday, we have the Manafort verdict, the Cohen plea, New York starting an investigation into the Trump foundation, Pecker, Weisselberg, and Andrew Miller granted immunity. This is way to much happening simultaneously at once for it just to be a coincidence. I wonder if they had all of these held in reserve and were just waiting for the Manafort verdict to trigger it. If so there may be more coming next week. Buckle your seatbelts. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6845 "2018-08-25T03:48:11Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Since Tuesday, we have the Manafort verdict, the Cohen plea, New York starting an investigation into the Trump foundation, Pecker, Weisselberg, and Andrew Miller granted immunity. This is way to much happening simultaneously at once for it just to be a coincidence. > > I wonder if they had all of these held in reserve and were just waiting for the Manafort verdict to trigger it. If so there may be more coming next week. Buckle your seatbelts. It’s gotten so that I actually look forward to rolling over and checking my phone in the mornings now. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6846 "2018-08-25T03:58:40Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Since Tuesday, we have the Manafort verdict, the Cohen plea, New York starting an investigation into the Trump foundation, Pecker, Weisselberg, and Andrew Miller granted immunity New York has actually been investigating the Trump _Foundation_ since 2016, and sued the Foundation, Trump, and the foundation’s directors (who coincidentally also have the surname Trump) alleging unlawful political conduct, self-dealing, and tax issues. That case is ongoing. The recent news is that New York is now _also_ investigating the Trump Organization company over accounting issues, in particular how it accounted for its payments to Cohen regarding the hush money deals with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. And probably a lot of other transactions. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6847 "2018-08-25T04:01:19Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Ex-Trump World Tower doorman releases ‘catch-and-kill’ contract about alleged Trump affair > > [https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/24/politics/trump-tower-doorman-contract-ami/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/24/politics/trump-tower-doorman-contract-ami/index.html) > > Guy was signed to a contract which prevented him from telling his knowledge of a Trump love child. Because of Peckers cooperation, he has been released from the agreement. Does he get to keep the money? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6848 "2018-08-25T06:31:28Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Does he get to keep the money? He probably does get to keep the money, as the agreement does not likely contain a provision calling for him to refund his $30,000 in the event that AMI walks away from the (amended) contract. He also doesn’t have to pay AMI a million dollars for telling the story to anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6849 "2018-08-25T12:09:31Z")
Why is a story involving consensual sex between adults worth more than one involving an extramarital child? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6850 "2018-08-25T13:14:52Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I’m starting to understand why the Howling Yam is an anti-vaxxer. And hates dolphins. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6851 "2018-08-25T14:02:33Z")
This is the first I’ve encountered the term. I’m assuming it refers to paying for a story and for silence, then not publishing the story? ---
**Author:** ![Celidin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Celidin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celidin)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6852 "2018-08-25T14:08:48Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Why is a story involving consensual sex between adults worth more than one involving an extramarital child? Maybe that’s where Trump gets his “reputation” as a “great negotiator”? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6853 "2018-08-25T14:12:25Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Why is a story involving consensual sex between adults worth more than one involving an extramarital child? Because the doorman agreed to a lesser amount. Probably offered them both $10,000 to start and just kept raising it until they said ‘OK’. There is no Kelly Blue Book for standard hush money payoffs, after all. To many variables - how damaging, how much money do you have, how poor is the recipient, just a nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6854 "2018-08-25T14:18:31Z")
If the doorman got $30k, how much is the mom getting? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6855 "2018-08-25T14:35:20Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > This is the first I’ve encountered the term. I’m assuming it refers to paying for a story and for silence, then not publishing the story? Exactly. National Enquirer was acting as a black hole for anything unflattering for Trump. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6856 "2018-08-25T19:33:49Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Cohen used the phrase “candidate for federal office”; the legal filing used a phrase something like “Individual-1, who later became the president of the United States”. > > There are two elected federal offices, president and vice-president. They run on the same ticket - against the expressed intent of the founding fathers, btw - but they are separate offices and I will argue that both people on the ticket are candidates. > > The phrase “a candidate for federal office” - again, not part of the legal document - is somewhat odd, and can apply to Pence as well as Trump. > > Pence never made sense as a running mate; people who like Pence certainly weren’t going to vote for HRC or Bernie. > > Pence is exactly the type of person most susceptible to threats and blackmail - he would care about his reputation, and that reputation depends on traditional morality that politicians seem to have such trouble maintaining. > > Pence is clearly morally compromised - he ran on the ticket with a known philanderer\* and sexual predator. > (\*I can, and have, looked past that, but Pence should not have been able to.) > > So, Mannafort selected Pence as running mate specifically to blackmail him into performing dirty-tricks and/or set him up as a fall guy should the need arise, and Cohen signalled that that he will return that serve, if he is paid half a million dollars. [Imagine me wildly circling Venn diagrams at this point.] > > Now, if you will excuse me, I have come up with a theory to explain what is going on with Sessions. It’s almost as if _this_ tweet storm isn’t intended to distract us from something worse. If I understand correctly, until drumpf picked him, Pence was finished. Outside of his own state he was a nobody, and his own state hated him. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6857 "2018-08-25T19:36:30Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Sessions has his own agenda: he wants to do away with civil rights for minorities. He is of the Old South, and he is on a mission. That’s why he’ll never resign. He won’t let thump or anyone stop him. This. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6858 "2018-08-25T21:49:59Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Because the doorman agreed to a lesser amount. > > Probably offered them both $10,000 to start and just kept raising it until they said ‘OK’. > > There is no Kelly Blue Book for standard hush money payoffs, after all. To many variables - how damaging, how much money do you have, how poor is the recipient, just a nightmare. I’ll work up a spreadsheet. > [@SteveG1](#): > > If I understand correctly, until drumpf picked him, Pence was finished. Outside of his own state he was a nobody, and his own state hated him. More evidence for my theory! Pence just made no sense. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6859 "2018-08-25T22:18:11Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Since Tuesday, we have the Manafort verdict, the Cohen plea, New York starting an investigation into the Trump foundation, Pecker, Weisselberg, and Andrew Miller granted immunity. This is way to much happening simultaneously at once for it just to be a coincidence. > > I wonder if they had all of these held in reserve and were just waiting for the Manafort verdict to trigger it. If so there may be more coming next week. Buckle your seatbelts. The avalanche of bad-for-Trump news may be courtesy of the Trump-defenders themselves, who’ve been pushing the idea that “sixty days before the election, all news relating to Trump investigations must cease.” So Mueller and the federal courts are rushing out this stuff now, ahead of the completely-unofficial “deadline.” I picture the feds saying to the Trumpites as the flow of sewage washes over them, in sarcastic tones, _'happy, now?_’ ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6860 "2018-08-25T22:32:15Z")
Eh, some of this is a result of other actions. For example, Mr Doorman is obviously a result of Pecker getting immunity - I’m sure part of his deal is to rescind his contracts with others to keep silent. The doorman, either being told this or figuring it out on his own, sells the contract to CNN… but, of course, not the story which he is probably getting bids on as we speak. And I do think a lot of this is a result of the Cohen plea deal, people like Weisselberg(?) and Pecker getting in front of what they realize is an oncoming express train of pain. This week, I predict, will be seen as the week when the inner circle knew the game was up. As I said… I think in this thread… that the issue here isn’t so much that Trump had a bunch of white collar criminals working for him, but that white collar crime is _vastly_ more common than even the most conspiratorially minded person thinks, and if it were policed and prosecuted with the vigor of the local DA going after drug busts in the black side of town, a lot of fortunes would be lost and many, many more would be dramatically reduced. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2018, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6861 "2018-08-25T22:50:36Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > As I said… I think in this thread… that the issue here isn’t so much that Trump had a bunch of white collar criminals working for him, but that white collar crime is _vastly_ more common than even the most conspiratorially minded person thinks, and if it were policed and prosecuted with the vigor of the local DA going after drug busts in the black side of town, a lot of fortunes would be lost and many, many more would be dramatically reduced. We’d have to end the drug war in order to have room in our prisons. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093/6862 "2018-08-26T02:57:10Z")
No, no, no, $30,000 is the total initially paid by all three travelers. All the doorman got was the $2,000 he pocketed. The travelers each got $1,000 back, and the hotel got $25,000. You need to subtract instead of adding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093.md?page=342) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thread-for-the-mueller-investigation-results-and-outcomes-part-1/800093.md?page=344)