Not a word on the front page of Fox News’s website, except for one link to an opinion column.
Think how pissed off thump would be if he were “Individual 2.” Hehe. I love to picture the rage he would not be able to express openly. … except he probably would.
"Hey! Wait a minute! Individual TWO??? I don’t think so! I’m the top! I’m the best! "
Little Donnie Fail-Fail is ‘number two’. When he’s finally gone, I wouldn’t go into the White House for at least half an hour.
I have never heard anyone call the Founding Fathers (or the Framers, which is the more common appellation these days) infallible. Smart, capable, visionary, etc., but certainly not infallible.
Here is an interesting Twitter thread (via Threadreader, not Twitter) from Kurt Eichenwald that has an interesting analysis of the campaign finance felonies called out by the SDNY.
Turns out that it is one of those rare laws where “I didn’t know officer…” can be a valid defense. The prosecution would have to prove both knowledge and intent - a high bar. However, Trump and Cohen may have carried it out in a pretty damaging way that leaves them and Trump Org open to charges of conspiracy, money laundering and even bank fraud.
Get used to hearing “Individual 1” in connection with “Unindicted co-conspirator”.
But didn’t Cohen already plead guilty? Seems “I didn’t know officer” is already off the table, because clearly Cohen knew. Unless he’s willing to testify that he never told Trump it was illegal or something…
Yep, too late for Cohen but Trump can say anything and the prosecutor has to prove he knew and approved.
The counter-argument: if Trump had no idea it was wrong, then why did he lie about it?
(It’s already proven that Trump knew the money was being paid out, isn’t it?)
^This is an extremely important facet of Trump’s Presidency that doesn’t get enough attention.
The extent to which major donors are willing to let Trump take a wrecking ball to the economy (with his insane “trade wars are good and easy to win”* fixation), surely has to be connected with personal get-rich opportunities. Someone with an IQ over room temperature in that Administration, IS providing just such tips to them. Thus they are willing to stand by and let Trump continue to do his thing.
*https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/02/trump-trade-wars-are-good-and-easy-to-win.html
In related news, I bought stock in domestic farming companies a few months ago. While, obviously, that’s not doing wonders for me at the moment, I do expect that they’ll make a pretty impressive comeback once the illegal workforce is no longer being scared away and the tariffs are off.
No secret insider trading. Just common sense, given Trump.
(Obviously, I may come out a loser on the bet, but I’m not feeling too bad about it yet.)
Politicians spin, obfuscate and outright lie about sex scandals that don’t involve criminal activity all the time. Avoiding possible political repercussions is a reasonable response if the only evidence of an important part of the crime is the question “why lie?” Without other evidence, I can’t see the burden of proof being met for an indictment, let alone the higher burden for a criminal conviction, based simply on the existence of the lie.
Cohen may be able to testify that Trump was aware it was criminal. Maybe someone else was looped in and can or there’s email or text messages that present that critical evidence. If Mueller’s got that kind of evidence it’s still not public knowledge.
I like it. It’s much more concise than “Individual whose eligibility to be indicted is unsure because he’s the so-called president”
For the first time, prosecutors have tied President Trump to a federal crime. But can a sitting president be indicted?
Or (taking a page from Dogbert), In-duh-vidual 1.
I don’t understand why it matters that Trump did or didn’t know his actions were criminal. Ignorance of the law isn’t an excuse. It is unnecessary to demonstrate a defendant knew what he was doing was a crime.
See above.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be insiders. Trump’s predictable “now-it’s-heads, now-it’s-tails” makes for great trading.
There was a great example of manipulation this past week. Everybody wanted to see what would come out of the G20 meeting, which started Friday and ended Saturday. Market popped on Friday in anticipation of a positive comment.
So of course, first you have the initial positive comment followed by the walkback. This could have been done on Saturday and Sunday, but instead was staged on Sunday and Tuesday to let everybody get out on Monday.
This kind of shit has happened a dozen times. Not to say there isn’t any bigger corrupt stuff going on, but you don’t have to be an insider to play the game.
Dems oughta hit the ground running and get one big “bipartisan” thing passed in the spring before they lower the boom. The way things appear to be going, if Mueller’s done in the spring and they don’t make a referral to the House Judiciary for impeachment next summer, they’re gonna need a much better excuse than “too divisive” or “we think it will hurt us in 2020.”
Mueller’s filing reveals that he has Trump in his sights for felonies; and Trump responds with a Twitter storm. What struck me as amusing was that Trump’s tweets, while emphasizing Leakin’ Lyin’ James Comey (who along with Mueller is a life-long Republican though Thrump blames the D’s), he also singles out
“Bruce Ohr (and his lovely wife Molly).”
What is all that about? And Ohr’s wife is named “Nellie.”
One of the fears concerning this is that having found new sources for soy beans, Chinese buyers will be reluctant to switch back to US suppliers.
I think this needs to be looked at from an extreme hypothetical, and then walked back.
If Trump where to pull a gun and shoot a reporter on live TV. Could he be held accountable?
Yes? Why?
Cause it’s against the law, that’s why. It must be equal across the board (I know in practice, it isn’t. And that’s a problem that needs to be addressed)
But he still must be removed from office and punished. Whether he is sent to club fed or a mental hospital is immaterial.
To myself, he has clearly obstructed justice. Almost certainly committed campaign finance violations, and of course the whole emoluments thing.
That’s just the low hanging fruit. I won’t speak to other possible violations.