Do not be distracted by the handwaving. Remember that the press doesn’t tell the whole story, just the parts of the story that are interesting and accessible to them; we don’t know what Mr. Trump knows, nor Mr. Giuliani, nor those who might be or become their adversaries. But from what we can see, Mr. Trump’s legal advisors are likely far more concerned about the consequences of losing any attorney-client privilege between Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen than they are about the consequences of a potential allegation of a campaign finance violation. Politically, the story is a non-starter: to put it crudely and from the Left’s perspective, if you’re already in bed with the man, you can’t credibly feign surprise to discover that the two of you aren’t alone, and from the Right, there are so many things abnormal about this story that the mind boggles and so looks for any reason to reject the premise. Legally, losing likely just means agreeing to pay a fine and not repeat the same conduct; the likelihood of a criminal charge being brought against the President on this, and only on this, seem vanishingly small, and would only stengthen the political narrative of persecution. Journalistically, things are firing on all cylinders, as the President (check and balance!) is in legal jeopardy (lock ‘em up!?) for lying (intrigue!) about paying (money!) someone regarding sex (sex!) due to the recorded statements (facts!) of a known figure (celebrity!), which all-told means there will be more hype than substance in the reporting, even if there is an important amount of substance there. Which is exactly why this makes sense as an intentional move: it lends credibility to the attorney-client relationship while strengthening the “reporters are biased, trust only me” relationship that the President has with his political base. Win-win.
I can’t help but wonder what Hitchens would have made of it all as well. I’d like to think that he’d have eviscerated Trump without breaking stride and I know he’d have thought him a odious little shit but would he have thought it a contrary enough position for him to waste ink and time on it?
Trump is walking back the Giuliani flop now. It will be interesting to see SHS catch this fumble now as she’s played both sides of that field with what really happened.
Is Trumpsterfire going to walk back his three tweets from yesterday morning that backed up what Guiliani said?
The so-called “president” is such a lying piece of shit.
From CNN
“When Rudy made the statements – Rudy is great – but Rudy had just started, and he wasn’t totally familiar with everything,” Trump said.
They need an Administration of Presidential Lies. A staff designed to help keep all the lies straight and make sure one lie doesn’t conflict with a previous lie. SHS isn’t very good at that.
No. Giuliani stated that Cohen was charging large amounts of money for which he was not performing legal work, and also that the payments from Trump were structured like this so Cohen could (among other things) pay people off with the funds. This is devastating to a claim of attorney-client privilege. It’s also a potential admission of violation of anti-structuring laws, and if Trump (or the Trump Organization) was writing off the full amount of the payments to Cohen as legal expenses, that’s potential tax fraud there as well.
Is he trying to imply that Rudy hijacked his Twitter account too?
They are fairly well written tweets so you know the Trump didn’t write them.
I detest the woman, but I’m beginning to feel sorry for her.
I don’t.
The one good thing about this administration is that everyone is not just hopeless at their jobs but also such thoroughly reprehensible people that you never need to feel sorry for them no matter what.
In the case of SHS, yes constant lying was obviously part of the MO if you’re going to cover for Trump (which, let’s not forget, is something she would have known when she accepted the role).
But also she goes on the offensive, insulting: a). Journalists who are putting true facts to her, b) people who are actually owed an apology and c) the american public in general
If she has a mental breakdown, years of PTSD and seems generally regretful about everything that happened then I’ll feel sorry for her. Not now.
I detest the woman, and don’t feel an ounce of pity for her. She signed on to be Trump’s mouthpiece. She deserves it.
The best I can say for Sarah Sanders is that she often doesn’t know that she’s lying. If she asks, “what do I say about X if it gets brought up?” the answer she is instructed to give is going to be a lie, but she may not know that.
That being said, she is reprehensible as is anyone who would sign on to this criminal enterprise.
I would like to see her burned at the stake just for the “Let them eat cake” attitude of her father.
She has 2 qualifications.
- She’s a republican who supports trump.
- She’s marginally better than the blonde she replaced.
I’d much rather have SHS than Kellyanne. KC could piss you off just being in the picture.
Her father was the Republic governor of Arkansas, damn his eyes.
Sarah Sanders is the Press Secretary. She replaced Sean Spicer. Kellyanne Conway was never Press Secretary, she’s a Counselor to the President and though at one point she was a frequent News Show flunky, that role has essentially been reduced or eliminated for her.
I actually want to think Giuliani is playing some sort of elaborate long game, and ten years or so from now we’ll see how all the pieces were carefully designed and perfectly fit together.
But for the life of me I can’t actually think anything other than Trump has dumped a steaming turd of a case onto his lawyers, and they’re flailing around with no possible strategy to win.
I actually think he’s mentally off. If I recall correctly, during the campaign, he was downright unhinged at times. That may have even been why trump never gave him (one of his oldest and most passionate supporters) a place in his White House.
But when you’re desperate for lawyers, even a dumbass like Donald Trump will hire someone who’s clearly not found the right drug cocktail. I’m just surprised even Trump was stupid enough to put Jules on national TV.
Gotta say though, it’s spectacularly fun watching criminals scramble to get their stories straight on live television!
That’s what makes me so angry: even if she doesn’t know, she doesn’t CARE. It doesn’t take The Best People to see he and his team are full of it literally from day one (the biggest crowd ever!).
She’s truly her father’s daughter.
I think you meant to say “She signed on to be the Mouth of Sauron.”
Sauron wouldn’t have her.