Confessed felon Michael Cohen, who will spend three years in prison for carrying out Donald Trump’s orders to buy women’s silence to protect his 2016 Presidential campaign, declares himself a free man.
No, this isn’t some Trumpian Newspeak. In his statement to the court yesterday, Cohen recognizes that in owning his crimes and going to jail, he escapes a much worse bondage… and shows blindly loyal Trump voters the path they can follow to experience a similar moral liberation:
I take full responsibility for each act that I pled guilty to, the personal ones to me and those involving the President of the United States of America. Viktor Frankl in his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” he wrote, “There are forces beyond your control that can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.”
Your Honor, this may seem hard to believe, but today is one of the most meaningful days of my life. The irony is today is the day I am getting my freedom back as you sit at the bench and you contemplate my fate.
I have been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the fateful day that I accepted the offer to work for a famous real estate mogul whose business acumen I truly admired. In fact, I now know that there is little to be admired. I want to be clear. I blame myself for the conduct which has brought me here today, and it was my own weakness, and a blind loyalty to this man that led me to choose a path of darkness over light. It is for these reasons I chose to participate in the elicit act of the President rather than to listen to my own inner voice which should have warned me that the campaign finance violations that I later pled guilty to were insidious.
Recently, the President Tweeted a statement calling me weak, and he was correct, but for a much different reason than he was implying. It was because time and time again I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds rather than to listen to my own inner voice and my moral compass. My weakness can be characterized as a blind loyalty to Donald Trump, and I was weak for not having the strength to question and to refuse his demands. I have already spent years living a personal and mental incarceration, which no matter what is decided today, owning this mistake will free me to be once more the person I really am [Michael Cohen, sentencing statement, as transcribed by NBC News, 2018.12.12].
John Thune, Mike Rounds, Kristi Noem, Al Novstrup—shed your Trumpist chains. Be the moral people you claim to be. Show the strength to question and refuse the harmful and autocratic impulses of Donald Trump.
It takes strength to admit one has been profoundly wrong. In Cohen’s case, that admission will cost him three years of freedom. But even in prison, he will feel freer than will Trumpists who cling to their corrupt godhead.
Leave the path of darkness, Trump voters. Come back to the light.
NOem, Number 2, Short Rounds and Dirty Johnson are probably all implicated by Butina in her guilty plea. That means silence from this gang of misfits.
“”A Russian gun rights activist pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring with a senior Russian official to infiltrate the conservative movement in the United States as an agent for the Kremlin from 2015 until her arrest in July.
Maria Butina, 30, became the first Russian national convicted of seeking to influence U.S. policy in the run-up and through the 2016 election as a foreign agent, agreeing to cooperate in a plea deal with U.S. investigators in exchange for less prison time.
Butina admitted to working with an American political operative and under the direction of a former Russian senator and deputy governor of Russia’s central bank to forge bonds with officials at the National Rifle Association, conservative leaders, and 2016 U.S. presidential candidates, including Donald Trump, whose rise to the Oval Office she presciently predicted to her Russian contact.” Washington Post 12/13/2018
It is not even difficult to believe that a corrupted state like South Dakota would welcome a Russian asset with adoration. The trumpian republican party even had their teenage kids hang around with a Russian spy. You can’t make that stuff up. We look more and more like Uzbekistan, politically every day.
I find it shocking that Michael Cohen, who plead guilty to five counts of tax evasion, one count of giving a false statement to a financial institution, one count of “willful cause of unlawful corporate contribution and I’m not seeing anything about some “Russian Collusion”. I’m not saying the guy wasn’t a crook but now we have proof we have a special investigation in search of a crime instead of investigating a crime. It wouldn’t matter if it were Trump, a democrat or a republican if using the power of the government to search for a crime doesn’t scare every one of you then you are a fool. I’m not defending Cohen but I am warning you the government has bottomless pockets of money and limitless manpower and time to go after any American and destroy them. Look what they are doing to General Flynn or even the dumb gun rights russian girl. It should be a message to each of you that you are not safe from the law. The law has now become your enemy.
OS said: “or even the dumb gun rights russian girl.”
You mean the russian spy who pled guilty to “acting as a clandestine foreign agent”? You are branding her as a victim of Government investigative overreach? AYFKM? So Russian spies are victims, but journalists that dare to expose corruption in autocratic regimes are traitors you would kill with your own hands?
Wow.
Bah zing! TAG, ya nailed it. All of the sudden Dirty Johnson’s moll spy is not a dumb farm girl that captivated the hearts and souls of the trumpian republicans of South Dakota. That would then mean that those same trumpian republicans were equally as dumb or even dumber. The hilarity never stops with the trolls.
Well damn. That weasel Cohen actually sounds sane and halfway admirable. I wasn’t expecting that. This is too opportune a moment for a speech like that. I’ll have to see more before I fully buy what he’s selling.
Who were the Watergate felons who really did change their ways? Dean and ? But one, maybe Colson, got even crazier. I suppose we’ll see similar outcomes here too.
Breaking from Rapid City Journal: Dirty Johnson’s bestest gal pay spy from Russia with love, guilty of love in the first degree. How proud we are.
“Maria Butina, 30, agreed to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge as part of a deal with federal prosecutors.
The case, which is separate from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, has offered insight into how Moscow seeks to influence American policy.
Prosecutors say Butina and her Russian patron, Alexander Torshin, used their contacts in the National Rifle Association to pursue back channels to American conservatives during that campaign, when Republican Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Court documents filed earlier this year reveal Butina was talking to the FBI in South Dakota before her arrest. She was keeping the talks secret from her South Dakota boyfriend, Paul Erickson, who may be the subject of a fraud investigation.”
The corruption of South Dakota trumpian republicans draws the crooks and spies like flies are drawn to CAFO poop.
Notice Sarg not a single comment on what you put?….
Same went for mine yesterday talking about the reason Dems cry for these migrant caravans is because they want more voters.
Nothing truly matters unless it’s for the political outcomes desired by these people. All lies, smoke and mirrors and BS outcry for the oppressed.
OldSarge, an investigation into one specific crime may turn up other crimes. Are you saying that other crimes – even related to collusion to affect an election illegally ought to be ignored unless it has a direct Russia link? If I get pulled over for speeding, and the policeman sees me drinking from a bottle of scotch, he cannot give me a breathalyzer because I was only pulled over for speeding?
o – as soon as you’re ready to also go after the same thing that has happened with tax payer money in Congress then you can say that. Or the 2 million in campaign finance that Obama got hit for. I can keep going with things that have happened. You all cry foul ONLY because it is Trump. ONLY
A witch hunt, nope, just eliminating Russian spies one at a time. South Dakota seems to be ripe with them. We shall call ourselves Little Odessa. Tomorrow the paytroll checks come for our trolls. May you spend it locally to stimulate our economy.
And don’t forget the independent counsel was started by illegal means now even though none of you will admit it. Fake dossier used repeatedly for FISA warrants. BS information repackaged to further interest so that a special counsel would be given. Sarg is right. All of you should worry that a political hit job like this can happen.
And as I’ve said before, I do not like Trump, did not vote for Trump and will not vote for him. But will always remain thankful that Hillary is not President.
Nope, the investigation was started by drunk talk from the “coffee boy”. You loves you some trump Prickly PEARson. Now don’t forget to cash your paytroll check tomorrow. Spend it lavishly.
SP said: “Same went for mine yesterday talking about the reason Dems cry for these migrant caravans is because they want more voters.”
I didn’t respond to that because it is basically just a wild speculative theory of yours. Nothing factual. Unless you can actually back up that claim of yours with some kind of reputable source? I deal in facts, not conspiracy theories. Debating crap like that is an exercise in futility that just turns into name-calling.
You conveniently are forgetting the blatant lies you told in the rest of your post, and your lack of a response to my rebuttal to said lies.
The DOJ is not my enemy and neither is the Fourth Estate, except when they are controlled by a Fascist dictator. That is the real danger we face now.
https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/fbi-wouldve-been-derelict-not-use-steele-dossier-carter-page-fisa-warrant
Now that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application for an order to surveil former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page has been released in heavily redacted form, the attacks on the FBI’s application have been predictably loud yet incorrect. They miss the critical question related to such an application: Was there probable cause to believe that Page was an agent of a foreign power?
Even putting aside the large portions of redacted material (which likely further support the application but are redacted because of the highly sensitive nature of the information), the unredacted portions easily meet this probable cause standard and support the FISA court’s multiple orders.
Read the rest f the article and learn some real truth, Pearson. Then tell what parts of the dossier are unverified.I want some actual real live evidence, not Fake Noise talking points spat out by bots.
It didn’t seem to be so much of a problem for our Republican friends that Ken Starr didn’t find what he was looking for in the bogus Whitewater Special Counsel investigation of Bill and Hillary Clinton. The only thing he found was Monica Lewinsky, who had nothing to do with Whitewater or any crime. So he “settled” for that and it led them successfully to impeachment. There are actual crimes here in 2016-2018 and we’ve not seen them all yet, but they’re being revealed every day. It’s an unfolding drama. We should protect Mueller until he’s done. Our state “leaders” are too spineless to do the right thing.
Steve P, I am not saying that the Obama admin ought not to have been fined for campaign finance violations (honestly I am not well read on that – just that there was an infraction and a fine payed). If there were founded belief that there were a major conspiracy underlying a presidential election – by either party – I say that warrants investigation.
For someone who dies not support President Trump, you are certainly repeating his twitter rants and talking points doubt the legitimacy of the warrants. Those claims have been answered; you repeating them is tantamount to continuing the big lie fo the President.
Is it your position that the circumstances about Russian involvement in the last Presidential election and Candidate/President Trump’s relationship with Russia has never been worthy of concern or investigation? Nothing to even look at?
Now, on the topic of hypocrisy, where is the GOP outrage on election fraud in North Carolina? For a party that wants to make sure every vote is authentic, it seems like your party is OK not checking that out when they are the ones committing the fraud.
Ken Starr was court ordered to only look into Whitewater. Wingnuts in the senate kept allowing him to fish where ever he wanted.
Here is Mueller’s investigation scope. Read the first paragraph.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4429989-Rod-Rosenstein-memo-outlining-scope-of-Mueller.html
Robin, they are controlled but he President. They are under the Executive Branch but what they did with Comey’s intentional lie to start a special counsel that had no “declared” crime to investigate meant he was able to just search fr any crime he could find. That is the issue. Look, if a crime is committed I am all for the act being investigated and charges being made but in this case there was no crime “declared” at all. This is wrong.
Look at it like this; what if someone said your neighbor knew someone that was selling something illegal on the internet and the law started listening in to your neighbors conversations, in the process of monitoring your neighbor they overheard your kid scoring a bag of pot so they busted you for contributing to the delinquency of a minor? The law had no reason to be monitoring your son and you didn’t even know he was burning a bowl of hemp but here you are being drug into court as a bad mom. Are we all supposed to just say “Gee, bad luck for Robin. She shouldn’t have given her kid a cell phone.”? That is in a way what happened here. There was no crime just a dossier produced by an english spy, filled with russian information and given to the FBI by the DNC. The FBI took that dossier and used it to get a warrant to spy on Americans who were not suspected of committing a crime. There have been none charged with spying or even working with the russians but they all got spied on and investigated until some crime in their past showed up. Sure Cohen may be a bad guy but the dossier said the guy was in Bulgaria or country he had never even been too yet now he is guilty of tax evasion and being sentenced for three years?
Pearson lies when he says Dems want immigrants as voters. He has no proof and no way of proving his scurrilous accusations. He is as bad as OldSmokestacktalklywhack when it comes to flat out making stuff up.
Exactly Sarg. Exactly.
The Russian trolls think that if you are driving down the Interstate and the police pull you over for speeding, they should not prosecute you because they find you’re carrying a couple hundred kilo’s of cocaine. These Russians are hilarious, no please go and cash your paytroll checks.
OldScandalmonger, how do you know Cohen was never in Prague or Czech for that matter? Where is your proof?
jerry, In that case I think if the police did not have probable cause and did not have permission or a search warrant they should let your happy butt free. If cops search your belongings without a reason it is wrong. I know they still do it but it is wrong.
jerry, do you ever wonder how the cops know to pull over the vehicles passing through the Rapid area and always finding those big loads of drugs?
Wouldn’t I just love to face off with these two liars in a courtroom. The judge would bounce both of them before he gaveled the trial to order.
mike, go take another pill man. You are getting weird.
The only thing that confounds me more than our spineless, complicit MOC’s condoning Trump’s crimes, are the people who so willingly believed the absolute worst things possible about Obama and Hillary, but will not even consider the fact that Trump is the biggest criminal to ever occupy the Oval.
The only thing that confounds me more than our spineless, complicit MOC’s condoning Trump’s crimes, are the people who so willingly believed the absolute worst things possible about Obama and Hillary, but will not even consider the fact that Trump is the biggest criminal to ever occupy the Oval.
Blue “Trump’s crimes” please tell us what crimes you know of so we can pass that information on to Mueller as he hasn’t been assigned a crime to investigate
In Russia, when the police pull you over, you just pay them off, correct troll? We do things differently here dude, we pull your arse over and then we want to watch you sweat. Works too, that is how they make the drug busts from a simple traffic stop.
Cohen, guilty. Papadon’tpreachontopof us, aka coffee boy, guilty. Dirty Johnson’s moll Butina, guilty. Mannastinker, guilty guilty guilty. trump, the mafia kingpin, damn guilty. And we ain’t even close to being done.
trump is the head, capo, of a criminal organization that just had his made men and maiden spy gal, plead guilty on. We can’t help it that you work for the Russians dude, but that is the bed you chose to lay in, fleas and all. Hilarious, the twists and turns.
Jerry, what country do you think this happens in? “Photoacoustic Spectroscopy” the feds set up detection stations in different places (like Gillete) across the nation and when a large haul of drugs goes through the detection system they alert the police up ahead and that cop finds a reason to pull you over, asks for permission to search the vehicle an viola! big drug bust!!!! In this case they have no specific crime to investigate yet they know a crime is going on, they set up the system to detect the drugs and then alert the police to search for the vehicle. No search warrant needed until they get a positive detection. Now, I don’t like that stye do this as I think is somehow violates our privacy but I don’t know enough about the law to know if it is legal or not. All I do know is Big Brother already listens to all our phone, computer, texting, meme and so forth already and privacy, as we used to know it, is gone.
Oh OS, thanks for proving my point by refusing to believe Cohen implicated Trump in a felony. I have a suggestion for you. Since it appears you have no idea what is going on with this investigation, I suggest you start watching Rachel Maddow every evening. She breaks down and explains the tentacles of Trump’s corruption like no other.
OS can’t read and can’t comprehend. All he can do is toss out lie after lie with nothing to back them up. That is why he won’t engage me. He has no proof of any BS he spews and Pearson and the Troll are just as bad.
What proof have you that Cohen was not in Prague< Where is the Ellison rape tape you brag about?
You are 100% phony, fraud! Prove I am on drugs other than prescribed meds? You can't because you are a phony lying fraud.
And the hits just keep on coming.
Tonight it is being reported that the Trump inaugural committee is under federal investigation for misspending over $100 million.
Old Sarge continually demands to know what crimes Trump committed knowing full well Mueller’s report hasn’t been made public. OS will have to wait like the rest of us.
There is no federal grand conspiracy to go after Trump, his own actions have warranted a investigation.
The potential crimes against Trump are not a part of the Mueller investigation, they are stemming from the lower district court of New York.
Ken Starr had no reason to be investigating Monica Lewinsky either. We all know Russia interfered in our election and I suggest we wait until Mueller reveals the evidence to the world as to the extent to which they influenced the outcome. Do you really think he’s going to reveal anything before the end of the investigation? That would be foolish and unprofessional and Mueller and the counsel team are neither. It’s also foolish of Trump to keep bloviating about “no collusion” when he doesn’t know what Mueller has or doesn’t have.
Something was said about the whole investigation being a fraud because of the “phony” dossier and blaming HRC for the dossier. The dossier was originally commissioned by the Washington Free Beacon, paid by Fusion GPS, only later obtained by Clinton. So why blame Clinton for the dossier. “From October 2015 to May 2016, the Washington Free Beacon hired Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on “multiple candidates” during the 2016 presidential election, including Donald Trump. The Free Beacon stopped funding this research when Donald Trump had clinched the Republican nomination.[9] Fusion GPS would later hire former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and produce a dossier alleging links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Paul Singer, a billionaire and hedge fund manager, who is a major donor to the Free Beacon, said he was unaware of this dossier until it was published by BuzzFeed in January 2017.[10] On October 27, 2017, the Free Beacon publicly disclosed that it had hired Fusion GPS, and stated that it “had no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele.[11]” Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Free_Beacon
Typical tribal ,”You did it too, what-aboutism” responses from the lonely cast of sinners, here only because no one listens. No one pays attention to us. No one cares about us.
OS’s wild story about “Photoacoustic Spectroscopy” being used to spot cars transporting drugs is the wildest claim I have ever read on DFP. There are many law enforcement techniques that I personally think are objectionable in drug detection, but OS’s assertion is fact free.
If such technology actually existed that could reveal hidden drugs in a passing or even a parked vehicle, drug dogs would be out of business and there would be no further need for pretextual stops.
Steve 15:32: As TAG suggests, flatulation in the middle of a serious conversation obliges no response.
Here’s my hypothesis that I’d like to see investigated.
We know that the Butina effort involved infiltrating movement conservative groups in order to gain a foothold in the American conservative movement. This didn’t just mean they used the NRA. I think with Butina and Erickson being rolled up we are going to get to the bottom of how the hate groups took over the South Dakota Republican Party. My theory has always been that these vicious hate groups are a means Russians have sought to divide civil society in the US, and that they tested it in South Dakota. They enticed some fundamental Christian groups through donations and free-speakers that they also funded to take on the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim crusade. Then they got them to take over county Republican Parties in South Dakota. I think it’s going to come out that these hate groups and some county Republican parties are Russian-funded front groups. I think this has been a Putin-Torshin-Butina-Erickson effort. It wouldn’t surprise me if their effort elected a clearly incompetent Attorney General and saved Noem’s election bid in South Dakota. In other works I think the Republican Party in South Dakota is now a Putin-owned subsidiary. Maybe the leaders don’t even know just how much of a puppet of Putin they are.
This is just a working theory. I’m not saying Thune and Noem are Russian stooges. Not yet anyway.
No, Porter, it’s just that the hypocrisy bears notation.
Sounds plausible to me, Donald. The two mentioned in your final sentence plus our junior senator may be what’s sometimes known as “useful idiots”.
LOCK HIM UP, LOCK trump UP! As Roger notes “Trump’s inaugural committee is under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York over whether donors handed over cash in exchange for access to government officials and into whether funds were misallocated, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Documents seized during raids of former Trump attorney and current felon Michael Cohen’s home, office, and hotel room in April 2018 led to the investigation, the newspaper reported, which is focusing on whether the record $107 million the committee raised was given “in exchange for access to the incoming Trump administration, policy concessions or to influence official administration positions.””
Criminal investigations of trump!! Holy buckets gang, Nixon is laughing his arse off knowing that his crimes were nothing compared to this mafia. In the hoosegow with the lot of them.
Old Sarge – it is the legal mandate of law enforcement officials to seek out (hunt for) and stop criminal behavior. And you say we should fear them doing their job? Hmmmm.
OdlSarge: ” . . . please tell us what crimes you know of so we can pass that information on to Mueller as he hasn’t been assigned a crime to investigate.
I would start with three worth investigation: 1) Collusion with Russia – hiding financial relationships that have the potential to compromise him, his business, and therefore the Presidency. 2). Collusion and direct action to pay off women with whom he had affairs to keep the electorate ignorant of his character during the campaign. 3) As a sitting president t who refused to put his business in blind trust: the Emoluments Clause.
Donald Pay
Your theory may not be close to the truth.
Early in the Russian investigation what got my attention was Putin laundering $30 million through the NRA to help finance Trump’s campaign. I don’t know if the $30 million ever showed up on any of Trump’s campaign financial reports and I’d be surprised if they did.
Instead it would not surprise me if NRA contributions made on behalf of Putin were made to republican candidates.
Additionally, South Dakota’s own Paul Erickson is about to be indicted in the next few days. Has he flipped on his girlfriend or she on him? This should be the headline in the next few days.
The thing is with the dossier OS – almost everything in it is actually proving out to e accurate. Your real “problem” with it seems to be that it is “paid for” by democrats. But that’s not the whole truth either. The whole truth is that it was initially commissioned by “traditional” Repubs as opo research vs. Trump. When they failed to fulfill their half of the contract (I guess they didn’t really WANT to know what was found out – just like they don’t really want it to come out now) it was offered to the Dems.
US Senate rebukes trump. The shoes are not only being dropped, they are being tossed like the ones in Baghdad towards Bush’s melon. Still makes me giggle when I see that.
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators voted Thursday to recommend that the U.S. end its assistance to Saudi Arabia for the war in Yemen and put the blame for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi squarely on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in a direct challenge to both the longtime Middle East ally and President Donald Trump’s handling of the relationship.
The succession of bipartisan votes came two months after the Saudi journalist’s slaying at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and after Trump persistently equivocated over who was responsible. U.S. intelligence officials concluded that bin Salman must have at least known of the plot, but Trump has repeatedly praised the kingdom.
Senators made clear where they put the blame. The resolution, passed by unanimous agreement, says the Senate believes the crown prince is “responsible for the murder” and calls for the Saudi Arabian government to “ensure appropriate accountability.”
Senators voted 56-41 to recommend that the U.S. stop supporting the war in Yemen, a direct affront to the administration’s war powers abilities.”
Now, that my friends sounds much like in the olden days just before Nixon boarded the helicopter saying “I’m not a crook”, but alas, it turns out, he was. Same thing only worse with this knuckle head. The countdown begins.
My apologies Donald,
My comment should have read, “Your theory may be close to the truth”
Again, my apologies.
Actually OS = you’re wrong about how the SD HP knows which cars to pull over. Heard it from a retired SD HP friend of mine. It’s more typical SD corruption. Those few cars that get pulled over are “sacrificial lambs” – usually folks that their bosses have a little beef with who are told what route to take with their load and informed on to the HP. Rids the boss of problem employees and gives the HP a nice PR opportunity. You don’t really think there are only 4-5 loads of pot crossing from BC to Chicago or Mpls a year – do you? Really? No – I mean – is that what you really think?
Ok, you gave it an honest attempt which is much braver than the fools above who just attack me for even asking so you at least have the guts to stand like a man. I’ll respect that.
1) “collusion” is not a crime but it still never happened. If you think it did do you think it was General Flynn? Beyond that, for all the mouthy accusations, Mueller hasn’t charged anyone with “collusion” has he. . .
2) It is not illegal to have people sign a NDA. I signed one with an investment company I worked with and I never had sex with them. They are very common. I f trump banged the porn star and he had her sign an NDA it is not illegal. Did you see Congress passed a rule today saying they would no longer pay off sex assault victims?
3) There is not requirement or law requiring the president to put your holdings in a blind trust.It would be foolish after all the years he spent building his estate to turn over control of it to someone who didn’t have the expertise he has. This wasn’t an issue with Obama as he never made a freaking dime and wads a financial failure.
Peace o, thanks for being civil.
Richard, believe what you want. The odds of it being happenstance are pretty much like lottery odds. Remember the pads they used to swipe your things with at the court house? Same thing as a Photoacoustic Spectroscopy just older tech. Remind me I’m wrong during the next bike rally and the feds bring in another Stingray system but until then your friends running crap should stay out of Gillette truckstops. . .
One more time, “collusion” is the least of the potential charges against Trump. Why would Mueller spend two years investigating “collusion” when he knows it is the least of the charges against Trump?
Trump/Cohen had the porn star and Playboy Playmate sign NDA two weeks before the general election for fear they may tell their story to the public. Remember that Cohen approached the women, the women did not approach Cohen or Trump.
The Emolument Clause to the Constitution is very specific, a sitting president cannot profit from the presidency, Trump has profited by having dignitaries and other heads of state stay at his outlandishly priced hotels. The issue of the Emolument Clause is not just about putting his assets in a blind trust, a smart president would have one of his adult children, all from different mothers, manage the Trump Organization instead of having them sucking at the government teat.
Mueller will now investigate Mid East bribery directly to trump. It just keeps getting more mafia every hour. In the meantime, soybean farmers are wondering when it all ends so they can get back to work.
Collusion is now collision. When trump has hit the corner he now is in. LOCK HIM UP! is now what he faces what all criminals face when they break the law.
So, why did Butina appear in South Dakota? Was she spying on Ellsworth? Paul Erickson bought her here for what purpose? “She and Erickson incorporated a company, Bridges LLC, in South Dakota in February 2016, for unclear reasons.”
“That’s where Republican operative and lobbyist Paul Erickson — who appears to be Butina’s most important American contact — enters the picture. (He is reportedly “US Person 1” in government charging documents.)
Erickson has a colorful history. He’s worked for legendary conservative activist Richard Viguerie, for Pat Buchanan’s 1992 presidential campaign, for Lorena Bobbitt’s husband/victim, and for dictatorial Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko. More recently, he’s been on the board of the American Conservative Union, and he has close ties to the NRA’s leadership, having helped fundraise for the gun rights group. A Forbes columnist has called him “a sort of ‘secret master of the political universe’ known almost exclusively to the cognoscenti.”
Erickson attended the 2013 trip to Russia, and reportedly met Butina there. At some point, the two became very close. Eventually, they dated and lived together, and by 2015, they were close enough for Butina to email Erickson her proposed plan to influence American politics.” https://www.vox.com/2018/7/19/17581354/maria-butina-russia-nra-trump
Here are pictures and story’s of the rogue’s gallery of traitors to this country. They should embarrass each and every one of us regardless of party. Here is the real picture of corrupted South Dakota politics part of the same crew that wants to bring guns into the state capital.
Casler Noel, former staffer on Apprentice, said Lying Lunatic is a speed freak. Crushes Adderall and snorts it.
Yeah. Remember all the sniffing during the debates when Hillary so thoroughly Pelosied him? All the people who were saying they thought it was cocaine were on the right track.
Here you go fans. Watch him dish:
https://youtu.be/T9afSmPEQDo
Richard is right. OS is making things up again with his repeated “Photoacoustic Spectroscopy” claims. That claim is simply nonsense, which, I suppose is why Google has no links about law enforcement using this in drug interdiction.
As for “collision,” OS is correct, there is no federal crime that uses the term “collusion” in its definition. Instead, those who “collude” with another to violate federal law can be charged with criminal “conspiracy.”
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/371
At this point submissions accepted by the court in Cohen’s case essentially name Trump (“Individual 1”) as an unindicted co-conspirator with Cohen and with Pecker’s company in violating federal campaign laws.
While Trump is presumed innocent of these charges there is probable cause for an grand jury indictment and subsequent trial. But for the DOJ policy against indicting a sitting President, Trump would be defending himself in criminal court on multiple counts of conspiracy.
I don’t think anyone claims signing an NDA is illegal, nor is soliciting an NDA. The federal crimes here consist of conspiring to pay amounts for the NDAs to help Trump’s campaign that exceeded the legal limits for a campaign contribution, and failing to report the payments as campaign contributions. Each act was part of a conspiracy to defraud the USA by concealing the contribution and misleading voters.
No one has alleged it is a crime not to put resources in a blind trust. Trump’s Emoluments Clause violations have been accurately described by Roger in an earlier comment above.
OS arguments are classic examples of so-called “red herrings.” A “red herring” is an argument or assertion that seeks to to mislead or distract from a relevant issue.
Trump’s “goose is cooked”. He has only 1 way out. That is to plea to lesser crimes in exchange for his resignation so the country may move on. – Richard Painter, former ethics chief for Pres Bush
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/richard-painter-trump-way-out_us_5c11ca15e4b0449012f67e3c (starts about 5 1/2 minutes in)
“The Art of the Plea Bargain.
Move fast. Holdouts get worse deals.@realdonaldtrump: negotiate with Bob Mueller and the NY AG while you still have keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and perhaps the Old Post Office hotel, to throw into the bargain.https://t.co/zFzHYwnqb7 via rawstory”
“There are many cases where the client got time but the lawyer who helped him do it got no time.
There are some cases where the lawyer and the client both got time.
There are very very few cases where only the lawyer got time.
Deal time @realDonaldTrump?”
Fat Nixon’s on his way out. Yet who we should get are the toadies on the electoral college who failed doing their job by rubber-stamping this crook into office. That was the unindicted crime against the American people.
So OldFraud is a lying fraud. Who knew?
The Senate passed a bill that says members accused of sexual harassment will pay the settlements out of their own pockets. This relieves taxpayers of paying for extra-curricular activities of the party of no family values-wingnuts.
“Strophonic”. Look that up in wiki Sarge.
It helps illustrate your, grdz, jason, pearson, hickey and others addiction problem. Foxaholic Republicans don’t start the day with NYT , WAPO, HUFFPO, LA SEATTLE TIMES, ect NPR, PBS, CBS, ABC , CBC, CNN, BLOOMBERG, REUTERS, FORBES, NEW YORKER, WIRED, ATLANTIC, THE NATION, THE HILL, VICE, motherjones, VOX ect ect…then finish the day with the fantastically accurate Rachel Maddow as mentioned by other smart posters above. MSNBC and the rest of the many repetitive cable channels. Many many reliable news sources abound of every flavor. And then local news like barely pronouncable SDPR starring mostly annoying folksy Gary Hekenlable (or something) and young military vet “Ah Ah…you Know You Know” Laurie Walsh (slooowly growing into the position but at times interviewing stunningly enlightening guests).
This post was “inspired” by Gary’s version of big band anthem IN THE MOOD brass covered by humerous clucking chickens. We truly do live in “North Mississippi” but that is no excuse to surrender your intellect to Ruepert Murdoch’s lying Fox “News”. May as well get your news from grocery store gossip rag National Enquierer, like trump. Read his kid’s twitter feeds sometime. Idiots all.
Just to be clear, like rats from a sinking ship republicans don’t get a pass by declaring they don’t support trump but are glad HRC is not president. Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, NRA and conservative billionaires have damaged this nation and the world more than “useful idiot” trump.
“Photoacoustic Spectroscopy”
Those programs closed in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
OldSarge,
1) I think your are right, “collusion” is not the criminal term; more accurate would be “conspiracy.” The crime is that ALLEGEDLY then candidate Trump worked with others to hide information that was required to be disclosed, and/or worked with people forbidden to work with a campaign (the Russians).
2) I thought the same thing when the story first broke. Apparently the rules are different for candidates: The NDA payment — because it is dealing with information about how a candidate will be viewed — counts as a campaign contribution. As such, that has to conform with all the campaign finance/contribution regulations. The issue is not the NDA, but the payment of the NDA. In your case, the NDA (and any payments associated with it) are not an issue because you were not a candidate for office and those payments would not be considered candidate contributions.
3) Agreed, there is no requirement for a blind trust; however, that is the easiest and most common practice to avoid conflict in the emollients clause. No federal employee or office holder may use his or her position to enrich him or herself. Still being the head of the Trump company means that the President is making decisions that make money for the Trump industry – enriching himself – that is wrong. Also, as the head of the Trump company, foreign investors and nations are spending money in the Trump industries to garner favor — that is also wrong.
I really believe the standard we ought to hold elected officials to is “not even the appearance of impropriety”. I get that is a high standard, but especially at this level, there is just too much at stake to settle for less. I also am not saying “LOCK HIM UP!” I am saying “investigate” and let any proven crimes lead to the proper outcomes.
Roger, I could not agree more about the Emolument Clause. To me, that is the most obvious disregard to the rule of law from President Trump. I don’t know why there is not more outrage from using the office of the President to put more money into the Trump (plural) pockets.
My theory is that candidate Trump did/does not want his tax records known because those would give a clear picture of how he has/will use the office of the President to make himself richer. Maybe there is a paper trail to the Russians or other illegal actors, maybe there are shady dealings unbecoming a President, but the larger crime will be how a sitting President enriches himself as those profits get traced directly back to decisions and actions of the sitting President.
mfi, did you find a source indicating that “Photoacoustic Spectroscopy” was used in the past by law enforcement for drug interdiction?
From my long term personal experience I never encountered even a reference to such a procedure being used to identify drug transports in actual cases or in reported court cases. If I missed something, perhaps I owe OS an apology for concluding he was making things up again in another comment?
bcb, you got mail.
Roger and o~ in consideration of the Emolument Clause I can’t see where Trump benefits any more or any less by being president. A hotel is a hotel as is an apartment and those are his primary businesses. There are only a set number of rooms in each hotel. How does Trump being president somehow increase the profit or anything else above what he would earn not being president? I guess he could raise the rates but then he prices himself out of the market. He could demand lower energy costs or wages but no one has mentioned he has asked for that either. I think the left is chasing hope as it crosses across the horizon.
bear~ no but living in Rapid and traveling to the base everyday I found it a bit strange seeing a car being stripped numerous times in close to the same location over and over. I have asked several HPs and they have always told me it was simply profiling the vehicles, such as a rental, non-English speaking drivers and so forth but the occurrence was just seemed too frequent. I spoke to a buddy mine who I was in the service with but was now a US Marshall who guarded judges in Texas and he told me about a spectrum analysis machine they were using at the courthouse that could detect specific chemical compounds. (This is the tests you see using the small wipe pads). He said the machine could tell you if it was coke, heroin, has whatever. . . Well, one day the test equipment folks came in and replaced the RAM deck and told him the new one would not detect drugs, just explosives. he thought the machine worked off of the ions different substances give off. Well, in order to get a substance to shed ions you need something to excite the item. Now, up close that would be easy but to detect chemicals from a distance you need something more powerful and sensitive. This led to the Photoacoustic Spectroscopy. The military uses this tech for finding radioactive, chemical and other dangerous substances and they can mount them on all kinds of vehicles, including in the air. So, if you can tune it to find chemicals used as a weapon why couldn’t you use it to find drugs in passing vehicles? Here is an Army Research paper on the subject: http://www.arl.army.mil/arlreports/2016/ARL-RP-0577.pdf. Here is a link to the use of Raman spectrometers such as in a courthouse: https://www.bioopticsworld.com/articles/print/volume-1/issue-3/features/feature-focus/raman-spectroscopy-helps-law-enforcement-take-a-bite-out-of-crime.html. My only issue with the Raman is the distance needed to search a passing vehicle. I’m just thinking that if “profiling” worked so well for drug detection on an interstate at 75 mph why don’t they use that at the airports and courthouses?
Like other posters here I have not heard of photoacoustic Spectroscopy as it relates to drug arrests.
The major drug arrests that have been reported in the Rapid City Journal have happened along I-90 were the result of speeding, a broken tail light, or some other minor infraction that resulted in a more thorough vehicle search for drugs.
Roger, that’s fine but it just seems to me if it was just pulling folks over for “speeding, a broken tail light, or some other minor infraction” then it becomes a game f probability and it seems to me the cops just don’t pull that many people over. The first hill west of Ellsworth has two HPs sitting on it everyday but they don’t appear to be doing much searching for tail lights but I would bet you a bucket of wooden nickels it is these cops that have made the majority of the big busts. . . and as far as speeding goes if you were hauling a boatload of drugs would you speed, make lane change errors and other such nonsense? There just has to be something else.
COHEN IS GUILTY! LOCK trump UP! BUILD THE WALL (around Russian trolls and trumpian republicans) BUTINA IS GUILTY ERICKSON IS GUILTY FLYNN IS GUILTY COFFEE BOY IS GUILTY MANNAFORT IS GUILTY…..AND ON AND ON IT GOES. LOCK THEM UP!
Profiling is supposed to be illegal. iowa SP have done it for years. They see a non white driver and they pull them over. They also used to stop vehicles with plates from likely drug running states as an excuse to pull them over.(Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Calif, Washington)
Your idea of detecting drugs in a moving vehicle and alerting cops down the line sounds like made up ship.
Ok, I’m getting worried here. jerry has gone over the freak line and sounds like mike and mike completed five sentences in a coherent manner. . . I’m thinking the earth must have left its proper axis. . . It’s as if mike has taken over jerry’s brain. . .
And sometime in there our former governor’s chief of staff, Dustin Johnson, invited Russian agent Maria Butina as a speaker to GOP Youth about NRA and good old American citizenship and then the good people of SD elected Dusty to be our lone U.S. House Representative. That may or may not be a big thing to some, but it bears mentioning.
Russian, go cash your paytroll check before the bank closes.
Homer Simpson’s illegitimate son is now trump’s chief of staff. Mick will hold the job until Gary Busey becomes available. Meatloaf said no and Dennis Rodman mumbled something about his disgust of reality tee vee. The Dow was down another 500 points today, so we got that going for us too.
OldSarg, just to clarify, I understand your suspicion. If the government had the capacity to use the technology you describe in the manner you suspect, however, there would be no need for pretextual stops or drug dogs. Alerts from that equipment would create the same type of probable cause for stopping and arresting a motorist as radar does for speeders. And once there is probable cause for a lawful arrest of a motorist, police can search the vehicle without a warrant under the so called automobile exception.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_exception
I should that the search has to be related to the reason for the stop. So police can’t search if the stop is for a traffic offense. That is why they run drug dogs around the vehicle. If the dog alerts then police have probable cause to search for drugs.
If the “Photoacoustic Spectroscopy” alerted for drugs, police would then have probable cause to search for drugs.
COLLUSION with Russia, PROVEN! Time for the hoosegow. Papers released last night on the transfer of polling material for the trump campaign into Russian government assets. We have found the witch, and his name is collusion.
“Mr. Manafort asked Mr. Gates to tell Mr. Kilimnik to pass the data to Oleg V. Deripaska, a Russian oligarch who is close to the Kremlin and who has claimed that Mr. Manafort owed him money from a failed business venture, the person said. It is unclear whether Mr. Manafort was acting at the campaign’s behest or independently, trying to gain favor with someone to whom he was deeply in debt.” New York Times 1/08/2019
So there ya go. Cuff’m boys