Mueller investigation

[Elixir]

I think it depends on details we don't yet know, such as what was given in return for money. So far, it looks like Cohen simply promised influence over the President and things like that but delivered exactly zilch.

I don't know. Novaris made a bunch of large payments and then the CEO had a private meeting with Trump soon after the last one. Now, that may be coincidence and there's nothing more here than Cohen being guilty of fraud, but it looks really fishy.

Nothing fishy about it - it's a straight up pay-to-play bribery scheme, with Cohen out there serving as a cold-calling sales flunky. The only question not yet answered in the public domain is exactly who is getting how big a slice of the pie. If known pie-consumption patterns apply, Cheato is getting fat on most of it, while saps like Cohen get their crumbs off the table.

President Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen scored $1.2 million by promising pharma giant Novartis inside access to not only the president but his inner circle.

But it took Novartis officials just a single sitdown with the self-described fixer to realize he had nothing to offer — but they kept paying him anyway because they didn’t want to incur the president’s wrath, according to a report in stat.com, which covers the health care industry.

“He reached out to us,” a Novartis insider told the website.

“With a new administration coming in, basically, all the traditional contacts disappeared and they were all new players. We were trying to find an inroad into the administration. Cohen promised access to not just Trump, but also the circle around him. It was almost as if we were hiring him as a lobbyist.”

 

[Angry Floof]

I think it depends on details we don't yet know, such as what was given in return for money. So far, it looks like Cohen simply promised influence over the President and things like that but delivered exactly zilch.

I don't know. Novaris made a bunch of large payments and then the CEO had a private meeting with Trump soon after the last one. Now, that may be coincidence and there's nothing more here than Cohen being guilty of fraud, but it looks really fishy.

Oh, I'm not saying that's all there is to it. Far from it. Just saying that's all we see so far.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I think it depends on details we don't yet know, such as what was given in return for money. So far, it looks like Cohen simply promised influence over the President and things like that but delivered exactly zilch.

Then surely this is an issue for the Better Business Bureau, not a special prosecutor.
They paid good money for influence, and the influence peddler did not provide the goods or services as advertised.
Did they keep the receipt?

 

[Angry Floof]

I think it depends on details we don't yet know, such as what was given in return for money. So far, it looks like Cohen simply promised influence over the President and things like that but delivered exactly zilch.

Then surely this is an issue for the Better Business Bureau, not a special prosecutor.
They paid good money for influence, and the influence peddler did not provide the goods or services as advertised.
Did they keep the receipt?

I think they are all regretting their decision to do business with Michael Cohen.

 

[Underseer]

NRA calls on conservatives and libertarians (who are completely different, honest!) to "protect the crown." Rightists believer in the rule of men rather than the rule of law. They aren't even trying to hide it anymore. They are openly referring to Trump as a monarch.

http://addictinginfo.com/2018/05/11...s-trump-once-again-talks-lifelong-presidency/

But I'm the real bad guy here because I am criticizing them for saying this.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

THIS should be fun: Mueller Issues Grand Jury Subpoenas to Roger Stone’s Social Media Consultant.

Trump is a fucktard, but Stone is pure evil. He’s the kind of evil that Oliver Stone depicts by shooting Joe Pesci in French aristocrat period dress sodomizing a gold-painted Tommy Lee Jones “Mercury” in an amyl-nitrate-fueled orgy.

 

[Underseer]

New Yorker: Trump administration may be deleting incriminating data from law enforcement databases:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news...-the-leak-of-michael-cohens-financial-records

The report also refers to two previous suspicious-activity reports, or sars, that the bank had filed, which documented even larger flows of questionable money into Cohen’s account. Those two reports detail more than three million dollars in additional transactions—triple the amount in the report released last week. Which individuals or corporations were involved remains a mystery. But, according to the official who leaked the report, these sars were absent from the database maintained by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or fincen. The official, who has spent a career in law enforcement, told me, “I have never seen something pulled off the system. . . . That system is a safeguard for the bank. It’s a stockpile of information. When something’s not there that should be, I immediately became concerned.” The official added, “That’s why I came forward.”

Even by conservative standards, this is shocking corruption and disregard for the rule of law.

We found out how information about Cohen's shell company became public. Banks are supposed to submit Suspicious Activity Reports when they notice activity that might need to be used in an investigation later. These SARs get entered into a database. One law enforcement agent knew about 3 SARs submitted about Michael Cohen's shell company, and two of those SARs were mysteriously deleted from the database. He became alarmed at this, and so he broke the law and released the information he had from one of those reports to the press, fearing that this information would otherwise disappear altogether from law enforcement systems.

I don't believe America lives under the rule of law anymore. I hope I am ultimately proved wrong about this.

Just saw a segment on this on the Rachel Maddow show. Presumably there will be video of the segment available later.

 

[Underseer]

Maddow segment on this:

Missing financial reports drove leak of Cohen information
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/...-leak-of-cohen-information-nyer-1235665987808

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

The Senate Intelligence Committee has just concluded that they believe there was Russian interference in the election, and directed against Hillary, they found no coordination or cooperation between this interference and the Trump campaign.

 

[Toni]

The Senate Intelligence Committee has just concluded that they believe there was Russian interference in the election, and directed against Hillary, they found no coordination or cooperation between this interference and the Trump campaign.

Of course they did. I expected nothing different.

However, that is a far different thing than a conclusion by the special counsel.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

The Senate Intelligence Committee has just concluded that they believe there was Russian interference in the election, and directed against Hillary, they found no coordination or cooperation between this interference and the Trump campaign.

Where do you get your news? The committee is headed by Republicans and so has a partisan slant. Dems on the committee may have made different statements. It's like when the supreme court has a 5-4 ruling and dissenting opinions.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The Senate Intelligence Committee has just concluded that they believe there was Russian interference in the election, and directed against Hillary, they found no coordination or cooperation between this interference and the Trump campaign.

GOP House Controlled Investigation: There is no evidence that a place like Russia exists?
GOP Senate Controlled Investigation: Shit went down and while we know that there were multiple independent attempts by the Trump Campaign to try to collude with Russians, there is no evidence that they were successful.
Truth: This will be the biggest coincidence of all time if the Trump Campaign was not complicit with the Russians.

 

[Underseer]

The Senate Intelligence Committee has just concluded that they believe there was Russian interference in the election, and directed against Hillary, they found no coordination or cooperation between this interference and the Trump campaign.

Where do you get your news? The committee is headed by Republicans and so has a partisan slant. Dems on the committee may have made different statements. It's like when the supreme court has a 5-4 ruling and dissenting opinions.

He's a libertarian. He probably gets his news from the same sources as all the other conservatives.

- - - Updated - - -

The Senate Intelligence Committee has just concluded that they believe there was Russian interference in the election, and directed against Hillary, they found no coordination or cooperation between this interference and the Trump campaign.

GOP House Controlled Investigation: There is no evidence that a place like Russia exists?
GOP Senate Controlled Investigation: Shit went down and while we know that there were multiple independent attempts by the Trump Campaign to try to collude with Russians, there is no evidence that they were successful.
Truth: This will be the biggest coincidence of all time if the Trump Campaign was not complicit with the Russians.

But FOX News told me that this was all a terrible conspiracy by the Deep State! FOX News wouldn't lie to me! I know they wouldn't lie to me because they tell me that my white skin proves that I am superior! How could anyone like that lie? [/satire]

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

The Senate Intelligence Committee has just concluded that they believe there was Russian interference in the election, and directed against Hillary, they found no coordination or cooperation between this interference and the Trump campaign.

Where do you get your news? The committee is headed by Republicans and so has a partisan slant. Dems on the committee may have made different statements. It's like when the supreme court has a 5-4 ruling and dissenting opinions.

And compare and contrast to a real investigation:

In 365 days, Mueller's team has charged 19 people, as well as three companies, and secured five guilty pleas. He is showing no signs of slowing down.

FIVE fucking guilty pleas and it’s still nowhere near being over.

 

[Keith&Co.]

FIVE fucking guilty pleas and it’s still nowhere near being over.

Andthat's after 1 year.
Whitewater had 4 years and all they limped into port with only a blowjob in the hold.

 

[Underseer]

Five guilty pleas doesn't prove that any crimes happened! It just proves that five members of Trump's circle have joined the Deep State conspiracy!

Benghazi! Uranium One! BUT HER EMAILS!!!!!!

 

[Angry Floof]

Remember, with Watergate, it was two years by the time Nixon resigned. Enron took five years to investigate. Mafia and crime family investigations have gone on way longer. Remember the undercover cop who was almost "made" by the time the investigation concluded?

Why White Collar Investigations Take So Long

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Plus, there's all the "I do not recall, Senator" explanations that are somehow allowed. Don Jr used that a lot when asked if his father knew anything about anything. Meanwhile, his father was dictating letters on behalf of his son about "transparency." If people claim the do not recalls that much, then they should get fired for incompetence. I mean, if their memory is that bad, they can't be held accountable for anything, so fire them.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Plus, there's all the "I do not recall, Senator" explanations that are somehow allowed. Don Jr used that a lot when asked if his father knew anything about anything. Meanwhile, his father was dictating letters on behalf of his son about "transparency." If people claim the do not recalls that much, then they should get fired for incompetence. I mean, if their memory is that bad, they can't be held accountable for anything, so fire them.

Except the real case is that Donald Junior's memory is so bad that Donald Senior can't be held accountable...
Donald depends on that sort of ability among his minions...

 

[Underseer]

FIVE fucking guilty pleas and it’s still nowhere near being over.

Andthat's after 1 year.
Whitewater had 4 years and all they limped into port with only a blowjob in the hold.

Yes, but the blowjob was received by a Democrat.

Lying about a blowjob is grounds for impeachment if the president is a Democrat, but lying about treason is reason to get help from all the other Republicans to obstruct justice if the president is a Republican.

Because unlike Democrats, conservolibertarians believe in Objective Morality, not that moral relativism stuff! They believe in Personal Responsibility[ent]trade[/ent]!