Trump 2018 - Trump Foundation ordered to dissolve, Flynn Sentencing Delayed

[allegro]

We KNOW that “Individual 1” is Trump because Cohen’s plea agreement states that Cohen served as Executive Vice President and Special Counsel to “The Company” (Trump Organization) and “the Owner” of “the Company” is “Individual 1.”

https://www.elitedaily.com/p/who-is-...-deal-13218904

I’m still not sure where all of this will go. MSNBC is having an orgasmic field day, but that’s because a day like this is good for advertising revenue. There aren’t enough legal dots, yet, to connect. So far, a bunch of people are guilty of lying.

[theimage13]

Renato Mariatti’s follow-up thread re Cohen and Manafort and what happened today (key details in the filings):

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...155698690.html\

I think what I'm most afraid of now is the fact that the AG has, from the sound of it, near sole discretion as to what part(s) of Mueller's final report are actually presented to Congress and what, if anything, is ever made public.

So I'm just going to say it: if so much as ANYTHING that doesn't appear to be the name of an American intelligence officer appears to be redacted from whatever report is made available, I am going to take that as absolute proof that Mueller has found prosecutable evidence of one or more felonies, and that Barr (assuming he's confirmed) is redacting everything for no other purpose than to protect his boss and party member. Does that paranoid / conspiratorial?

[allegro]

It’ll leak.

[Jinsai]

@Jinsai, read Bob Woodward’s “Fear.” Kellyanne Conway loves Trump, loves her job, and hates it when her husband says bad shit about Trump.

I need to pick it back up.... I made I through part of it and it just made me so pissed off I had to put it away.

[theimage13]

It’ll leak.

Even if the AG is pretty much the only one who is formally handed a copy? I can see it maybe leaking if the whole thing made it to Congress, but the SCO has been so good with leaks that I have a hard time picturing it happening if it only moves between them and Barr.

[allegro]

Even if the AG is pretty much the only one who is formally handed a copy? I can see it maybe leaking if the whole thing made it to Congress, but the SCO has been so good with leaks that I have a hard time picturing it happening if it only moves between them and Barr.

Yeah, most of the contents is coming out via other means: grand jury investigations leading to indictments and other investigations, etc. Mueller’s been handing off a ton of his findings to others (Federal and Circuit Court jurisdictions) or starting actual criminal investigations, and much of the discovery in those cases can become public.

The end “report” isn’t going to mean much more than a summary of what we are already seeing IN REAL TIME. Mueller appears to be totally aware that an AG could bury the report, so he’s making the report “public” via indictments and court fillings, etc. And eventually Congress will demand to see the Report, and THAT is where it could leak.

The full Starr Report was released online, though.

[Mantra]

[onthewall2983]

Newest addition to the resistance...Ammon Bundy???

[theimage13]

Congratulations to the Daily Beast, for managing to make yourselves look unbelievably stupid with the layout of this quote leading into the next headline.

[Demogorgon]

It doesn't take much for the Daily Beast to look stupid, to be fair.

[Mantra]

Newest addition to the resistance...Ammon Bundy???

Yeah, I saw this. So weird.

It's weird because right wing militias have always been steeped in various levels of racism. Some are totally open about it, like "Yup, we're preparing for the race wars." And there's all the others that express themselves in more coded ways, talking about the need to "defend our nation's borders from invaders" or to protect us all from "inner city thugs" or "Muslim terrorists" and so on. Especially lately, Trump's rhetoric around the southern border has served as a major talking point in the militia scene. A number of them even mobilized and went down to "help" the border patrol with caravan.

So I just find it incredibly bizarre that Ammon seems a little surprised by the movement's reaction to his statements. He's been immersed in that culture for years. How is this even remotely surprising? How does he not understand the very nature of his own movement?

[Mantra]

Congratulations to the Daily Beast, for managing to make yourselves look unbelievably stupid with the layout of this quote leading into the next headline.

So...Does The Daily Beast just regularly refer to Trump as "Tiny Hands"? Seems like a strange editorial choice.

[theimage13]

So...Does The Daily Beast just regularly refer to Trump as "Tiny Hands"? Seems like a strange editorial choice.

Oooooooooooh hahaha....nope, that's because of my browser. I installed a word filter the day after the election that replaces "trump" with "tiny hands". It makes it easier to stomach seeing that soulless shit for brains psychopath in the news every day.

[NotoriousTIMP]

Oooooooooooh hahaha....nope, that's because of my browser. I installed a word filter the day after the election that replaces "trump" with "tiny hands". It makes it easier to stomach seeing that soulless shit for brains psychopath in the news every day.

I need that word filter! haha

[theimage13]

I need that word filter! haha

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...lkjdpbfh?hl=en

Fully customizable, so you can do whatever you want with it.

[theimage13]

Sorry, me again.

Did Trump just confess to a felony on twitter?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ts/2262446002/

[Jinsai]

Sorry, me again.

Did Trump just confess to a felony on twitter?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ts/2262446002/

its just insane... what happened to “Crazy Stormy Daniels.” Oh right, we’ve clarified that was a desperate lie, so we’re on to the next lie. Maybe time for some follow up questions for his wife and see if she still “believes him”

ffs... also, in today’s tweet we find that “smocking gun” wasn’t just a one-off typo... he repeated it twice today.

REPEAT: the fucking president doesn’t know how to spell “smoking.” Even after he did this before and deleted the tweet to fix it, he still gets it wrong. Stable genius!!!!!! GENIUS!!!

[theimage13]

its just insane... what happened to “Crazy Stormy Daniels.” Oh right, we’ve clarified that was a desperate lie, so we’re on to the next lie. Maybe time for some follow up questions for his wife and see if she still “believes him”

ffs... also, in today’s tweet we find that “smocking gun” wasn’t just a one-off typo... he repeated it twice today.

REPEAT: the fucking president doesn’t know how to spell “smoking.” Even after he did this before and deleted the tweet to fix it, he still gets it wrong. Stable genius!!!!!! GENIUS!!!

Is it possible that "smocking" is an autocorrect fail? I could totally see that being the kind of "offensive" word that Apple somehow tries to rewrite for you. I mean, I can also totally see him just being too stupid to know how to spell "smoking", or too too stupid to take the time to proofread what he writes, or...you get the picture.

[Jinsai]

Is it possible that "smocking" is an autocorrect fail? I could totally see that being the kind of "offensive" word that Apple somehow tries to rewrite for you. I mean, I can also totally see him just being too stupid to know how to spell "smoking", or too too stupid to take the time to proofread what he writes, or...you get the picture.

Nope, I'm pretty sure that his unnecessary capitalizations ensure that is not the case... also, he did this before months ago, he just didn't do it twice in the same tweet

[ickyvicky]

Where is his legal team to tell him to stop writing this stuff?

[theimage13]

Where is his legal team to tell him to stop writing this stuff?

Actively attempting to avoid guilt by association, I imagine.

[Jinsai]

Where is his legal team to tell him to stop writing this stuff?

Locked outside of the bathroom... look at the time stamp on his craziest stuff

I KNOW, it's totally impossible that the answer is that stupid... except it isn't.

[Mantra]

It really is kind of incredible that the act of tweeting has become such a deeply ingrained habit in Trump's mind that he just can't stop himself. He can't even hold back from tweeting shit that will fuck himself over. It's like this compulsive thing that he can't resist no matter what the consequences are.

[allegro]

Campaign finance violations aren’t a crime typically punished by prison sentences. Campaigns violate campaign finance laws all the time, most of the time without clear knowledge that what they are doing is actually illegal, or by accident (accounting errors, etc.).

Obama’s 2008 campaign was fined $375,000, one of the largest fees ever levied against a presidential campaign. Nobody went to prison, the campaign just paid a fine; which is typical.

The difference, here, is LYING. Cohen lied to Congress about it, and I think he lied to the Special Counsel?

Finding out about this via an audit or an investigation and then going “whoops sorry we didn’t know this was not legal” and paying a fine is one thing. Consistently lying about what happened and where the funds came from etc. is another thing, worse than the actual thing.

Here’s the other thing: Mens rea. It’s a Latin legal term, means “guilty mind,” but in law it means criminal intent. A person not only has to be found guilty of a crime, but there also has to be mens rea.

Which is what was LACKING in the Hillary email server situation.

She set up a combined personal email server - business and personal - in her house; the DOJ found her to be guilty of incredibly bad judgment, but that’s not a crime. The DOJ found no evidence that HRC set up a private email server with the intent to commit a crime. No mens rea.

And that is likely to be the same defense with DJT; his attorney suggested, on the audio tape, that they pay off Stormy Daniels via a NDA; DJT said let’s pay cash; Cohen said no can’t do that, need to finance it. So DJT was clearly working on the advice of counsel, and it’s obvious from the recording that their intent is to make her go away; the intent doesn’t appear to be deliberate campaign finance fraud; in fact, it seems like they are trying to AVOID any kind of fraud, but are doing a shitty job because Cohen is a shitty lawyer.

If you want precedent, you don’t have to look far. John Edwards wasn’t that long ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.6d10b3f52c43

https://www.politico.com/story/2012/...edwards-077398

Here’s a weird thing: Cohen’s biggest prison time is for shit he did on his own, tax fraud he committed related to his own taxi business, etc. He was facing over 20 years. Now it’s knocked down to 4 years for cutting a cooperation deal. But 4 years is still a lot for tax fraud. Hardly anyone goes to prison that long for tax fraud, anymore. They usually pay a huge fine and do a little time and get probation. Why is this guy getting four fucking years?

[allegro]

It really is kind of incredible that the act of tweeting has become such a deeply ingrained habit in Trump's mind that he just can't stop himself. He can't even hold back from tweeting shit that will fuck himself over. It's like this compulsive thing that he can't resist no matter what the consequences are.

It’s not compulsive, the books I’ve read indicate that he’s been given two opinions of guidance:

One side says it’s not prudent or Presidential to tweet all day etc. (this was the Rience Priebus camp).

The other side tells Trump to ignore that other side, tells Trump that whatever he does is what his fans love and what got him elected (Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon). They tell him not to change a thing.

[Mantra]

The other side tells Trump to ignore that other side, tells Trump that whatever he does is what his fans love and what got him elected (Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon). They tell him not to change a thing.

Yeah but surely even the people in that camp aren't telling him, "Hey, it's all good man, go ahead and tell the whole world that you knew all about Michael Flynn lying to the FBI back when you told Comey to stop investigating him, thereby revealing that you are actively obstructing justice."

It's not just the fact that tweets at all, it's the content of his tweets, the way he reveals so much and fucks up so badly. I mean, he's the subject of a major investigation right now. You'd think that, just for the sake of pure self-interest, he'd want to be extra careful right now and have a team of lawyers and PR people double checking every tweet before he hits send.

[allegro]

I hear ya, but the jury’s still out (pun kinda intended) as to the legal ramifications of a tweet.

It’s a tweet. He’s not under oath when he tweets, he could be just bullshitting, nobody knows.

Bill Clinton was on TV everywhere saying “I did NOT have sex with that woman!” But he wasn’t under oath.

He was a lawyer!! He should have shut up. Hillary should have shut up (she called Lewinsky a “narcissistic loony toon”).

Then Bill testified before the Special Counsel and the Grand Jury and denied everything under oath.

Once the FBI got a warrant for Lewinsky’s blue dress with jizz on it, and got a warrant for DNA from Bill, the party was over.

Bill Clinton wasn’t impeached and found guilty of having sex with an intern; he was found guilty of perjury under oath.

If it weren’t for that blue dress with the DNA on it ...

[Jinsai]

The Clinton lie was pretty much entrapment. Everyone around Trump knows he can’t testify under oath, he’ll perjure himself with every sentence, no trap required. Clinton was a fool to testify under oath, but holy shit did they set up Monica and go dumpster diving to nail him

[allegro]

The Clinton lie was pretty much entrapment. Everyone around Trump knows he can’t testify under oath, he’ll perjure himself with every sentence, no trap required. Clinton was a fool to testify under oath, but holy shit did they set up Monica and go dumpster diving to nail him

Clinton wasn’t entrapment, he was in denial and thought he could get away with it. Linda Tripp was talking to Monica Lewinsky, who was really young and fairly vulnerable; Tripp claimed to have been doing her patriotic duty, and recorded their phone conversations.

This was during the initial Whitewater investigation, which later included sexual harassment charges after Paula Jones filed a civil suit against Clinton. Clinton had a sexual harassment controversy against him (Flowers) during his FIRST campaign.

Clinton was served a SUBPOENA. He HAD to testify under oath. His mistake was equivocation about “sex” ONLY meaning “sexual intercourse.” He should have been perfectly clear and honest. He wasn’t, because he thought he was being clever and nobody would ever have proof. The blue dress did him in, later.

To believe Clinton isn’t a poon hound is hypocritical; that whole mess was a fucking train wreck, all the while Hillary was complaining that it was a right wing conspiracy and defending Bill. Which isn’t feminist, at all. Her husband was a PIG. He was fucking around with a 22-yr-old INTERN in the OVAL OFFICE. During business hours. He was her boss. That’s the very definition of sexual harassment. Lewinsky lost her position and was transferred, and the whole mess wrecked her life and reputation. Meanwhile, Bill lost his law license, paid a fine, and skated away.

Trump has not yet been subpoenaed because he has not yet been charged with anything.

Bill Clinton and Donald J Trump are both terrible witnesses under oath for the same reason: Arrogance.

Trump’s biggest problem, for lawyers, is that HE IS STUPID. (While Clinton is actually brilliant.)

ALL clients are counseled to ONLY answer questions as briefly as possible, DO NOT elaborate, DO NOT offer additional information, etc.

Trump is incapable of this. I truly believe this is due to some level of dementia. Seriously.

[Jinsai]

Trump has not yet been subpoenaed because he has not yet been charged with anything.

And there's no point in endless speculation until the Mueller report arrives, but it does seem impossible that everyone around him is pleading guilty to doing shit that he instructed them to do, and he would get away clean. Stranger things have happened I guess...

Anyway, now Trump is threatening to shut down the government if the mean democrats won't fund his border wall since (for some strange reason) Mexico doesn't seem willing to pay for it like he promised they would...

Apparently the other option is to somehow force the military to do it... I don't even know the plausibility of any of this shit, though I'm pretty sure he hasn't bothered to look too deeply into it either.