Trump and Russia; Spasiba, Harasho!

[Jason]

How 'bout them apples?

[Forty Two]

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen sentenced to three years prison

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, was sentenced to a total of three years in prison on Wednesday for his role in making illegal hush-money payments to women to help Trump’s 2016 election campaign and lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower project in Russia.

U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan sentenced Cohen to three years for the payments, which violated campaign finance law, and to two months for the false statements to Congress. The two terms will run concurrently.

Cohen pleaded guilty to the campaign finance charge in August and to making false statements in November. ...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN1OB2AR

There was no determination that the payments constituted campaign finance violations. That's what the prosecutor alleged, and Cohen was arm-twisted into pleading guilty himself. But that is in no-sense evidence or proof that the payments were campaign finance violations.

One, if the were campaign finance violations, why isn't the FEC making a finding on that?

Two, payments that would be made irrespective of the existence of the campaign are not campaign finance payments. These are settlement payments that rich people pay all the time. Their purposes can be both to help the campaign by keeping the information from coming to light, and for other purposes, like protecting against personal embarrassment and for business purposes or celebrity purposes or whatever. Such payments that would be made irrespective of the campaign are not campaign finance issues.

Also, even if they were campaign violations, that's not some sort of major deal. Every administration has campaign finance violations. All Trump would have to do is pay money back and possibly pay a penalty. Big whoop-de-doo?

"Cohen made an emotional apology to U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III, taking responsibility for crimes that included tax violations, lying to a bank, and buying the silence during the 2016 campaign of women who claimed they’d once had affairs with the future president." -- tax violations and bank fraud are crimes, for sure. But "buying silence" is not a crime, nor was he convicted of doing that. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... 14a924c2b9 Reporters are such idiots. Yet they don't come up in google searches as such...

[JimC]

What I simply cannot understand is that Americans (at least Trump supporters) can see nothing wrong with their leader paying regular hush money to prostitutes, whether or not such actions skate below a legal line.

Leadership was once about gravitas, dignity and honourable actions...

[Seabass]

Coito's still standing by his man, eh? Amazing.

1. Extreme obsessiveness regarding the group/leader resulting in the exclusion of almost every practical consideration.
2. Individual identity, the group, the leader and/or God as distinct and separate categories of existence become increasingly blurred. Instead, in the follower's mind these identities become substantially and increasingly fused--as that person's involvement with the group/leader continues and deepens.
3. Whenever the group/leader is criticized or questioned it is characterized as "persecution".
4. Uncharacteristically stilted and seemingly programmed conversation and mannerisms, cloning of the group/leader in personal behavior.
5. Dependency upon the group/leader for problem solving, solutions, and definitions without meaningful reflective thought. A seeming inability to think independently or analyze situations without group/leader involvement.
6. Hyperactivity centered on the group/leader agenda, which seems to supercede any personal goals or individual interests.
7. A dramatic loss of spontaneity and sense of humor.
8. Increasing isolation from family and old friends unless they demonstrate an interest in the group/leader.
9. Anything the group/leader does can be justified no matter how harsh or harmful.
10. Former followers are at best-considered negative or worse evil and under bad influences. They can not be trusted and personal contact is avoided.

https://culteducation.com/warningsigns.html

[L'Emmerdeur]

Right wing bubble/Trump take: Bookkeeping failures = paying off women to keep schtum. Yeh, OK then.

Mr. Pecker's organization corroborates the payoff, and that the payoff was directly intended to protect the campaign.

'Trump Campaign Struck Early Deal to Kill Bad Stories, AMI Admits'

At least one other person from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign accompanied Michael Cohen in August 2015 to a meeting with longtime Trump ally David Pecker to discuss how Pecker’s media empire could help suppress negative news stories during the election.

The deeper involvement of Trump’s campaign staff was revealed by federal prosecutors in New York, who disclosed they had reached a non-prosecution agreement with National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc., where Pecker is chairman and chief executive. Under the deal, AMI admitted it worked with the campaign to kill stories “about the presidential candidate’s relationships with women” and agreed to cooperate.

The deal signals that New York investigators are digging further into potential campaign finance violations and who in Trump’s team was involved, adding pressure to the president and his circle. It was announced shortly after Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison, in part for his role in a $150,000 payment by AMI to silence a former Playboy Playmate about her alleged affair with Trump.

[Forty Two]

What I simply cannot understand is that Americans (at least Trump supporters) can see nothing wrong with their leader paying regular hush money to prostitutes, whether or not such actions skate below a legal line.

Leadership was once about gravitas, dignity and honourable actions...

They weren't prostitutes.

Leadership was once about the appearance of gravitas, dignity and honorable actions. However, what would one say about John F. Kennedy's dalliances. And, he absolutely paid hush money to women he banged, which were legion.

I don't know, I guess I view paying a woman to keep quiet about an affair to be certainly not "good," in the Sunday School sense of the word. But, it's "meh" in the sense of what powerful people do day to day. Trump got caught. That's the only difference. It's not as if the other possible candidates for President didn't have their own dalliances.

And, this whole thing that Cohen said this was done to help the campaign. So what? Not all expenses that help or are intended to help the campaign are campaign expenditures. Under the "irrespective" test, this kind of expenditure that would exist whether or not there was a campaign, are not campaign contributions. Rich guy celebrity pays off porn star to try to hide it from his wife, family, and the public. Case close. It's that simple. Of course, the prosecutors want to spin it the other way - they're trying to get Trump, and that's the best they have. Only, the best they have is good enough to force Cohen into a plea deal because he himself had a fuck-ton of other crimes that he could not get out of, and he'd be looking at 10+ years in jail. That's the reality.

The whole idea that this is a campaign finance violation on the part of Trump is absurd. And, one of the big red flags folks should look at is that the Federal Election Commission hasn't bothered with it.

[Seabass]

[JimC]

Forty Two wrote:

They weren't prostitutes.

Righttttt...

So, they let Trump fuck them for free, just because of his manly body?

And of course, your response was utterly predictable:

"Yebbut some democrat..."

[Brian Peacock]

What I simply cannot understand is that Americans (at least Trump supporters) can see nothing wrong with their leader paying regular hush money to prostitutes, whether or not such actions skate below a legal line...

Or using one's personal lawyer to coordinate meetings with Russian representatives either.....

[Cunt]

What I simply cannot understand is that Americans (at least Trump supporters) can see nothing wrong with their leader paying regular hush money to prostitutes, whether or not such actions skate below a legal line.

Leadership was once about gravitas, dignity and honourable actions...

All money paid to prostitutes is 'hush money', isn't it?

Most prostitutes aren't paid for sex. They are paid to go away quietly afterward.

[Cunt]

Coito's still standing by his man, eh? Amazing.

1. Extreme obsessiveness regarding the group/leader resulting in the exclusion of almost every practical consideration.
2. Individual identity, the group, the leader and/or God as distinct and separate categories of existence become increasingly blurred. Instead, in the follower's mind these identities become substantially and increasingly fused--as that person's involvement with the group/leader continues and deepens.
3. Whenever the group/leader is criticized or questioned it is characterized as "persecution".
4. Uncharacteristically stilted and seemingly programmed conversation and mannerisms, cloning of the group/leader in personal behavior.
5. Dependency upon the group/leader for problem solving, solutions, and definitions without meaningful reflective thought. A seeming inability to think independently or analyze situations without group/leader involvement.
6. Hyperactivity centered on the group/leader agenda, which seems to supercede any personal goals or individual interests.
7. A dramatic loss of spontaneity and sense of humor.
8. Increasing isolation from family and old friends unless they demonstrate an interest in the group/leader.
9. Anything the group/leader does can be justified no matter how harsh or harmful.
10. Former followers are at best-considered negative or worse evil and under bad influences. They can not be trusted and personal contact is avoided.

https://culteducation.com/warningsigns.html

I know how firmly you reject anything from the other side, seabass. I stuck a quote of yours in my signature, in case I ever make the mistake again of thinking you are expressing your opinion, rather than just spreading your bias.

I think you are just mad because Trump gets to bang hookers and other hotties, while you only have your two hands for variety.

[Seabass]

I love when you white-knight Coito. I find it highly entertaining. More please!

[Cunt]

I love when you white-knight Coito. I find it highly entertaining. More please!

You are blinded by your slave-like loyalty to the Democrats. You can see SO much wrong with republicans, but don't have the wit to see anything right with them.

What if it was discovered that a republican installed your toilet, electricity and water. Will you stop using any of them? Or just keep screeching about how they aren't good for anything?

If your car was broken down, would you let a republican fix it? Or just take public transit while learning to repair it yourself?

[Seabass]

If a Republican installed my toilet, I would happily take a shit in it.

[pErvinalia]

I love when you white-knight Coito. I find it highly entertaining. More please!