NYT: "Michael Cohen Says He Paid Off Women Who Claimed Affairs at Trump’s Direction."
Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former fixer, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to campaign finance and other charges. He made the extraordinary admission that he paid a pornographic actress “at the direction of the candidate,” referring to Mr. Trump, to secure her silence about an affair she said she had with Mr. Trump.NYT: "Paul Manafort Guilty of 8 Charges in Fraud Trial."
Mr. Cohen told a judge in United States District Court in Manhattan that the payment was “for the principal purpose of influencing the election” for president in 2016.
Mr. Cohen also pleaded guilty to multiple counts of tax evasion and bank fraud, bringing to a close a monthslong investigation by Manhattan federal prosecutors who examined his personal business dealings and his role in helping to arrange financial deals with women connected to Mr. Trump.
Trump made a short statement as he was getting off the plane in West Virginia (where he'll have a rally soon). Trump repeatedly expressed empathy for Manafort and stressed that it had nothing to do with Russian collusion, and — it was quite noticeable — didn't mention Cohen at all.
On Fox News — "The Five" — there's too much talk about the Iowa murder case, with a suspect who's been in the country illegally, and how this might be what ordinary Americans really care about. I was groaning aloud at this labored effort.
Posts
328 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 328 of 328Birkel: "Oleg Deripaska is a name likely unfamiliar to John Pickering"
Indeed.
Or, as Christopher Steele in his email to Bruce Ohr called Deripaska: "our man".
Well.
"our man".
Now that is something.
It's amazing to say it, but Pickering is actually a less informed LLR Chuck.
A-ma-zing.
All old news by next week. We've had 2 straight years of non-stop RED ALERT level outrage aimed at Trump, and the best it can come up with is tax fraud unrelated to the campaign and a guilty pleading to an interpretation of campaign finance law that seems a bit of a stretch to put it mildly. If paying women to be quiet about sexual encounters is a campaign finance violation, most men in Congress, statehouses, and governor's mansions are probably guilty of the same crime, and I'd bet a fair number of the women are too.
It might mean something if Trump wasn't destroying families, assaulting the nation's freedoms, leading the country into World War III, destroying the economy, leading a neo-Nazi movement, and waging a crusade against Muslims daily according to the press's laser-light pointer freakout of the day. Compared to all Trump is accused of, who exactly is going to care about some white collar process crimes by a pair of his associates if they weren't already opposed to him for all the reasons the press screams about?
Frankly, this is on net probably bad for the Democrats. If they get sidetracked down Impeachment Lane because Manafort and Cohen got nailed for a few things, which is exactly where their base will want to go, they are probably going to be in for as rude a surprise as Newt Gingrich got in 1998 when Republicans lost seats in an election where they were expecting to pick-up seats because of all the impeachment focus against Clinton.
CA-50
tim in vermont: "Trumpit can't say Trump's name because he recognizes the power of it."
Trump's real name is "Donald Muad'Dib".
Clearly.
Trump was among his people tonight. I never saw him more relaxed and confident in being their President. He touched their hearts at the deepest level. I fell sorry for the Dems who go up against him.
wwww: "CA-50"
Uh ok.
"strawberry shake".
"the cow is in the dell. I say again, the cow is in the dell".
"there is no mechanism under California election laws to replace the top two finishers in a jungle primary on the general election ballot,"
"Frankly, this is on net probably bad for the Democrats."
!!!
Darrell said...John Katshit paid his mailman to stop shitting on his front porch.
--
Carryover from a feud with Kasich's Dad..who, btw, worked for the post office.
“At a time when Americans are all worked up about immigration, I believe that immigration is a good thing,” Kasich said.
wwww: "there is no mechanism under California election laws to replace the top two finishers in a jungle primary on the general election ballot,"
Crash: Wait a second. Who dresses you?
Annie: What?
Crash: Who dresses you? I mean, you think this is a little excessive for the
Carolina League?
Annie: “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” William Blake.
Crash: William Blake?
Annie: William Blake.
Crash: William Blake?
Annie: William Blake.
Crash: What do you mean “William Blake”?
Annie: I mean “William Blake.”
Crash: Who are you? I mean, do you have a job?
I am not sure I follow this. I thought Mueller handed Cohen off to the NY office because his investigators had found Cohen had committed crimes, but nothing connected to Trump and the election?
But now we find Cohen not only admitting to the NY crimes, but also making statements about Trumps intent with the Stormy payoff, which is supposed to be what made it criminal and sounds like it might be Mueller's prosecutors' charge against Trump sometime in the future, maybe.
So this is now in the public's mind without Mueller having said so, but is it even proper to have Cohen saying it? With all this context?
Lanny Davis on Twitter:
"Today he stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?"
Too much news today. No time to talk about CA-50. Kind of a big deal, but whatever -- this is the news cycle now!!!
I miss no-news August when the news had the luxury to cover shark attacks for weeks at a time.
so much news it must be Friday. TGIF!!
Hagar: "I am not sure I follow this. I thought Mueller handed Cohen off to the NY office because his investigators had found Cohen had committed crimes, but nothing connected to Trump and the election?"
Shhhhhhh.
Let them have their fun.
Earlier Lefties: how dare anyone bring up the murder of an American citizen by an illegal alien!!!eleventy!11!111!!
Later lefty (wwww): "Too much news today. No time to talk about CA-50. Kind of a big deal, but whatever"
LOL
Are there at least two legal questions arising out of the Cohen pleas:
1) Does Cohen's statement that HE made the payments to influence the election necessarily mean that Trump authorized them for this purpose?
2) If so, is alleged Trump's authorization a violation of campaign finance law?
I am also wondering whether Prof. Althouse believes Trump's alleged authorization may be protected by the 1A.
I just remembered.
"Truth isn't truth."
Lanny Davis on Twitter:
So is he really Cohen's lawyer? This Democrat partisan hack? I guess if rhetorical questions are now the law of the land, Trump is guilty of a crime.
readering: ""Today he stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?"
Well, if Lanny Davis is saying that...........
LOL
"Christopher said...
I'll save everybody some time: All pre-existing biases and opinions were confirmed.
There, now you can ignore the majority of the internet for the next week or so."
Right. And then - what? Trump strikes me as a kind of Houdini - they used to tie Houdini up with chains held together by an enormous padlock, put him in a coffin and throw him in the shark tank. Soon he'd swim to the surface and pop out smiling. And that's Trump. Only in the case of Trump the chains and padlock follow him out of the water and rise up and wrap around his enemies and drag them over to the tank and drop them into the sharks. And they do not surface. I expect that pattern to hold - by which I mean Mueller and Comey, heads of the FBI, shut their eyes to the way in which Tony Podesta, the Clintons and others worked with "Russian oligarchs" using Russian business methods. But convicting Manafort will make the Podesta-Clinton Russia connection an uninvestigated crime; and then it will be seen that Mueller and Comey are the ones who did not investigate; and this conviction will rise up and wrap around them and throw them to the sharks. I expect it will be like the way in which screaming about the Access Hollywood tape created an atmosphere in which Weinstein's and others' well-known and much worse behavior suddenly became an issue and brought them all down.
So, this what I'm waiting for and my only doubt is how to pass the time productively. I've almost cleaned up the garden from the invasion of the jewel-weeds and I think I could get that finished by about the time when these guilty pleas begin to work back toward Mueller.
I just remembered.
"Truth isn't truth."
Yeah, context is such a drag.
readering: ""Truth isn't truth.""
Absolutely true in a court of law where prosecutors get to pick and choose which person they believe based on their own preferences.
Perhaps you haven't heard of Scooter Libby and Judith Miller.
In your defense, history began anew 15 minutes ago.
LOL
tim in vermont: "Yeah, context is such a drag."
Yesterdays lefties: "Context!!" "Nuance!!" "No selective editing!!"
Today's lefties: Truth isn't Truth!!!
Well, I guess it depends on what the meaning of "isn't" is......
Lanny Davis
Yeah, he is definitely an authoritative source. Here he is tamping down #metoo.
Here is video of Lanny Davis lying for Hillary Clinton.
https://freebeacon.com/politics/lanny-davis-tense-exchange-fox-host-clinton-emails/
But they let Cohen keep his money.
Wow this really stinks.
Cohen was Trump's lawyer. The reason you hire a lawyer in these situations is to figure out how to legally do what you want to do. So if Trump asked Cohen to make payments, and Cohen didn't advise him that this would be illegal, how is that Trump's fault?
Trump thrives in crisis. I'm not sure why this would be an exception.
Manafort's guilt really was not in question. The only true question was whether the jury was going to declare shenanigans, given that the Feds could have easily indicted him earlier and ignored him as insignificant. This was purely a political prosecution. The fact that they deadlocked on the majority of the charges indicates that the case was fairly weak. It should have been a slam dunk.
The Cohen admission seems so... scripted as to seem almost like a show trial, which it more or less is. A campaign finance violation is not going to take down Trump. It is not going to take down any President. If it could, it would have taken down Obama and it would have disqualified Hillary.
LOL indeed. there's so much news today the MSM can't get it's arms around all of it. August used to be a slow news month.
twitter today, "um I have work to do this afternoon."
"The day we didn't really have much time for the indictment of a sitting US congressman--Rep. Duncan Hunter (R CA-50)."
http://www.trbas.com/media/media/acrobat/2018-08/69867686971700-21151527.pdf …
-southpaw
Maggie Haberman on Twitter:
"Trump folks are worried about impeachment more than before. The thinking goes like this: this is something tangible, not a theoretical. And it didn't come from Mueller. Does not mean it will happen, but this has moved to a different stage in their minds."
Trump's going to win.
" . . . Cohen didn't advise him that this would be illegal, how is that Trump's fault?"
"Don Corleone, I could not get him to release your godson from his contract. By the way, he showed me a racehorse he's really fond of . . . . "
It's good that readering is defaulting to fiction.
Appropriate really.
Hagar: "I am not sure I follow this. I thought Mueller handed Cohen off to the NY office because his investigators had found Cohen had committed crimes, but nothing connected to Trump and the election?"
That and much was made of it, iirc, that the NY office' prosecution of Cohen would be above all suspicion of partisanship, since they were not at all interested in Trump and his difficulties with Mueller.
Something just is not right about this.
readering: "Maggie Haberman on Twitter"
LOL
Lanny Davis!!
Maggie Haberman!!
'nuff said.....
I can't make it through all the comments but I have a question: Has anyone mentioned the curious case of Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary in Obama's first term who forgot to pay taxes while abroad working for the IMF, IIRC? I forget, did a jury find him guilty of half the charges that were brought against him?
The day the discussion regarding the brutal murder of an American citizen was shouted down by the left.
pokerone: "Has anyone mentioned the curious case of Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary in Obama's first term who forgot to pay taxes while abroad working for the IMF, IIRC?"
He was able to effectively argue both that he was a democrat in good standing as well as The Wookie Defense.
readering said...
Lanny Davis on Twitter:
"Today he stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump?"
***********************
The short answer, Lanny, is that Cohen's statements are pure hearsay, probably "composed" by Lanny himself and never challenged in open court, AND that if Mueller had sufficient evidence to prove a case against TRUMP, he would not have handed the Cohen case over to feds in NY. Note that the NY feds didn't bring a case against Trump. Why? Because their chief witness is now a convicted perp.
(note further that Lanny poses a rhetorical question that is supposed to answer itself. It doesn't)
@Bay Area Guy said...
Do we still have 4.1% GDP Growth?
We had GDP growth of 4.1% for 3 months in 2nd Quarter 2018 due to spending by those of us who anticipated price increases on big dollar purchases in anticipation of the idiotic inflationary price increases that surely would result from the Tariff War. Year 2018 inflation is now 2.54% and likely climbing well beyond the current doubling of inflation from last year.
So the beginnings of the end of the exposing of the criminal now known as "individual-1" will shortly take the head off the fake economic surge.
"looking away from what is really going on"
Readering has usually been less obtuse.
The Deep State and its associates are inviting civil war more and more as each day passes.
I watched a video of an ANTIFA thug hit a guy holding a US flag over the head with a baseball bat.
It was in Portland so he will never be prosecuted. The guy hit, of course, was a poor leftist trying to show that not all leftists are thugs.
Look at the video, readering.
Do you see yourself ?
Cohen was Trump's lawyer. The reason you hire a lawyer in these situations is to figure out how to legally do what you want to do. So if Trump asked Cohen to make payments, and Cohen didn't advise him that this would be illegal, how is that Trump's fault?
The beauty of plea deals from a prosecutor's point of view is they can make you plead guilty to some lesser charge in exchange for not trying you on a more serious charge, even if the lesser charge isn't necessarily reflective of what you really did. Anyone who has ever plead "guilty" to a parking violation after getting a ticket for speeding knows the game.
Cohen most likely had something serious they could charge him with, and the DA agreed to drop it so long as he'd plead guilty to the politically convenient illegal campaign contribution - whether his action was illegal never comes into play here unless the judge raises a fuss, and with Cohen not appealing, the decision never gets reviewed unless they try to use this in a future case. If the point is merely to damage Trump publicly without getting into the difficulties of proof, you'll never see this go any further legally against Trump.
Things are getting hot, it’s only the beginning...
Thank god we have gaddie to explain Economics to us.
Tariff cause inflation. Write that down, someone.
readering said...
Now what? Googled fucking slime creature. Got hentai porn sites.
Ask Kurt Eichenwald.
Inga...Allie Oop: "Things are getting hot, it’s only the beginning.."
LOL
Michael K: "I watched a video of an ANTIFA thug hit a guy holding a US flag over the head with a baseball bat.
It was in Portland so he will never be prosecuted. The guy hit, of course, was a poor leftist trying to show that not all leftists are thugs."
Inga will never believe it! Only a conspiracy crazed right-wing nazi would ever believe that the beloved antifa lefties beat the snot out of a lefty Bernie Bro for the "crime" of waving an American flag!
Sorry, the horse's head was to sign a contract for a new film role. Getting out of an existing singing contract required putting a gun to the bandleader's head. "Your signature or your brains will be on the document."
Some on the left are trying to warn the Inga's about this:
"WASH POST: Cohen plea may spark impeachment calls, but charges unlikely."
But, as with the hoax dossier and the hoax omarossa tapes and the hoax collusion etc., some simply will not learn.
Meanwhile, the entire economy continues its record smashing success, our military is once again on the rise, and conservative policies continue apace.
Nice.
readering: "Sorry, the horse's head was to sign a contract for a new film role."
LOL
Can't even get that right.
And it's on film! You could have checked first!
But no, another readering "performance".
I suppose there is something to be said for consistency.
Of course I also like the film with the line, "How can you be so obtuse?"
HipsterVacuum said...Inga put a fresh set of batteries in her vibrator.
Inga...Allie Oop said...Things are getting hot, it’s only the beginning...
Moral of the story: Get out before your government backs a violent coup to depose the democratic government, and/or back the candidate who goes along to get along with the Deep State, 1% patrons, and global domestic and foreign agents. Oh, and privacy is limited to abortion rites held for wholly innocent human lives that are deemed unworthy by progressive and liberals sects of the Church.
ANTIFA thug hit a guy holding a US flag over the head with a baseball bat.
It was in Portland so he will never be prosecuted. The guy hit, of course, was a poor leftist trying to show that not all leftists are thugs
Marxists, communists, socialists, fascists, on a diverse axis of leftists... there can be only one.
So the most they can get Trump on is paying off a porn star? with his own money?
The hack press insists on Russian Collusion. Where is it? It's been 2 years of Russian Collusion.
Lanny Davis on Rachel Maddow saying Cohen will cooperate with Mueller and wants to tell the truth about Trump.
Wonder what that could mean?
@cyrus83
Cohen's family owns NYC taxis...I'd guess their shields were the bait.
I really do not give a crap about Cohen or Manafort's penny-ante crimes...I hope they enjoy their stay at Hotel Fed.
FFS... Feinstein brought a Chinese spy to the intel committee table and the Dems allowed a family of scammers carte blanch access to the Congressional computer system (helluvajob Comey) and I'm supposed to be all worked up over two tarts?
Well Excuuuuse me.
I care about securing our borders, reviving a moribund economy and removing the government regulation/surveillance boot from our necks and will vote accordingly.
Hey, even the landslide losers get 40% of the vote.
How does the Clinton slime team end up representing Cohen? Hmmmm.
Mark Levin tore Davis a new asshole on Hannity tonight.
Cohen telling the judge that the payments were “for the principal purpose of influencing the election” has the ring of a Stalin show trial confession.
So Cohen says … I wonder if Mueller has anything but the tainted testimony of this slimeball. My guess is NO, otherwise it would have been leaked.
Cohen? If Trump paid hush money to a hooker - and it didn't come out of campaign funds (which I can't imagine it did considering he's ... well, rich) that's a big nothingburger, too.
Trump himself paid nothing to a hooker. No money passed from his hand to a hooker. Instead he directed that his lawyer pay her off – which is done frequently by rich men who screw a lot of women and want to hide that fact. So there is nothing illegal about paying off a hooker to keep quiet. It’s called a nondisclosure agreement.
I was saying that no matter if Cohen paid it, or Trump paid it, or if Cohen paid it and Trump paid Cohen, it can all run afoul of campaign finance rules, campaign expenditure reporting rules, banking disclosure laws and regulations, etc.
My point is that if I tell my lawyer to pay off a hooker I have a right to expect the lawyer to do it in a legal way. If the lawyer makes the payoff illegally – that’s on the lawyer – not me. If I ask my lawyer to do ANYTHING I believe I have a right to assume that my lawyer will do it LEGALLY.
I'm pretty sure these Never Trump folks are smelling a Pence presidency.
They got him this time …
A pence for Pence's thoughts.
Blogger readering said...
Lanny Davis on Rachel Maddow saying Cohen will cooperate with Mueller and wants to tell the truth about Trump.
Wonder what that could mean?
Ah yes, that non-partisan paragon of ethics and morality Lanny Davis.
"For those of you who didn’t experience the rollicking ’90s, Davis can be properly described as a personification of the cliché, “everything that’s wrong with Washington.” Cringingly slavish to those in power, a consigliere, fundraiser, surrogate, and cheerful liar, Davis was a perpetual presence on cable TV during the Clinton scandals. Few men in history have ever been able to summon his kind of loyalty in the pursuit of shameless, transparent deceit and corruption."
readering said...
Lanny Davis on Rachel Maddow saying Cohen will cooperate with Mueller and wants to tell the truth about Trump.
Wonder what that could mean?
Dersh described it the other night.
If you decide to sing and have nothing to sing about, you turn to composing.
You don't care if it is true, do you ?
readering circa Aug, 2018: "Hey, even the landslide losers get 40% of the vote."
readering circa Oct, 2016: "Hey, even the landslide losers get 40% of the vote."
You can be unhappy, just not unreasonably mad.
There's too much talk about the Iowa murder case, with a suspect who's been in the country illegally, and how this might be what ordinary Americans really care about. I was groaning aloud at this labored effort.
Don't be too sure -- the local (San Francisco) CBS affiliate even used the phrase "in the country illegally" when reporting on the murder today. Ordinary Americans are far more interested in this crime than a bunch of political and legal stuff they don't really understand.
Can we insert Hillary on a technicality?
How often do they prosecute an office break-in if nothing is reported stolen?
“It was in Portland so he will never be prosecuted. The guy hit, of course, was a poor leftist trying to show that not all leftists are thugs.”
The antifa goons remind me of the Wisconsin “recall Walker” thugs from several years ago — Inga’s people.
Pence's thoughts: "Will I have to keep the Space Force?"
MSNBC lefty re: Mollie Tibbetts: "some girl in Iowa"
A white girl in Iowa. You just know the lefties think she deserved it.
What are the odds some lefties are angry at Mollie Tibbetts for fighting back too hard against her attacker? How long until she is accused of racism post-mortem?
readering, circa Aug 2018: "Pence's thoughts: "Will I have to keep the Space Force?"
readering, circa Sep 1947: Joseph Martin's thoughts: "Will I have to keep the Air Force?"
Given an allegation of nothing illegal, will Trump be forced to commit hari kari?
An interesting comment posted at Glenn's a few minutes ago.
If Harxin wasn't a rapist and in exponential a colluuding conspirerer then he could dixect tge fag infiltration of my Catholic Cburch.
By the way, my favorite new lefty development is all the lefties now saying we don't need to hear Trump on a tape using the n-word.
It's simply okay to assume he did and hold him accountable for something for which there is no actual evidence!!
LOL
Well, that's certainly a theme today, isn't it?
But then again, I remember when Romney was nazi, McCain was a nazi, W Bush was a nazi, HW Bush was a nazi, Reagan was a nazi, Nixon was a nazi, Goldwater (Goldwater!) was a nazi, Eisenhower was a nazi, and Dewey was not just a nazi, but according to Truman was also a Stalin!!
A two-fer!
Awesome!
Trump has Dewey beat of course, as apparently Trump is also Mussolini, Mao, etc.
Drago, congrats on a real obscure allusion!
(Speaker of the House under Truman in the days when the vice presidency was left unoccupied until the next election!)
readering: "Drago, congrats on a real obscure allusion!
(Speaker of the House under Truman in the days when the vice presidency was left unoccupied until the next election!)"
Don't think I didn't check that one out first! So I'm not going to pretend I knew that right off the bat.
Seriously, there has been a large contingent within the military that has been screaming for another branch of service for Space for 25 years!
The problem is that currently the Air Force has far too much control over the focus of Space programs and bends programs etc to satisfy Air Force desires, as opposed to what the other services believe is most critical.
For those of us who served and even got our advanced degrees in Space Systems this would be a dream come true. (except not the air force dudes, but who cares what they say? Their uniforms are robins-egg blue!)
Still, it ticked off many points of comparison!
Not sure this is what BJM is referencing at 9:20 pm but this is from Instapundit:
Former FEC Chairman Professor Bradley Smith of the Capital University Law School said the payment Cohen pled guilty to DOES NOT qualify as campaign violations. A hush money payment to Stormy Daniels cannot be considered an in kind contribution to the Trump campaign.
The former FEC chairman stated:
“When the FEC wrote the regulation that says what constitutes campaign expenditures and what constitutes personal use, it rejected specifically the idea that a campaign expenditure was anything related to a campaign, and instead says it has to be something that exists only because of the campaign and solely for that reason.”
He also said this:
"But let’s remember a basic principle of such laws: Not everything that might benefit a candidate is a campaign expense.
Campaign-finance law aims to prevent corruption. For this reason, the FEC has a longstanding ban on “personal use” of campaign funds. Such use would give campaign contributions a material value beyond helping to elect the candidate—the essence of a bribe.
I actually have nothing against a Space Force, except that it was launched in a childish way.
As others have pointed out, Lanny Davis's comments are very strange and contrived. Just what the hell is going on here?
I remember Davis from the 90's. How did he become Cohen's attorney? This whole thing reeks of a set-up, just like the Trump Tower meeting.
Meanwhile, I think Trump is biding his time and is not worried at all. The next two months are going to be a roller coaster. Manafort and Cohen will be yesterday's news. I'm one of those who thinks that the Dems are in severe trouble, and are blind to it.
Look at the way a company like Northrop Grumman Corp has changed its focus over the last 20 years.
If we institute a Space Force, then we can have a Space Academy. There is no shortage of Space Cadets to man it.
Cohen taped at least some of his conversations with Trump. If Trump isn’t talking about commiting a crime on those tapes with Cohen, then Cohen’s testimony is useless. His only worth is authenticating a recorded conversation.
It just won’t work for Cohen to say that Trump said stuff that Cohen didn’t record. The fact that he recorded Trump but doesn’t have Trump on tape means Trump walks away. Trump can just say that Cohen is making stuff up since it’s not on tape. And Trump can say Cohen is making stuff up because Trump wouldn’t pardon him. Trump is in an unusually strong position. He can say anyone who he hasn’t pardoned is mad at him for not pardoning him so will say anything to get revenge. It’s a unique defense that only a president or governor could make.
@wildswan, "Only in the case of Trump the chains and padlock follow him out of the water and rise up and wrap around his enemies and drag them over to the tank and drop them into the sharks. And they do not surface."
That's a great analogy. As I've commented before, it reminds me of the Book of Esther in the Old Testament, where the trap set for the Jews ended up ensnaring their enemies. With Trump it happens again and again, but his enemies never learn.
tcrosse: "If we institute a Space Force, then we can have a Space Academy. There is no shortage of Space Cadets to man it."
Hiiiiiiiiyyyyooooooooooo!!!!!
"may a rabid ferret find your leg......"
readering: "I actually have nothing against a Space Force, except that it was launched in a childish way"
Disagree. It was awesome!
Whoa...google "Cohen and NYC taxi medallions crime". No wonder he took a deal.
Teller said...
A pence for Pence's thoughts.
Pence knows if he becomes president before 2025 it will be a very, very short term deal.
Any republican hanging out in DC after Trump is removed from office is really stupid. Pence didn't seem that stupid.
Blogger readering said..."I actually have nothing against a Space Force, except that it was launched in a childish way."
I don't believe you.
Ann pulled aTrumpit, and some here fell for it. SAD!
@fullmoon: I never tire of countering Althouse when I think she's foolish because I know how much she hates looking foolish. She is relentless against us -- always insisting she's right and never conceding error except for trivial matters. And if it's al an act, well then I can so it was so on my part as well.
"Things are getting hot, it’s only the beginning..."
Step away from the vibrator. It is overheating!
Danger! Danger!
Reader in wrote: "Look at the way a company like Northrop Grumman Corp has changed its focus over the last 20 years."
Look how practically any chemical company has changed its focus, especially over the last 20 years.
Like Drago indicates, Air Force generals want to spend $ on stuff they learned to fly.
Similar problem developing drones.
I'm shocked, shocked that a candidate would try to influence the election.
Kissing babies now illegal.
The way Lanny Davis is taking to TV makes me think Cohen has decided that Avenatti was effective going that route for Stormy.
It's pretty sick that anyone would prioritize needless loss of life over these shenanigans.
SICK!
I mean "threats to our Democracy!!!"
(Fucking white flyover chicks and their dying around migrants..fuck 'em)
"The way Lanny Davis is taking to TV makes me think Cohen has decided that Avenatti was effective going that route for Stormy"
Stormy...Stormy who? Avenatti? Is that some sort of italian sports car? Dude, give it up. No. One. Cares.
Need to confirm Kavanaugh for SCOTUS in September. It will diffuse some of the political heat. Need McConnell and Grassley to make it happen.
Yeah, Cohen should go the Avenatti route and make his client as relevant as Stormy Daniels....
"STORMY Daniels has claimed she quit Celebrity Big Brother because producers refused to let her speak to her daughter if she went on the show.
The former porn star, 39, sat down with The Sun's columnist and Loose Women panellist Jane Moore in a pre-recorded interview after pulling out of her planned appearance last Friday, during which she discussed what really happened with CBB."
Murder stories seem to be selected for special coverage when there are lovely photographs of a young white woman.
Shrug...And this is NEW or Trump's fault how?
Chandra Levy
Natalee Halloway
Nicole Brown Simpson
That missing Mormon Harp Girl (google google) Elizabeth Smart
Catcall girl
The so called Pink Tax and much refuted Gender Pay Gap
If ANYTHING unpleasant happens to a young white woman, we have a national movement which constantly makes a federal case about it.
Heck 'Grace' from Aziz Assari had a bad DATE and we saw it in the news for 3 weeks.
Yes it IS forced. For the most part, it isn't Trump forcing it.
Today...maybe a little.
Isn't it interesting that when Feminists are given a choice between women and defending X Liberal political agenda or politician, in this case illegal immigration and getting Trump, the women victims are pretty much told by Feminists to suck it up.
Paging Keith Ellison!
Yeah. I resent this double standard too but to blame it on Trump is forced
Character assassination and smearing by association.
Typical.
Sorry but isn't Trump being a scumbag baked in already the way Hillary is corrupt and Bill is a sexual predator who has police pick up his women with Inga?
Not seeing how this matters. Didn't everyone believe he nailed Stormy?
Corrupt prosecutor with unlimited resources.
Intimidate jury by death threats instigated and conveyed by national nedia.
Tear up right to counsel.
And still this is all they have.
Basically Manafort was prosecuted for refusing to give in to blackmail. I hope he gets pardoned.
Ann Althouse said...
I hate all murder, but why is one local murder story made a national news story and put in competition with important new developments in presidential legal troubles?
Murder stories seem to be selected for special coverage when there are lovely photographs of a young white woman.
=======================
Shame on you, ann.
Midwesterners have been following missing Millies case for the past month.
That her body was discovered the day your boy got some convictions in Washington is coincidence.
People care about death, the death of the young and innocent, much more than they care about corruption by Trump associates in Washington.
As for your "pretty white woman" comment, coming from you that is priceless. You started your blog with pictures, pictures, pictures. You are the epitome of white woman success built solely on looks.
Molie was an innocent we identified with, and now she is dead and need not be. FIX THE FUCKING IMMIGRATION SYSTEM ALREADY. And remember, our votes count equally to yours, ma'am...
I hope you never know the pain of waiting a month for your child or grandchild to come home while her body lies rotting in a field because the murderer was not man enough to admit earlier where he left the dead carcass for animals to feast upon...
God are you stupid, ann.
It must be the unnatural hair and the chemicals you use to make yourself appear pretty. YOur ugliness shines through all that pretty paint and dye...
Dawn knows.
The always readable Thomas Wictor has some comments on the Cohen Kerfuffle:
After pointing out that what Candidate Trump is alleged to have done with Stormy Daniels is no crime, electoral or other wise (According to a former head of FEC) He points out the following
1) Cohen pleaded guilty to violations regarding "a candidate". There is no identification of Donald Trump. Could there be a different candidate involved?
2) Lanny Davis is a Clinton fixer, joined at the hip with Hillary. Why him and not someone unconnected to the CLintons?
3) The violations that Cohen pleaded guilty to are not a crime. Why would he do that?
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1032110818077233152.html
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1032077362899251201.html
Lots more at the links.
He posits that President Trump will let the Demmies celebrate ("get falling down drunk on champagne") for 3-4 days and then reveal that this has nothing to do with the Stormy Daniels case.
And for those who have forgotten, President Obama paid $375,000 in fines for violations during the 2012 campaign.
John Henry
BTW, doing something to influence the election is pretty thin gruel--everything a campaign does is intended to influence an election.
Exactly (wrt someone paying someone else not to say anything during an election/campaign cycle).
I believe the law is that it's not a campaign law violation if there was an independent reason for the payment, not related to influencing the outcome of the election. Keeping your wife from learning about a mistress is clearly an independent reason.
Edwards was prosecuted in a similar case, but he used campaign funds, rather than his own funds (despite living in the largest private home in North Carolina).
But with Cohen's plea deal, the dems can no longer tell their base, sorry, we just don't have enough for impeachment. If they regain the House, they will impeach, and that will split their party and infuriate people who are not political by nature, and who just want the government to function.
Good times.
Avenetti was just on CNN saying he now expects to be cleared to depose Trump. Which will never happen.
He also pleaded for people to give up on Russian Collusion, that his approach is the only one that will work. Send money.
"I hate all murder, but why is one local murder story made a national news story and put in competition with important new developments in presidential legal troubles?"
More people are concerned illegal immigration and the crime associated with it, than are concerned with the "important" developments of which you speak.
"Murder stories seem to be selected for special coverage when there are lovely photographs of a young white woman."
Networks are always "select[ing] for special coverage", based on criteria that have precious little to do with disinterested reporting aimed at keeping the public informed. One network's "important development" is another network's "this counters our narrative, bury it".
Will media ask every Dem Congress critter if Mollie Tibbetts' murder by an illegal alien means we need a border wall? Nah that will never happen.
Re the charges on which Manafort was convicted, how many years ago were those crimes committed? 5 ? 10?
So why consider the murder case just a local issue?
This was a student away at University. She was killed by a person, who entered this country illegally during the Obama administration. He was on an ICE hold, but local police weren't holding him. He even passed background checks, because the checks didn't consider his immigration status or ICE hold. We are told by Democrats to abolish ICE. It seems like Democrats consider this a national issue, and we should discuss it.
“We are told by Democrats to abolish ICE.”
We are told that by Dem leaders — each and every one in words or by silence in speaking against the DNC position. But I doubt whether that’s the position of the rank and file.
However, the crimes committed by citizens of the USA as opposed to illegal aliens is about 15-1.
vicki from Pasadena is too dense to recognize every illegal alien is committing a crime by, um, being here illegally.
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