UPDATE (4:20 pm): Cohen has directly implicated President Trump in pleading guilty today. Again, from the Washington Post:
When it came to the campaign finance violations, Cohen implicated the president directly. He told the court that he worked with Trump to pay off two women to keep their stories of alleged affairs with Trump from becoming public before Election Day.
An attorney for the president did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Cohen told the court that “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” he and the chief executive of a media company worked in the summer of 2016 to keep an individual from publicly disclosing information that could harm the candidate. And he said he worked “in coordination” with the same candidate to make a payment to a second individual.
“I participated in this conduct . . . for the principal purpose of influencing the election,” he said.
—–
There’s some YUGE news this afternoon involving President Trump’s former attorney/personal fixer Michael Cohen. As the Washington Post reports:
Cohen is expected to plead guilty to charges related to bank fraud, tax fraud and a campaign finance violation, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
A hearing in the case is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday at a federal courthouse in Manhattan. Afterward, Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami, who has been overseeing the probe, is scheduled to make public remarks…
…It’s not clear if Cohen has agreed to cooperate in the ongoing special-counsel investigation surrounding Trump. But a plea agreement by Cohen — long the self-professed “fixer” for Trump — could ratchet up the legal pressure on the president.
Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
We’ll update this story as more information becomes available.
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Reports are indicating that he won't be cooperating, but that's not particularly important. As a part of the plea, the information describing his crimes and his admissions to them will be available. That's all it takes. It'll be really interesting to see what they have to say about the campaign finance crime(s) (who directed, how paid, etc.)
Has anyone told the Manafort jury about this latest development? Granted, Cohen is only tangentially related but what the hell, they were given Two Scoops' gratuitous opinions about Manafort and his case a few days ago.
This isn't even about Trump, it's about Cohen's personal finances. But don't let that spoil the libtard party!
Just taking a snapshot of this for after the plea paperwork comes out.
MAGA=Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
You just mad because the MAGAt party is over?
MAGA: My Attorney Got Arrested
In other news, has Cadet Bone Spurs made an endorsement in the Arizona race?
With Duncan Hunter's indictment, I'm amending MAGA to "Many (Republicans) Are Getting Arrested".
Oh, Moderatus…
Why should I care about Trump's personal life? Isn't this about Russia?
I care when he is violating campaign finance law by working to pay people off with campaign finances. LOCK HIM UP!!!! LOCK HIM UP!!!! LOCK HIM UP!!!
True, as you like to remind us, moral turpitude is a highly regarded family value of today's Republican Party.
It's not his personal life. He conspired to commit campaign finance fraud. It doesn't matter who he banged. He broke the law trying to cover it up.
Oh, and the Russia stuff is Mueller's job, that's why Cohen was prosecuted out of New York's southern district.
LOCK HIM UP!
Uh, Moderatus … what other "candidate" was Cohen taking direction from?
I think Nutlid might be Rudy Giuliani
Don't expect Moderatus to engage in any dialogue. He's strictly a "hit and run" poster.
And stupid as stupid gets.
This may end up being a big day; the Manafort jury just delivered a note to the judge.
Edit: Holy shit, looks like a verdict.
Edit 2: Holy double extra shit, it is! This is Hollywood level stuff. 8 counts decided, can’t reach consensus on 10. Which way will they go (could be either)? Wonder how they got from one to 10 after lunch– or maybe their note was just misleading.
Edit 3: Guilty on
at least one fiveall eight of the counts!Pity the poor Senator (Con Man?) or Congressman (Mikey?) who had their nose up Trump's sphincter when he heard the news!
In fairness, they're probably just relaying word up to Moderatus in the colon.
Republican pols playing telephone ….. during a colonoscopy.
Holy crap; wild!
It's important to remember that Manafort can be retried on the other 10 counts and that sentencing for these 8 can take into account all of the charges even though he wasn't convicted on them.
The gift that just keeps giving.
Don't forget that Manafort's second trial, on separate charges, begins next month in D.C. I find it hard to believe that either Manafort or Cohen are going to take a fall for Trump.
Does this foreshadow happy dances on November 6th?
Maybe if the Republicans get rocked hard in the midterms, they will come back from this we/they precipice and start working towards more moderate policies. Probably won't happen until the Devils handyman, Mitch McConnell, is gone but one can hope that his days as a destroyer of democracy are numbered as well.
Well, unsurprisingly, he's pleading guilty. Now comes x hours of "to what."
Edit: 8 counts of some criminal shit.
Edit 2:
Paying off Trump's excursions off the marital ranch certainly doesn't qualify as "personal business expenses." So "nothing to do with Trump" is certainly overlooking a lot: $280,000 …. that we know about.
One can imagine Moldy totally losing his shit if the shoe was on the other foot and Crooked Hillary was paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to bimbos using the CNN CEO to cover up her affairs before the election. If it is a Republican caught in ethical misdeeds then 'Nothing to see so move along' but if it is a Democrat then the 'family values' crowd demands a public execution Moldy is the perfect representative for these deplorable Pharisees.
The Cohen plea docs.
I haven't the time to read it until later but, apparently, the information (what the prosecutors file describing the charges) is the sauce.
Remember that Trump says he hires only the best people.
Wrong crime thread.
President Pelosi?
1) Trump is impeached and convicted
2) Pence is also impeached or otherwise prosecuted which voids his presidential appointment.
3) This all happens after January 20, 2019 when Nancy Pelosi becomes House Speaker, third in line to the presidency, thereby becoming the first female president.
Enquiring minds want to know.
I think you've been spending too much time watching House of Cards.
There will not be an impeachment and conviction. (There will never be 67 votes to convict.) Perhaps an impeachment and a resignation cum televised hissy fit. (I'm old enough to remember Nixon's rambling farewell address. He sounded like he was drunk.)
Pence will also need to put in writing that there will be a pardon for Trump and all his offspring and their spouses, and Congress would need to vote appropriations for a golden parachute beyond the statutory presidential pension.
Then, the Ayatollah Pence would promptly appoint some nut job as his VP. Think Ted Cruz. Now a Democratic House would absolutely refuse to confirm the nut job and demand something John Kasich be appointed.
And McConnell most definitely will not say, "Let's leave the VEEP spot vacant and let the 2020 electorate decide who fills it."
4) I mean President Barack Obama because the House Speaker does not have to be a Member.
R2 –
1) I'm assuming that Mueller finds so much stuff, I mean treasonous stuff, on Trump, which is certainly possible. that conviction is essentially mandatory.
2) I'm assuming that Pence is caught up in the same shenanigans, which is certainly possible.
What is unconstitutional, not politically improbable?
You are right about the speaker need not be a House member. And I love the idea of the House Dems electing Obama speaker! (The only thing that would be better would be if he ended up on the Supreme Court.)
I think Pence will go with someone more moderate than Eduardo. Our junior Senator, perhaps? The Denver Post did assure women their rights would never be in jeopardy by the man from Yuma. Cory would provide the necessary balance for the Ayatollah Pence.
In other news, remember the days from the not-so-far-back time machine when there were whispers of Cory being a future Speaker of the House? If only he’d stayed put in the lower chamber he’d be in the queue for the big chair about now.
Appointing Cory as vice president would make sense. Much as Pence avoiding running a losing race for re-election by running for VEEP instead, Cory would be able to do the same.