The Trump Crime Family

[cloudsurf]

Sambuca, posting an entire article is not the same as quoting an entire post that is right on top of your post.
Sounds like you are trying to find a problem where there is none.
Doc thanks.
BTW Sam every time I look at your handle it makes me think of a drink or dance in the Carib.

 

[sambuca]

Clara, asking a fair question about protocol is quite a bit different than hurling insults and being snarky. Posting articles isn't a big deal in isolation, but it's like tossing the proverbial one cigarette butt. One is not a big deal. If everyone does it, you have them lying around all around the doorway of your establishment. Why do we have hyperlinks?

I'm only busting Doc's balls. Doc's a big boy he doesn't need people coming to his rescue.

 

[sambuca]

Interestingly, Obama's campaign was fined $375,000 for campaign finance violations.

Hyperlink below:

https://www.usnews.com/news/article...g-for-hiding-donors-keeping-illegal-donations

I guess liberal news outlets are now saying it's different, but like everything the devil is the details. Strangely, Lanny Davis Cohen's attorney is an old Clinton attorney. Davis is saying because Cohen pleaded guilty that Trump is guilty. Of course thankfully, we don't live in a country with that type of justice. If Trump made Cohen hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years, he can say as his attorney said that Cohen was amply reimbursed for just this type of matter. The matter of paying off these women is already murky campaign law at best Cohen or no Cohen.

I wonder how many women were paid off by Bill Clinton over the years and how they were paid. It's not conjecture, because we know women were being paid off.

 

[sambuca]

Oh no, not at all... midterms are so irrelevant in the big picture - but certainly convenient to distract a few.

The U.S. midterms are enormously important this year. The Liberal Democrats in the House will likely want to impeach Trump regardless of what Mueller reports. Moderate Democrats will be pressured to go along even if there are no substantial crimes or misdeeds reported on Trump. So from that point, we will definitely have more distractions and partisan fighting if the Democrats win.

 

[Valcazar]

The prosecution wants life in prison for Manafort.

You are basing this on what? They haven't given a sentence recommendation. They haven't commented anywhere about it. Life isn't even allowable by the statutes involved. They could demand consecutive time served, but there is no evidence of that and the judge is almost certainly not going to give it to them because it would be unreasonable. Manafort will get 10 years max, probably 7. (Depending on his other trial.)

In fact, campaign finance violations usually involve a fine.

Yes. Mandatory wasn't tried on campaign finance violations, so what does that have to do with his sentence? Two of Cohen's charges were, but the other 6 aren't.

The Rosenstein and Mueller are trying to conflate anything and everything with the President.

They have been doing just the opposite, though. They barely touched on the President during Manafort's trial, and even then it was just about the parts where Manafort was selling access. Cohen has two charges he pled guilty two that were about the campaign and that's it. Every indictment so far by Mueller has expressly pointed out that the president and the campaign have not been accused. (Cohen was handed off, Mueller didn't do that one.)

FYI, Flynn and Papadopoulos don't have anything that the prosecution wants on Russia and probably nothing on Trump.

You know this how, exactly? You have an inside line to the lawyers?

They are being used (abused) and pursued on minor offenses for fear purposes.

Popodapolous got one month in jail for something carrying a recommendation of 0-6 months. This is abuse to you?

Look at the timing. Mueller is timing all of these unconnected investigations perfectly to the midterm election cycle.

Not really. I fully expect him to release nothing once we are thirty days out, as is standard protocol. I could be wrong. But while yes he is still increasing pressure in a RICO fashion, he has been remarkably circumspect and cautious.

 

[Valcazar]

The U.S. midterms are enormously important this year. The Liberal Democrats in the House will likely want to impeach Trump regardless of what Mueller reports. Moderate Democrats will be pressured to go along even if there are no substantial crimes or misdeeds reported on Trump. So from that point, we will definitely have more distractions and partisan fighting if the Democrats win.

I have to agree with Sambuca that the midterms are incredibly important. (They always are, it is a huge problem people don't take them seriously enough.) I disagree about the likelihood of impeachment though. With almost no chance to get a conviction in the Senate, I doubt very much the Dems will bother trying to impeach even if they do get the House.

I'm not sure what Claire thinks all this is a distraction from, though?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Trump: Michael Cohen Flipping Against Me Should Almost Be Made Illegal

Donald Trump has complained that Michael Cohen flipping on him to get a better plea deal isn’t fair and should be made illegal.

In an interview with Fox & Friends broadcast Wednesday morning, the president went on a rant about “flippers” two days after his longtime attorney implicated him in a federal crime in his guilty plea. “I’ve known all about flipping—for 30 or 40 years I’ve been watching flippers,” said Trump. “I’ve seen it many times, I’ve had many friends involved in this stuff, it’s called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal. You get 10 years in jail but if you say bad things about somebody, in other words make up stories if you don’t know, they just make up lies... and now they go from 10 years to they’re a national hero. They have a statue erected in their honor. It’s not a fair thing but that’s why he did it. He made a very good deal.”

Cohen has not yet made a deal to co-operate with prosecutors; he took a plea deal for the crimes he has committed while working for Trump. The president also said that the violations of campaign-finance laws, which Cohen said he carried out under the instruction of Trump, are “considered not a big deal, frankly.”

Trump says flipping should be made illegal

WOMP, WOMP!!!! :lol::lol::lol:

 

[sambuca]

Valcazar, you posted a very intelligent rebuttal. It's not like dealing with the emotionally-charged Trump haters who selectively choose to discuss the most biased and obfuscating American media articles. Only as a style preference, I don't care for the dissecting of posts to argue and contradict each statement directly. I am not posting a legal brief. As a wild ass guess, I would guess you might be a lawyer or a CPA. (That is not meant to be an insult.) When someone responds "You know this how, exactly? You have an inside line to the lawyers? " Well, I'll just say I'm betting that none of us actually knows anything and we're just trying to decipher heavily adulterated media. ;-)

I don't believe that if Mueller had Trump on any type of significant Russian improprieties through Flynn or Papadopoulos, he would be spending all this time and money prosecuting Manafort and Cohen. While they are interesting, less than on-the-level characters, the charges are well off the track of Mueller's main objective. Which leads me to another point, the Manafort case is all about Trump. This entire investigation is about Trump. The umpteen Russians that were charged by Mueller are a sideshow.

I do feel that Mueller's charges and the requested sentencing are over the top. To paraphrase an old phrase, Mueller's a guy with a hammer and everything he sees looks like Trump.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/17/politics/papadopoulos-jail-time-special-counsel/index.html

Anyone who says the investigation isn't political, the timing of public statements isn't political or whatever isn't political is insulting our intelligence. Washington has never been more political. I also get tired of hearing about which Washington bureaucrats are Republicans. Those lines blurred when Trump started running for office back in 2015 particularly for Federal career bureaucrats. Point of reference: Comey is a tool not a Republican.

 

[sambuca]

Valcazar, you seem to stay up on the news. What do you think about the British professor who was the FBI mole in the Trump campaign in 2016? It's quieted down, but I wonder if this makes Mueller's investigation more difficult. I do think we haven't heard the last of this guy especially if he planted the seeds of the Russian emails inside the Trump campaign.

I actually don't know what to think about it.

 

[Doc Holliday]

The wannabe dictator is at it again!

Trump begs Sessions to go after his political opponents

Donald Trump has begged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to focus his attention on the president’s opponents.

A war of words erupted between the two men after Trump criticized Sessions in his Fox & Friends interview Thursday morning for failing to control his department, after which the attorney general hit back saying the Department of Justice “will not be improperly influenced.” Undeterred, Trump then tried to improperly influence the DOJ in a Friday morning tweetstorm.

He urged Sessions to “look into all of the corruption on the ‘other side’ including deleted Emails, Comey lies & leaks, Mueller conflicts, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA abuse, Christopher Steele & his phony and corrupt Dossier, the Clinton Foundation, illegal surveillance of Trump Campaign, Russian collusion by Dems - and so much more. Open up the papers & documents without redaction? Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!”

Trump begs Sessions to go after his political opponents

 

[sambuca]

The Flynn case demonstrates how Mueller is firing in many directions. It's anyone's guess if this leads to any Russian improprieties.

Per the Washington Post: "....... notes of a Senate briefing and a transcript of a House briefing clearly indicate that Comey made statements along those lines, telling the Senate the agents 'saw nothing that led them to believe [he was] lying' and the House that 'they saw nothing that indicated to them that he knew he was lying to them.' Press accounts at the time also indicate that the FBI thought it had no case against Flynn."

I believe a judge questioned the veracity of Flynn's plea.

You have speculation that Flynn copped a deal to avoid being prosecuted on his and his son's unregistered relationship with Turkey (pre-Trump). You also have the very real issue that Flynn did not have the money to defend himself in a prolonged legal battle with a Special Counsel with seemingly has unlimited funds and resources.

 

[sambuca]

There has been some "opinion" that Mueller is trying to time things. He has many plates spinning so perhaps he's trying to time things for maximum impact. (I am not eluding to the midterms.) The same opinion is that Flynn and his lawyers must cooperate in this delay so that Mueller will ask the judge to be lenient.

Perhaps, Mueller is holding out hope he can interview Trump and try to corroborate (or discredit) testimony between Flynn and Trump.

 

[sambuca]

I would love for Mueller to announce some major Trump impropriety with the Russians so we can get this damn drama over.

Then we can get back to rounding up illegal immigrants crossing our border and dropping them into the Niagara Peninsula and Southern Quebec. :thumb:

 

[sambuca]

I'm just adding a bit of humor to the thread. It's hardly snarky or insolent when it's not directed at anyone on the thread.

I guess you keep dogging me for whatever purpose. We get that you don't like Trump.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

Going there again... ? What's up with immigrants? (I don't really want to know btw)

Perhaps you did not catch the " illegal " part of his post. Millions of Canadains are fed up with the " illegal " immigrants. But wait, we are being told to be nice to them and are now to be called irregular, just to make them feel welcome. Put them on a bus and ship them back as soon as their feet touch Canadian soil. They can wait like the rest of the " legal " immigrants.

 

[sambuca]

And while at it, gee, EB, you are welcome to share your thoughts.

Yeah EB come back. We miss your insolent ass! :wave:

 

[sambuca]

STN, you know a young college girl was recently killed by an illegal immigrant in Iowa. It's a farce when the liberal outlets describe the killer as undocumented if they even mention his legal status as all.

He just didn't get a chance to fill out the paperwork before he decided to murder a young woman and dump her body in a field.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

A Syrian refugee was caught as a rapist in Edmonton, nothing in the main news ourmtside of Edmonton, put in the back pages of other media sources. To complain would be racist.

 

[sambuca]

I was actually dumping poo on those who don't care for Trump's policies. His policies will likely have a life in the U.S. long after he is gone, forced out or whatever.

Not everyone on MERB is anti-Trump.

 

[sambuca]

A Syrian refugee was caught as a rapist in Edmonton, nothing in the main news ourmtside of Edmonton, put in the back pages of other media sources. To complain would be racist.

I don't know the Canadian Press and the laws pertaining to free speech in Canada. I do know the U.K. can punish and censure citizens who vocalize policies that cut back on immigration and other criticisms. Freedom of speech is not as strong in the U.K. as it is in the U.S.

I think Jordan Peterson was brilliant when he challenged Canada's Federal Bill C-16.