Some more granularity supplied by David Cay Johnston.
3 Likes
Someone’s been watching too much Brain Candy.
4 Likes
Instead, Michel Cohen did absolutely nothing of value…
No wonder he and Donald ot along so well.
6 Likes
Rachel Maddow had a good segment a while back on this whole Kazakhstan kerfuffle.
8 Likes
It would also appear that Meadows doesn’t know the meaning of the term, “lobbying.” If the government of country X hires me to do some detective work in the U.S., I am not “lobbying” for country X.
14 Likes
You must have read the same article I just finished…
Much of what Palmer had urged was suddenly the law of the land. But nestled in the patriot Act lay the handiwork of another industry’s lobbyists. Every House district in the country has real estate, and lobbyists for that business had pleaded for relief from the patriot Act’s monitoring of dubious foreign transactions. They all but conjured up images of suburban moms staking for sale signs on lawns, ill-equipped to vet every buyer. And they persuaded Congress to grant the industry a temporary exemption from having to enforce the new law.
The exemption was a gaping loophole—and an extraordinary growth opportunity for high-end real estate. For all the new fastidiousness of the financial system, foreigners could still buy penthouse apartments or mansions anonymously and with ease, by hiding behind shell companies set up in states such as Delaware and Nevada. Those states, along with a few others, had turned the registration of shell companies into a hugely lucrative racket—and it was stunningly simple to arrange such a Potemkin front on behalf of a dictator, a drug dealer, or an oligarch. According to Global Witness, a London-based anti-corruption NGO founded in 1993, procuring a library card requires more identification in many states than does creating an anonymous shell company.
Russian-Style Kleptocracy Is Infiltrating America
When the U.S.S.R. collapsed, Washington bet on the global spread of democratic capitalist values—and lost.
12 Likes
Reps. Meadows and Jordan are asking DoJ to investigate Cohen for perjury they say he committed during his testimony yesterday…re: his wanting or not wanting a job in the White House and also working for some foreign entity.
via cnn.com
1 Like
Heaven knows that perjury on those two issues would be enough to take the whole Mueller investigation down. Ha.
I don’t see any requests to investigate Trump’s comments denying his participation in the payoff - or Cohen’s statements under oath describing the purpose of the checks he received… They’re not asking for perjury investigation of anything substantive, only tweaks. They have nothing!
3 Likes
Meadows and/or Jordan are exactly the sort of amateurs that would blunder full frontal into an epic level money laundering scheme involving tens of billions of dollars by Kazakh and Russian oligarchs and their BFF American conduit … one donald j trump (otherwise known as Individual -1)… thinking they had found Michael Cohen committing perjury. All excited and red faced the two erstwhile sleuths start pulling on that thread mentioned by @bodie1 and lo and behold what should pop out?
13 Likes
Hey, if they accidentally do good while thinking they’re doing bad, I’m not gonna stop them.
4 Likes
I think it’s red faced desperation. So to speak. I do think as I said that if some enterprising young investigative reporter were to drill down on the wholesale purchases of condos in trump properties they’s find some rather questionable dealings. Couple that with the open source reporting from years past that Russia’s GDP ought to be substantially higher but for all the rubles that went off shore. Thru Bank of Cyprus and Deutsche Bank
5 Likes
“Michael Cohen was recommended to BTA Bank in 2017 as a person who had access to the best legal resources, and was hired by BTA to assemble a winning team. Instead, Michel Cohen did absolutely nothing of value, and BTA quickly tore up its agreement with him,” BTA lawyer Matthew L. Schwartz wrote in a statement. “Since that time, BTA has cooperated fully with all law enforcement investigations of Michael Cohen.”
…
“BTA Bank — which is owned privately, not by the government of Kazakhstan — did not pay Michael Cohen $900,000 for his worthless ‘service,’ or anything like it,” he wrote.
So, not a referral then? 
5 Likes
I have spent the last couple of years thinking (but lacking hard evidence) that trump was the American conduit for trillions of Rubles that became billions of dollars after washing thru condos in trump owned/ leased buildings. As I said I lack hard evidence but usually my old nose for burnt chemicals tells me there’s been a lab accident my graduate students don’t wanna mention. Someone other than me will hafta do the hard work of digging but I am reasonably sure there’s a target rich environment out there.
6 Likes
Trump’s latest strategy seems to be providing new clues for his own indictment and impeachment in an effort to punish Cohen or own the libs or something. Getting stranger.
1 Like
People need to think of Trump and his Crime Family exactly like one thinks of the mafia. That’s what Trump is and why he’s a “Don”. This is why the crimes are so pervasive and pernicious. Delving into TrumpCo is exactly like tearing the lid off of the Gambino, Luchese, or any other crime family enterprise. Trump is a career criminal and has never had to answer for his felonies, mainly because his crimes required crooked, connected bankers to assist. Bankers simply don’t get prosecuted, so Trump drafted behind their effective immunity. Those days are over, let’s hope.
5 Likes
There’s already been a number of items that have dropped on that stuff. All the russkies buying up apartments, the one place he flipped in Florida, doubling his money in the aftermath of the housing crash…
3 Likes
Three apartments in — you guessed it — the Trump SoHo building were caught up in the case, since the purchase of the property was used as a money laundering vehicle.
Every time I learn of Yet Another Trump Property Used To Launder Money I’m reminded of this article:
The Onion: Why Do All These Homosexuals Keep Sucking My Cock?.
So strange that Trump properties are a money laundering magnet. So odd.
4 Likes
You are always witty but damn this was a good one
5 Likes
Isn’t the irony delicious, how dangerous a desperate dipstick can be? Flailing Rumpublican Russianlovers just unearthed the biggest of Rump’s no doubt many criminal entanglements that no one knew about before today! First thing they did right their whole lives.
5 Likes
5 Likes