Good to get this on the record. May have to wait for next year for an answer.
I think the ânot wanting to piss off trumpâ thing is a really big deal as far as corruption goes. Sure, trump may be unable to get almost anything done no matter how much you pay him. But if you donâ pay him, he can make your life hell.
So itâs pretty much âNice building you got there. If you join our protective association thereâs a chance it might burn down anyway. But if you donât, we can guarantee it will burn down and your little dog too.â
Iâd like to hear more from the AT&T guy who is âresigningâ.
Wonder what kind of parachute he got.
Wow, if this could take out Trump, Cohen, and a couple of greedy-ass big pharma execâs, it would be a delightful hat-trick.
SooooâŚlardass knew about the deal and would be pissed if the payola didnât come through as planned. I see.
Thereâs probably already too much out in the public sphere that Cohen falling under the wheels of a taxi would spare certain people future problems.
Cohen might be relieved in a way that the feds have all his papers. At least in the short term.
Some STAT articles on the subject.
âOrrin Hatch is the current chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.â
I think I spot a teeny-tiny flaw in Wydenâs plan.
Whether Trump sanctioned Cohen corporate shakedowns (and that is what Cohen did, he called them, nobody came looking for him) or not I can see that Trump would be royally pissed off at Cohen. He engaged in activities that attracted more investigations into his Bossâ business, do that to a cartel boss and you are dead next day.
Now, I am willing to bet that Cohen isnât the only one selling âaccessâ we know that Kushner is doing it to the tune of hundreds of millions to the Saudis and Qataris, also his sisters to the Chinese. I am willing to bet that Erik and Don Jr. are also selling âconsulting in accounting practicesâ.
Mueller saw evidence of a crime and turned the evidence over to the NYC prosecutors. Looks like he was sooo right.
As Joshâs editorial mentions, Cohen very likely shopped his role as Trumpâs personal attorney to get business from these corporations. He very likely provided insights on Trumpâs thinking mixed with lies to essentially swindle corporations into paying him the equivalent of mob âprotection moneyâ. Cohenâs pitch was, âwork with me, and Iâll make sure the boss man doesnât come after you or looks at your matter in a favorable light.â Keep in mind that Trump teed off on industries and sectors throughout the transition period which was the equivalent of a shakedown by bullhorn.
The more I think about the ATT/Novartis and likely many other corporate relationships of Cohenâs, the more strongly I believe that he has massive exposure for fraud and blackmail/extortion and related claims.
One key thing I think is being missed on ATT. Sure, they didnât get the Time Warner deal to shake out they way they wantedâŚbut they did get the FCC on board with killing net neutrality. Which is an extremely big deal for them.
The problem I have with Joshâs latest sidebar post is, Cohen getting disbarred is the least of his worries. That IS going to happen. You are precisely right, Cohenâs actual legal problems (the kind that put you in jail) are multiplying at a tremendous rate. And there is very little he can do about it now. They arenât at the cutting a deal part of the showâŚthey are still tallying up the potential indictments. Just wait until they follow the money to see where it all went
Hatch is out of there. He announced his retirement, remember?
Yes. I think Josh may have partly missed the significance of Cohen shopping his relationship with Trump.
He used that relationship to induce companies to give him money. He promised them that his special relationship with Trump and his insight into Trumpâs thinking would enable him to help these companies. In doing so, he very likely lied or misled his clients on a variety of specific issues. He wouldâve misrepresented his skill set, conversations he had with Trump and his connects within the WH⌠He also likely conveyed views on Trumpâs various public threats against their businesses and in essence blackmailed these companies. Cohen was running a protection money racket. Thatâs illegal. At least one of these companies said that they didnât fire Cohen because they feared angering Trump. Why would they think that? Did Cohen threaten them as has been custom for him? I think we all know the answer to that one.
Another issue is did Trump know about what Cohen was doing. Sarah Huckabee Sanders may have made another fatal mistake in this saga by trying to spin the ATT issue in favor of Trump. She said something to the effect that AT&Tâs attempt to influence Trump was rebuffed as demonstrated by the law suit filed against the merger by Trumpâs DOJ. It proved that he is draining the swamp instead of filling it. But that assumes Trump knew what Cohen was doing. If he knew, then Trump likely coordinated with Cohen to defraud these corporations. Maybe he did it to get a kickback, but decided to screw them anyway because the envelope wasnât thick enough. Maybe he did it just to f**k with them. But it seems likely to me that Trump did know what Cohen was up to and used it to his advantage.
Then there is the flow of all the money into Cohenâs Essential Consultants account. Where did it all go? Did it end up in the Trump Org? Avenatti seems to have some insight and theories here as he compiles evidence.
One other key aspect, at least to me.
There has been no proof that Trump ever paid Cohen the $130K. But there is proof that the$130K was paid out of this slush fund to Stormy Daniels. And it probably doesnât even matter if Trump paid Cohen directly at this point, because that money would have gone into the slush fund, too.
So the problem here is, a slush fund, which was built through various protection and shake down schemes (illegal), was used to help Trump, on at least one front. Or in other words, it benefited Trump. Thatâs a BIG problem, and we havenât even started uncovering where rest of the money went.
Keep in mind, if Trump did pay the $130K, it wasnât declared as a campaign expense. So where did it come from? Trump Org? His personal bank account? From the campaign? Guiliani running around saying Trump paid Cohen back doesnât cut itâŚbecause he hasnât show the proof. And how it was paid back (assuming it was, which is still a big assumption), becomes an issue, legally.