Discussion: Trump Dumps Cohen: It's ‘Perhaps Illegal’ For Lawyer To Record Client Calls

1 Like

It would seem that Trump has a problem with his words being recorded accurately …

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/white-house-stenographer-trump-lies_us_5b4f3d2de4b0de86f4888ff5

“From President Reagan through President Obama, the White House really utilized stenographers to make sure there was a record of everything the president said to the press,” she said, adding that Obama would often tell the press to “check the transcript” to understand the context of his comments.

But Dorey-Stein said that strategy was scrapped when Trump took office.

“President Trump, we quickly learned, does not like microphones near his face, which is difficult because as a stenographer, we often had to do that,” she said. “His White House and his press office often didn’t include us in meetings with the press … Even if there is a stenographer present, he doesn’t often say, ‘Check the transcript,’ because the transcript will reveal the truth.”

63 Likes

38 Likes

Speaking (per Butina) of “flight risks”:smile:

13 Likes

As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

14 Likes

34 Likes

Inconceivable = Extremely Damaging to Me

54 Likes

If there is one thing the doofus in the oval office knows - it is illegality. He may be the biggest goniff to ever serve in public office. Assuming arguendo, that Hair Orange Furor is correct about the legality of the call, what is clear from the call is the Doofus knew about the payment to Karen McDougal ,despite his protestations to the contrary. In other words, Trump was aware that Karen was receiving money from a third party ( National Enquirer ) to keep her silent about her having sex with the loathsome Hair Orange Furor. That makes at least two affairs we know about where Hair Orange Furor either directly or through an intermediary paid for silence about sex and spankings. No wonder Melania always looks " crabby". Perhaps, she should give Donald condoms to carry with his supply of Tic Tacs.

11 Likes

your favorite President

I. Just. Can’t.

72 Likes

As Rachel Maddow explained:

these tapes were deemed privileged communication between an attorney and client.
“So they would not be given to prosecutors,” she said. “We have had weeks of wrangling over whether this stuff is privileged… they would turn out to be covered and prosecutors wouldn’t be allowed to see them.”
“So that means the only people who would have had access are [Trump and] Michael Cohen’s lawyers,” she said. “His lawyers apparently didn’t leak this thing… it means by process of elimination that president Trump’s lawyers did.”

41 Likes

He did say one accurate thing: my favorite president didn’t do anything wrong.

69 Likes

Uhmmm… he’s making it sound like he just found out like the rest of us.

4 Likes

Trump:

I can’t believe Michael would do this to me

People who pay attention and use their heads:

Michael, we can’t believe it took you so long

14 Likes

Trump… changed… subject. Can’t… help it. Must… focus on… new… subject!

14 Likes

“Perhaps illegal” = “even I’m not that stupid, I’m trying to spin to my base, not (this one time) make an obviously false statement”

8 Likes

I am trying to work out the dynamics here. Is this all for distraction? Or is this a serious schism?

If the latter, it feels like it hit on a deep personal level.

7 Likes

If he leaked it and then is tweeting about it, it can only mean he actually wants attention focused on this. So that means either he thinks it’s a good story for him (doubtful) or he’s distracting from an even worse story.

34 Likes

I think it’s quite plainly the latter. Now, let’s not forget that it’s always possible for a Trump toady to come whimpering back to the wraither-in-chief, but I think this one is going to stick. “I was recording you for blackmail while you were paying me” is hard to come back from.

(note that Cohen’s actual motivations are irrelevant, and that Trump will surely think it was for blackmail)

11 Likes

He truly cannot get it through his brain that he’s no longer on Celebrity Apprentice.

31 Likes

So the trumper slant on this one is supposed to be: Poor trump - he’s the victim again! Of course he can never do anything wrong, and therefore it’s the evil Michael Cohen who’s the perpetrator.

I can envision the average trumper mulling this over and placidly agreeing to this conclusion. It’s the setup for the dumpster fire that will ensue during the upcoming Cohen legal wranglings, be it trial, settlement or complete flip. trumpsters are instructed to remember that Cohen is the bad guy here.

20 Likes