Considering that Don, Jr. learn to lie at the foot of the master, he isn’t very convincing during his attempts.
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Well…
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So Trump Jr got, in the form of an email, an invitation to collude with the Russian government. Instead of immediately contacting the FBI as any loyal American would have, he accepted this invitation and met with the Russians with the understanding that the purpose was to collude with the Russian government. This he has confessed to. He says however, that to his dismay, the Russians did not offer any plan for collusion; that they only want to talk about Russian adoptions -(an issue that is, by the way, tied to US sanctions against Russia) and the only proof of the absence of the promised collusion is the word of Donald Trump, Jr, Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, and the Russsain agents present at the meeting. And some how were are suppose to just accept them at their word.
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it’s the smirking that gets to me
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I thought they were both Fredo…
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The entire Drumpf crime family is utterly unaccustomed to having to answer to anyone; they’ve lied so brazenly for so many years to so many people that they do it reflexively at this point. They’ve never been required to account for their crimes in the private sector; they bribe, threaten, cheat, steal, defraud and renege at such a pace that this whole “government” thing makes no sense to them. They cannot imagine a world where any one of them must abide by or be constrained by any law, any ethic, any rule. So, they just keeping making up bullshit to cover the last lie they told. This is the culture in Trumpville; working within the law is for weaklings and chumps. Only losers follow the rules.
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Mueller …
" Mike ? …"
" Yes …"
" Would you please print me out ANOTHER stack of those
fill in the blank papers for the ’ willfully & knowingly ’ file " ? ? …
“Sure …”
"Thanks Mike " —
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This is testimony before the Senate committee. The Senate is controlled by the Trumpist party. They knew he would likely lie so didn’t make him testify under oath.
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What we now know – and is confirmed by the Senate document dump – is that Traitor Tot and others on Hair Furor’s campaign were both willing AND eager to conspire with a foreign adversary to get elected – even so far as discussing a quid pro quo arrangement on Russian sanctions which continued post-election by Michael Flynn.
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How to Prove Perjury or Lying to Congress
When a person is prosecuted, there are separate federal regulations for perjury specifically and lying to the feds generally. Under the United States Code, title 18, section 1001, a person who knowingly or willingly makes a material statement that is false, or fraudulent, to the feds, is guilty of a crime. What comes as a surprise to many is that unlike section 1621, section 1001 does not require that a person be under oath.
The difficulty that comes in prosecuting these crimes is the requirement that the statements be made knowingly or willingly. This allows those being accused of, or investigated for, perjury, to assert a lack of knowledge at the time of the statement that the statement was false. However, this may not be compelling enough to defeat or avoid a prosecution if contradictory evidence exists. Additionally, individuals who lie out of fear, or provide evasive answers, during a federal investigation, frequently find themselves facing the threat of federal prosecution.
Section 1001 has a long and distinguished history, and has been used against notable, convicted liars Rod Blagojevich, Scooter Libby, Bernard Madoff, Martha Stewart, and Jeffrey Skilling. Furthermore, some might recall that President Bill Clinton faced impeachment not because of the inappropriate relationship, but rather because he lied about the relationship.
https://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2017/03/what-are-the-penalties-for-lying-to-congress.html
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If you had never had to pay any price for lying, cheating, stealing, whatever, you’d smirk and watch “the losers” fall, too. I hold out hope that finally, this time, they won’t get away with it.
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make it stop!
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Asked to account for the evolving statements, Trump Jr. told Senate investigators that “they’re all very consistent with each other.”
From today’s Guardian:
The Trump Organization fed a prepared statement to a publicist for Russians involved in the notorious 2016 meeting at Trump Tower on what to tell the press about what was discussed, it emerged on Wednesday.
An attorney for the Trump family’s company urged the publicist in an email to endorse Donald Trump Jr’s version of events on the meeting and said it “would be our preference” if he did not say anything else in response to inquiries.
The attorney, Alan Futerfas, also directly contacted two Russians involved in the meeting shortly before its existence was made public in the media, according to copies of emails released by Congress.
Another email showed the incoming White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, told the same publicist, Rob Goldstone, it was important that “we remain consistent and united” in the face of public pressure about the meeting. (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/16/trump-russia-investigation-donald-trump-jr-senate-testimony)
I assume if the Russians were urged to stick by that in their legal testimony, someone suborned perjury.
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He’s paid. Business failures, being driven into the arms of shady figures to get money, the $25 million settlement over Trump University, any number of things. I wouldn’t say he’s never paid a price.
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“the President’s eldest son minimized how involved Trump was in crafting a July 2017 statement aboard Air Force 1 …contrasted with contemporaneous reports…MUELLER…”
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And Schindler (and others) have described this as classic assets-recruitment. It worked.
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“The Master” isn’t convincing, either. He makes absolutely no attempt to reconcile what he said last to what he’s saying now. Watching our president speak is like watching a 6-year-old try to convince you he did not eat those cookies while you’re looking at a face covered with chocolate.
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