Mueller investigation conludes that Trump is guilty!

[JimL]

Source: Michael Cohen and Trump did NOT violate campaign finance law – despite Cohen's guilty plea

No one is questioning the legitimacy of the guilty pleas Cohen entered Aug. 21 in federal court to six tax evasion and bank fraud charges. But those charges have nothing to do with President Trump. They involve Cohen’s failure to report over $4 million in income from work with taxi companies, along with several hundred thousand dollars in other income, to the Internal Revenue Service.

But you have to wonder about the legal advice Cohen received when he pleaded guilty on the same day to two violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act – the law that governs the financing of federal elections campaigns. Many election law experts, including former commissioners on the Federal Election Commission (FEC), say his conduct, however sleazy, didn’t violate the law.

I’m one of those former commissioners and I’m also a former Justice Department attorney. Based on my experience serving in government and now as a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, it appears to me that Cohen was innocent of the campaign finance law violations.

The law Cohen pleaded guilty to violating bans campaign contributions by banks, corporations and labor unions. It also limits the amount that an individual can contribute to a candidate. During the 2016 election cycle, that limit was $2,700.

Civil violations of the law are enforced by the FEC. Criminal violations of the law are enforced by the Justice Department. A civil violation becomes a criminal violation when someone intentionally and knowingly violates the law.

Here’s how the Federal Election Campaign Act works: For the rules, contribution limits, and reporting requirements of law to apply to an expenditure, it has to be made “for the purpose of influencing” a federal election. But such a broad definition could cover anything on which a candidate spends money.

As former FEC Chairman Bradley Smith says, that could include “buying a good watch to make sure he gets to places on time, to getting a massage so that he feels fit for the campaign trail, to buying a new suit so that he looks good on a debate stage.”

Cohen pleaded guilty to “willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution” and making “an excessive campaign contribution” according to the agreement sent to Cohen’s lawyer by the Acting U.S. Attorney, Robert Khuzami on Aug. 21. The contributions are defined as hush-money payments Cohen arranged to two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump years before the 2016 election.

According to Cohen’s guilty plea he made one payment of $130,000 directly to porn star Stormy Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford) and was reimbursed by Trump or a Trump corporate entity.

Also according to Cohen’s plea, another payment of $150,000 was made by the National Enquirer to former Playboy model Karen McDougal for the rights to her story alleging she had a months-long affair with Trump. The tabloid, run by Trump friend David Pecker, never published the story.

The key question in determining whether Cohen broke the campaign finance law is: Were the payments to Daniels and McDougal personal expenses or campaign-related expenses?

Many legal experts don’t believe such payments are campaign-related. Wealthy celebrities are faced with these types of embarrassing claims all the time, and often pay nuisance settlements (even if they are not running for office) to avoid bad publicity.

The Justice Department only prosecuted someone for a campaign finance law violation like the one Cohen pleaded guilty to on one occasion and the department lost its case – despite having stronger evidence.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/mich...ns-guilty-plea

© Copyright Original Source

It's pretty obvious to any rational person that Cohen plead guilty to a crime he didn't commit in order to get a lighter sentence for the crimes he did commit.

Trump News channel.

[Mountain Man]

Trump News channel.

Genetic fallacy.

[Tassman]

It's pretty obvious to any rational person that Cohen plead guilty to a crime he didn't commit in order to get a lighter sentence for the crimes he did commit.

As with Manafort, Mueller has measured what Cohen has to say against other sources, not just taken his statements at face-value as you seem to imply.

[seer]

Trump News channel.

Were you upset Jim about this?

Obama Campaign Fined Big for Hiding Donors, Keeping Illegal Donations

https://www.usnews.com/news/articles...egal-donations

[firstfloor]

As with Manafort, Mueller has measured what Cohen has to say against other sources, not just taken his statements at face-value as you seem to imply.

The fact that Mueller checks seems to prove that MM is not a rational person. I don’t think this is a surprise to any regular readers of this forum.

[Mountain Man]

As with Manafort, Mueller has measured what Cohen has to say against other sources, not just taken his statements at face-value as you seem to imply.

And what of the fact that multiple legal experts have said that Cohen never actually violated any campaign finance laws despite his guilty plea?

[JimL]

Were you upset Jim about this?

Obama Campaign Fined Big for Hiding Donors, Keeping Illegal Donations

https://www.usnews.com/news/articles...egal-donations

More whataboutism, seer? For one thing this was the campaign, not Obama himself and it was 1.9 million out of 750 million that was apparently donated and reported improperly and it was investigated and the campaign was fined for it. So what's your beef?

[seer]

More whataboutism, seer? For one thing this was the campaign, not Obama himself and it was 1.9 million out of 750 million that was apparently donated and reported improperly and it was investigated and the campaign was fined for it. So what's your beef?

First, you don't know what Obama knew or not, second, they actually purposely hid donations. Third, if Trump actually did use or knew, campaign monies were used to pay these two women then you would have no problem if he only had to pay a fine - correct?

[Terraceth]

The Mueller probe as set out in the Cohen document today alleges that Trump is guilty of 2 federal crimes, tax fraud and campaign finance crimes, and goes on to say that the campaign was in contact with high ranking Russians offering "political synergy" or in other words collusion with themselves and the Trump campaign in the election against Hillary. They offered this help to Cohen during the negotiations regarding the Trump Tower Moscow deal that would, according to the investigation, have been enormously lucrative, nettting hundreds of millions of dollars for the Trump Organization.

Trump may or may not have been involved in the tax/campaign finance crimes, but in regards to alleged Russian collusion... that's not what the document(s) said. The article you link to throws out the phrase "political synergy" but let's look at that in context of the actual document, which your article unhelpfully doesn't link to:

The defendant also provided information about attempts by other Russian nationals to reach the campaign. For example, in or around November 2015, Cohen received the contact information for, and spoke with, a Russian national who claimed to be a “trusted person” in the Russian Federation who could offer the campaign “political synergy” and “synergy on a government level.” The defendant recalled that this person repeatedly proposed a meeting between Individual 1 and the President of Russia. The person told Cohen that such a meeting could have a “phenomenal” impact “not only in political but in a business dimension as well,” referring to the Moscow Project, because there is “no bigger warranty in any project than consent of [the President of Russia].” Cohen, however, did not follow up on this invitation.

First, it's not clear that this was even a legitimate offer. There's also no statement that Trump or "Individual-1" was in any way involved in that (Cohen's claim of being directed by Trump was about something completely different). But let's suppose that this was a legitimate offer and Trump was fully aware of it. The problem is, by the document's own statement, this wasn't followed up on, so any claim this shows collusion between Trump and the Russians is really unwarranted because at most it shows that there was an offer that was rejected.

[JimL]

First, you don't know what Obama knew or not, second, they actually purposely hid donations. Third, if Trump actually did use or knew, campaign monies were used to pay these two women then you would have no problem if he only had to pay a fine - correct?

Different crimes seer, different punishments. There is no evidence that Obama had anything to do with the campaign donations, for which the campaign was investigated and fined, but there is direct evidence of Trump directing his consiglieri to pay off his mistresses to keep there mouths shut.

[Mountain Man]

...there is direct evidence of Trump directing his consiglieri to pay off his mistresses to keep there mouths shut.

Which isn't illegal.

(And what the heck is a "consiglieri" anyway?)

[JimL]

Trump may or may not have been involved in the tax/campaign finance crimes, but in regards to alleged Russian collusion... that's not what the document(s) said. The article you link to throws out the phrase "political synergy" but let's look at that in context of the actual document, which your article unhelpfully doesn't link to:

The defendant also provided information about attempts by other Russian nationals to reach the campaign. For example, in or around November 2015, Cohen received the contact information for, and spoke with, a Russian national who claimed to be a “trusted person” in the Russian Federation who could offer the campaign “political synergy” and “synergy on a government level.” The defendant recalled that this person repeatedly proposed a meeting between Individual 1 and the President of Russia. The person told Cohen that such a meeting could have a “phenomenal” impact “not only in political but in a business dimension as well,” referring to the Moscow Project, because there is “no bigger warranty in any project than consent of [the President of Russia].” Cohen, however, did not follow up on this invitation.

First, it's not clear that this was even a legitimate offer. There's also no statement that Trump or "Individual-1" was in any way involved in that (Cohen's claim of being directed by Trump was about something completely different). But let's suppose that this was a legitimate offer and Trump was fully aware of it. The problem is, by the document's own statement, this wasn't followed up on, so any claim this shows collusion between Trump and the Russians is really unwarranted because at most it shows that there was an offer that was rejected.

What we know Trump is guilty of, according to the sentencing document, is tax fraud and campaign finance crimes. There is much evidence that he, his campaign, is also guilty of collusion, but that won't come out in detail until the Mueller probe has ended. Btw, Trump also lied about his adulterous relationships. Do you remember what Clinton was impeached for? Obviously republicans in the Senate will not impeach Trump according to the same standards that they impeached Clinton, and so we will wait for the Mueller report to come out and give them no choice but to impeach or show themselves to the voters to be bigger hypocrites than we already know them to be.
But again, the point that I made in the OP is that we now have a known criminal in the White House, a President that should he have lost the election, would be going to prison soon along with his consiglieri. The only thing saving him now, is the fact that he won.

[lilpixieofterror]

What we know Trump is guilty of, according to the sentencing document, is tax fraud and campaign finance crimes. There is much evidence that he, his campaign, is also guilty of collusion, but that won't come out in detail until the Mueller probe has ended. Btw, Trump also lied about his adulterous relationships. Do you remember what Clinton was impeached for? Obviously republicans in the Senate will not impeach Trump according to the same standards that they impeached Clinton, and so we will wait for the Mueller report to come out and give them no choice but to impeach or show themselves to the voters to be bigger hypocrites than we already know them to be.
But again, the point that I made in the OP is that we now have a known criminal in the White House, a President that should he have lost the election, would be going to prison soon along with his consiglieri. The only thing saving him now, is the fact that he won.

Legal fail, he is being accused, not sentenced. Likewise, where’s the evidence that Trump works for Putin that was supposed to be the crime to start with?

[JimL]

Legal fail, he is being accused, not sentenced.

Wrong, he has already pleaded, he is being sentenced.

Likewise, where’s the evidence that Trump works for Putin that was supposed to be the crime to start with?

You will see that evidence when the investigation concludes and not before, that's generally how investigations work, Lilpix. That's why it is so dumb that your friendly propagandists keep asking that question, which you, to their great joy, are repeating.

[Terraceth]

Btw, Trump also lied about his adulterous relationships. Do you remember what Clinton was impeached for?

Bill Clinton was impeached for the felony crime of lying under oath (perjury) when he claimed, under oath, that he didn't have sex with Monica Lewinsky. Unless you have proof that Trump lied under oath about adulterous relationships, the comparison is irrelevant.