The Robert Mueller Investigation

[Huckleberry 32858]

1 hour ago, Chooky said:

What pictures?  From when?  Today?  

I was referring the the NY Post story linked in the tweet that triplehorn posted right above my post.

https://nypost.com/2018/08/21/cohen-willing-to-tell-mueller-about-conspiracy-to-collude-lawyer/

[Chooky 13307]

Oh.  An almost craven looking Mueller next to a brooding Cohen.  I wonder if that's how Trump's group really see Mueller or if they just know they are boned.  

[TwiceHorn 31452]

53 minutes ago, Tuco said:

This. But not necessarily from Russians. Cohen was raising funds for the Congressional/Senate war chest for about a year. Does anyone think he followed the rules while doing so? I think that was part of the reason Mueller kicked it to SDNY. He didn’t want any personal incentive for Republicans to attack the SC.

Very plausible.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13584]

2 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Aside from his ability to tell all on Trump, the most interesting thing about Cohen to me is what he might know about what other Republicans knowingly took Russian money, either laundered through the NRA or otherwise. I bet there are a lot of guys shitting themselves (more than usual) right now. 

The most interesting thing about the recording of Kevin McCarthy telling Paul Ryan that he believed Trump and Rohrabacher were being paid by the Russians was Ryan's response. There was no pushback from Ryan or inquisitive "why do you believe that?" Just a directive that they keep this in the familia. 

[triplehorn 2664]

All the actions and inactions make sense wrt the WH and GOP Congress when you look at it through the prism of 'guilty as fuck'.  

Reflect on the total 180 any number of GOP Congress made wrt their public stance on Trump before and after, including active dereliction of duty.  It was beyond dramatic. 

What changed?  The rubles got lined up.  

[atomheartbevo 89656]

2 hours ago, Post Oak said:

I always wondered why Cohen being the Dep RNC chair wasnt getting more play.  It seems obvious to me that Russia was filtering money through Cohen down the line. 

I hope/expect that the RNCs ass wont be able to take the length. 

Looking at you Ronna

I always wondered how he got that position.  

I understand keeping Trump happy, but choosing a graduate of the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School?  Out of all of the lawyers and finance guys the RNC had access to, they chose him?

Somebody higher up was calling the shots.

[Gil Bang 25945]

 

[shnsajax 3591]

I always wondered how he got that position.  
I understand keeping Trump happy, but choosing a graduate of the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School?  Out of all of the lawyers and finance guys the RNC had access to, they chose him?
Somebody higher up was calling the shots.

It might be why so many of them are retiring.

[Gil Bang 25945]

WASHINGTON—Admitting that it was probably the worst mistake he has made since starting the investigation, Special Counsel Robert Mueller told reporters Wednesday that he immediately regretted coercing Michael Cohen to flip on the president after having to spend time with him. “At first, I thought that getting Cohen to cooperate would be great for the case, but Jesus, I can’t handle dealing with this fucking idiot,” said a visibly irritated Mueller, explaining that gaining valuable evidence on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election straight from a source deep within Trump’s inner circle just wasn’t worth hearing the “smug, insufferable moron blathering on and on.” “We’re only a quarter of the way through, and this obnoxious dumbass is already on my last nerve. I should have just let him go to trial—this is excruciating.” Mueller later conceded that he was happy that Manafort hadn’t flipped yet because he doesn’t think he could handle “30 seconds in a room with that annoying shithead.”

[Lurch 5930]

^^^

The Onion, obviously

https://politics.theonion.com/mueller-immediately-regrets-coercing-michael-cohen-to-f-1828520913

[suddenly shaggy 929]

The programers of this simulator suck. The Onion and reality have overlapped far too much for several years. It should have triggered a bug fix by now, but here we are. 

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

I always wondered how he got that position.  

I understand keeping Trump happy, but choosing a graduate of the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School?  Out of all of the lawyers and finance guys the RNC had access to, they chose him?

Somebody higher up was calling the shots.

The President is the de facto leader of whatever political party they are a member of, so there's your answer.

[Buzzrock 14918]

 

That seems shortsighted.

[atomheartbevo 89656]

10 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

The President is the de facto leader of whatever political party they are a member of, so there's your answer.

Yeah, but was this a case of "I don't care who does it, let Cohen do it" or was it a case of "I need Cohen in this position, so he's going to be in this position, no discussion or questions."

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Interesting twitter interaction between official USA and Russia accounts.

Fuck Russia 

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

2 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Yeah, but was this a case of "I don't care who does it, let Cohen do it" or was it a case of "I need Cohen in this position, so he's going to be in this position, no discussion or questions."

I think more of along the lines of your second option, except the word "need" was replaced with "want"

 

 

[Buzzrock 14918]

It seems so simple in hindsight: pussy is undefeated. Mueller should have allied with pussy sooner.

[Biff Tannen 45677]

11 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Interesting twitter interaction between official USA and Russia accounts.

Fuck Russia 

MFA Russia?  A bit close to "mafia" isn't it?

[woohorn 1131]

WAIT, did John Bolton bang Butina?? That can't be correct, can it?

[triplehorn 2664]

Re Michael Cohen and cooperating with Mueller interviews, recall Prague and the Steele dossier:

The real reason CNN’s Michael Cohen scoop might be dangerous for Trump

[snip]

"As you’ll recall, McClatchy reported back in April that Mueller has evidence that Cohen secretly traveled to Prague in the summer of 2016. Cohen has adamantly denied this, but if it were true, it would lend support to the claim in the so-called Steele dossier, which reported on extensive Trump-Russia ties, that this meeting did happen. The reason this matters: The Steele dossier claimed Cohen held this meeting in Prague with Russian officials, to strategize over how to limit the “damage” from, among other things, Trump adviser Carter Page’s meetings with Russians, and more broadly, to “prevent the full details of TRUMP’s relationship with Russia being exposed.”

Now, to be clear, we have no idea whether that Prague meeting did actually happen. But the point, as Andrew Prokop has explained, is that Cohen’s denial of this meeting has been central to the Trump camp’s efforts to undermine the Steele dossier’s broader credibility. If Cohen is really talking more about Trump and Russia now, he might be willing to, shall we say, revisit his claims about the Steele dossier and, more broadly, get into other Trump-Russia murkiness that we don’t know about. And as Adam Davidson has noted, Cohen reportedly has extensive knowledge of Trump’s pre-White House international dealings.

“Cohen may have other things to say about the Trump-Russia connection beyond the Trump Tower meeting,” Bob Bauer, the former White House counsel under President Barack Obama, told me. “What else does he know about the Trump campaign’s planning to extract maximum benefit from the Russians? This is just the opening salvo.”

To reiterate, everything Cohen says must be viewed with extreme skepticism. But you can see a scenario in which Cohen decides that his only remaining play is to start spilling more about what he knows about Trump and Russia, and maybe — just maybe — even to tell the truth about it."

 

 

Edited August 22, 2018 by triplehorn

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

If the Cohen/Prague/Hackers/$$$ part of the Dossier is legit and Cohen can corroborate it with people like Gates, Sater, and Flynn... Ball game.

Gates would be the most likely to have info on that because Cohen was assigned cleanup duty on Manafort’s mess in Europe, according to the Dossier.

It’s odd that Gates was so close to Manafort and the Trump campaign but he never comes up by name in the Dossier. 

[atomheartbevo 89656]

10 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

It’s odd that Gates was so close to Manafort and the Trump campaign but he never comes up by name in the Dossier. 

Same reason that Case never shows up in any of Jordan’s videos. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Another thing occurred to me, perhaps Mueller doesn’t want any help from Cohen because Cohen himself is a primary target in the conspiracy.

 Gates and Flynn may have already flipped on Cohen and the feds have already obtained all of Cohen’s documents.

Cohen’s attorney is currently going out on TV basically begging Mueller to interview him.  Lanny Davis is saying Cohen has all this information to provide to the Russia investigation.  Why is that? And why does Mueller seem to have no interest in Cohen? 

Maybe Mueller is like, “Nah dog, we’re good. Prepare your anus.”

[Longhorn_Fan68 33869]

lol @ Eric Trump

[Biff Tannen 45677]

I really hope Erik Prince goes down.  He's a special kind of evil.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

NEWS:  Michael Cohen paid a mysterious tech company $50,000 'in connection with' Trump's campaign

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/22/michael-cohen-paid-a-mysterious-tech-company-50000-in-connection-with-trumps-campaign.html

Buried in the legal documents released Tuesday as part of Cohen's guilty plea on eight felony counts, there was a new, previously unreported payment Cohen made in 2016 to help Trump: $50,000 for work that prosecutors say Cohen "solicited from a technology company during and in connection with the campaign."

 

The documents do not identify which tech company Cohen paid the money to, or what, exactly, the company did for him. But the mere existence of the previously unknown payment suggests that Cohen may have been doing more for Trump, and for the Trump campaign, than simply paying off women.

Furthermore, the way that Cohen reported the $50,000 expense to the Trump Organization in January 2017 suggests the money may not have been paid out through traditional financial channels.

According to prosecutors, Cohen presented Trump executives with bank records for several of the expenses he incurred on Trump's behalf. But for his $50,000 payment to a tech company, Cohen provided no paperwork, just a handwritten sum at the top of one of the other bank documents.

The Trump Organization would later say that the $50,000 was a "payment for tech services." However, prosecutors say the $50,000 "was in fact related to work Cohen had solicited from a technology company during and in connection with the campaign."

A spokesman for the Trump Organization did not respond to questions from CNBC Wednesday about the payment. Trump's campaign, likewise, did not answer questions about whether it knew Cohen had paid a tech company $50,000 to aid in Trump's election bid.

Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, also did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the money, and the White House did not respond to questions about whether the president was aware that Cohen was paying a tech company for election help.

It's not clear exactly when Cohen spent the money, only that it was during the campaign. And without knowing precisely what it was for, it's difficult to tell whether Cohen violated the law by not reporting it as a campaign expense.

The Trump campaign in 2016 had a savvy digital operation run by a relatively unknown online marketing specialist named Brad Parscale. Today, Parscale holds the top job on Trump's 2020 campaign team.

Cohen is not believed to have played any part in the official digital operations of the Trump 2016 campaign, nor did Cohen ever have a formal staff position on the campaign itself.

All of which only deepens the mystery of exactly what tech services Cohen was buying to help Trump's campaign.

In the 24 hours since Cohen pleaded guilty Tuesday, Davis, his lawyer, has repeatedly said that his client knows things that would be of interest to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating the Russian attack on the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Central to that investigation is the question of whether the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government to sway the election in Trump's favor.

Cohen "is happy to tell the special counsel all that he knows, not just about the obvious possibility of a conspiracy to collude and corrupt the American democracy system in the 2016 election … but also, knowledge about the computer crime of hacking and whether or not Mr. Trump knew ahead of time about that crime and even cheered it on," Davis said during an appearance on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" on Tuesday night.

Despite Davis' cryptic clues, there is nothing so far to indicate that the $50,000 in services that Cohen bought from the anonymous tech company were in any way related to the Russian cyber crimes and theft of emails that damaged Trump's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

It is also unclear whether the special counsel has interviewed Cohen yet. A Mueller spokesman declined to comment.

[Brisketexan 105098]

15 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Despite Davis' cryptic clues, there is nothing so far to indicate that the $50,000 in services that Cohen bought from the anonymous tech company were in any way related to the Russian cyber crimes and theft of emails that damaged Trump's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

"Anonymous"..... meaning "Putin's Hackatorium and Election Interference Co., LLC"

[hayden_horn 11362]

26 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

"Anonymous"..... meaning "Putin's Hackatorium and Election Interference Co., LLC"

Aka cambridge analytica. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

16 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

Aka cambridge analytica. 

Nope, no way.  They were paying CA out in the open.

You don’t make plausible deniability payments to Cambridge Analytica out of the same account as the hush money for porn stars.

This was something else, likely more nefarious because they intended to conceal and are still concealing to a degree.

Edited August 22, 2018 by Hugo Stiglitz

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Bozo_Casanova 26447]

"Anonymous"..... meaning "Putin's Hackatorium and Election Interference Co., LLC"

I’m in no way speculating that this is what happened BUT it would be amazing if a presidential campaign actually paid the Russian hacking/phishing teams that stole the emails and targeted key voters with fake news via social media.

[triplehorn 2664]

Lanny Davis is in an interesting position given that Ukrainian oligarch and Putin crony Dimitry Firtash is reportedly also a Lanny Davis client.  Firtash is a major stakeholder in Cambridge Analytica and is a wanted man in Chicago.

Seems Mueller would want to know some things Cohen might be able to deliver that could ultimately be problematic for Firtash.

[triplehorn 2664]

2 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

I’m in no way speculating that this is what happened BUT it would be amazing if a presidential campaign actually paid the Russian hacking/phishing teams that stole the emails and targeted key voters with fake news via social media.

Specifically, stateside actors involved in the above.  Steele dossier also mentions Russian cash getting laundered into the US via a Russian pension program for illicit operational expenditures in the US.  Shared costs, shared reward, shared culpability insurance against being a rat.

[TwiceHorn 31452]

Nah, they were just paid to find and scrub all copies of the pee vid.  And all the other pee and scat vids on Trumpy's phone, ipad, pc, etc.

Edited August 22, 2018 by TwiceHorn

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

6 minutes ago, triplehorn said:

Lanny Davis is in an interesting position given that Ukrainian oligarch and Putin crony Dimitry Firtash is reportedly also a Lanny Davis client.  Firtash is a major stakeholder in Cambridge Analytica and is a wanted man in Chicago.

Seems Mueller would want to know some things Cohen might be able to deliver that could ultimately be problematic for Firtash.

Seems like raiding Cohen’s offices would answer many of those questions.

Everyone Mueller flips seems to have repeatedly lied in the process.  Cohen’s credibility is about as worthless as Trump’s. 

Feds were probably like “fuck this bullshit, let’s grab as many documents, laptops, and cellphones as we can.”

No more games.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

Trump is a fucking idiot for not paying Cohen’s legal bills. That’s what got him to turn against him. Trump is such a fucking idiot. I don’t want an impeachment circus to get in the way of 4%+ economic growth, biggest economic expansion since the 80s and the tightest labor market in years. Getting Kavanaugh confirmed before the Trump ship sinks is of utmost importance to me. I want the Republicans do whatever is necessary to get Kavanaugh confirmed. What is sad is that I love Trump’s SC Justice picks, his tough stance on Iran, calling China on the carpet for their bullshit. Unlike the sellouts before him, he actually stuck up for American working man. His negatives are off the charts and he has been bad for the country overall. Still, I hope that a smarter, nationalist candidate takes the positive, popular items from the Trump agenda without his stupidity. Think Nigel Farage or Boris Johnson. I’d vote for that.

Edited August 22, 2018 by Iconoclast Texan

[Homercles 10205]

‘Stuck up for the American working man’

Huh?

[hobbes2702 13032]

17 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Trump is a fucking idiot for not paying Cohen’s legal bills. That’s what got him to turn against him. Trump is such a fucking idiot. I don’t want an impeachment circus to get in the way of 4%+ economic growth, biggest economic expansion since the 80s and the tightest labor market in years. Getting Kavanaugh confirmed before the Trump ship sinks is of utmost importance to me. I want the Republicans do whatever is necessary to get Kavanaugh confirmed. What is sad is that I love Trump’s SC Justice picks, his tough stance on Iran, calling China on the carpet for their bullshit. Unlike the sellouts before him, he actually stuck up for American working man. His negatives are off the charts and he has been bad for the country overall. Still, I hope that a smarter, nationalist candidate takes the positive, popular items from the Trump agenda without his stupidity. Think Nigel Farage or Boris Johnson. I’d vote for that.

Yes we should confirm the appointment who may ultimately decide the fate of the republic. Kavanaugh shouldn’t even get a fucking hearing.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

Just now, hobbes2702 said:

Yes we should confirm the appointment who may ultimately decide the fate of the republic. Kavanaugh shouldn’t even get a fucking hearing.

Bullshit. Do whatever it takes to get it done. Ignore any complaint of hypocrisy, etc. I want a 5-4 advantage for the next 20 years. It’s that important 

[hobbes2702 13032]

1 minute ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Bullshit. Do whatever it takes to get it done. Ignore any complaint of hypocrisy, etc. I want a 5-4 advantage for the next 20 years. It’s that important 

That’s the problem. You’re more concerned about a Supreme Court pick than the rule of law. Nothing this president does from now until he’s gone should even be considered by Congress.

[SubliminalHorn 6786]

4 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Bullshit. Do whatever it takes to get it done. Ignore any complaint of hypocrisy, etc. I want a 5-4 advantage for the next 20 years. It’s that important 

Fucking christ. Never vote again. You think getting Kavanaugh confirmed is of the utmost importance? Holy shit. Treason, lies, and fraud are staring this country in the face and getting a SC nomination confirmed is what’s important. The fuck out of here. 

[SubliminalHorn 6786]

13 minutes ago, Homercles said:

‘Stuck up for the American working man’

Huh?

Iconoclast is a moron. 

[longhorndude 146]

Nigel Farage??!!! JFC.

[triplehorn 2664]

1 hour ago, triplehorn said:

Lanny Davis is in an interesting position given that Ukrainian oligarch and Putin crony Dimitry Firtash is reportedly also a Lanny Davis client.  Firtash is a major stakeholder in Cambridge Analytica and is a wanted man in Chicago.

Seems Mueller would want to know some things Cohen might be able to deliver that could ultimately be problematic for Firtash.

then there's this 

and this 

and this

I think Cohen is going to die in prison.

Edited August 23, 2018 by triplehorn

[Brisketexan 105098]

Nigel Farage??!!! JFC.

This. Seriously. Sweet mother of stupidfuck.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13584]

15 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Do whatever it takes to get it done. 

Trump was referring to people like Iconoclast when he said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and his supporters would still support him. He's the worst of this country.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

2 minutes ago, triplehorn said:

then there's this 

and this 

 

 

They’ve been consistent about denying Cohen being in Prague but they only answer that very specific question.

Follow up questions that remain unanswered:

Was Michael Cohen traveling in Europe in the Summer/Fall of 2016? 

When, where, and with whom?

Just because Cohen wasn’t in the city limits of Prague doesn’t make him innocent or all the Dossier claims false.

[ndawg 1242]

36 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Bullshit. Do whatever it takes to get it done. Ignore any complaint of hypocrisy, etc. I want a 5-4 advantage for the next 20 years. It’s that important 

So true, +rep. If it takes throwing kids in cages, obstructing justice, etc., then so be it. I mean, even if it takes ripping up the original Constitution and literally wiping Putin's ass with it, at least we'll have that 5-4 advantage.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

34 minutes ago, SubliminalHorn said:

Fucking christ. Never vote again. You think getting Kavanaugh confirmed is of the utmost importance? Holy shit. Treason, lies, and fraud are staring this country in the face and getting a SC nomination confirmed is what’s important. The fuck out of here. 

Proving my point from a few weeks ago that liberals want to suppress votes too. I’m glad your not hiding it.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

22 minutes ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

Trump was referring to people like Iconoclast when he said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and his supporters would still support him. He's the worst of this country.

I didn’t vote for Trump. Voted for Gary Johnson. Wouldn’t vote for him in 2020. Would most likely stay at home as Subliminal wants. Still, I will take Gorsuch and Kavanaugh on the bench. Selecting them was the most Presidential thing he has done. Fucking idiot could be riding 50% or higher approval with the economy humming as it is. His shit was bad for the country. Kavanaugh and Gorsuch are excellent jurists. Broken clock is right twice a day. He was right about those 2.