Yup, this is Wag the Dog on very bad drugs.
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What an unusual way to announce his retirement.
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I thought it was supposed to be your lawyer’s job to tell you to keep your mouth shut.
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I personally think Rudy backstabbed Trump on purpose, and thinks he can get away with it. And why not? He wasn’t part of Trump’s team, and it is all too likely that he has nursed a grudge against that other guy from New York. As for getting away with it, I do expect Rudy to fast-talk his way past Donny, telling him not to worry, it’s a brilliant strategy, he just has to trust his old pal. Oh yeah, and another up-front payment will help cover the costs of what he’s going to do next…
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I don’t really follow the soap opera very closely, but I thought that there was friction between Trump and Giuliani over the question of who had the “better” Dad. I was surprised to hear that Giuliani was even in Trump’s camp.
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Trump & company aren’t playing chess, they are playing Calvinball, and they are losing at it. Which is really quite something - until now, I would not have thought that it was possible to lose a game of Calvinball.
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IIRC, admitting that Trump did authorise the payment to Daniels vs claiming that Cohen did it on his own was a decision between Scylla and Charybdis. Both lead only to bad outcomes for Trump. But it’s been so long I forget what the dire consequences were on either side?
Or did Guliani manage to screw it up and smashed Ship Trump smack dab into both with this admission?
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Fake news. The cover up here is that Trump couldn’t afford to pay back $130,000 and needed an installment plan.
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Mike Pence?
(Who’s been an unusually quiet VP, no? Lurking in the wings…)
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Try this:
Click on the FEC complaint link.
TL:DR - Under the Federal Elections Act, corporations are not allowed to make contributions to federal candidates. Individuals are allowed to make contributions up to a small limit. Any contribution to a campaign over $200 has to be reported.
‘Contribution’ is any gift or loan or expenditure, or anything of money’s worth, etc. that is intended to influence the course of the election.
Contributions from the candidate have to be reported. Any expenditure from the candidate’s personal funds counts as an in-kind contribution and has to be reported. Any expenditure that is ‘coordinated’ with the candidate has to be reported.
Coordinated means made in cooperation with, in consultation with or with the knowledge of the candidate, the candidate’s authorized committee or an agent.
An agent in this context means anyone with actual authority express or implied to engage in campaign spending and various other campaign related activities.
So the argument is that the hush money was paid in order to keep the story from breaking just before the election and therefore was paid “to influence the course of the election”.
Seems a reasonable argument.
If Trump or anyone authorised to spend money on the campaign’s behalf knew about it, then it had to be reported.
Both the fact of the payment and who it was made to.
If the money came from Trump personally, it was an in-kind contribution and should have been reported as such.
If it came from The Trump Organisation, then it was a corporate contribution which is prohibited in a federal election.
If it was Cohen’s (or any third party’s) own money, then it was an individual contribution and was well over the limit for personal contributions and was prohibited.
I suspect the ploy (if there is one) might be to say - no illegal contributions (it was Trump’s own money) and the reporting violations are for obvious reasons and should be excused/ignored.
Payment of hush money is no good if you have to publish the fact you paid it and who you paid it to. It would jeopardise the very purpose of making the payment.
Not sure it makes any legal difference but might well make a difference for the Trump supporters and ‘conservative’ talking heads.
“Just a technical violation, you know. What was he supposed to do - he’s forced to pay off this lying woman, then he’s supposed to tell everyone he’s done it?” etc.
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What are the odds Giuliani “pulls a Scaramucci” and is unemployed in 7 days?
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So after all the back and forth between the I didn’t do that, I don’t know what that is, Ask him, I don’t know, it all is ending in a “I did it, but it was perfectly legal” defense.
From the moron’s twitter today:
Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are…
…very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,…
…despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
What he is failing to realize is 2 issues arise even if all of the above is true.
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He is stating that Daniels is lying…if she is proven to be telling the truth about an affair and such then he is in trouble.
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If she was being truthful, then he paid off someone to shut them up to prevent it costing him votes which is by definition influencing the election…that’s even bigger trouble.
There are two amazing things in all this…first is that no matter what, one of these knuckleheads seems to open their mouth and say something dumber and more ill-advised than what the previous knucklehead did. Second…it won’t matter in the end, because all those little trumpers won’t turn on him. They will defend him to the end saying it was rigged, unfair, a witch hunt, etc etc parroting every word he has uttered.
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Of course the story changed. He’s getting close to the point where he might have to talk to the FBI can lying to them is a crime.
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At this point I’m wondering if North and South Korea are making a show of reconciliation specifically to remove an excuse for saber-rattling, or a plausible justification for war, on Trump’s part, so that he can’t draw attention away from the situation at home.
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So what is this history here? I assume since they are both from NYC that Rudy has some beef with Trump and willing to do what ever to damage him? Or just another Republican who sees him as degrading their power?
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The House of Conway Divided
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