Russia Collusion Scandal (aka A Leftist fantasy)

[Hawk]

There was an article published, three days ago, that I posted (and mocked) which described Cohen's relations with Russian figures, his status as a "minor Baron" on the New York real estate scene, and other various business interests connected to "shadowy" Slavic persons:

He has spent much of his personal and professional life with immigrants from Russia and Ukraine. His father-in-law, who helped establish him in the taxi business, was born in Ukraine, as was one of Mr. Cohen’s partners in that industry. Another partner was Russian. And Mr. Cohen used his connections in the region when scouting business opportunities for Mr. Trump in former Soviet republics.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/b...yer-trump.html

This would be the 'innocent' explanation. It's really the only explanation which is cogent, at this point, absent a forensic evaluation of Cohen's business finances.

If there was anything here, that Michael Avenatti is unearthing it says a lot about the caliber of case.

[Hawk]

"To be clear, while the facts are extraordinarily suggestive, we're doing a certain amount of speculating to draw connections between what we know and what we don't."

[Julio3000]

I was not impressed by that piece, as it amounted to a whole lot of guilt-by-association implications without any real meat on the bones. But dude is certainly wired into OC, and his elevation into Trump's orbit seemed to be predicated on his ability to bring in buyers who seemed to have sketchy provenance.

But I don't really get the "innocent" explanation bit. Like, what services were being purchased?

[Julio3000]

Like, why does Vekselberg, or his American beard, drop a mil on Michael Cohen?

[Hawk]

Yeah, but what well-monied buyer from the Middle East or Russia isn't sketchy? Who doesn't have links to Putin or a Sheikh?

[Julio3000]

And I get the personal skepticism on Avenatti. I'm not resting a whole lot on his interpretation of the why's here, but the payments have been confirmed. What's the legit explanation for them?

[Hawk]

Like, why does Vekselberg, or his American beard, drop a mil on Michael Cohen?

Given Cohen's varied business interests is it really that difficult to contrive a scenario that isn't automatically sinister?

[Julio3000]

Yeah, but what well-monied buyer from the Middle East or Russia isn't sketchy? Who doesn't have links to Putin or a Sheikh?

True, but that just circles back to a couple of bigger-picture questions.

One is if we should credulously assume legit transactions even if the money was grey, when there's a stack of precedents for the transactions themselves being criminal acts, i.e. not real estate investments, but money laundering.

The other is why we should invest our collective trust in a guy whose business seems to be predicated on these transactions?

[Julio3000]

I'm just not following the thread of what Cohen's legit business is.

A guy whose commercial ventures have included slip-and-fall fraud, various mobbed-up cash businesses, selling condos to his in-laws' mobbed-up cronies, and flipping real estate for suspicious profits has beneficial interest in an LLC that's depositing checks from various corporate entities for "insight" into his boss's administration, and we're not supposed to look askance at it, or wonder who's getting what, where?

[Julio3000]

Given Cohen's varied business interests is it really that difficult to contrive a scenario that isn't automatically sinister?

Like, does "sinister" mean "not connected to Russian election ****ery, just old-fashioned graft"?

[Hawk]

The NYT piece lays out:

- A lucrative, multi-million taxi medallion operation split between New York and Chicago
- Medical Clinics
- A management company
- A transportation company
- Assorted real estate ventures (remember he was a "minor Baron")

You are saying that you think all of this is illegitimate?

[Hawk]

I, too, am curious about "Essential Consulting, LLC" (that name). I want to know about those payments from AT&T and KAI (amongst others).

It wouldn't surprise me at all if something foul/illegal is unearthed.

I don't think it'll have anything to do with Russia, Russia!™, or the collusion narrative (as it has metamorphosed) though, and I doubt it will bear on Trump, personally, in any way (aside from the usual 'presidential judgement and integrity' catcalling).

[Runnin]

Like, why does Vekselberg, or his American beard, drop a mil on Michael Cohen?

To fund the Stormy account.

[Runnin]

Given Cohen's varied business interests is it really that difficult to contrive a scenario that isn't automatically sinister?

That would be a YES.

[nsacpi]

And what about the payments from AT&T and Novartis? If those are just Cohen running some kind of shakedown gig, don't you think Trump should drop him like a hot potato? I suspect he might, but what are we to think if he doesn't?

looking forward to a description of the "insights" AT&T paid for

[thethe]

Death by a thousand innocuous associations!

[nsacpi]

I, too, am curious about "Essential Consulting, LLC" (that name). I want to know about those payments from AT&T and KAI (amongst others).

It wouldn't surprise me at all if something foul/illegal is unearthed.

I don't think it'll have anything to do with Russia, Russia!™, or the collusion narrative (as it has metamorphosed) though, and I doubt it will bear on Trump, personally, in any way (aside from the usual 'presidential judgement and integrity' catcalling).

Vekselberg sounds like a Volga German name...so technically this is about Germans! Germans!

[nsacpi]

Death by a thousand innocuous associations!

the legal system exists to sort these things out...in due course we will find out what was innocuous and what was not...we all have our own priors

[Runnin]

I guess raking in millions on close personal ties to the Oval Office is what Trump meant by that rambling monologue about Michael's "many businesses I know nothing about."

[Julio3000]

The NYT piece lays out:

- A lucrative, multi-million taxi medallion operation split between New York and Chicago
- Medical Clinics
- A management company
- A transportation company
- Assorted real estate ventures (remember he was a "minor Baron")

You are saying that you think all of this is illegitimate?

I'm going to assume for the sake of the question that all of these entities are/were completely legit and above-board (heh). What have these particular payments to this LLC have to do with those "legitimate" businesses?