You all mock the President and his apparent aptitude and yet the last 18 months have been a tremendous success.
Last edited by thethe; 05-09-2018 at 08:11 AM.
Natural Immunity Croc
With respect to the slush fund aptly named Essential Consultants LLC my current priors are as follows:
1) Most of the payments were not for any "advice" or "insight" or "work" by Cohen. They were simply gifts.
2) Those gifts will turn out to be legally problematic for Cohen and others, including the parties who made them.
3) Some of the proceeds were used to benefit parties other than Cohen. One of those parties will turn out to be the president.
4) Cohen will flip and share information that implicates Trump in the sense he will have been made aware that various parties that made payments to Essential Consultants did so with the expectation that Trump would be the beneficiary.
5) Evidence will be developed that will show Trump took action as president that provided benefits to some of the parties who made contributions to Essential Consultants. Keep an eye on Elliot Broidy here.
6) The legal system will eventually find multiple parties (including Trump) guilty of paying and receiving bribes.
Those are my priors. ymmv
Last edited by nsacpi; 05-09-2018 at 08:47 AM.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
Novartis: Our former CEO did it. Current management has nothing to do with it.
Mueller contacted Novartis about the payments back in November.
Last edited by nsacpi; 05-09-2018 at 08:51 AM.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."
"Now, Congress has been legislating tougher sanctions against Putin and Russia over the past year by sweeping, close-to-unanimous bipartisan majorities. But the Trump administration has been softening or delaying those sanctions at every turn. Last month, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control finally implemented congressional sanctions against Deripaska and Rusal, in addition to other Russians. The Treasury Department cited allegations that Deripaska ordered the murder of a businessman and had links to a Russian organized crime group. But on April 23, the Trump administration announced major delays on implementation, “slow-rolling” the sanctions seemingly to give Rusal time to minimize the damage and to appeal the sanctions. Treasury gave Rusal an extension to next October, and Reuters reported the department would “consider lifting [the sanctions] if United Company Rusal PLC’s major shareholder, Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, ceded control of the company,” which he soon did. “Given the impact on our partners and allies, we are … extending the maintenance and wind-down period while we consider RUSAL’s petition,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement."
From Slate today, pointing out that the Administration has delayed and otherwise slow-walked sanctions against Rusal, which is 26.5% owned by Vekselberg.
Runnin (05-09-2018)
But, again, what legit business purpose do these payments have? Advice about NY real estate? Investment in taxi medallions?
I mean, you'd think over the course of three/four decades comprised of "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" there'd be something, right?
But, yeah, Paul Manafort. Good one. Dude's so guilty.
"I am a victim, I will tell you. I am a victim."
"I am your retribution."