Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave...

[Crossless2.0]

I fervently hope Woodward has another Trump administration book left in him. The follow-up to Fear will be one hell of a read.

[The Grand Nudger]

Titles already baked in.

Loathing

[Angrboda]

@jorg, check your news feed.  Looks like the trump clan was trying to float a 50million dollar bribe to Uncle Vlad in order to set up a foreign money laundering service for criminals and other sanctioned bric a brac through sham "real estate" deals.

But was this a violation?

The short answer is probably not yet — at least based upon the known information.

A key point in both BuzzFeed’s report and Bloomberg’s later report is that there is no direct evidence that Trump had any knowledge of this proposal. We know that Cohen briefed him on the project regularly as it was progressing, but we don’t know in how much detail or whether he would have even floated something like that to Trump. So even if it constituted a violation for Cohen, it may not ensnare Trump.

“The FCPA’s third-party payment provisions state that an individual such as Trump is liable only to the extent he has ‘knowledge’ of the third-party’s conduct,” said Koehler, who has blogged about the report.

(Washington Post)

This is regarding the activities of Cohen and Felix Sater. Still not seeing any evidence of Trump involvement that is not based on Cohen.

[The Grand Nudger]

Cohen had a nasty habit of keeping receipts and texting incriminating messages, and recording phone calls.  Special counsel seems to feel that whatever they got out of cohen was worth a sweet deal.

I don't expect that the "yes, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, every single employee and subordinate in my clients orbit was engaged in all of these crimes...but my client, your honor, my client...well, his shit is squeaky clean" will hold up.

"Never mind the obstruction, nevermind all the lying, pappy is just senile like that."

[Angrboda]

Cohen had a nasty habit of keeping receipts and texting incriminating messages, and recording phone calls.  Special counsel seems to feel that whatever they got out of cohen was worth a sweet deal.

I don't expect that the "yes, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, every single employee and subordinate in my clients orbit was engaged in all of these crimes...but my client, your honor, my client...well, his shit is squeaky clean" will hold up.

"Never mind the obstruction, nevermind all the lying, pappy is just senile like that."

Maybe Mueller has something more. Maybe he doesn't. At this point, we simply do not know. Until Mueller reveals such things, this is just speculation.

[The Grand Nudger]

OFC, hence, "looks like the trump clan"......though I'm willing to state with certainty that mueller has more. Plea bargains aint free.

[Angrboda]

OFC, hence, "looks like the trump clan"......though I'm willing to state with certainty that mueller has more.  Plea bargains aint free.

Yeah, that argument explains Manafort to a tee. lol.

[The Grand Nudger]

Getting manafort to lie while the lawyers representing president trump (and not manafort, as it now seems plainly obvious) coordinate those lies with the white house is also useful. To me, just another example of dumb criminals thinking they were smarter than the cops investigating them.

[Angrboda]

"Legal experts said it’s still unclear how much peril the president might face as a result of the new evidence Mueller has gathered about the Moscow project and WikiLeaks..." ~ Washington Post

Whether Manafort's coordination with Trump lawyers substantiates an obstruction charge or not is also still an open question.

You seem to be shooting blanks.

[The Grand Nudger]

I wasn't discussing obstruction charges?