Comrade Trump

[creekster]

They are both a big deal, and Mueller is investigating both, btw.

I am sure you see it that way. But for me, convincing a judge to allow the FBI to raid an attorney's office and take privileged and work product files is a pretty big deal. Russians using the NRA to influence? Not on the same level from my POV.

[frank ryan]

What has to happen, legally speaking, to get a warrant to seize attorney-client communications?

[Northwestcoug]

It is only fitting that hush-money paid to a porn star would be the final offense to remove Trump. Please, political gods, make it happen.

[frank ryan]

It is only fitting that hush-money paid to a porn star would be the final offense to remove Trump. Please, political gods, make it happen.

I don't think the GOP members of congress have moral compunction to do it. Maybe we see a military raid on Syria now.

[frank ryan]

Sounds like obstructionist-in-chief is getting serious about firing Mueller. :


Trump Floats Possibility Of Firing Robert Mueller, Criticizes Jeff Sessions
“Why don’t I just fire Mueller?” Trump asked.

President Donald Trump has once again lambasted the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and chastised Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the probe.

Trump appeared to directly float the idea of firing special counsel Robert Mueller at the start of his military leadership meeting on Monday, calling the special counsel’s investigation a “disgrace” and defending his firing of former FBI Director James Comey as the “right thing” to do.

“Why don’t I just fire Mueller?” Trump asked in response to a reporter’s question. “Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens, but I think it’s really a sad situation ... Many people have said you should fire him. Again, they found nothing, and in finding nothing, that’s a big statement.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-firing-mueller-we-will-see_us_5acbef3ce4b07a3485e78ede

[PaloAltoCougar]

Trump continues to serve the Russian objective of undermining faith in American systems and democracy. He's ranting about how FBI agents "broke into the office" of his personal attorney which is absolutely false, but feeds both his ego and the idiotic element of his base (law enforcement authorities acting in accordance with a lawfully issued warrant do not "break into" the subject premises).

I'm still open to the possibility that Trump has not personally colluded with Russians, but there can be no doubt that at many times he has been an unwitting accomplice to Russian political chicanery. Of course, one can use "unwitting" with pretty much everything Trump does that isn't self-promotion.

[Moliere]

It is only fitting that hush-money paid to a porn star would be the final offense to remove Trump. Please, political gods, make it happen.

[Uncle Ted]

It is only fitting that hush-money paid to a porn star would be the final offense to remove Trump. Please, political gods, make it happen.

I don't get it... If it is uncovered that Drumpf was involved paying hush-money to a porn star then Drumpf lied. Did he lie under oath? I don't believe so. Did he actually have sex with the porn star? Maybe or maybe not. But why does it even matter? It is not like he had sex as president with a young, unattractive intern in the oval office then lied about it under oath. Where is the offense in this that is going to remove Drumpf from office? It seems you dims want to bark up every tree when Mueller was tasked with investigating russian collusion.

[frank ryan]

I don't get it... If it is uncovered that Drumpf was involved paying hush-money to a porn star then Drumpf lied. Did he lie under oath? I don't believe so. Did he actually have sex with the porn star? Maybe or maybe not. But why does it even matter? It is not like he had sex as president with a young, unattractive intern in the oval office then lied about it under oath. Where is the offense in this that is going to remove Drumpf from office? It seems you dims want to bark up every tree when Mueller was tasked with investigating russian collusion.

Vapid post on many levels.

[Eddie]

If you follow the story, that is exactly the accusation. Russian billionallionares, one guy in particular donated gobs of money some which ended up going to Trump. The NRA hasn’t been exactly forthcoming about all this. Foreign money isn’t supposed to pour into our elections.

They came up with 2-3 people that joined as members, according to the article. NRA says that none of their contributions were used in campaigning. Sure - I get wanting to confirm that. But this is SO far down the list of possible campaign meddling I'm not even sure where to start.

The raid on the attorney offices is MUCH more interesting. This NRA things gets the same meh from me that Obama got for taking in crowdsourced donations that people were concerned could include money from "anonymous" overseas donors. If we're cleaning up campaign financing, there are much bigger fish to fry.

[Eddie]

Trump continues to serve the Russian objective of undermining faith in American systems and democracy. He's ranting about how FBI agents "broke into the office" of his personal attorney which is absolutely false, but feeds both his ego and the idiotic element of his base (law enforcement authorities acting in accordance with a lawfully issued warrant do not "break into" the subject premises).

I'm still open to the possibility that Trump has not personally colluded with Russians, but there can be no doubt that at many times he has been an unwitting accomplice to Russian political chicanery. Of course, one can use "unwitting" with pretty much everything Trump does that isn't self-promotion.

Haha!

So sad, and yet so true.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I don't get it... If it is uncovered that Drumpf was involved paying hush-money to a porn star then Drumpf lied. Did he lie under oath? I don't believe so. Did he actually have sex with the porn star? Maybe or maybe not. But why does it even matter? It is not like he had sex as president with a young, unattractive intern in the oval office then lied about it under oath. Where is the offense in this that is going to remove Drumpf from office? It seems you dims want to bark up every tree when Mueller was tasked with investigating russian collusion.

Bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations.

Maybe you can represent Cohen/Trump in court. Trot out your #whataboutclinton stuff and see how it goes.

[myboynoah]

Bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations.

Maybe you can represent Cohen/Trump in court. Trot out your #whataboutclinton stuff and see how it goes.

Well at least it's an ethos.

[creekster]

I haven't given this a lot of thought, but it seems to me there area couple of significant things involved in the FBI raid on Cohen's offices. First, they were executing a search warrant that had been issued by a NY court and requested by the FBI and the SDNY prosecutor's office. IOW, the offenses being looked at are likely not part of the Mueller focus, but likely include crimes outside of the Mueller focus. Second, they convinced a judge to allow them to search and raid an attorney's privileged client files. This requires a higher showing than a standard warrant. I cant recall they exact standard, but it is a significant showing required to permit law enforcement to invade a client's privilege with his attorney. They convinced a judge that is was very likely they had Cohen for some crime, probably something that didn't have much do to (if anything at all) with Mueller's investigation. They also convinced him it was necessary to conduct a raid pursuant to warrant as opposed to simply execute a subpoena, which is how this would normally go.

The upshot is that this is really very bad for Trump. It could mean they are going to get Cohen for crimes that involve Trump's business dealings outside of Russia. Or it could mean that they are able to squeeze Cohen very hard and get him to turn on Trump for things that ARE related to Mueller as part of a deal. While Trump/Cohen might have been dumb enough to leave stuff around in the files the FBI seized, I think it is unlikely. But it is very likely that Cohen knows things that are bad for Trump. and if he does, he will likely be turned pretty easily.

The problem with an outsider like Trump coming into national government like this is that they tend not to be truly prepared for the level of scrutiny that their life will endure. And Trump strikes me as the sort of guy who has done sleazy things his entire life and gotten away with it. If anyone is going to know the deets about those sleazy things, it is Cohen, and now Mueller has likely put Cohen's jewels in a vise. No wonder Trump reacted like a wild man.

Sorry if this has all been discussed, im not following that closely,.

[Northwestcoug]

I don't get it... If it is uncovered that Drumpf was involved paying hush-money to a porn star then Drumpf lied. Did he lie under oath? I don't believe so. Did he actually have sex with the porn star? Maybe or maybe not. But why does it even matter? It is not like he had sex as president with a young, unattractive intern in the oval office then lied about it under oath. Where is the offense in this that is going to remove Drumpf from office? It seems you dims want to bark up every tree when Mueller was tasked with investigating russian collusion.

What JL said.

But think about it this way. You and I share a common goal, the destruction of the republican party as we know it. If it takes a porn star scandal, I say run with it!