12-14-2018, 09:28 PM
(12-14-2018, 08:46 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: The law doesn't change based on what the media, pundits, Trump worshippers, posters, or anyone else opines.
Accepting or making campaign contributions which exceed the established $$ limit and/or without filing and reporting them is an illegal campaign finance violation. If the campaign accepts over $25,000 in illegal campaign contributions, it's a felony campaign finance violation.
Cohen admits that he arranged hush money (far in excess of $25,000) to be paid to silence women for the express purpose of helping Trump's election chances and knew it was illegal. Thus, he committed felony campaign finance violations, for which he'll serve time.
Pecker admits that he was part of that arrangement for the same express purpose and also knew it was illegal (which is why he didn't want any record of reimbursement to exist). He is cooperating with the NY prosecutors in exchange for a non-prosecution agreement.
Cohen and Pecker admit that Trump was part of the arrangement, which the three of them devised in August 2015. Trump is no longer insisting that he had no idea about any of it because evidence refutes that false narrative. His new narrative is that (a) maybe it wasn't a crime anyway, and (b) even if it was a crime, he was ignorant to that fact.
That's the law and the facts-to-date.
Is Cohen someone who has good standing and is not a serial liar. That is great because it was not long ago that he was caught in a number of lies involving Trump. But now he is absolutely telling the truth and nothing but the truth and NOT whatever will be what Mueller wants to hear to give him the shortest prison term?
Can we be completely honest here? Can we not pretend we do not know what is going on?
Can NOT we pretend that everyone is not moving the Hell away from Russia, Russia, Russia because there was absolutely nothing there to tie Trump and Russia in some tin foil hate conspiracy to steal the 2016 election from Hillary? Can we be honest in acknowledging that Mueller is scrambling and trying to find anyone to pin any crime on any one in any way associated with Trump? NOTHING to do with his mandate.
(12-14-2018, 08:47 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: This is my opinion -- since campaign finance violations require that the offender intentionally/knowingly broke the law, option (b) is Trump's best defense should he ever be charged. He would need to pray that Cohen doesn't have taped conversations indicating that Trump knew full well the arrangement was illegal.
I think option (a) would fall apart quickly because the payoffs for indiscretions happened a decade after-the-fact and just before the election, plus the two other parties involved in the payoffs swore under oath that the sole purpose was to benefit Trump's election chances.
There is ALWAYS going to be primary and secondary considerations. Would Trump CARE that these women were a nuisance? Yes. Would he be trying to shut these women up regardless? Yes. Would he have agreed to this if he was running for Presidency or not? YES!
You will not EVER be able to know what he actually thought or believed. Pretending that this is provable or verifiable is beyond stupid.