On Tuesday, the case involving Donald Trump, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, and former Trump attorney/fixer Michael Cohen took an explosive twist.
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It’s the news that is being called a political bombshell and an impending constitutional crisis. Not only did a jury find Paul Manafort guilty on 8 counts of tax and bank fraud, but Michael Cohen went under oath and personally implicated Donald Trump as a knowing and willing participant in campaign and financial violations.
Can you spell “HIGH CRIMES & MISDEMEANORS??”
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we are on the precipice of a political scandal not seen since Watergate. Fasten your seat belts as we take an in-depth look at the road leading to the true beginning of the end of Donald J. Trump.
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PAUL MANAFORT
In a major victory for special counsel Robert Mueller, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was found guilty of 5 charges of tax fraud, 1 charge of hiding foreign bank accounts, and 2 counts of bank fraud — crimes that carry a maximum of 80 years in prison. Mueller brought a total of 18 counts of tax evasion, bank fraud and hiding foreign bank accounts against Manafort, as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. However, the jury came back with a guilty verdict on 8 counts and a hung jury on the remaining 10.
According to prosecutors, Manafort collected $65 million in foreign bank accounts from 2010 to 2014 then immediately spent more than $15 million on luxury purchases including designer clothing, real estate, and other big-ticket items. They also asserted that Manafort lied to banks in order to take out more than $20 million in loans once his Ukrainian political work dried up in 2015, then hid the foreign bank accounts from federal authorities.
“Mr. Manafort lied to keep more money when he had it, and he lied to get more money when he didn’t,” prosecutor Greg Andres said during closing arguments. “This is a case about lies.”
The 69-year-old Manafort still faces a 2nd set of criminal charges in a Washington federal court for failing to register his foreign lobbying activities and for a money laundering conspiracy related to his Ukrainian political work.
Following the conviction, Donald Trump continued along the path of denial by calling Manafort a “good man.” He also attacked special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt” and a “disgrace.”
“Paul Manafort is a good man,” Trump said. “He was with Ronald Reagan. He was with a lot of different people over the years. I feel very sad about that. It doesn’t involve me but I still feel …”
Trump being Trump then segued into his “greatest hit” (NO COLLUSION), wailing that the conviction against Manafort had “nothing to do with Russian collusion,” as well as his usual victim yadda yadda yadda.
“It’s a witch hunt and it’s a disgrace. But this has nothing to do with what they started out,” Trump said. “It was not the original mission, believe me. It was something very much different. It had nothing to do with Russian collusion.”
Trump concluded: “I feel very badly for Paul Manafort.”
With this being only the first in a dozen or more shoes yet to drop, Donald Trump may want to reserve feeling very badly for what will soon drop against HIM!
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MICHAEL COHEN
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s decade-long former personal attorney/fixer and a trusted member of Trump’s inner circle, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday to 8 criminal counts, including an unexpected admission that he willfully hid damaging information against Trump that would have affected the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
The charges against Cohen, which was brought by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, included tax fraud, false statements to a bank, as well as campaign finance violations linked to his work for Trump — including payments Cohen made or helped to orchestrate that were devised to silence women who claimed to have had affairs with then-candidate Trump.
However, the most damning evidence against Trump since he took office came when Cohen admitted under oath that he paid porn star Stormy Daniels and another woman hush money “in coordination and at the direction of” Donald Trump “for the principal purpose of influencing the election.”
That single admission in and of itself rises above and beyond the threshold of “high crimes and misdemeanors” (even without any collusion evidence involving Russia) and is grounds for impeachment of Donald J. Trump.
“Today he stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election,” Cohen attorney Lanny Davis said in a statement. “If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?”
Davis added that his client has additional information “that should be of interest” to special counsel Robert Mueller.
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The Manafort conviction and the Cohen confession are all part of a stunning masterpiece at the hands of Robert Mueller. By going after 2 of Trump’s top lieutenants, Mueller set the stage for both men to flip on “The Donald” and to tell all they know about his nefarious dealings. So far, Mueller was successful in getting Cohen to talk and now, Manafort may soon talk too in order to avoid spending the rest of his life in jail.
“In coordination and at the direction of” Donald Trump “for the principal purpose of influencing the election.” – Michael Cohen
Additionally, the cunning Mueller would have never allowed this first (heavy) shoe to drop without more on the way. He’s been silently sitting on a year’s worth of confessions from former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and a host of others. Omarosa Manigault-Newman has supplied Mueller with all of her secret tape recordings inside The White House, as well as a 2016 video of Cohen boarding Trump’s campaign plane and working as an active participant for the then-candidate during a period Trump claimed Cohen was not a participator. Further, Mueller hasn’t even begun to play the hand of evidence he’s holding regarding collusion between Trump and Russia.
The stunning admission from Michael Cohen is enough to bring Trump down. However, don’t be fooled. There is plenty more to come.
So, fasten your seatbelts and prepare yourselves for a bumpy ride. This is only the beginning of what history may someday record as the most frenetic political thriller of our generation.
Stay tuned!
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Top of the morning to you DJ…!
So it’s approaching 7:45 AM (EST) and (unless I’m mistaken) there’s been no tweet from Donald yet!?!
Mayhaps it’s a sign that, at least for a moment, “Putin’s useful idiot” is beginning to grasp that his corrupt and serial lying azz may really be in big trouble this time(?) Mind you, I fully expect Donald to give in to his natural impulse and begin tweeting again any minute now. But it is quite striking that he hasn’t let loose with at least one crazy-azz tweet already.
Just an observation.