Tuesday, August 21, 2018

New York Times Editorial - "All the President's Crooks."


It's a red letter day, unless you're Donald Trump or a congressional Republican or a handful of their cronies.  The editorial board of The New York Times couldn't resist piling on to that orange bag of guts passing for president of the United States. And, Jeebus, didn't they lay into him.

From the start of the Russia investigation, President Trump has been working to discredit the work and the integrity of the special counsel, Robert Mueller; praising men who are blatant grifters, cons and crooks; insisting that he’s personally done nothing wrong; and reminding us that he hires only the best people.] 
On Tuesday afternoon, the American public was treated to an astonishing split-screen moment involving two of those people, as Mr. Trump’s former campaign chief was convicted by a federal jury in Virginia of multiple crimes carrying years in prison at the same time that his longtime personal lawyer pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to his own lengthy trail of criminality, and confessed that he had committed at least some of the crimes “with and at the direction of” Mr. Trump himself.
Let that sink in: Mr. Trump’s own lawyer has now accused him, under oath, of committing a felony. 
Only a complete fantasist — that is, only President Trump and his cult — could continue to claim that this investigation of foreign subversion of an American election, which has already yielded dozens of other indictments and several guilty pleas, is a “hoax” or “scam” or “rigged witch hunt.”
The conviction of Paul Manafort, who ran the Trump campaign for three months in 2016, was a win for prosecutors even though jurors were unable to reach a verdict on 10 of the 18 counts against him. On the other eight, which included bank fraud, tax fraud and a failure to report a foreign bank account, the jury agreed unanimously that Mr. Manafort was guilty. He is scheduled to go on trial in a separate case next month in Washington, D.C., on charges including money laundering, witness tampering, lying to authorities and failing to register as a foreign agent. Mr. Manafort faces many decades behind bars, although he will probably serve less than that under federal sentencing guidelines.
A few hundred miles to the north, in New York City, Michael “I’m going to mess your life up” Cohen stood before a federal judge and pleaded guilty to multiple counts of bank and tax fraud as well as federal campaign-finance violations involving hush-money payments he made to women who said they’d had sex with Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen, who spent years as Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer and “fix-it guy” (his own words) was under investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, to whom Mr. Mueller referred his case. In April, F.B.I. agents raided Mr. Cohen’s office, home and hotel room looking for evidence of criminality on a number of fronts. Apparently they found it.
...Mr. Cohen didn’t agree at Tuesday’s hearing to cooperate with prosecutors, but if he eventually chooses to, that could spell even bigger trouble for Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen has been involved in many of Mr. Trump’s dealings with Russia, including his aborted effort to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, and could shed light on connections between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian officials involved in the 2016 election interference.
...As Mr. Trump rages on about the unfairness of the investigation, remember that Mr. Mueller has been on the job for just 15 months. For comparison, the Watergate investigation ran for more than two years before it brought down a president and sent dozens of people to prison. The Iran contra investigation dragged on for about seven years, as did the Whitewater investigation, which resulted in President Bill Clinton’s impeachment. 
Also remember we still don’t know anything about the ultimate fate of several other Trump associates who have been under Mr. Mueller’s microscope, including Roger Stone, Carter Page and Donald Trump Jr. (“If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer”).
For a witch hunt, Mr. Mueller’s investigation has already bagged a remarkable number of witches. Only the best witches, you might say.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cohen's plea makes Agent Orange an unindicted co-conspirator. As Cohen's lawyer Lanny David tweeted, "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 principle purpose of influencing an election. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why shouldn't they be a crime for Donald Trump."

Why indeed.

Cap

Rob said...

Cap

Mike Duffy / Nigel Wright? Shit happens!

Anonymous said...

Rob, are you suggesting Duffy didn't bribe himself?! If it wasn't on 24 Seven, it's FAKE NEWS!!!

Cap

Northern PoV said...

Trump is providing a wonderful distraction from the gutting of the USA.
If they do throw him under the bus, then it sets up Pence.
Catch 22

Jay Farquharson said...

Nope, Pence was on the Campaign, the Transition Team and "chosen" by Manifort.

The Meuller Upcoming Indictments list goes

Stone,
McGann
Nunes
Jordan
Don Jr
a shitload of NRA Exec's
The Mercers,
Prince
a butt load of Faux News execs
Hannity
Jarvanka
Pencil Pence and his Russian Handler, aka "Mother",
The Insane Clown POSus will be last.

Northern PoV said...

Jay
The prosecution of a President (or VP) is a political question, not a legal question. The base is so confused at this point, this is non-news for them. Betcha Fox was covering the rally.

Northern PoV said...

Yup, just a minor story on Fox buried among much more important news like strong GDP growth and murder-by-immigrant.

The Guardian's 'Live' feed surveys USA local papers and finds the same.

Nothing to see here, move along.

Jay Farquharson said...

Impeachement is political.

Non-indictment is a DOJ "professional courtesy", not a rule or law, and has been abandoned 11 times in the past, based on the severity of the crime.

Jay Farquharson said...

No different than the rape rooms Faux News was running.

Big story elsewhere, an unreported story on Faux.

When Meuller starts arresting Faux News Exec's and "Talent", it will also be a "non-story",

And when Meuller comes for The Insane Clown POSus, if reported on Faux, they'll say he was a Democrat.

The Mound of Sound said...

I agree with Jay and NPoV, this is a sideshow. Interesting but the real war will come when Mueller takes the wraps off his investigations into Trump's inner circle.

Let's see what Cohen has to say to Team Mueller. His counsel, Lanny Davis, says Cohen is prepared to talk (presumably for sentence reduction) and will implicate Trump is a serious felony. Davis is an experienced lawyer and I have to assume there's no advantage that can accrue to Cohen at this point by gilding the lily.

John B. said...

Trump's supporters are saying that while Cohen may have admitted to his actions and agreed by his plea that they constituted a crime, Trump hasn't and doesn't. Does it make any difference except in public perception that Cohen pleaded guilty rather than being found so by a judge or jury?

Trailblazer said...


Blogger The Mound of Sound said...
I agree with Jay and NPoV, this is a sideshow..

Indeed it is.
A sideshow of Bankrupts, tax dodgers and grifters that includes both sides of the house.
Don't expect too many revelations from this except perhaps for Stormy Daniels stained dress!

TB

Jay Farquharson said...

Nope, Trumpists including his legal team are trying the cases in the Court of Public Opinion,

And losing cases in the Court of Law because they are a Clown Mob.

All of Shitgibbon's Lawyers, have lawyers, ( and not good ones)

MAGA= My Ass Got Arrested.



Jay Farquharson said...

Only one side so far,

But please continue with your High Broderist voter supression.