Mueller Files first Charges (MUELLER CONTENT GOES HERE)

[glocktogo]

The media is conflating the payments (legal) with lying about the payments (illegal).

Think about it, if spending your own, personal money could be illegal, how would he buy shoes to walk onstage?

Either the SDNY prosecutors have financial documents proving Trump directed campaign contributions be used to buy the NDA's, or they don't. It really is that simple.

[Todd.K]

No. They are claiming it should have been a campaign expense. So he had to claim it with his money or use campaign funds.

Not

Even

Joking

[Gödel]

Seems like the problem is that Trump could claim that NDA payoffs were personal, but Cohen pleaded guilty to them being for the campaign. And the Enquirer may be saying something similar.

[RetroRevolver77]

deleted

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Seems like the problem is that Trump could claim that NDA payoffs were personal, but Cohen pleaded guilty to them being for the campaign. And the Enquirer may be saying something similar.

That is the problem. If that were the only thing that Cohen were pleading to, then you might have something, but since he has way more serious charges that he had plead to, it is hard to really tell how much real time is because of the slut money. The National Enquirer bit is a trickier, because it is cleaner, but they aren't copping to anything illegal. Cohen is a pawn that they are trying to tie a revealing attack on the king. Trump should be able to maneuver to escape a checkmate on this- especially if he were to keep his mouth shut. The left will always be able to say that Trump is guilty of campaign finance, by proxy if nothing else.

The question is, how many pols have had to write checks like this and not reported it?

The reality is that there still isn't a 'here' there. Now we hear about the inaugural, again.

Trump is going to write himself a pardon letter on the way out, and then let the courts fight it out for a few years. The current SCOTUS will back his power to do it. All the states coming after him are another thing, but that gets ugly really fast. How about my state indicting your senator...

[Gödel]

That is the problem. If that were the only thing that Cohen were pleading to, then you might have something, but since he has way more serious charges that he had plead to, it is hard to really tell how much real time is because of the slut money. The National Enquirer bit is a trickier, because it is cleaner, but they aren't copping to anything illegal. Cohen is a pawn that they are trying to tie a revealing attack on the king. Trump should be able to maneuver to escape a checkmate on this- especially if he were to keep his mouth shut. The left will always be able to say that Trump is guilty of campaign finance, by proxy if nothing else.

The question is, how many pols have had to write checks like this and not reported it?

The reality is that there still isn't a 'here' there. Now we hear about the inaugural, again.

Trump is going to write himself a pardon letter on the way out, and then let the courts fight it out for a few years. The current SCOTUS will back his power to do it. All the states coming after him are another thing, but that gets ugly really fast. How about my state indicting your senator...

Whether Trump actually did anything illegal at any point (he may not have), he certainly seems willing to surround himself with people that are perfectly comfortable breaking the rules. That may not matter much in NY, but it does matter if you intend to be a highly divisive politician.

Trump's biggest worry is that everything gets shelved until he and Pence are out of office, then prosecuted. He might dodge the worst of it, but he isn't going to like having his kids jailed or his business killed.

That's the danger in running for president as a publicity stunt.

[RetroRevolver77]

deleted

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Whether Trump actually did anything illegal at any point (he may not have), he certainly seems willing to surround himself with people that are perfectly comfortable breaking the rules. That may not matter much in NY, but it does matter if you intend to be a highly divisive politician.

Trump's biggest worry is that everything gets shelved until he and Pence are out of office, then prosecuted. He might dodge the worst of it, but he isn't going to like having his kids jailed or his business killed.

That's the danger in running for president as a publicity stunt.

Obama was a publicity stunt, if not a perpetual public relations and political campaign. And yes, he was surrounded by people that bent and broke the rules and lied all over the place. Just because you exert positive control over the DOJ and don't try to upset the duopoly in govt, you can do that. When you have enough Lois Lerner's in place, you don't have to do as much dirty work as Trump is having to do.

I love it when people call Trump 'divisive' or his actions 'assualt on constitutional norms'- when what he is doing is not allowing himself to be cucked by the MSM. Maybe if the press didn't take people like Romney and turn them into the devil, we wouldn't be forced to cut to the chase and run the devil. If Bush, Dole, Romney, Ryan and McConnel would just find there inner strength and go full Kavanaugh in defending themselves, and us since they are our proxy, we wouldn't find success in a populist NYC billionaire.

[Gödel]

Obama was a publicity stunt, if not a perpetual public relations and political campaign. And yes, he was surrounded by people that bent and broke the rules and lied all over the place. Just because you exert positive control over the DOJ and don't try to upset the duopoly in govt, you can do that. When you have enough Lois Lerner's in place, you don't have to do as much dirty work as Trump is having to do.

I love it when people call Trump 'divisive' or his actions 'assualt on constitutional norms'- when what he is doing is not allowing himself to be cucked by the MSM. Maybe if the press didn't take people like Romney and turn them into the devil, we wouldn't be forced to cut to the chase and run the devil. If Bush, Dole, Romney, Ryan and McConnel would just find there inner strength and go full Kavanaugh in defending themselves, and us since they are our proxy, we wouldn't find success in a populist NYC billionaire.

Trump.is divisive, and he would happily accept that label. I don't understand how conservatives suddenly value "fighters" when it is clearly a losing strategy in just a 2 year election cycle. Reagan's ability to draw in both sides was the measure of his success - not insulting Tip O'Neil.

Since the Cold War ended conservatives keep trying to reinvent themselves into something with traction. They have ousted most people that called for more inclusiveness and have instead embraced a series of crackpot movements (neo-con, Tea Party, alt-right) funded by tycoons with no real interest in the street level beliefs of it's membership. The GOP used to have beliefs about governance, now they just have methods to win elections and facilitate business for those tycoons. The only people Ryan could have legitimately fought was the economic policy corruption of his own deficit spending, tariff raising schizophrenic party. So he retired.

[flenna]

Violating campaign finance laws is not necessarily an impeachable offense. Obama was charged with it, paid a $375k fine and moved on. The problem is we have a two tier justice system - one for the Clinton/Obama machine and one for everyone else.