Another example of why you never want Rudy Giuliani on your side. Wow.
As dumb as it sounds, it this may help Trump in the big picture. Candidates are allowed to spend as much as they want during their campaigns. So if Trump paid him for the $130,000, then it can't be seen as an illegal donation.
So Trump takes the hit now, but Cohen is protected, and all the stuff Cohen has on Trump hopefully (in Trump's mind) doesn't come out.
It just contradicts the stories put forth and muddies the water more.
I don't think this will help Trump, or hurt him. It's just another thing to add to the wood pile.
I'm more talking legally than the public perception. Trump paying the $130,000 is better for him than it not being him.
But now the question is, did Trump pay out of his own money, or did he pay him out of the Trump Org (or, lmao, the campaign). If he used either, and he is in the documented habit of doing so, that brings trouble back around but aimed squarely at Donald J. Trump, not Michael Cohen.
However, Trump paying Cohen back gets Cohen off the hook from potentially making an illegal campaign violation, so Giuliani is actually making a smart move. It probably would've been better to do this before Mueller convinced the SDNY to raid Cohen's everything, but Trump's never been known for planning ahead.
Cohen has one less thing to worry about; now he only has to worry about possibly being charged with bank fraud (if he lied to his bank about why he needed the loan on his home equity), as well as fuck knows what regarding everything else Cohen's "handled" for Trump over the years. Spoiler alert: Cohen's role in the Miss Universe 2013 pageant, the one where the fabled peepee tape was allegedly created, was considerable - and we know this thanks to our Republican friends on the House Intelligence Committee.
Just watch, Sanders is gonna come out and somehow say that Giuliani didn't actually say this.
https://twitter.com/rebeccaballhaus/status/991872529600950272
https://twitter.com/costareports/status/991883505033342977
And here's where things get fun:
https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/991894652927250432
https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/991918509864169472
https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/991919325438201857
Little PSA for Trump and co(conspirators):
https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/991863435167084544
https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/991884911564017665
https://twitter.com/rickhasen/status/991884738066497536
I'm sure Giuliani thinks he's clever.
https://twitter.com/yashar/status/991848566187421696
you fucking what
There were only two options. Cohen lying to the FBI to take the fall for Trump, only for it to come out later and he get slapped with more charges, or they just admit it now, so that doesn't happen, and Cohen doesn't have to flip for a deal. Yet
If Giuliani was my attorney, I’d ask for a refund—in the middle of court.
Giuliani is like the new lead writer trying to tie together all the leftover contradictory plot threads into some sort of cohesive story
Kellyanne's husband subtweeting the president...
https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/992015378762096640
https://twitter.com/abbydphillip/status/992021443977318400?s=19
Looks like this finally managed to Flanders the Sanders
she couldn't comment because of ongoing litigation.
I'll take "Things I don't want to hear from my press secretary" for 500 alex.
Yet another major crime to Chuck onto the pile, and especially beautiful because this essentially voids whatever shred of attorney-client privilege may have existed between Cohen and Trump, as only days ago Trump went on a crazy tirade on live television, stating that Cohen didn't represent him in anything other than the Stormy Daniels business. Since the Stormy Daniels business is now known to have been a major violation of campaign finance law, Cohen and Trump are co-conspirator in the crime, thus voiding attorney-client privilege. It's beautiful!
So what degree of “fucked” are we on with Trump now? “Absolutely” or “Astronomically”?
I think it's still at "potentially" because there is nothing close to resembling a guarantee that the Republicans will impeach.
If Trump were anybody other than the President of the United States, he'd already be in prison. Because he is the President, however, there's still a degree of uncertainty. Between Trump and prosecution stands impeachment, and the GOP has been doing everything they can to discredit the investigation and skew its findings. They're building a case wherein they won't have to impeached Trump because the investigation is just a big partisan witch Hunt by the crooked liberals and department of Justice.
This very likely will have to go through the Supreme Court, which will be a lengthy process. It's quite possible that Trump may actually finish out his term before the law actually catches up to him, as horrifying a thought as that is. In the end, however, only two things will prevent Trump from going to prison, either before or after his presidency:
1) A pardon from his successor.
2) Death.
Even a pardon may not save him, however, as that can only apply to federal crimes. A whole host of state level offenses are certain to be included in the mix of charges
https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/animations/w_447/180503095421-desktop-trump-didnt-know-about-stormy-daniels-02.mp4
Trump has been caught in a blatant lie. Not only that, but his attempts to go back and change his story basically destroy whatever shred of credibility or attorney client privilege he had left.
https://twitter.com/WesSmith123/status/992000315699421184
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/991881299324489729
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-offers-explanation-on-twitter-about-how-he-reimbursed-his-lawyer-to-hush-porn-star/2018/05/03/8e649b10-4eba-11e8-84a0-458a1aa9ac0a_story.html
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/991992302267785216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In morning tweets, the president confirmed that Cohen entered into a nondisclosure agreement with Daniels, something Trump called “very common among celebrities and people of wealth.”
Trump stressed that no campaign money was used to reimburse Cohen, calling it a “private agreement.”
“Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll [sic] in this transaction,” he wrote.
It doesn't matter if the money didn't come from the campaign. If the loan from Cohen (the payoff) was not reported, then Trump and Cohen have engaged in illegal campaign funding activity and Giuliani is the one who outed them.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/were-not-suckers-giuliani-says-he-wont-let-mueller-trap-trump-into-perjury/2018/05/03/65e0465c-4ebb-11e8-84a0-458a1aa9ac0a_story.html
No, Rudy, you're incompetent buffoons, including you specifically since you just exposed your client to heightened legal scrutiny and tore the bandage off his cover-up attempt.
Mueller doesn't even need to talk to Trump. They have Cohen's everything, including the call Trump made to Cohen after the raid. They have Papadopoulis, Flynn, and Gates cooperating with the investigation, and Manafort's being boiled to try and get him to flip.
Meanwhile, in related Shit Giuliani Says...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-russia-probe-should-stay-away-from-ivanka-trump/2018/05/03/91db4d4a-4ebd-11e8-84a0-458a1aa9ac0a_story.html
Ivanka and Jared are so close to Trump they're the next best thing to deposing Trump himself. If Giuliani is scared that Mueller might talk to Ivanka, there's probably good reason.
The best movie villains always hint at their schemes by telling the investigator where they can't look.
And in other Shit Giuliani Says news, he's taken up his boss's habit of self-delusion.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/05/03/giuliani-claims-trump-immune-from-mueller-subpoena/
Giuliani makes the "democratic plant" theory almost sound plausible, he seems determined to keep pointing shotguns at Trump's feet.
Remember how it was Giuliani's "He told me he wants a Muslim ban" comment that torpedoed Trump's attempt to enact the travel ban?
totally speechless at how much Giuliani is torpedoing everything
how do you get a worse lawyer than Cohen
Republicans will never impeach because Trump lets them cling to power
I just want to remind you that Giuliani in the past went on record to say that There were no Radical Islamist Terrorist attacks under Bush.
A reminder.
He was the mayor of New York in 2001.
At the same time in the same place this little event we know today as 9/11 happened.
If this doesn't already give away gross incompetence to the point you can't trust him with any information than I don't know what will.
How has Trump or the White House not pulled Guliani from all speaking engagements and shit hahahahaha. Wow what a day.
So if Mueller lays out absolutely irrefutable, damning evidence that Trump has committed several dozens of crimes and Republicans simply say “nuh uh no, fake news” and refuse to vote on it, what happens next?
we hope democrats are voted into office
OOn mObile, cannot Post article, but it has just been revealed that Cohen's phones were tapped in the weeks before the raids on his office, and at least one conversation with Trump was captured. This is fucking HUGE, because the bar for a wiretap is incredibly high, and can only be granted for crimes that are currently being committed, not previous crimes.
Well, step one, the country HOPEFULLY sees protests like its never seen. Look at the link theIndiekid posted.
Step two, we hope Democrats get voted into power.
Any way you slice it though, there's only three real possibilities for this all to end for Trump.
The only reason Trump isn't inside a jail cell right now is because he's in the oval office. Impeachment stands between him and conviction. The instant he's out of office, he'll be charged, even with state level crimes that his predecessor can't pardon away.
So his only real options to avoid going to prison are to become El Presidente for life (in which case things have really hit the fan) or his horrible diet does him in and he dies before he can be charged. Most likely, he gets nailed on state charges and is locked up for the rest of his natural life.
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