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Do Trump have and run a 'criminal enterprise?'
Sunday, December 9th 2018 at 9:38AM
Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
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First, Cohen’s commission of two campaign finance crimes on the eve of the 2016 election for President of the United States struck a blow to one of the core goals of the federal campaign finance laws: transparency. While many Americans who desired a particular outcome to the election knocked on doors, toiled at phone banks, or found any number of other legal ways to make their voices heard, Cohen sought to influence the election from the shadows. He did so by orchestrating secret and illegal payments to silence two women who otherwise would have made public their alleged extramarital affairs with Individual-1. In the process, Cohen deceived the voting public by hiding alleged facts that he believed would have had a substantial effect on the election. It is this type of harm that Congress sought to prevent when it imposed limits on individual contributions to candidates. To promote transparency and prevent wealthy individuals like Cohen from circumventing these limits, Congress prohibited individuals from making expenditures on behalf of and coordinated with candidates. Cohen clouded a process that Congress has painstakingly sought to keep transparent. The sentence imposed should reflect the seriousness of Cohen’s brazen violations of the election laws and attempt to counter the public cynicism that may arise when individuals like Cohen act as if the political process belongs to the rich and powerful. Cohen’s submission suggests that this was but a brief error in judgment. Not so. Cohen knew exactly where the line was, and he chose deliberately and repeatedly to cross it. Indeed, he was a licensed attorney with significant political experience and a history of campaign donations, and who was well-aware of the election laws.11 In fact, Cohen publicly and privately took credit for Individual-1’s political success, claiming – in a conversation that he secretly recorded – that he “started the whole thing . . . started the whole campaign” in 2012 when Individual-1 expressed an interest in running for President. Moreover, not only was Cohen well aware of what he was doing, but he used sophisticated tactics to conceal his misconduct. He arranged one of the payments through a media company and disguised it as a services contract, and executed the second non-disclosure agreement with aliases and routed the six-figure payment through a shell corporation. After the election, he arranged for his own reimbursement via fraudulent invoices for non-existent legal services ostensibly performed pursuant to a non-existent “retainer” agreement. And even when public reports of the payments began to surface, Cohen told shifting and misleading stories about the nature of the payment, his coordination with the candidate, and the fact that he was reimbursed. This was not a blind act of loyalty, as Cohen has also suggested. His actions suggest that Cohen relished the status of ultimate fixer – a role that he embraced as recently as May 2018.12 Cohen was driven by a desire to further ingratiate himself with a potential future President—for whose political success Cohen himself claimed credit—and arranged for the payments in an attempt to increase his power and influence. Indeed, after Cohen caused the media company to make an illegal expenditure, in a secretly recorded meeting Cohen took credit for the payment and assured Individual-1 that he was “all over” the transaction. And after making the payment to the second woman, and after Individual-1 was elected President, Cohen privately bragged to friends and reporters, including in recorded conversations, that he had made the payment to spare Individual-1 from damaging press and embarrassment. Cohen’s criminal violations of the federal election laws were also stirred, like his other crimes, by his own ambition and greed. During and after the campaign, Cohen privately told friends and colleagues, including in seized text messages, that he expected to be given a prominent role and title in the new administration. When that did not materialize, Cohen found a way to monetize his relationship with and access to the President. Cohen successfully convinced numerous major corporations to retain him as a “consultant” who could provide unique insights about and access to the new administration. Some of these corporations were then stuck making large up-front or periodic payments to Cohen, even though he provided little or no real services under these contracts. Bank records reflect that Cohen made more than $4 million dollars before the contracts were terminated.
Sunday, December 9th 2018 at 10:13AM
Steve Williams
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Great information on Cohen the fixer, Steve. I 'am now talking about Trump. Do Trump have and run a 'criminal enterprise?'
Sunday, December 9th 2018 at 10:36AM
Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
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That's the question the SDNY has signalled to the House. The House will begin impeachment procedings in the new session, and after a LONG LONG time we will have a judgement. I expect President Trump to prevail.
Sunday, December 9th 2018 at 10:54AM
Steve Williams
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Trump is the third such president to be charged with such matters and none of those president was ever reelected for a second time or prevailed.
Sunday, December 9th 2018 at 12:59PM
Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
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I don't think you're correct Ron, only 2 Presidents have ever been impeached and they were not "charged with such matters", but if you are correct so what? Nothing like Trump's ELECTION has ever happened.
Sunday, December 9th 2018 at 1:40PM
Steve Williams
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MY TOO YOU IS: Do Trump have and run a 'criminal enterprise?'
YOUR REPLY: That's the question the SDNY has signalled to the House. The House will begin impeachment procedings in the new session, and after a LONG LONG time we will have a judgement. I expect President Trump to prevail.
MY REPLY: Trump is the third such president to be charged with such matters and none of those president was ever reelected for a second time or prevailed.
YOUR REPLY: I don't think you're correct Ron, only 2 Presidents have ever been impeached and they were not "charged with such matters", but if you are correct so what? Nothing like Trump's ELECTION has ever happened.
MY COMMENT: What is the matter Steve, you don't know? I see now you have resorted to talking out of both sides of your mouth now. YOUR COMMENT: Nothing like Trump's ELECTION has ever happened.
MY REPLY: I hope that this country will not see another compromised PRESIDENT like this one ever again.
Sunday, December 9th 2018 at 3:58PM
Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
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