Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen 'strikes plea deal'

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45265546

I thought you guys would be interested in this. My thoughts can be summed up with this quote.

"If it's what you say I love it."

Mr Cohen is tipped to plead guilty to felony charges including tax fraud and campaign finance violations.

He had previously admitted to arranging hush money for a woman who claimed she had an affair with Mr Trump, a possible election funding violation.

Mr Cohen is expected to appear in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday.

He has surrendered to the FBI in New York and is now in the custody of authorities. The charges against him could carry prison time.

The legal manoeuvres comes as a jury in Alexandria, Virginia, spent a fourth day deliberating bank and tax fraud charges against Paul Manafort, Mr Trump's campaign chairman during the 2016 presidential election.

The nature of the reported plea deal is unclear and does not necessarily entail that Mr Cohen is co-operating against the president.

It could simply mean he has agreed to plead guilty to unspecified charges in order to spare both sides a lengthy trial.

According to Politico, a source close to Mr Cohen said he agreed to the deal "to save millions of dollars, protect his family, and limit his exposure".

Mr Cohen worked at the Trump Organization for more than a decade and continued to serve as Mr Trump's personal lawyer and fixer after the 2016 election.

The New York Times reported on Sunday night that federal investigators were looking into Mr Cohen's business activities.

They were focusing on more than $20m (£15.5m) in loans to taxi businesses owned by Mr Cohen and his family, according to the newspaper.

The part that has my interest is 'multiple counts of campaign finance violations'

The headline is more Choen pleads guilty

and Mainfort has now been found...guilty

He also testified that Trump DIRECTED him to commit a campaign finance violation and that it was a coordinated effort to influence the election. This is huge.

yeah...this train has rails now.

Its not at the station yet, but its on rails and moving...

I feel really bad for Donald Trump's keyboard. It puts up with so much abuse, and there's so much more to come.

He didn't named Trump but everyone knows it is the President.

and this is just the beginning.

Manifort has another trial which is more serious then this one.

Stormy Daniels civil case in which the President could be disposed hasnt even started yet.

and all of this is not even directly related to Muller.

Not really, a campaign finance violation like this is no worse than Obama´s and will end with a slap on the wrist. But I love the left now all opening the champagne and thinking "now he is gone"

Try not to cry too much when it ends with nothing.

Even Joe Walsh has gotten off the trump train.

Go tell that to John Edwards.

@Master_Live: I don't get those statements. What's his angle (presumably acting as Cohen's lawyer) in making those statements? Does Cohen have other charges he's angling for a plea deal on? Perhaps fishing for a pardon?

It's probably something obvious, but I'm not connecting the dots.

@mattbbpl: I don't know, maybe Cohen is just tired and is about to go Kamikaze instead of playing for a pardon.

Still, Cohen pleading guilty doesn't mean the prosecutors can prove it. Plus as I understand it, Cohen paying out of his own pocket for a Non-Disclosure Agreement with these two ladies is not illegal because the issue of the affairs didn't arise as result of a specific campaign activity.

Obama campaign violation, ie not reporting some contributions (few million dollars compared to the nearly 1 billion he raised), which could have been misplaced accidently by anyone in the Obama campaign organization. Versus Trump paying off a ex stripper/hooker to keep quiet about their affair. Then lieing about it.

I think one of these is definitely worse than the other.

so can cohen make a plea deal for a lesser sentence if he throws trump or anyone else in the administration under the bus

It depends on the information he has on them and if it's worth anything to the people who are invested.

What Lanny Davis said last night is a bombshell as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDfrZMGwQ-A

I like how you selectively forgot everything involving russia. But you live up trumps butt, sooooo im not surprised.

Repugnant republicans still blaming obama lol

What matters if Trump goes down? Republicans will still be there cutting benefits for the poor and giving tax breaks to the rich.

exactly...

and to be honest, it appears the GOP itself is likely compromised by Russians.

But in my opinion with Pence there would be a little less damage.

I doubt he would do things like Tarriffs and making Asbestos legal again

I guess the question is, what are the political consequences for having been supportive of a president who commited crimes and was the only president to be removed from office via impeachment? Do you still have the trust of the majority of Americans, does your party in general? It's something that has never been truly tested in modern times, and it very well may never be answered.

at the moment I think its tunnel vision for GOP supporters.

They dont consider the fact that life would be a lot more calm and controlled with Pence instead.

The GOP party itself however, I think is compromised by the Russians. I think this compromised thing is much deeper then just Trump or his family but I dont have strong evidence of that just a hunch

The Russian case has never been proven. In fact the special counsel should never have been appointed. They are only appointed to investigate a crime. No crime has or had been committed.

The Republicans have never cut benefits for the poor. The rich pay for everything in the US this is just class envy that the DEMS like to use to get people to think they are in their current condition because of some one else instead of taking responsibility for their own decisions and actions.

He plead guilty to crimes he didn't commit.

do you have any idea how silly that comment is?

how do you 'investigate' a 'proven crime' without investigating?

unbelievably stupid

It's all part of Q's plan. ?

@JimB: are you blind?

@Serraph105: cohen hasn't talked to Mueller yet. This is a deal with the fbi. Has nothing to do with Mueller, yet.

correct.

and regardless of Russia, the two counts to guilty he made is enough to justify impeachment given precedent set by the impeachment of Bill Clinton which was for a lesser issue

The newest from the Trump supporters is that Cohen is just making it all up. Ahahahahaha!!!

what will be coming is 'this is just normal process in a campagin'

.....really?

I think people forget that in addition to Choens statement, there already exists a huge mountain of evidence to back his claim up which the prosecutors showed to the judge

I thought he could just pardon himself :P

If you plead guilty the prosecutors don't need to prove it. They have the guilty plea.

I think you might need evidence though. regardless the prosecutors have mountains of evidence that they showed the judge in addition to Choens plea.

Not sure what they have to show vs not show but I did hear no trial will be needed

Nothing. The case isn't going to trial and they have a guilty plea. Obviously he and his lawyer were apprised of what they had but it's done.

yup. I am sure the Judge would not have accepted a random guilty plea, the evidence the prosecutors told the judge they are prepared to show is something people should not forget. this is literally as solid as any guilty plea could ever be.

How do you know a crime has been committed if you don't investigate whether or not a crime has been committed? By that logic if my house got burgled the cops shouldn't do anything about it because they don't know that a crime has been committed.

What? If the two attorney's work out a plea deal the judge is generally going to sign off on it. It's not random. Defense attorney's don't just tell clients to plead guilty if there isn't compelling evidence.

I dont think you are understanding what I am saying

1. this specific plea deal comes with a mountain of evidence that is provided by the prosecution as corroborating evidence.

2. Judge would likely want evidence (which he got mountains of) when a person submits a guilty plea

3. this is likely the strongest case that a guilty plea is based on facts as one could possible ever get. (which is a good thing)

I am saying the general public should not forget this plea comes with it...a mountain of evidence

You're not understanding the entirety of pleas.

I dont know a lot about pleas but what I am saying is that last night the transcript of the court hearing the prosecution explictly stated to the judge in that transcript of the actual hearing that they had evidence to support his testimony in the form of various things like text messages and emails.

so what am I not understanding exactly?

what I am talking about is LITERALLY IN THE TRANSCRIPT

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/22/politics/michael-cohen-transcript-plea/index.html

'

'communications between those individuals and Mr. Cohen. With respect to our evidence on Count Six, as the defendant allocuted, we would prove at trial that in connection.......' 

they illustrate that they have evidence and they show that evidence to the judge without a trial

basically if you just get up in front of a judge and make an assertion of guilt, its better to ALSO have evidence to back up your assertion.

You don't say.

I mean in an hypothetical case against Trump prosecutors would need to prove their case and Cohen pleading guilty isn't sufficient to prove their case.

You know that post makes no sense....it is a contradiction though.

@Master_Live: what are you on?

The man literally has recording on trump talking about paying the woman off and records stating the same. There is even the contract.

They have plenty to convict trump on this campaign violation.

People be all like "None of this involves Trump."

Yeah, no shit. They haven't gotten to that part, yet. Muller isn't going to present anything that involves Trump until all of itis ready. Whether Trump is exonerated or not, that'll be literally the last thing we hear about from this investigation.

When the special counsel was convened during the Clinton presidency is was for White Water where an actual crime had occurred. This special counsel is called where no crime occurred. Collusion is not crime, firing James is Comey is not a crime as it is a power that comes with the office of the president to fire director of federal agencies. If you think collusion is a crime why is Hillary Clinton not being investigated where there is clear evidence she colluded with two foreign governments to win the election. This investigation was started because of opposition research document that involved a foreign spy and the Russians that was false and never verified. Also because it was paid for by campaign funds it was supposed to be reported to the FEC which it was not and is a campaign finance violation. Since it was Hillary and the DNC it is over looked.

Even if Trump directed him to pay them off it is not a crime as it did not involve the campaign. Trump used his own money which is also not a crime. The candidate can spend as much of his personal money of corporate money of a company he owns and it is not a campaign violation. Also a plea bargain can not be used against a third party not involved in the crime who which the individual made with the authorities for a lesser sentence.