zaphod reborn

It's actually quite a rational shift of legal strategy.  Trump knows that the Cambridge Analytica - Facebook scandal will implicate almost his entire campaign and transition team:  Manafort, Kushner, Flynn and Bannon.  Nix admitted in the covert recording that he had significant contacts directly with Trump.

Trump is now shifting to the Dream Team defense strategy made famous in the OJ Simpson murder trial (Alan Dershowitz, who Trump recently quoted, was on the Dream Team).  When the facts are against you, shift the focus to bias in the investigative team.  While this will be a successful strategy in terms of maintaining the support of his base, it won't help him in a criminal trial or impeachment trial in the Senate.  It's easy to allege that forensic evidence was mishandled, but Mueller's case will be based on witness testimony and documents.  Objective evidence put in front of the fact-finders, without any opportunity for spoliation or tampering.  On the other hand, Trump's NDA's, bullying and pathological lying all will be in evidence to show his efforts at obstruction. 

1 hour ago, Morch said:

@zaphod reborn

 

The only fake here is your misrepresentation of what I've posted. There wasn't anything said about Trump not selling arms to Saudi Arabia, or Kushner not traveling there.

 

Apparently, you don't even bother reading the links you put up:

 

 

Depending on which bit quoted, it's quite easy to spin this along partisan lines. The fact stands that US arms sales to Saudi Arabia are nothing new.

 

In fact, it appears credit should be given both to Kushner and Obama for getting the 2017 arms deal to the Saudis inked.

Quote

The Obama administration put a hold on precision-guided munitions it had agreed to sell the Saudis out of fear that they would be used to bomb civilians in Yemen. The Trump administration has freed up those weapons, which are part of the $110 billion package.  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/world/middleeast/jared-kushner-saudi-arabia-arms-deal-lockheed.html

And that's the point.  Kushner reversed an Obama decision not to sell certain high-tech weapons to the Saudis.  The Saudi government arrested and imprisoned CitiBank's largest shareholder.  Prince Al-Waleed is freed after he puts pressure on CitiBank to make a $325 million loan to Kushner, a loan which did not make good business sense, because the secured property, 666 5th Avenue, is upside-down in its lease rent revenues, as they are less than the interest payments on the loans.

Arms sales to the Saudis are matter-of-course for the US.  Kushner got a loan by reversing an Obama decision.  And that is just like Trump, who was handed an election victory in exchange for not enforcing sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs which had been ordered by Obama.

1 hour ago, keith101 said:

Is he saying this because he knows the Russians are going to help them win ? 

He did announce it after he spoke to Putin.  I'm sure that Brad Parscale has already found a go-between to replace Cambridge Analytica.  Mueller should indict Parscale and block their efforts.

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

Well, at least the commission will help Jared pay down some of his debt.

Arms shipments as a reward for arresting and imprisoning Prince Al-Waleed, CitiBank's largest shareholder, so that CitiBank would extend a $325 million loan to Jared to bail him out of his 666 5th Avenue blunder.  Bin Salmaan was duly rewarded by Trump for acting like a Russian mobster in extorting Al-Waleed.

Quote

Crown Prince Mohammed and Kushner have forged a close relationship, which has at times come under criticism in Washington for circumventing normal diplomatic channels.

7 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

But that is a custody order valid for UK and (I would presume) not in Thailand once the boy has legally entered Thailand.

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I don't understand why he would not have been given bail? ?

He needed to domesticate the UK custody order in Thailand.  There's no reciprocity treaty as Thailand is not a member of the Hague Convention (due to being on the wrong side in WW2).  He would probably need to go through a child custody court trial in Thailand.  Instead, he took a shortcut commonly known as "parental kidnapping".  There's no self-help remedy for recovering a child in a country that hasn't recognized your legal custody.  No bail for you and no sympathy from me.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Also on ABC, Senator James Lankford, a Republican, said it was not known whether the incident was connected to the Trump campaign.

Let me enlighten you:

Robert Mercer, founder of Cambridge Analytica and largest investor in Breitbart News

Brad Parscale, Trump's digital marketing manager and 2020 campaign manager

Steve Bannon, came up with idea to use Cambridge Analytica to wage a culture war in America (and the UK)

Michael Flynn, Cambridge Analytica Consultant and paid Russian-Turkish lobbyist, former national security adviser for Trump 

Jared Kushner, hired Cambridge Analytics to be Trump campaign's digital marketing firm in 2016

I'm sure that Mueller has already found more connections which will be the subject of the next set of indictments.

The smoking gun has been found.  Indicted, impeached, convicted, imprisoned.

Isn't this the way most Thais drive and overtake?  I'm not sure why this incident received any attention on social media.

This legislation is pretty meaningless.  There aren't that many landlords who own 5 or more units which they rent.  Moreover, it is easy to circumvent the law, by leasing any units in excess of this limit to family members or friends and having them be the subleasing agent to the real tenant.  Don't expect sophisticated consumer protection legislation from a bunch of unqualified army rejects.  There's absolutely no reason why they only applied this legislation to landlords with larger rental stock.

5 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

I never wrote that Trump signed a contract. Cohen signed a contract on behalf of someone with an alias. Are you seriously suggesting that Trump had nothing to do with this?  That Cohen did this unilaterally? That he paid $135000 of his own? That Trump couldn't tell Cohen to allow Daniels to renege? How credulous are you, exactly?

The NDA was another Trump scam.  He never intended to sign it.  Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, used a notary in Texas to have the agreement signed and notarized.  The notary, Erica Jackson, is now under investigation because the agreement was only stamped by the notary, not signed, which is a violation of Texas law.  Moreover, there is a side agreement attached to the NDA which disclosed the true party names in the NDA.  The notary stamped the notary seal next to where Trump was supposed to sign, but he never signed.  A notary must keep a record of all people for whom they provided notary service, which usually consists of recording their name, ID number, and having them sign their record book.  It is possible that Cohen somehow obtained the notary stamp and no one ever appeared before Ms. Jackson.

Of course, the issue is what was Trump trying to conceal with the NDA.  It is more than just the story and evidence of their affair.  The NDA suggests that Trump and Daniels were blackmailing each other.  It states that Daniels had claims for damages as a result of tortious acts committed by Trump, including invasion of privacy.  Daniels was posting things about Trump online and threatening to expose him through the media.  Trump probably sent a PI out to get dirt on Daniels, and the investigator probably engaged in illegal conduct in doing so.  Who knows, Daniels may have even gotten abortion rather than give birth to another Trump dotard, as the NDA specifically mentions paternity as confidential information.

One thing is for sure that the entertaining reality TV president continues his sleazy affairs in the White House.

38 minutes ago, KKr said:

won in arbitration like " I win but you have to take the money " or what does it mean ?

Trump didn't win.  He applied ex parte (without the other party's knowledge) to an arbitrator on an emergency basis for preliminary injunction which was granted until the arbitration case was heard.  The problem is that Trump abandoned the arbitration.  However, before Stormy moves to dismiss the arbitration, it is better to attack the contract and get a court order that there never was an agreement and that will invalidate the arbitration proceeding.