Michael Cohen Takes Center Stage in Trump's Hush Money Trial

[Yellowtail]

1 minute ago, Walker88 said:

I'll take your bet and raise you a hundred fold:

 

Trump’s bombardment of dishonesty: Fact-checking 32 of his false claims to Time | CNN Politics

That's what I thought. But but but...Trump

[Walker88]

19 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

Goodness! Effluent from the Fever Swamps!

 

Inflation: Do you think, just maybe, the $8,400,000,000,000 in new National Debt the orange blubberbutt ran up in just 4 years---equivalent to $25,000 for every man, woman person camera tv & child in the US, had a little something to do with the rise of inflation?

 

Crime: Murders have tumbled from the multi year high in 2018, when---who was POTUS then??????

 

War: Democrats started which war? Maybe they did Kellyanne's Bowling Green Massacre? Somehow I think putin and Hamas share at least SOME responsibility.

 

Anti-semitism: As in "Jews will not replace us" at Charlottesville? You know, those 'fine people'?

 

Riots: If you mean BLM, check your calendar. I believe the orange blubberbutt was POTUS. and he DEFINITELY was POTUS when his terrorist fascist goobers attacked the US Capitol.

 

International Humiliation: Please, have you ever left your trailer park? The whole world was laughing when trump played POTUS. World leaders even laughed in front of him.

 

Weaponization of Govt: Not sure what that means to rational people, but I don't think it was a coincidence that BOTH James Comey and Andrew McCabe underwent aggressive IRS audits in 2020. Oh, and the orange blubberbutt wanted to appoint Jeffrey Clark in the waning days of his embarrassing 4 years to declare fraud in the election and hold off certification of trump's landslide defeat. Oh, and even if Biden 'weaponized'---which he did not---aren't Presidents, like, totally immune?

To add to the other guy's pretzel logic, how is Biden responsible for BOTH killing Gaza civilians AND the rise of anti-Semitism? One would think that level of multi-tasking ability is exactly what the Oval Office needs.

 

By the way, trump would not only supply the M 84 2000 lb bombs to his corrupt buddy Netanyahu, but likely the more powerful 4000 and 5000 lb variants. I mean, what could help clear out Gaza faster, so as Jared said, take advantage of the real estate potential of that Gazan Mediterranean waterfront?

[Cryingdick]

Even Biden knows this isn't working out. He said before he wouldn't debate a felon and now we have dates for a debate after the trial. 

[Walker88]

Can’t tell the players without a scorecard:

 

Trump: Arrested 4 times, convicted sex offender, convicted bank fraudster, convicted insurance fraudster, convicted charity fraudster

 

Campaign Chair: Convicted Felon (Manafort)

 

Deputy Campaign Chair: Convicted Felon (Gates)

 

Personal Lawyer: Convicted Felon (Giuliani)

 

Chief Strategist: Convicted Felon (Bannon)

 

Political Advisor: Convicted Felon (Stone)

 

National Security Advisor: Convicted Felon (Flynn)

 

Trade Advisor: Convicted Felon (Navarro)

 

Foreign Policy Advisor:  Convicted Felon (Nader, convicted of child sex offenses)

 

Foreign Policy Advisor: Convicted Felon (Papadopoulos)

 

Campaign Fixer: Convicted Felon (Cohen)

 

Company CFO: Convicted Felon (Weisellberg)

 

“The Best People”

[nattaya09]

1 hour ago, Hanaguma said:

Gee, nobody seems to want to crow about Cohen's testimony today. Why is that?

 

 Cohen was devastated today by Todd Blanche.  Even the Senior legal analyst at CNN, Elie Honig, said as much.  The defense may rest after Cohen and hope the Manhattan jury of 12 Biden voters paid attention to anything beyond the defendants name. Or they may call Costello as their own witness.  

[Hanaguma]

Love how nobody on the left side of the aisle actually wants to talk about the...topic...of the discussion, instead they prefer to obfuscate and repost their talking points ad nauseum.

[jerrymahoney]

Defense argues Cohen's lack of retainer agreement was not an issue 
May 17, 2:54 AM

 

"In the whole time you worked for the Trump Organization, you never had a retainer agreement?" defense attorney Todd Blanche asked.

 

"I never had a retainer agreement," Cohen said.

 

Blanche suggested there was "nothing wrong" with Cohen never having retainer agreement -- including when Cohen submitted invoices for legal work in 2017. At that time in 2017, Cohen was working as a private lawyer for Trump, separate from the Trump Organization.

 

Prosecutors have argued that Trump falsified records when he paid Cohen for legal services pursuant to a retainer agreement in 2017.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/trump-hush-money-trial/defense-argues-cohens-lack-of-retainer-agreement-was-not-an-issue-110318678?id=110153195

Edited May 17 by jerrymahoney

[Cryingdick]

20 minutes ago, nattaya09 said:

 

 Cohen was devastated today by Todd Blanche.  Even the Senior legal analyst at CNN, Elie Honig, said as much.  The defense may rest after Cohen and hope the Manhattan jury of 12 Biden voters paid attention to anything beyond the defendants name. Or they may call Costello as their own witness.  

It is no coincidence that Biden was suddenly possessed by Clint Eastwood and claims to have thrown down the gauntlet on debating. Joe himself knows this has led to nothing. Immortan Joe is putting his armor on and everybody around him is scared.

[Tug]

17 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

Love how nobody on the left side of the aisle actually wants to talk about the...topic...of the discussion, instead they prefer to obfuscate and repost their talking points ad nauseum.

I donno haggie I suggest you look at walkers 88 posts hes far more articulate than I or you for that matter,I do find it disturbing to see all trumps todys carrying his water that’s just wrong.as far as trumps lawyers attacking cohen of course what did anyone expect and just how much money has all this lawyering cost the GOP anyway?that’s one expensive piece of you know what old Donnie got mixed up with I for one am hoping it yealds a few felony convictions as well …..either way it absolutely exposes trump for the low life cad he is …..he’s unfit for any office ditch the albatross thak the hit and return to fight another day

[Hanaguma]

23 minutes ago, Tug said:

I donno haggie I suggest you look at walkers 88 posts hes far more articulate than I or you for that matter,I do find it disturbing to see all trumps todys carrying his water that’s just wrong.as far as trumps lawyers attacking cohen of course what did anyone expect and just how much money has all this lawyering cost the GOP anyway?that’s one expensive piece of you know what old Donnie got mixed up with I for one am hoping it yealds a few felony convictions as well …..either way it absolutely exposes trump for the low life cad he is …..he’s unfit for any office ditch the albatross thak the hit and return to fight another day

I would say Walker's cut and paste game is pretty good, other than that...

 

The big puzzle to me is why this is such a big deal in the first place. We are talking about a payment of $130,000. This is miniscule. The Trump campaign raised more than $700 million in 2020. Democrats spent even more.  Total of $14 billion spent in the election cycle. So why is this particular payment so important?

[Yellowtail]

20 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

I would say Walker's cut and paste game is pretty good, other than that...

 

The big puzzle to me is why this is such a big deal in the first place. We are talking about a payment of $130,000. This is miniscule. The Trump campaign raised more than $700 million in 2020. Democrats spent even more.  Total of $14 billion spent in the election cycle. So why is this particular payment so important?

Trying to hide a hush-money payment, oh the humanity! 

[Danderman123]

1 hour ago, Hanaguma said:

Love how nobody on the left side of the aisle actually wants to talk about the...topic...of the discussion, instead they prefer to obfuscate and repost their talking points ad nauseum.

Michael Cohen has proven to be a very good witness.

[Danderman123]

26 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Trying to hide a hush-money payment, oh the humanity! 

Trying to hide an illegal campaign donation.

[Danderman123]

49 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

I would say Walker's cut and paste game is pretty good, other than that...

 

The big puzzle to me is why this is such a big deal in the first place. We are talking about a payment of $130,000. This is miniscule. The Trump campaign raised more than $700 million in 2020. Democrats spent even more.  Total of $14 billion spent in the election cycle. So why is this particular payment so important?

The cover-up.

[Rimmer]

Personal attack has been removed

[Yellowtail]

Just now, Danderman123 said:

Trying to hide an illegal campaign donation.

Oh the humanity!

 

but but but Obama Campaign Fined Big for Hiding Donors, Keeping Illegal Donations (usnews.com)

[Danderman123]

1 minute ago, Yellowtail said:

Oh the humanity!

 

but but but Obama Campaign Fined Big for Hiding Donors, Keeping Illegal Donations (usnews.com)

Obama's campaign was too slow to report contributions. As opposed to hiding them.

 

There was no political benefit to Obama in doing the paperwork slowly, it was just a case of a first time candidate's organization being overwhelmed with donations.

 

Whereas Trump tried to cover up the Stormy Daniels hush money.

[Danderman123]

35 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Source? 

You don't care about the source.

 

Here's a hint: it's all over the news.

[Yellowtail]

16 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Obama's campaign was too slow to report contributions. As opposed to hiding them.

 

There was no political benefit to Obama in doing the paperwork slowly, it was just a case of a first time candidate's organization being overwhelmed with donations.

 

Whereas Trump tried to cover up the Stormy Daniels hush money.

Your memory is failing again. 

 

Obama Campaign Fined Big for Hiding Donors, Keeping Illegal Donations. 

[Danderman123]

3 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Your memory is failing again. 

 

Obama Campaign Fined Big for Hiding Donors, Keeping Illegal Donations. 

From your article:

 

"In addition to failing to report big donors and excess donations in a timely manner, the Obama campaign incorrectly dated the filings dealing with $85 million in funds, the FEC claims. This error appears to have been primarily the result of one transfer to the campaign committee from the Obama Victory Fund, a fundraising group that includes money raised by the Democratic National Committee that is earmarked for the presidential race."

 

The staff was overwhelmed and inexperienced.

 

Do you have any links that show that Obama was personally aware and involved? Like Trump was with the hush money payment and cover-up?

[Walker88]

This isn't the trial most patriots wanted, as it is one of trump's lesser crimes....kind of like Capone's income tax evasion....but it is the only one that can't be blocked by trumpian sycophants or endless appeals. The stolen docs indictment should have been the easiest to bring to trial, as trump even admitted he took the documents, though he lied both about returning all of them, as well as claiming he 'declassified with his mind', which is a farce. No paper trail, no declassification, and there is no paper trail of any declassification.

 

The Georgia case is held up because of an office romance that in absolutely no way is relevant to the actual crime.

 

The DC case should long ago have gone to trial if not for the obviously tainted clowns on the Supreme Court, who despite ostensibly being Constitutional scholars, do not seem to have ever read the document nor the other founding documents of the United States. They are confusing the US Constitution with the Magna Carta, which grants the anachronism known as monarchs to be above the law. They also seem not to have noticed that the first 44 Presidents were not in any way hamstrung by lack of immunity; it's only the career criminal trump who is in dire need of it, or at the very least, a lengthy delay so that maybe the election can take place without the voters knowing if a sitting President tried to subvert 250 years of American democracy.

 

While defense has tried its best to chip away at Cohen's credibility, the fact the documents and tape exists is really evidence enough to show trump was intimately involved in the fraudulent scheme.  Also, attacking Stormy was meaningless because the fact of the tryst doesn't matter: it's the fraudulent accounting of the payoff that matters. Of course, it will also be pointed out that trump's crack legal team let slip that an NDA with Stormy does exist. Why would there need to be an NDA if the tryst never happened? trump's credibility takes a bigger hit with that than any cheap shot defense or trump's Gag Order Violating Proxies might have made.

 

Cohen has held up well. Even admitting taping trump on the phone isn't nice, it is not against NY State law to record someone without their knowledge. Then there's the docs, the 9 signed checks, the gross up of the repayment to cover Cohen's supposed tax liability, and Hicks' testimony that trump said he feared exposure would hurt his election chances.

 

In closing arguments (or in redirect if it happens), Prosecution will likely remind the jurors of the documentary evidence as well as other testimony from folks like Hicks and Pecker. Prosecution might also remind the jurors that Cohen is on probation, and if anything he said under oath is a lie, he would be returned to jail to complete his term plus additional time for perjury. Mob bosses are almost always convicted via the testimony of an insider, even one so flawed as a hitman for the Mafia, such as Sammy The Bull Gravano.

 

The groveling sycophants using US Taxpayer funds to go to NY, when they should be at the work for which the taxpayer pays them, are cute. Embarrassing to the USA, but cute. I wonder if another groveling sycophant---Gov DeSantis---will change Florida law if trump is convicted of a felony, as currently felons cannot vote in Florida.

[Yellowtail]

4 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

From your article:

 

"In addition to failing to report big donors and excess donations in a timely manner, the Obama campaign incorrectly dated the filings dealing with $85 million in funds, the FEC claims. This error appears to have been primarily the result of one transfer to the campaign committee from the Obama Victory Fund, a fundraising group that includes money raised by the Democratic National Committee that is earmarked for the presidential race."

 

The staff was overwhelmed and inexperienced.

 

Do you have any links that show that Obama was personally aware and involved? Like Trump was with the hush money payment and cover-up?

Yeah, in the same way that Biden was too old and feeble to be prosecuted for all his stolen classified documents. 

 

"Obama's presidential campaign has been fined $375,000 by the Federal Election Commission for violating federal disclosure laws, Politico reports.

An FEC audit of Obama for America's 2008 records found the committee failed to disclose millions of dollars in contributions and dragged its feet in refunding millions more in excess contributions.

The resulting fine, one of the largest ever handed down by the FEC, is the result of a failure to disclose or improperly disclosing thousands of contributions to Obama for America during the then-senator's 2008 presidential run, documents show."

[Yellowtail]

2 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

This isn't the trial most patriots wanted, as it is one of trump's lesser crimes....kind of like Capone's income tax evasion....but it is the only one that can't be blocked by trumpian sycophants or endless appeals. The stolen docs indictment should have been the easiest to bring to trial, as trump even admitted he took the documents, though he lied both about returning all of them, as well as claiming he 'declassified with his mind', which is a farce. No paper trail, no declassification, and there is no paper trail of any declassification.

 

The Georgia case is held up because of an office romance that in absolutely no way is relevant to the actual crime.

 

The DC case should long ago have gone to trial if not for the obviously tainted clowns on the Supreme Court, who despite ostensibly being Constitutional scholars, do not seem to have ever read the document nor the other founding documents of the United States. They are confusing the US Constitution with the Magna Carta, which grants the anachronism known as monarchs to be above the law. They also seem not to have noticed that the first 44 Presidents were not in any way hamstrung by lack of immunity; it's only the career criminal trump who is in dire need of it, or at the very least, a lengthy delay so that maybe the election can take place without the voters knowing if a sitting President tried to subvert 250 years of American democracy.

 

While defense has tried its best to chip away at Cohen's credibility, the fact the documents and tape exists is really evidence enough to show trump was intimately involved in the fraudulent scheme.  Also, attacking Stormy was meaningless because the fact of the tryst doesn't matter: it's the fraudulent accounting of the payoff that matters. Of course, it will also be pointed out that trump's crack legal team let slip that an NDA with Stormy does exist. Why would there need to be an NDA if the tryst never happened? trump's credibility takes a bigger hit with that than any cheap shot defense or trump's Gag Order Violating Proxies might have made.

 

Cohen has held up well. Even admitting taping trump on the phone isn't nice, it is not against NY State law to record someone without their knowledge. Then there's the docs, the 9 signed checks, the gross up of the repayment to cover Cohen's supposed tax liability, and Hicks' testimony that trump said he feared exposure would hurt his election chances.

 

In closing arguments (or in redirect if it happens), Prosecution will likely remind the jurors of the documentary evidence as well as other testimony from folks like Hicks and Pecker. Prosecution might also remind the jurors that Cohen is on probation, and if anything he said under oath is a lie, he would be returned to jail to complete his term plus additional time for perjury. Mob bosses are almost always convicted via the testimony of an insider, even one so flawed as a hitman for the Mafia, such as Sammy The Bull Gravano.

 

The groveling sycophants using US Taxpayer funds to go to NY, when they should be at the work for which the taxpayer pays them, are cute. Embarrassing to the USA, but cute. I wonder if another groveling sycophant---Gov DeSantis---will change Florida law if trump is convicted of a felony, as currently felons cannot vote in Florida.

Exactly. Most patriots wanted Trump to win in 2020 and they wanted Biden prosecuted for corruption. 

 

Self-serving statists love them some Biden. 

[Danderman123]

4 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Exactly. Most patriots wanted Trump to win in 2020 and they wanted Biden prosecuted for corruption. 

 

Self-serving statists love them some Biden. 

It takes a statist to want the government to jail political opponents.

[Walker88]

10 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Exactly. Most patriots wanted Trump to win in 2020 and they wanted Biden prosecuted for corruption. 

 

Self-serving statists love them some Biden. 

Reps Comer and Jordan would absolutely LOVE what evidence you have on any Biden corruption. So far they have just been banging their heads against the wall, coming up empty handed as well as empty headed.

[Yellowtail]

6 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

It takes a statist to want the government to jail political opponents.

That's why Biden wants Trump jailed. 

[Danderman123]

2 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

That's why Biden wants Trump jailed. 

If you oppose statism, why do you want the State to jail Biden?

[Walker88]

1 minute ago, Danderman123 said:

If you oppose statism, why do you want the State to jail Biden?

He's confused. It's like elections: Heads we win, tails you lose.

 

As the groveling sycophants know only too well, admitting that you will accept the results of the election even if trump loses again, gets you sent off Veepstakes Island.

[Yellowtail]

Just now, Walker88 said:

Did they engage in any violence? You have any documentary evidence of heads smashed with hammers?

 

Certainly those justices must have read the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees both Free Speech and Freedom of Assembly.

 

Fox and their guests found it funny what happened to Mr. Pelosi. Decent people did not.

 

You crack me up. Sociology major? 

 

"The residential picketing appears to run afoul of a 1950 federal law — Title 18, Section 1507, of the U.S. Code — that makes it illegal to picket or parade outside a jurist's home “with the intent of influencing any judge.” Violations are punishable by a fine and up to a year in prison."

 

Protests at Supreme Court justices’ homes: Ill-conceived? Illegal? - The Free Speech Center (mtsu.edu)

[Danderman123]

15 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

 

You crack me up. Sociology major? 

 

"The residential picketing appears to run afoul of a 1950 federal law — Title 18, Section 1507, of the U.S. Code — that makes it illegal to picket or parade outside a jurist's home “with the intent of influencing any judge.” Violations are punishable by a fine and up to a year in prison."

 

Protests at Supreme Court justices’ homes: Ill-conceived? Illegal? - The Free Speech Center (mtsu.edu)

I can't disagree.

 

Picketing a judge's home is illegal, and violators should be prosecuted.