DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty to Lying to Congress About Trump Real Estate Project in Russia

Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty to Lying to Congress About Trump Real Estate Project in Russia: AP


Published 14 minutes ago | Updated 1 minute ago: AP

President Donald Trump hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing, but federal prosecutors have said that a grand jury probe is ongoing

Ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen is pleading guilty to lying to Congress about the president's real estate project in Russia, The Associated Press reports.

In a surprise plea in Manhattan federal court Thursday, Cohen admitted to making false statements in 2017 to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

The new plea comes just two weeks before the 52-year-old attorney is scheduled to be sentenced for breaking campaign finance laws in connection with the hush-money scheme. In August, Cohen admitted to coordinating with Donald Trump to silence a porn actress and an ex-Playboy model who say they had affairs with the president. That case, which included tax and bank offenses, was brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

The latest development comes as Trump continues to face criticism for refusing to rule out a pardon for former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Special counsel Robert Mueller claimed Manafort breached his plea deal by repeatedly lying to investigators. Manafort has denied that he lied.

Trump's remarks are the latest sign of his disdain for the Russia investigation, which has dogged him for two years and ensnared members of his inner circle. In recent weeks, the president, armed with inside information provided to his lawyers by Manafort's legal team, has sharpened his attacks, seizing on what he claims are dirty tactics employed by the special counsel and accusing investigators of pressuring witnesses to lie.

On Thursday, Trump likened the Russia probe to Sen. Joe McCarthy's pursuit of communists in the 1950s. "When will this illegal Joseph McCarthy style Witch Hunt, one that has shattered so many innocent lives, ever end-or will it just go on forever?" he tweeted.

Trump hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing, but federal prosecutors have said that a grand jury probe is ongoing and it targets unspecified "others." Court papers show Trump's conduct and that of top executives at the Trump Organization, some of whom have received immunity, have been scrutinized.


It's unclear what additional charges prosecutors are pursuing and how much of it pertains to the president personally. Federal prosecutors have said in court papers that the case involves numerous "uncharged" third parties and have argued against disclosing search warrants and other documents that would "certainly result in a very public guessing game" about their identities.

link

Has Mueller any witnesses against Trump who haven't been charged or convicted of lying?

If I am ever accused of a crime I would be happy if everyone who was to testify against me was convicted of lying.

No cause they all serial liars.

They are to stupid to know that they are lying to people that already have the answers.

Lock them up!

This ain't the Perry Mason television show.
Call when you have some facts please.

You gave mac your phone number!!??

In case he ever finds some facts, sure.

Then he must be burning up your phone!

President Donald Trump abruptly cancels Vladimir Putin meeting at G-20 summit, hours after Michael Cohen guilty plea


John Fritze and Deirdre Shesgreen, USA TODAY Published 10:52 a.m. ET Nov. 29, 2018 | Updated 2:47 p.m. ET Nov. 29, 2018

BUENOS AIRES – President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled a high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a stunning decision that he described as a response to Russia’s seizing of three Ukrainian ships over the weekend.

But the move also came just hours after his longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower development in Moscow. Trump has repeatedly denied having business interests in Russia.

"Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting in Argentina with President Vladimir Putin," Trump tweeted from Air Force One as he flew from Washington to the two-day G-20 summit in Argentina.

"I look forward to a meaningful Summit again as soon as this situation is resolved!"

Though Trump hinted earlier in the week he might cancel the face-to-face with Putin, he was widely expected to go through with it. About 48 minutes before the tweet, Trump told reporters that he would "probably" meet Putin and said he believed it was "a good time to have the meeting." The president also said he intended to review more information about the incident on the flight.


Trump and Putin will now circle each other at the G-20 summit, where the president is expected to focus largely on trade. Just as during their brief encounter in Paris earlier this month, where Putin offered a thumbs-up to Trump that received global attention, any small exchange between the two leaders will likely be closely parsed for meaning.

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, knocked Trump for canceling.

“I would have liked him to meet Putin and challenge Putin, to find his spine as it relates to Putin’s violation of the international order,” Menendez told CNN. “This was (Trump’s) opportunity to redeem himself … and instead he's abdicating it."

But Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it was fine in his view for Trump to cancel the meeting.

“I do think we need to strongly support Ukraine,” Corker told reporters on Thursday. Corker noted that the Trump administration has provided defensive weapons to Ukraine, something the Obama administration resisted.

“Taking a strong stance now against what Putin is doing, I strongly support that and appreciate it,” he said.

The Kremlin, which had insisted for days that the meeting was still on, indicated Russian officials did not receive confirmation of the cancellation through official channels. A Kremlin spokesperson told a Russian state media outlet that if the meeting was off, Putin would have several hours freed up for other important meetings.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting....

43.4K
11:34 AM - Nov 29, 2018
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White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters traveling with the president that Russia was made aware of Trump’s decision through “some back and forth,” but she said the president did not speak with Putin about it.

Sanders said Trump made the decision on the flight after conferring with chief of staff Kelly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton.

The long-awaited meeting between Trump and Putin was already the subject of intense scrutiny on Capitol Hill, including from fellow Republicans still reeling from Trump's much-criticized performance with the Russian leader in Helsinki this summer. That tension increased amid the diplomatic crisis unfolding after Russia fired on and then seized three Ukrainian ships over the weekend in the Sea of Azov.

"It's just about standing up for what we believe in because I think when you don’t stand up to Russia, or other countries that would take that kind of aggressive activity, they take from it that it’s somehow acceptable,” Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told USA TODAY.

Russia is holding two dozen Ukrainian sailors involved in the skirmish. Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has said his country is under threat of "full-scale war" with Russia.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
· 3h
Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting....


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
....in Argentina with President Vladimir Putin. I look forward to a meaningful Summit again as soon as this situation is resolved!

31.6K
11:34 AM - Nov 29, 2018
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Even before the uncertainty over the meeting, Republican lawmakers were pressing Trump to take a tougher posture with Putin, framing a meeting as an opportunity for a do-over of the heavily criticized appearance at NATO back in July.

At the time Trump, said he believed both sides were to blame for tense U.S.-Russian relations, and he described Putin’s denial that Moscow tried to influence the election as “extremely strong and powerful.” He later walked back part of those remarks, saying he didn’t see any reason why it "wouldn't" be Russia that interfered in the election.

Cohen's plea with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, added another twist to what would have been a tricky meeting, in part because it gives an impression that Trump sought help from Moscow.

Trump is set to arrive at the G-20 late Thursday.

The president, who revels in bringing a level of bombast to foreign diplomacy, has frequently made major news on his flights to international meetings like the G-20. Before meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May in July, he used an interview with a London newspaper to criticize her plan to withdraw from the European Union.

Canceling a high-profile meeting with a world leader is also part of Trump’s playbook. He bagged a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in May and then, weeks later, agreed to meet with him.
link

Some good reads

https://www.justsecurity.org/61671/major-takeaways-michael-cohen-plea-trump-moscow-project/


4 Key takeaways from Cohen's Plea Deal

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...m=.a70e65c6d31a



Feds today raid Chicago Office of attorney who handled Trump Org taxes for 12 years
https://www.alternet.org/federal-investi...-taxes-12-years


Deutche Bank Frankfurt HQ raided today-Panama Papers

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articl...rump-s-troubles

It certainly seems as though the snowball is rolling downhill and gaining momentum.

I'd say these are significant developments. Can't wait for all the pieces to be put together and made available to the public.

Also, according to 4 people including the one who wrote the deal for the proposal-Trump Org was going to throw in a 50 million dollar penthouse to Putin in Trump Tower Moscow as part of the deal.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ant...mp;ref=hpsplash

In two major developments this week, President Donald Trump has been labeled in the parlance of criminal investigations as a major subject of interest, complete with an opaque legal code name: "Individual 1."

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Trump-Individual-1-is-newly-cast-as-center-of-13432906.php

Got news for you.

Mueller was hired to investigate possible collusion by individual 1 from the beginning.

Read some of the articles. They are nice reads.

I know what Mueller was hired to do. And he got 33 other as a bonus and still counting.

Draining the swamp, one at a time

So far, no Trump associates have been specifically charged with any crimes relating to helping Russia interfere with the 2016 election.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/20/17031772/mueller-indictments-grand-jury

So far...

That's because the investigation is ongoing.... You do realize that the little fish flip and then they go after the big fish .... No-one is getting prosecuted for the big crime until they can't go any further up the chain.... No-one knows where it's gonna stop yet, except maybe Mueller

Kinda like voting if they can string it out long enough they can mysteriously come up with a way to make it work in their favor. Communism at it's finest.

j/c:

'Mueller has tortured enough minnows and made enough noise but if he hasn’t got the goods to nail Trump the whale by now he should shut up shop and go home'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...-shop-home.html

You do realize that over 2 years ago you and others accused our President of Colluding with the Russians to fix the election in his favor.

Serious charge.
Possible Treason.
I was concerned.

So what do we have today? You lied and Mueller is still looking for a crime to fit the charges.

Very much like Stalin's Justice System back in the day.

Lol, y’all really trying this morning. Go down with the ship if you want to.

The question is, what does any of this have to do with the charges of collusion. Isn't that what this was about, or am I wrong on that?

More fake news - I have never accused Trump of that. I've never called for him to be removed from office or impeached.

I've said let the investigation run it's course. I've highlighted all the dubious and highly questionable and unethical things Trump has done throughout the investigation that raise red flags for anyone with a brain that is engaged.... not the least of which is the smear campaign against a Mueller who is a distinguished and universally respected individual (and a Republican) .... not the least of which is continual commentary (aimed at undermining) on an investigation that many many high ranking Republicans and ex-Trump team members have stated on the record as being valid.

Also - to be factual - the Mueller investigation started May 2017.... we are a full 7 months short of the "2 years" that POTUS and his stooges are starting to spout as being the length of time the investigation has been going on.... You might have the attention span of a gnat and have a knee jerk reaction to everything ... but investigations take time. Yes - the Trump Stooge spin on that is that "Mueller needs time to find a crime to fit the charges" ... the reality is Mueller needs time to follow the money and get to the truth. A truth that I have no doubt you will deny and parrot whatever Trump wants you to say.

It was said at the beginning of the investigation:

1. Follow the money.
2. Mueller had free reign to pursue and investigate any and all wrong doing that came to light during his investigation into the Russian meddling of the election.

At one time it was claimed there was no meddling.
Then it was claimed the meddling could have been anyone.
Then it was claimed that no-one was being prosecuted.
Then it was claimed that not many were being prosecuted.
Then it was claimed no-one close to Trump was being prosecuted.
Then it was claimed that those close to Trump who were prosecuted were liars when then flipped.

You see any sort of pattern yet?

But we should investigate Hillary's emails and Benghazi some more... lmao

2 years is nothing in terms of an investigation this serious. But you should throw as much shade as you can on Mueller because there is fragile masculinity at stake. lol

The financial ties and Wikileaks aspect is gonna be huge.

Right now, the best defense team trump has is “I didn’t know about it”.

Trump has a defense agreement with manafort and Corsi. Now manafort plea agreement got yanked for lying about multiple things.

The funniest part of this is the fact that trump supporters are acting like mueller is only relying on testimony in his investigation. One would’ve thought that the manafort trial should have educated the trump supporter that mueller is corroborating everything with PAPER trails. Mueller would never be stupid enough to rely on testimony from proven liars. He has actual evidence to support what he does.

The Michael Cohen Show

If you believe the heavy media breathing, Mr. Trump is now, or once again, a goner. At last here is a clear 2016 link between candidate Trump and Russia. Cohen must know more, and it’s only a matter of time before we learn that Mr. Trump was conspiring with Vladimir Putin in return for who knows what.

The reality: Who knows? The Steele dossier was supposed to be the smoking gun, but that turned out to be a fraud. Then the famous 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russian functionaries was supposed to be proof of collusion, but nothing more has come of that.

On its face, the Cohen court filing is hardly a crime or impeachable evidence. The filing says Cohen explored a hotel deal in Moscow for about six months in 2016, and that Russians with ties to the Kremlin wanted to get Mr. Trump to visit Russia and meet Mr. Putin.

But the deal fell through for reasons that aren’t explained, and Mr. Trump never made the trip. On Thursday President Trump called Cohen a “liar,” which is demonstrably true. Mr. Trump also said there was “nothing wrong” in considering a private business deal when he wasn’t President, which is true in a criminal sense though it was dumb for a presidential candidate.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-michael-cohen-show-1543534091

Once again, out of hateful desperation, you and others chase after the Fake News hounds of the Liberal Media.

Ahh, another opinion article that leaves out key aspects of the investigation.

In other words, basic Fox News taking points. Move along, nothing to see here.

40 - You didn't answer a damn thing. You changed the subject.

Nice try but luckily there are people paying attention.

This is why Trump tried to warn us that the Main Stream Media is the enemy of the people. If you follow it and believe it, you end up looking emotional and stupid.

The Steele dossier was supposed to be the smoking gun, but that turned out to be a fraud. Then the famous 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russian functionaries was supposed to be proof of collusion, but nothing more has come of that.

On its face, the Cohen court filing is hardly a crime or impeachable evidence.

Fox News is the epitome of mainstream media though.

So trump is correct. Fox News is the enemy. A WSJ opinion article isn’t exactly helping you out, either.

Trying to nail Trump to a whale will cause Greenpeace to get involved. Then things would really get ugly!

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articl...k-into-the-open

A Clear Link Between Trump and Russia Is Now Out in the Open
A new Mueller court filing describes how Michael Cohen negotiated with the Kremlin about a Moscow business deal during the 2016 campaign.

By Noah Feldman
November 29, 2018, 12:30 PM EST

He lied. Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of law at Harvard University and was a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter. His books include “The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President.”
Read more opinion
Follow @NoahRFeldman on Twitter

The key revelation of Michael Cohen’s new guilty plea is this: Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller is one step closer to showing links between Donald Trump’s business interests in Russia and his conduct as a candidate for president.

The criminal information filed by Mueller’s prosecutors in the Southern District of New York states that in a period that lasted until the middle of June 2016, Cohen asked the press secretary to Russian President Vladimir Putin for a meeting with Putin in Russia as part of a deal that would have led to a Trump Tower being built in Moscow.





And according to the document, Cohen spoke to Trump about the deal more than three times during that period, and asked both Trump and other senior campaign officials about a Trump trip to Russia in connection with the deal.

Cohen is pleading guilty to lying to Congress by saying these negotiations had ended by January 2016 and by denying that he spoke to Trump about them.

The details that emerge in the document are fascinating and rich.

But the main takeaway is that Cohen and others in the Trump organization were actively doing a Russia deal that linked Trump’s emerging presidential candidacy with his business interest in a Moscow Trump Tower. And Trump knew about it, to a degree yet to be revealed.

Until now, many have speculated that there must be some link between Trump’s business interests in Russia and his campaign conduct. The Cohen plea provides more concrete evidence of such a link.

Now for the specifics.

The story told by the criminal information runs like this:

Starting in September 2015, the Trump Organization was pursuing a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen was working on making the deal happen.

In mid-January of 2016, someone described as “a U.S. citizen third-party intermediary” and identified only as “Individual 2” suggested to Cohen that he contact Putin’s press secretary for “approvals” from the Russian government.

Cohen emailed Putin’s press secretary twice, on Jan. 14 and Jan. 16, 2016.

On Jan. 20, Cohen got a call from the press secretary’s assistant. They spoke for 20 minutes, and Cohen described the deal.

The next day, Jan. 21, Individual 2 wrote to Cohen that he should call them about Putin, because “they called today.”

That began a period of negotiations lasting six months. Apparently, the Russians’ goal was to get Trump to visit Russia and meet Putin. Cohen asked Trump and other campaign officials about Trump traveling to Russia for the meeting. Cohen would go to Russia ahead of time to negotiate the details.

In May, things heated up. Individual 2 emailed Cohen explaining the state of play. “I had a chat with Moscow,” he wrote. “ASSUMING the trip does happen the question is before or after the convention … Obviously the pre-meeting trip (you only) can happen anytime you want but the 2 big guys where [sic] the question. I said I would confirm and revert.”

This email makes clear that there was a close connection between Trump’s status as a candidate and the visit.

Cohen wrote back about “My trip before Cleveland” — where the Republican national convention would be held starting on July 18. Trump would travel to Russia “once he becomes the nominee after the convention.”

Individual 2 then told Cohen that Putin’s press secretary “would like to invite you as his guest to the St. Petersburg Forum which is Russia’s Davos it’s June 16-19. He wants to meet there with you and possibly introduce you” to Putin or the Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev.

Over the next month, Individual 2 sent Cohen the paperwork for a visa, which Cohen seems to have filled out.

The trip looked like it was a go to Cohen, but it was called off around June 14, 2016, when Cohen met Individual 2 at Trump Tower to tell him it wasn’t happening. According to Cohen, the real estate deal was also off at that point.

The document doesn’t say how or why Cohen’s trip was canceled. The most logical possibility is surely that Trump’s campaign advisers told him that he couldn’t go to Moscow after becoming the Republican nominee.

So what does it all mean?

Trump and his supporters will no doubt insist that Cohen and Individual 2 were freelancing, not really representing Trump or the campaign. But the fact that Cohen kept Trump in the loop by asking him about possible travel to Russia strongly suggests that Trump knew that the negotiations over the Moscow Trump Tower were continuing during this period.

Trump supporters might add that it isn’t surprising to discover that Trump didn’t stop his business negotiations with Russia just because he was running for president. Yet it remains significant that those negotiations were happening with Putin’s office directly, not just with real estate developers in Moscow.

Trump supporters can also point out that the deal was canceled. Nevertheless, it seems likely that the deal was killed not because Trump realized it was wrong but because outside advisers told him it would look bad.

Cohen’s latest revelations on their own don’t constitute evidence of a crime or impeachable offense by Trump. However, they do show that Trump was part of a negotiation that linked his status as a candidate to his business interests in Russia. They bring Mueller’s team an important step closer to explaining Trump’s Russia ties during the campaign

You are changing the subject and making things up once again. Get a clue - pu-lease.

Steele dossier was nothing more than a distraction that Trump tied to claim (through his puppet Nunes) was the wrongful basis for wiretapping Carter Page .... That was incorrect. And it was also telling ... the attack on the Carter Page situation wasn't that everyone was innocent of anything - the attack on the Carter Page issue was to try to get any evidence that was established as a basis of the wiretapping would be excluded.

Hey nice try - your 0-2 so far today.