Politics And Current Events

[count2infinity]

Also... Scott Wagner. Yoi.

https://twitter.com/RCPress_Sean/status ... 0076400640

"But are we here to elect a governor or elect a scientist?" The two are not mutually exclusive...
Then shifts the discussion to infrastructure ""Now do you want to talk about that? Or do you want to talk about climate change?" The two are not mutually exclusive.

Dude thinks global warming is happening because: the earth is moving closer to the sun and human body heat. C'mon, man....

[Ad@m]

Wtf!!! President Trutin

[Viva la Ben]

Michael Cohen Secretly Taped Trump Discussing Payment to Playboy Model
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/us/p ... &smtyp=cur

[PFiDC]

Is that illegal, paying the woman?

[Morkle]

Michael Cohen Secretly Taped Trump Discussing Payment to Playboy Model
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/us/p ... &smtyp=cur

I love that this dummy recorded conversations even if this one doesn't "confirm" that a payment was made. They could probably tie the assumed sum back to Cohen.

[tifosi77]

It would not be illegal if Trump paid her directly out of his own pocket. But if you start adding things like intermediaries and whatnot, then you get into the whole 'in-kind campaign contribution' thing, which would possibly make it illegal. The only way it becomes a remotely big deal is if it can be shown that a large number of the payoffs were made in the weeks prior to the election: In Stormy Daniels' case, the affair happened like a decade prior to the payoff, so there's a pretty clear connection to the payoff being linked to the campaign. And if multiple other similar payments can be identified, it would demonstrate a pattern and further that narrative.

On the list of Things Trump Has Done That Should Rile The Consciousness, this is probably like 4,376th down the list. Then again, Al Capone went to jail for tax evasion.

But if the existence of this recording is true, we're in for a bumpy ride. Because it is surely not the only one. And, for whatever reason, the only people Trump does not publicly lambaste at the merest hint of them being a nuisance are Putin, and the ladies he has paid to not talk about having sex with him.

[tifosi77]

It should be noted as a reminder that this is very similar to the fact pattern surrounding the John Edwards criminal prosecution in 2011. He was charged with six different counts of campaign finance violations, resulting in one acquittal and five mistrals, which the US Attorney in North Carolina declined to retry.

[NailedPenguin]

Any know how those kids in cages are doing?

[Viva la Ben]

Trump has categorically denied knowledge of who Karen McDougal was. Karen McDougal says she had a year long affair with Trump shortly after Melania gave birth to Barron.

[Morkle]

It would not be illegal if Trump paid her directly out of his own pocket. But if you start adding things like intermediaries and whatnot, then you get into the whole 'in-kind campaign contribution' thing, which would possibly make it illegal. The only way it becomes a remotely big deal is if it can be shown that a large number of the payoffs were made in the weeks prior to the election: In Stormy Daniels' case, the affair happened like a decade prior to the payoff, so there's a pretty clear connection to the payoff being linked to the campaign. And if multiple other similar payments can be identified, it would demonstrate a pattern and further that narrative.

On the list of Things Trump Has Done That Should Rile The Consciousness, this is probably like 4,376th down the list. Then again, Al Capone went to jail for tax evasion.

But if the existence of this recording is true, we're in for a bumpy ride. Because it is surely not the only one. And, for whatever reason, the only people Trump does not publicly lambaste at the merest hint of them being a nuisance are Putin, and the ladies he has paid to not talk about having sex with him.

That's really my thought on this. Cohen taped conversations, and the only way I can figure is so he had material himself he could use against people had they gone awry. Everything about that screams mob protection to me, imo.

[Morkle]

Any know how those kids in cages are doing?

Well they've been failing to re-connect them with their parents and have missed the deadlines. It's still a huge deal whether it's being talked about or not.

There were even reports of these kids having to drink out of the toilet due to poor feeding by the guards.

[tifosi77]

Any know how those kids in cages are doing?

DHS secretary hedges on July 26 deadline to reunite migrant families 07/19/2018 02:01 PM EDT

The government faces the July 26 deadline to reunify approximately 2,500 children ages 5 to 17 with their parents.

[Troy Loney]

I think the macdougal payoff becomes bad because of Keith Davidson’s role. Seems like his role as fake defending the interests of those women is problematic

[Morkle]

Any know how those kids in cages are doing?

DHS secretary hedges on July 26 deadline to reunite migrant families 07/19/2018 02:01 PM EDT

The government faces the July 26 deadline to reunify approximately 2,500 children ages 5 to 17 with their parents.

Only something like 300 has been reunited. They are way behind schedule.

[Viva la Ben]

Rudy says there are more tapes.

[Morkle]

If anything, there were rumors about Melania wanting to leave if she found out that Trumpy paid people off while they were together. I'd be curious how much he'd have to pay her off to not file for divorce and reveal his financial information.

[tifosi77]

Rudy says there are more tapes.

He is also making the bizarre claim that the McDougal tape is exculpatory. I say bizarre, because it is only the involvement of a third party in the transaction that puts it withing the scope of a potential campaign finance violation. My understanding is that there is no limit to the amount of money a candidate can contribute to their own campaign, so failure to disclose the payment in the context of proximity to the election would only be a reporting violation.

[tifosi77]

Cohen taped conversations, and the only way I can figure is so he had material himself he could use against people had they gone awry. Everything about that screams mob protection to me, imo.

That's the rub imo.

Michael Cohen was not a very good lawyer, that much has been made clear in the revelations of the past 18 months. But he presumably was lawyer enough to recognize that much/most/nearly all of what he was doing in his capacity as Trump's 'attorney' was outside the scope of attorney-client privilege. (My interactions with clients would be covered by the privilege of the attorney supervising me, but even I know when I'm discussing matters that fall outside the scope of that protection.) If he had the operational savvy to recognize he wasn't really acting as an attorney, and therefore felt the need to record audio of his interactions with his only real client, that points to a nefarious baseline of the underlying conduct at the heart of those discussions.

[tifosi77]

The number of Ohio State students that have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse has topped 100.

[Shyster]

I respectfully disagree. I don't believe that any lawyer is going to just assume that anything discussed with a client is or will be outside the scope of the attorney-client privilege. Even if for the sake of argument the crime-fraud exception might apply to communications, it is the burden of the party seeking to pierce the attorney-client privilege to show that exception applies. In New York, where the communications in question probably took place, the party seeking to pierce the privilege must "demonstrate that there is a factual basis for a showing of probable cause to believe that a fraud or crime has been committed and that the communications in question were in furtherance of the fraud or crime." Unless and until someone makes that showing, or otherwise meets the burden of proof for some other exception to the privilege, I'm not saying anything. I have a professional obligation to protect my client's confidences unless and until a court forces me to talk.

[Shyster]

This story about the thefts of rare books and papers Carnegie Library is gonzo. It doesn't look like either of the perps really made much if any effort to actually hide what they were doing.

A librarian, a shopkeeper and an $8M rare book heist
https://triblive.com/local/allegheny/13 ... book-heist?

[tifosi77]

I respectfully disagree. I don't believe that any lawyer is going to just assume that anything discussed with a client is or will be outside the scope of the attorney-client privilege. Even if for the sake of argument the crime-fraud exception might apply to communications, it is the burden of the party seeking to pierce the attorney-client privilege to show that exception applies. In New York, where the communications in question probably took place, the party seeking to pierce the privilege must "demonstrate that there is a factual basis for a showing of probable cause to believe that a fraud or crime has been committed and that the communications in question were in furtherance of the fraud or crime." Unless and until someone makes that showing, or otherwise meets the burden of proof for some other exception to the privilege, I'm not saying anything. I have a professional obligation to protect my client's confidences unless and until a court forces me to talk.

We're not talking about 'assumptions' here. The only reason I can figure he was recording conversations was because he knew what was what, and that he was engaged in activity on behalf of his boss/client that was unethical at best and criminal at worst. You only need a safety net if a he-said-he-said situation arises. And the only way a recording can even be used as a safety net is if it's not privileged. If it's privileged, it's useless to Cohen in any court proceeding.

As to making the showing that a communication is not privileged, that's already done and dusted in this instance, and the recording in question is in the hands of investigators.

[tifosi77]

Whoa......... Apparently this recording was deemed privileged by the Special Master. Opens the door to the leakers being Trump’s legal team.

[Shyster]

The last time I paid attention, a special master had been retained by the court in order to review the evidence that was seized from Cohen's offices. I see the reports out there that the tape exists, but I don't see anything expressly saying that it's been designated as non-privileged. Just because the FBI has it doesn't necessarily mean they can use it.

[Shyster]

Oh, just saw the follow up. I find it more likely that it's an FBI leaker.