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A legal Question
me | 8/24/2018 | me

Posted on 08/24/2018 4:10:24 PM PDT by Ben Mugged

OK I have a question for our legal eagles. If Trump paying off women using his own money is not illegal, then no crime has been committed. How then can Paul Manafort plead guilty to something that was not illegal?


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: cohen; manafort; mixedup; mueller; trump; vanity
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To: entropy12
What if the candidate pays the hush money from a business account and books the payments as a business expense and deducts it from his state and federal taxes? That is probably a state and federal tax violation, compounded by false entries in his accounts. Now add in a business employee witness who testifies under a plea deal that the candidate and his sons ordered the false entries and false tax return. Before you know it, there are enough charges to ruin the candidate and put him and his sons into federal prison for a long stretch.

Then there are Trump's loans and litigation. Flyspeck those and old business and legal issues can be resurrected and made the basis for fraud, false statement, and conspiracy charges. Eventually, even a tough as nails billionaire President may wonder if resignation in return for full pardon and immunity makes more sense than watching friends, employees, and business allies get flipped and family members charged in order to get him out of office.

21 posted on 08/24/2018 6:27:47 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: Freee-dame

This is hard to follow, you need a line-up card, a complete program and the press guide in order to figure out Who’s on First and What’s on Third. The ignorance of the press doesn’t help either.


22 posted on 08/24/2018 6:37:21 PM PDT by centurion316 (Back from exile from 4/2016 until 4/2018.)
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To: Ben Mugged

They’ll plead guilty to anything the prosecutor can dream up because they’re threatened with destruction of their own and their family’s lives if they don’t go along - as the judge in the Manafort case said, they get them to not only sing, but to compose too - or as someone else said long, long ago, an unscrupulous prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich.......


23 posted on 08/24/2018 6:43:32 PM PDT by Intolerant in NJ
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To: Rockingham

Can you name me 3 current Trump supporters who would switch to a democrat in 2020 (or just stay home on election day) because the special counsel is spending tax payer funds to investigate Trump’s past financial records? I mean 3 others besides yourself?

Trump has been under tax audit every year! Have you seen any convictions? IRS obviously has checked all his tax returns thoroughly.


24 posted on 08/24/2018 6:49:56 PM PDT by entropy12 (Trump/Pence 2020)
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To: Ben Mugged
OK I have a question for our legal eagles. If Trump paying off women using his own money is not illegal, then no crime has been committed. How then can Paul Manafort plead guilty to something that was not illegal?

Well, first of all, it was Cohen, not Manafort.

Second, please see my essay on this topic.

25 posted on 08/24/2018 6:52:55 PM PDT by Lazamataz (On future maps, I suggest we remove the word "California" and substitute "Open-Air Asylum".)
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To: Rockingham
What if the candidate pays the hush money from a business account and books the payments as a business expense and deducts it from his state and federal taxes?

Do you have certain information that proves your (rather reckless) implication?

26 posted on 08/24/2018 6:55:19 PM PDT by Lazamataz (On future maps, I suggest we remove the word "California" and substitute "Open-Air Asylum".)
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To: Syntyr

Lanny is not an idiot - he is sleazy and evil.

He is a Hillary sycophant. (Look up an e-mail he sent to Hillary - his nose is so far up her butt as he is kissing her backside....). He would do ANYTHING to protect Hillary and her reputation, including convincing his ‘client’ to plead guilty to a non-crime...and Lanny and the prosecutor agree to a sleazy set of non-crimes that Cohen will plead guilty to - but the ramifications for the pleas are trivial, in fact - by pleading guilty to non-crimes, they promise to go easy on him for the real crimes.

The goal - smear Trump and create a reason to investigate further.

If we had an HONEST Atty General (Sessions...resign so we can get one...) - the AG would order an IMMEDIATE investigation into charges 7 & 8 - and determine if the prosecution ‘fabricated’ a crime where none exists. IF found to be a non-crime - then the DoJ would notify the court that charges 7 & 8 would be rescinded and would ask the court to vacate those two pleas - and the prosecutor would be fired for his ‘fabrication’ (which is an end-around for honest justice)...and would refer Lanny Davis to an ethics board for determining if Davis’s actions merited disbarment. But - that would be in a world that sought truth and justice.


27 posted on 08/24/2018 7:01:35 PM PDT by Vineyard
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To: entropy12

I do not support or endorse the scenario that I outlined. I offer it as my estimate as to what Mueller and his wrecking crew seem to have in mind.


28 posted on 08/24/2018 7:18:53 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: Lazamataz

I think it is what Mueller has in mind. He has assembled a murderers’ row lineup of prosecutors and intends to give them every chance possible to make a case against Trump. I despise Mueller but I do not underestimate his potential to do grave harm to Trump and the fabric of our legal system.


29 posted on 08/24/2018 7:25:35 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: Rockingham

If you see my essay on this topic, posted one post above the one you responded to, you will understand why this cannot fly.


30 posted on 08/24/2018 7:27:19 PM PDT by Lazamataz (On future maps, I suggest we remove the word "California" and substitute "Open-Air Asylum".)
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To: Lazamataz

What, then, do you see as Mueller’s strategy and endgame? As unsound as the campaign finance violation charge is, Mueller is no fool and no doubt intends to use it to work toward a multiplicity of other charges and claims.


31 posted on 08/24/2018 7:39:16 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: entropy12

Agreed. Trump wouldn’t jeopardize
his empire by faulty filing of his
personal and corporate taxes.
Mueller’s slimy tentacles will
probe every page though. He is
probably thinking that Trump has
something to hide since he (Trump)
has refused to release them.


32 posted on 08/24/2018 7:58:46 PM PDT by Lean-Right (Eat More Moose)
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To: Ben Mugged

You mean Michael Cohen.

He did it because his Clintonista”lawyer” threw him under the bus for the benefit of the Klintoons and the Dhimmicrap Party.


33 posted on 08/24/2018 8:04:44 PM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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To: Ben Mugged

If the judge allows it, you can plead guilty to anything.


34 posted on 08/24/2018 8:28:14 PM PDT by Revolutionary ("Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!")
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To: Syntyr

I disagree that Davis is a bad attorney, and I think he was an inspired choice of counsel for Cohen. Here’s why. As soon as Mueller started looking into his business affairs, Cohen knew that he and his wife were toast. What he does then is very clever. First he abandons all loyalty to Trump. Then Cohen correctly assumes that Mueller is more than sympathetic with the Clintons and the Democrats, so he hires Hillary’s counsel, Davis. Who better to represent and cut a deal for you than an attorney who is sympatico with your prosecutor. I also would not be surprised to hear that Davis even volunteered for no fee. Now all that Davis and Mueller need to do is work together to harm Trump as much as they can. Cohen’s wife is let off the hook and he gets a very light sentence. But one thing Cohen must do for Muller (and Davis) is to plead to a non-crime that will implicate Trump. It is really a good deal for Cohen.


35 posted on 08/24/2018 8:41:46 PM PDT by PUGACHEV
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To: Ben Mugged

Cohen pled guilty to a non-crime that he labeled a crime to try to save his sorry ass because he’s been so dirty for so long that he will watch Manafort being wheeled out in a casket before his term is up...Cohen is the ‘composer” they have been searching for - one so vile he’ll say anything they want, and even kill a few kids if need be, to try to save himself.


36 posted on 08/25/2018 4:02:19 AM PDT by trebb (So many "experts" with so little experience in what they preach....even here...)
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To: Lean-Right

Based on preparing my own tax returns since 1962, my thinking is the reason Trump does not want to make his tax returns public is for following reasons:

1. 1000 times more complex compared to any president who released them before. Media will dissect every little item and print it in a bad light for Trump.

That will mean Trump will have to spend all his time responding to every little attack.

2. Trump has probably used the tax code to his advantage in taking deductions. All legal but might look bad to the uneducated voters.

At the end of day, I am certain Obama’s IRS did a thorough audit of Trump’s tax returns and found nothing criminal.


37 posted on 08/25/2018 8:25:01 AM PDT by entropy12 (Trump/Pence 2020)
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