Witch Hunt
Posted on 08/23/2018 2:10:01 PM PDT by TBP
A few things are clear. A candidate is free to contribute to his or her own campaign. It also is not criminal for a candidate to pay hush money to women whose disclosures might endanger his campaign. So if candidate Trump paid hush money to his two accusers, there would be no violation of any campaign or other laws. To be sure, if he did so for the purpose of helping his campaign — as distinguished from helping his marriage — his campaign would have to disclose any such contribution, and failure to do so might be a violation of a campaign law, but the payments themselves would be entirely lawful.
If, on the other hand, Michael Cohen made the payments by himself, without direction from the president, that would constitute an impermissible campaign contribution from a third party. But if Cohen was merely acting as Trump’s lawyer and advancing Trump’s payments, with an expectation of repayment, then it would be hard to find a campaign finance crime other than failure to report by the campaign.
Failure to report all campaign contributions is fairly common in political campaigns. Moreover, the offense is committed not by the candidate but, rather, by the campaign and is generally subject to a fine. Though it is wrong, it certainly is not the kind of high crime and misdemeanor that could serve as the basis for a constitutionally authorized impeachment and removal of a duly elected president.
Moreover, prosecutors should be reluctant to rely on the uncorroborated word of a guilty defendant who pleaded guilty to lying and defrauding. Thomas Jefferson once observed that a criminal statute, to be fairly enforceable, must be so clear that it can be understood by the average person who reads it “while running.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
The Hill writes in crayon.
They will hang their hats on “misdemeanor” not high crime.
If he pled guilty to things that are not crimes, the question that needs to be asked is this: was he coerced into making these confessions by threats to his family?
Given the nature of the sociopaths that run the democrat party, it would not be unusual for such to take place.
This gets murkier and harder to prove all the time, as stories keep subtly shifting and interpretations of what is a “violation” and what is not gain or lose adherents in the shuffle.
Donald Trump is in little trouble on this front. Like so many other times, reports of his impending demise are greatly exaggerated.
Did Hillary Clinton violate the Espionage Act and the Federal Records Act?
This is all an attempt to damage Trump with the voter knowing they have nothing on him. They’ll walk away and admit it once he’s nothing but smoldering rubble.
Even if there were a crime, it would have been CANDIDATE Trump and not President Trump who did it. Therefore no impeachment.
Apparently, Trump told his lawyer Cohen to pay a woman.
There is an implicit assumption that it should be done in a legal manner.
It would have been possible to do so in a legal manner.
Manner 1: Cohen could have made a few calls to lawyer friends who would have had to make more calls.
Manner 2: Cohen could walk down upper Fifth Avenue with a collections can and proof that he is Trump’s lawyer.
Manner 3: Cohen could have called Trump campaign headquarters and got them to write a check.
Mueller lacks sufficient proof to prove Trump committed a crime.
.
Shhhhhh!
He used his own money, that much I caught from his interview this AM.
“Pecker was subpoenaed by federal investigators in April, as were his company and the Trump Organization. The Journal said the subpoenas were served at the same time the FBI raided Cohen’s office and residences, seizing electronics, recordings and thousands of documents.
The Stormy story first appeared shortly after Christmas in the WSJ. The above quote happened in April. This wasn’t fly by night stuff. It was in the works long ago.
It is doubtful the campaign finance laws are Constitutional.
“Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press”
The purpose of speaking is to communicate and be listened to and understood.
When a man and a strident strumpet who has been stiffed speak at the same time, the pretty blonde gets the attention.
Justice Roberts of the Supreme Court is a strong believer in Amendment I. Justices Alito and Thomas will support his efforts to uphold it. Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch probably will too.
What is most protected is political speech.
Witch Hunt
If Mueller couldn’t rely on those under duress, he’d have no information at all. (I won’t call it evidence). Historically, he only knows one way to fight -— DIRTY! He is a disgrace to law enforcement, and one of the shysters who give lawyers a bad make. Even if he was going after Hillary, it would be wrong to get results the dirty way he does, ruining people’s lives without regard to what it does to them. REPTILE!
“Mark gets it all correct every time. “
guess Mark is just his code name and his real name is God? /s
Yes.
If it’s a misdemeanor, that he didn’t commit, that counts, too.
Because of his Clintonista lawyer.
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You’re disgusting and childish.
This was presumably in exchange for receiving a much lighter sentence than Manfort for the other chicanery that transpired.
In other threads, it was noted that "conspiracy" was NOT claimed. This was supposedly because "conspiracy" implies criminal activity, which, in this instance. was not the case. It could have resulted in an invalidation of the plea deal since no criminal act was actually in evidence.
If the above surmise, from the other threads, is true, then Cohen's plea deal was intended only for eyewash in order to provide fodder for the MSM and the loony Democrats like Waters. If it was fashioned in that manner, then THE PLEA DEAL, itself, might constitute election meddling! But this would be extremely hard to prove without direct corroboration from someone on Mueller's team.
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