Tracking Trump's Criminal Liability Post-Presidency

Criminal Trump Enterprises an Empire

Revelations that longtime Chief Financial Officer and family accountant, Allen Weisselberg, as well as his two sons, Barry and Jack, are being more deeply investigated by Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance and his team of prosecutors for their involvement in facilitating and covering up possible financial fraud within the Trump Organization.

. . .insiders with knowledge of the investigation have revealed New York state prosecutors are now looking into Weisselberg's financial management of the Trump Organization, as well as his sons, Barry and Jack Weisselbergs' financial dealings as part of their father's investigation.
(SNIP)
Barry Weisselberg has been the property manager of Trump Wollman Rink in Central Park, and Jack works at Ladder Capital, one of Mr. Trump’s biggest lenders.

No revelations if the widening investigation intends to bring charges against any of the Weisselbergs. Investigation could lead to the Vance team using it to leverage cooperation out of them in terms of future possible testimony in any case against Trump it may bring.

Pay attention to Jack, especially -- after the father, Allen. Recall that Ladder Capital had been Trump's favorite go-to lender. Could it be because Jack was his "personal agent" within the firm and go-to guy when shopping for a new loan or favorable refinance deal. Ladder Capital once held at least $282M of Trump's real estate debt, second only to Deutsche Bank, which holds more than $300M.

The prosecutors have subpoenaed Mr. Trump’s two main lenders, Deutsche Bank and Ladder Capital, which are cooperating with the investigation. Ladder Capital sold its Trump Organization loans, along with others, to investors years ago and thus no longer owns them.

A friendly relationship with one's CFO's son at your second largest financial backer might allow one to be tempted to "negotiate" a favorable valuation of one's collateral when seeking a loan. A negotiation that, later, can be agreeably transformed to a favorable tax valuation by one's CFO. Discovery of any such "league of favor" would provide prosecutors in Trump's case with exactly the kind of leverage to lend the greatest favorable evidence to their case against the ex-president.

The ability to mask iffy financial arrangements is a powerful asset to possess if someone wishes to skirt taxes and veil financial disclosures. As we know, Allen Weisselberg is famous for his masking ability.

Testifying before Congress two years ago, Mr. Cohen pinned blame for the hush-money scheme on Mr. Weisselberg, who he said helped devise a strategy to mask the Trump Organization’s reimbursements to Mr. Cohen for his payment to Ms Daniels. The federal prosecutors who charged Mr. Cohen did not accuse Mr. Weisselberg of wrongdoing.

At this point, I'd like to express my admiration to Mr. Vance for his reticence in doing so. Obviously a man who recognizes a diamond in the rough, as it were, when he trips over one.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah. Well, first, sell it to a jury (in your delusional dreams; you know, that's where Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race as well as where your leaders' previous criminal fucking conspiracy to frame Trump didn't blow up in the culprits' faces).

Trump won't be so much as brought to trial, let alone fined for some misdemeanor.

The Trump Witch-hunters Redux.

Russia's Putin and China's Xi are watching as moronic America tears itself apart over NOTHING.

________________

Re-elect Donald Trump in 2024.

Impeach, try, convict and remove

1st, Nancy Pelosi,
2nd, Charles Schumer,
3rd, Kamala Harris
&
4th, Joe Biden
between now and 2024.

Then properly pursue and complete the investigations into the 2020 presidential election fraud which illegally put Joe Biden in the White House.

Trump still standing, still the greatest threat to The Swamp | By Charles Hurt - The Washington Times - Monday, March 1, 2021

_____________________________

...

"Foundations built on sand do not last.

"And then there are great personalities built on rock.

"Just ask Donald Trump.

"The former president has been impeached twice — and acquitted twice. He endured five years of the most insanely vicious political press — literally billions of dollars in fake and dirty campaign advertising. The federal government spent tens of millions of dollars pursuing the wildest conspiracy theories that lunatics in the press and partisan Washington Democrats could come up with.

"He was smeared, slimed and lacerated by longtime political hacks in Washington desperate to protect their power. They did all they could to undermine the legitimacy of his stunning victory in the 2016 election. They spent the next four years inciting riot and insurrection.

"The country burned.

"Yet Mr. Trump was vindicated in both impeachments. And he was cleared in the massive federal probe into Democrats’ dark fantasies.

"On Sunday, he emerged here very much intact and as powerful as ever inside the Republican Party.

"To be sure, he has scars to show for all he has been through. It is a wonder the man is still standing.

"But standing he is. And the crowds went wild.

"That is because Mr. Trump is — and always has been — so much more than just a famous flash in the political fire.

"What got Mr. Trump elected in 2016 and what earned him 75 million votes in 2020 wasn’t just his personality. It was the issues he embraced without flinching.

"The wall. China. Foreign wars. America First.

"These are all short-hand now. Why? Because Mr. Trump so successfully defined each issue and pushed it to the very top of the political agenda. It is the enduring magic of Donald Trump.

"He builds. He sells. He markets.

"Single-handedly, Mr. Trump dragged the Republican Party out of the clutches of their craven donor class who despise the actual voters they need to stay in power. Mr. Trump redefined the party.

"That is why Mr. Trump remains the most dangerous man Washington has seen in a half-century. He is owned by no one. And he speaks for the people." ...

_______________________________

Still Crying?

QAnonymous these days?

Too bad your guy L O S T Bigly. Remember when you laughed at us when we told you he was gonna get his ass whipped? Do you accept Biden as your president, yet? Got the blues because peaceful resistance to tyranny is more effective in "overthrowing" a government at the ballot box than violent rampaging of the Capitol is against overthrowing democracy?

Still embracing the Big Lie? Still want the insurrection to have been an Anti-fa attack to make your dreams come true? Unhappy that Pence wasn't hanged and Pelosi skipped getting a bullet in her brain? Disappointed that Pres. Biden is ahead of schedule getting Americans immunized? Steamed to learn that enough vaccine doses will be available for ALL ADULTS to be vaccinated two months AHEAD of schedule? Hate that babes seized from parents at the border are successfully being reunited with parents who are being offered legal residency and a path to citizenship if they wish it, in spite of Trump withholding the documentation with names and addresses of the parents from the Biden Administration out of pure malicious racist spite? Suffering heartache over only 55% of the teeny CPAC minority who swoon at Trump's feet who said they'd vote for him if he's the '24 Republican candidate? (Me too, wanna whip his ass again!)

Out of sympathy, I won't cite polling that shows Biden STILL with 61% approval from ALL Americans, a number Trump NEVER came close to in 4 years. Ditto, since Biden took office, that the economy -- not just the stock market (it is, too) -- is stronger, that unemployment numbers are in decline, and that TX still has the suckiest government and national representation in the entire country.

So sad if the starch is out of your brethren's white hoods. Time to return home to the rocks out from under which the "bois" crawled.

Glad NOT to be on the side of domestic terrorists, personality cultists, and reality denialists. Why not transition from the dark side? Thousands already have. Join us in enjoying a big bowl of popcorn when DA Vance returns a criminal indictment against Trump from his Grand Jury this spring/summer.

GA Republicans Attempt "Jury Tampering" in Response to Fulton DA's Investigation into Trump Election Interference

The day after DA Fani Willis announced she was opening an investigation into Trump's attempt to corrupt the Georgia presidential election by demanding the Secretary of state "find" the exact number of "stolen votes" plus one that would give him the win, "a group of Georgia Senate Republicans sought to make future investigations of election fraud a statewide affair."

Senate Resolution 100 calls for a constitutional amendment that would require a statewide grand jury for “any crime involving voting, elections, or a violation of the election laws of this state and all related crimes.”

Sounds harmless in itself, until one analyzes the meaning and intent behind the resolution.

That would mean that Willis or other local prosecutors would have to empanel a grand jury from beyond their territories, drawing in more residents from rural, conservative corners of the state.

Fortunately, such a measure -- intended to make successful prosecution less likely -- likely will not pass since it not only requires a two-thirds vote to pass the Assembly plus ballot approval by a majority of voters to approve an amendment to the State Constitution.

The fast reaction to Willis' investigation announcement, the all-Republican sponsorship of the resolution, and the intent behind it to dilute local Grand Juries with non-peers from beyond a DA's jurisdiction indicates a clear attempt at jury tampering because they knew allowing the system that had served the interests of the people of GA for years, no longer served the interests of the Trump supporting interests of GA Republicans.

Certainly, such a resolution would have no impact on the on-going investigation into Trump's criminal election meddling already underway. In spite of that, the attempt at Grand Jury tampering sends a clear signal that Republicans intend and will do whatever it takes to make the justice system in the state partisan in favor of their party, sabotaging the fundamental meaning of justice as impartial application of the law no matter who or what the circumstances.

WANTED

Please notify the Metropolitan Police IMMEDIATELY
If you should see any of the individuals shown below.

TAKE NO OTHER ACTION yourself.

THESE individuals may be dangerous if approached.
They are wanted for questioning in matters related to
the transmission of racist tropes to minor children.

TO BE PRINTED & DISTRIBUTED TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC



https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/03/03/tucker_carlson_defends_honor_...

https://thefederalist.com/2021/03/03/why-cancel-culture-may-only-make-racism-wor...


https://bestofkidszone.com/i-would-not-could-not-read-those-books-to-kids-the-na...


https://reason.com/2021/03/03/woke-excess-democratic-party-trump-political-corre...

Weisselberg Son, Barry, Operates Cash Only Ice Rink

Could I help it if my first thought was money laundro-mat?

The Wollman Rink was a New York City government contract with the Trump Organization that ended in 2021 after it was canceled. It operates on a cash-only basis.

Canceled by whom, and why?

With the management job came a pretty nice perk.

(Prosecutors) asked about a Trump-owned luxury apartment where Weisselberg's son Barry lived for several years. The exact nature of Vance's interest in the apartment is not known, but if Barry Weisselberg, who manages Trump's ice skating rinks, got the apartment rent-free, that might be considered a fringe benefit of his job and subject to income tax."

And we know how easy it would be to not report such an arrangement enjoyed by your son, if you are Allen Weisselberg, the CFO of Trump Enterprises whose job it is to produce the necessary records and documents to Trump's tax preparer, Jack Mitnick.

“I did all the tax preparation,” Jack Mitnick, who led the Trump accounting team for 30 years, said in 2016. Trump “never saw the product until it was presented to him for signature.”

Mitnick worked for Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA. It was a small CPA firm used by Donald's father, Fred, starting back in the '50s before being used by the son.

The American arm of a global firm, Mazars, has portrayed itself as an innocent bystander in the war between Trump and his pursuers.

But Trump’s accountants are far from bystanders in the matters under scrutiny — or in the rise of Trump. Over a span of decades, they have played two critical, but discordant, roles for Trump. One is common for an accounting firm: to help him pay the smallest amount of taxes possible. The second is not common at all: to help him appear to the world to be rich beyond imagining. That sometimes requires creating precisely the opposite impression of what’s in his tax filings.

Trump has presented of his accountants as “one of the most highly respected” big firms, solemnly confirming his numbers after months of careful scrutiny. For starters, it’s only technically true to say Trump’s accounting work is handled by a large firm.

In fact, Trump entrusts his taxes and planning to a tiny, secretive team of CPAs who have operated at various times from humble quarters in Queens and two Long Island office parks.

. . .partners and sometimes the firm itself have faced accusations of fraud, misconduct and malpractice on multiple occasions. . .

Those troubles date back 30 years when Jack Mitnick led the Trump accounting team.

He was the architect of the notorious schemes. . .to dodge more than $500 million in gift and inheritance taxes and funnel hundreds of millions from Fred Trump to his children, helping keep Donald Trump afloat through four of his business bankruptcies. Mitnick was known as an accounting star — at least until 1996, when his partners threw him out of the firm amid accusations of fraud and malpractice.

Now here is where I'll stop because the article linked above is a long investigative expose and details further astounding details, including an incredulous Mitchell Zachary who worked on the Trumps’ accounts for more than a decade and uncovered what is best described as a tax evading laundering scheme set up by Mitnick.

Warned that his work for Trump was sure to face an audit, Zachary said he took special care to trace every asset, expense and receipt. When he finally finished, he was mystified. Zachary couldn’t find evidence that Trump, in fact, possessed any cash beyond a recent payment in a casino deal.

“I went to Jack Mitnick, and I said, ‘Look, I must be missing something: There’s nothing here!’… I thought for sure I screwed up. I thought for sure I missed something big.”

Zachary recalled Mitnick’s reply. He just laughed and went: ‘Well, you just figured it out!’”

Getting back to the Weisselbergs, pardon me if I think that the cash only ice rink and living arrangement of Barry's have Mitnick's fingerprints all over them. Makes me wonder if and what relationship may have existed between Trump's CFO, Allen Weisselberg, and his tax accountants, Metzer, et alia, beyond the strictly business. The prolonged service and loyalty of both CFO and tax prepper testify to Trump's desire to keep his true financial status known to as few people as possible, and not necessarily properly compartmentalized. On the surface onr feels like they're looking at a cabal of bonded thieves, cheaters, and fraudsters who admire each others talents for being able to "get away with it."

Regardless of the presence or absence of any relationship, there's enough public information available that gives any peruser with a level of reading comprehension the conviction that Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance and team have rich ground to plow and bumper crops to harvest in their criminal investigations.

>5 proximity1: "Canceling Dr. Seuss isn't stupid. It's intentional. They're banning Dr. Seuss not because he was a racist, but precisely because he wasn't."

Who is "they"? I guess stuff like this is why Fox argued that Carlson's statements shouldn't be confused with factual claims. The Dr. Seuss Enterprises is not reprinting six volumes out of sixty, with the six not including the one about the Sneeches.

"The story is a plea for color-blindness and that's why the forces of wokeness hate it and Dr. Seuss. When the people in charge cancel Dr. Seuss, what they're really trying to eliminate is a very specific kind of midcentury American culture, a culture that championed meritocracy and color-blindness and the superiority of individual achievement over tribal identity," he explained.

This is, of course, something that Carlson hates; cf. all his comments about immigration. Carlson is all about tribal identity when he's not trying to use "color-blindness" as a shield from being called racist. There's quite some problem with that type of color-blindness, but let's not pretend that Carlson actually believes it.

"These were once called liberal values. Modern liberals don't want to be reminded they once believed any of this. If your kids are allowed to read Dr. Seuss, they will know this was a different country not so long ago, a place where people tried hard not to hate each other, a place where the population was encouraged, begged by its leaders to reject identity politics in favor of universal values and the things that connect us all."

When? When And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was written in 1937, it surely wasn't. In 1950, when If I Ran the Zoo Was Written? Not in 1953, when The Sneeches was written? This is pretty standard "Golden Age" crap; I almost wish no one could invoke a golden past without naming a year, so we could talk about the real problems of that past age.

I want to just note in passing that while we all accept that Donald Trump is an illiterate buffoon and therefore says idiotic things, I would expect that most of the people spending their time on such a bookish site would not be. Therefore, it is always surprising to me to find anyone repeating his charge of a "witch hunt", since even if you believe his (frankly imbecilic) claims of persecution by some imagined foes, a personal vendetta is almost the antithesis of a witch hunt. The phrase "witch hunt" refers to a vague and unfalsifiable charge - witchcraft or communist sympathies - which is used by a powerful demagogue to tar innocent people, generally in order to maintain that demagogue's power. Leveling specific charges against a specific person is in almost every particular the opposite of this.

This particular phrase, of course, is not very important, but it seems like a symptom of something deeper. Maybe, proxy, you would benefit by thinking things through before just repeating mindlessly whatever it is you're told to believe. You might even manage to say something that made sense once in a while, if you just thought about it a bit before committing it to the page.

On the question of meritocracy and whether it should be called an American or a liberal value. One can always wonder at the people who decide who merits and who do not. Looking at the top end of earners over decades it's clear that white males are disproportionately among those who benefit most from this idea. That women and people of color lag far behind in the meritocracy scale----which brings into question the so color-blindness that Mr. Carlson would have us believe goes hand in hand with it. As usual he's full of shit up to his eyeballs. He neither wants a shared economy nor a multicultural society. What he wants is a status quo of wealthy white males living like modern day plantation owners. These aren't liberal values and certainly not left values and he can fuck off.

Atlanta DA's grand Jury to Sit This Week

Let the subpoenas start rolling out.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis made her investigative intentions clear with a round of letters to Georgia state officials in February, asking them to preserve documents relevant to election interference as she investigated potential state crimes including the solicitation of election fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering.

Those potential charges are the heaviest specific criminal contentions against Trump thus far. RICO cases are broad in scope and are usually successful in sweeping up bad guys especially hard to prosecute otherwise. Historically, it was the favorite way to obtain convictions against Mafia organized crime families.

DA Willis already has an inkling how big this investigation will be.

Two grand juries are set to convene in Fulton County on Thursday, opening a path for Willis' next phase in her probe. A person familiar with the investigation said they are likely to rely heavily on subpoenas rather than voluntary requests for records and interviews, in part to establish a clear court record of their pursuit of evidence.

In the meantime, some officials in Georgia have already hired personal attorneys amid the fallout from Trump's efforts to upend the election results.

The speed, efficiency, and level of organization Willis has exhibited thus far indicates a level of professionalism, dedication, and competency that bodes ill for Trump ducking out of trouble. He won't be able to count on intimidated Republican senators to bail him out when all the evidence points to his guilt.

Willis has said her investigation will expand past Trump's call with Raffensperger to include any efforts to influence the election in Georgia.

She is also investigating a phone call between Trump loyalist Sen. Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger, the abrupt departure of Byung "BJay" Pak, the US attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and the false allegations of election fraud Rudy Giuliani made before Georgia legislators.

Wonder if two Grand Juries will be enough to cover all the major players as well as the Georgia Republicans from the governor to the grassroots likely to be involved in the investigation.

The article is worth the read -- it's detailed and thorough.

>9 lriley:

How the language of meritocracy has transformed Britain’s politics (Guardian)

A heterogeneous group of authors – from the American political philosopher Michael Sandel to the British polemicist David Goodhart – have recently critiqued meritocracy and its impact. Simply put, one of their key findings is that when people feel as if they have been bracketed into a lower social status – a status centred on educational achievement and cultural status, distinct from their job or how much money they have – that has important psychological effects. A belief in meritocracy among those low-status groups is linked with lower self-esteem and self-blame, feelings of vulnerability and even, in one study, higher blood pressure...

the evidence is now clear from multiple studies: controlling for other factors, populist support is associated with the low social status of those seen to have failed the “merit test”. This has significant electoral consequences, namely a rise in support for authoritarian populism...

While meritocracy may sound alluring, in practice it's just another way for the priviliged to maintain their status and for the underprivileged to remain marginalised.

#11--says it better than I did. It's a who deserves and who does not system and merit is not something that is usually explained or defined to anyone. It can be whatever some anonymous person or group of people on top decides it is.

House impeachment manager Eric Swalwell sues Trump and close allies over Capitol riot in second major insurrection lawsuit
Katelyn Polantz and Devan Cole | March 5, 2021

Washington (CNN)Former House impeachment manager Eric Swalwell has sued former President Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and Republican Rep. Mo Brooks in a second major lawsuit seeking to hold Trump and his allies accountable for inciting the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6.

The new lawsuit filed on Friday by Swalwell, a California Democrat who helped to lead impeachment arguments against Trump for inciting insurrection, follows a similar suit filed last month by Rep. Bennie Thompson against Trump, Giuliani and the extremist groups the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. Swalwell's case makes some of the same claims as Thompson's -- citing a civil rights law meant to counter the Ku Klux Klan's intimidation of elected officials.

But it also alleges Trump, Trump Jr., Giuliani and Brooks broke Washington, DC, laws, including an anti-terrorism act, by inciting the riot, and that they aided and abetted violent rioters and inflicted emotional distress on the members of Congress.

READ: Rep. Eric Swalwell's lawsuit against Trump, Trump Jr., Giuliani and Mo Brooks
"The Defendants, in short, convinced the mob that something was occurring that -- if actually true -- might indeed justify violence, and then sent that mob to the Capitol with violence-laced calls for immediate action," the lawsuit, in Washington, DC's federal District Court, alleges...

...Friday's suit could bump up against free speech protections for speakers at the rally, as well as immunity Trump could try to claim he had while serving as president. All of the elected officials in the lawsuit, including Trump, are named in their personal capacities in court, meaning they would use private lawyers and not be shielded by their public offices.

But should either this suit or Thompson's proceed, it would mean the former President and his allies would be subject to discovery and depositions, potentially exposing details and evidence that weren't released during the Senate impeachment trial...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/05/politics/trump-lawsuit-insurrection-eric-swalwell...

>11 John5918:

when people feel as if they have been bracketed into a lower social status – a status centred on educational achievement and cultural status, distinct from their job or how much money they have

Eh, what? Where is this imaginary land where educational achievement and "cultural status", whatever that means, confers a "higher" social status than money does? Brahmin India? You really think we should commiserate with the likes of Trump and the rich people who support him because the poor dears are--supposedly--of a lower "cultural status" (and what does that even mean?), than--supposedly--some poor PhD going begging for a job as adjunct?

This smacks exactly of the "elite" bullshit Trump and Trumpists have the gall to go on about. No, THEY are the "elite". The bastards he gave tax cuts to are "elite".

The idea that meritocracy is a just system is obviously wrong in a society with deep social inequality. But then the thing is to remove and mitigate social inequality, to ensure as much as possible that everyone has equal opportunity, so that they COULD prove their merit on equal ground.

controlling for other factors, populist support is associated with the low social status of those seen to have failed the “merit test”.

Ah, bollocks. If "low social status" led to populist support, Trump should have had the PoC and women, especially poor women, in his pocket. And it's precisely those people who support him the least.

This is the language and notions of alt-right apologetics and it's meant to boost sympathy for the resentful white men who bombed in school. Fuckers can go hang, with merit.

Second Trump Phone Call to GA Lead Investigator Could Wrap Up RICO Case Against Him

Lordy! There are more tapes. Then-President Donald Trump urged the chief investigator of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office to look for fraud during an audit of mail-in ballots in a suburban Atlanta county, on a phone call he made to her in late December.

During the six-minute call,. . .Mr. Trump repeatedly said that he won Georgia. “Something bad happened,” he said.

“When the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised,” Mr. Trump told the chief investigator, Frances Watson.

She responded: “I can assure you that our team and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, that we are only interested in the truth and finding the information that is based on the facts.”

The Washington Post reported on the call in January, but this is the first time the recording has been released.
(SNIP)
After the recounts, the Georgia Secretary of State conducted a forensic audit of about 15,000 mail-in ballots in Cobb County, checking signatures on ballot envelopes to make sure they matched signatures on file with the county. It was during that audit, just before Christmas, that Mr. Trump called Ms. Watson. Mr. Trump said in the call that he contacted Ms. Watson at the request of Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff. The audit found no evidence of fraud.

During the call, Mr. Trump told Ms. Watson that she had the most important job in the country at the time and urged her investigators to review signatures going back several years, according to the recording. While her audit was focused on Cobb County, he said she should look at Fulton County, the state’s most populous county that includes most of Atlanta.

“If you can get to Fulton, you are going to find things that are going to be unbelievable,” he said.

In the call, Mr. Trump offered no evidence of any wrongdoing. At one point, he said his loss in Georgia “never made sense and, you know, they dropped ballots. They dropped all these ballots. Stacey Abrams, really, really terrible,” he said.

Two phone calls. Two attempts to get GA officials to "find votes," the second directing their attention to Fulton Cty.

In the recording, Trump said that Fulton County, in particular, should be highlighted. "Fulton is the motherlode, Fulton County," he said.

He encouraged Watson of checking signatures going back two years or more before authorizing people's votes.

Remember what Cathy Cox, dean of Mercer University's law school said.

"If Donald Trump engaged in two or more acts that involve false statements - that were made knowingly and willfully in an attempt to falsify material fact, like the election results - then you can piece together a violation of the racketeering act."

Odd, isn't it, that Trump pushed Watson to change focus of possible election fraud from Cobb to Fulton Cty? What did he expect to find there, or what did Mark Meadows want him to find there when he suggested Trump make a second call and specifically raise Fulton Cty. as the place to look in the state's audit?

John Dean Says Seven Times the Charm

Former Trump fixer, Michael Cohen let it be known that he's cooperating with the Vance investigative team and has been called to appear before the prosecutors for the seventh time. John Dean, former Nixon lawyer, tweeted,

From personal experience as a key witness I assure you that you do not visit a prosecutor’s office 7 times if they are not planning to indict those about whom you have knowledge.

Dean speculated ("as an insider") in a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper about why prosecutors would want to interview Cohen yet again.

"What they're doing can be a couple of things. One is the prosecutors are trying to get familiar with the witness. More likely in this instance, because of the treasure trove of information they obtained, evidence from a subpoena, is to get guidance and insight into what some of those documents mean, give them more people who might know about various affairs that are revealed by the documents. . .

. . .They are narrowing the case to see what they will bring against the president and possibly his family."

Dean also noted that the investigators likely have copies of checks already and know who signed what.

The conversation turned to the topic of Trump's legal problems from Fulton Cty. DA Fani Willis' investigation into election meddling in the state.

When it came to the new recordings of Trump calling Georgia officials and trying to twist them into delivering him a win in the state, Dean said that Trump could be in trouble.

He noted that it was known that this call released Wednesday happened, but never heard what was said or the details, much less a recording.

"There may be other calls that were recorded and what they're looking for is part of the RICO case they're developing now that the Fulton County prosecutor has hired the best expert in the state who helped her with a prior RICO case. RICO cases are very serious, Anderson. These are stack-on lots of penalties," Dean said. "So, I think that's the case they're building. These phone calls that they have multiple records of now, are going to be dynamite."

At this point, it seems a race is building between the NY and GA prosecutors to see who brings Trump to trial first. Things are beginning to get exciting.

>15 Limelite:

Surely it will depend on how careful Trump was in his exact wording (and admittedly in general he has not been very careful, so it may go against him)? If he merely urged her to continue checking for voter fraud, that in itself is not illegal - everybody is against voter fraud, and many people on all sides were in favour of audits, investigations and recounts, all of which confirmed that Trump had lost. If he asked her to manufacturer false voter fraud in order to disqualify legitimate votes, then that would be different. That may well have been his intention, but his actual words will be important.

Trump has never been careful with his language and has no real frame for what is legal or not. His legal advisors towards the end were Sidney and Giuliani. He could only enter into the world of election rigging as a clumsy bear. He needs layers of protection. Getting caught on tape his corruption can’t help but break through.

>17 John5918:

RICO law in GA differs from federal RICO laws and is broader. But you're right, words are important when considering speaker as well as listener. If you're a state election official and somebody asks you to find votes known not to exist in fact, you most likely will conclude that the person asking you to do that is soliciting fraud.

BUSTED: Not Just Tapes, Emails, Too

Everyone is aware of at least two recorded phone calls made by Trump to GA election officials that document two separate attempts to meddle in the 2020 GA national election. Now, American Oversight has obtained an email in which

Cassidy Hutchinson contacted Georgia's Deputy Sec. of State Jordan Fuchs on Dec. 30 to attempt to influence other members of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's (R-GA) team.

At one point (Trump's Chief of Staff, Mark) Meadows actually went down to Georgia to visit with Georgia Chief Investigator Frances Watson.

You will remember that Watson received the second released recorded phone call from Trump soliciting election fraud. Hutchinson was Meadows' aide. Here is the email.

Trump Org Ex-Wife: Trump Showed Nudes at Weisselberg’s Mom’s Shivah, but We Got a Free Apartment
Jamie Ross | Mar. 12, 2021

...In her first substantial public comments on the case, Jennifer Weisselberg confirmed that she’s spoken to investigators about ex-husband Barry Weisselberg’s time managing the Trump-operated ice-skating rink and carousel in Central Park. Specifically, Jennifer Weisselberg said that investigators have asked about the seven rent-free years they spent in a Trump-owned apartment overlooking Central Park.

“Only a small part of your salary is reported,” she said. “They pay you with apartments and other stuff, as a control tactic, so you can’t leave. They own you! You have to do whatever corrupt crap they ask.” If this alleged gift wasn’t declared in tax forms, prosecutors could use it against the couple—and as leverage to tempt Allen Weisselberg into cooperating.

However, Jennifer Weisselberg thinks it’s unlikely her ex-father-in-law will play ball, saying: “He has more feelings and adoration for Donald than for his wife... For Donald, it’s a business. But for Allen, it’s a love affair.”..

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jennifer-weisselberg-trump-org-insiders-ex-wife-sa...

Recall that Justice Saliann Scarpulla of State Supreme Court in Manhattan found that Mr. Trump had in fact “breached his fiduciary duty” (11/07/2019) by using the foundation to advance his business and political interests and placed numerous restrictions on Mr. Trump should he seek to seek to establish another charitable organization. As co-defendants, his three oldest children--but apparently not his daughter-in-law--were required to undergo training in order to ensure they do not engage in similar improprieties.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/nyregion/trump-charities-new-york.html
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6542108-trump-foundation-decision.html

And we all know how much Trump loves dogs... :/

Dog Rescue Charity Linked To Lara Trump Funneling Money Into Donald Trump’s Pocket
S.V. Date | 03/12/2021

The Big Dog Ranch Rescue has spent as much as $1.9 million at his properties in recent years and is spending $225,000 more at Mar-a-Lago this weekend...

Lara Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, started being listed as a chairwoman for charity events in 2018, and the group’s president, Lauren Simmons (Big Dog Ranch Rescue, which is located in Loxahatchee Groves, 16 miles west of Palm Beach), visited the White House in 2019 for the signing of a bill addressing animal cruelty...

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lara-trump-mar-a-lago-dog-rescue-charity_n_604bec...

The Excreta Has Hit the Fan

Where Robert Mueller feared to go in his investigation conclusions about Russia interference in the 2016 election, the newly released intelligence report (pdf) trod heavily in its revelations about Russian interference in the 2020 election. The Mueller report established all the facts of collusion but stopped short of naming Trump guilty of criminal aid to Russia in that operation. Consequently, it fell short of securing a guilty verdict in the Republican controlled Senate impeachment trial #1.

Unlike the Mueller Report, this compilation makes no bones about directly linking Trump and Trump's then "fixer," Rudy Giuliani to cooperating with Putin's authorized attempt to enlist the Ukrainians in concocting a non-existent conspiracy between certain Ukrainian actors and the Bidens (père et fils) in a nonexistent corruption scheme in order to create a false scandal of their wrong-doing.

Fortunately, in this last election, voters listened to the warnings of Russian election meddling that the intelligence community put out that discredited the specious rumors Trump, Giuliani, and his media megaphones tried to fool the unintelligent with for months.

All that's left is for USAG Garland to find enough merit in the facts to criminally indict the American actors in the attempted election fraud. Let's hope he doesn't shrink from it like Mueller did.

BOMBSHELL!: OAN Colluded with Russian Spy to Create and Broadcast KOMPROMAT to Discredit Biden

The network did a series of propaganda films they called "documentaries," claiming it would prove that now President Joe Biden was enthralled in a Ukraine scandal that never existed.

. . . the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that Russian intelligence was working with Trump allies and conservative news outlets to promote false propaganda.

Recall the recently released intelligence report (see above post) that shows the direct link between Russian Agent, (Andriy) Andrii Derkach and Trump's new favorite news agency OANN. If the "smoking gun" is the revelation. . .

. . .about directly linking Trump and Trump's then "fixer," Rudy Giuliani to cooperating with Putin's authorized attempt to enlist the Ukrainians to (concoct a fake) conspiracy between certain Ukrainian actors and the Bidens (père et fils) in a nonexistent corruption scheme (designed) to create a false scandal of their wrong-doing.

. . .then the OANN - Derkach relationship is the smoking cannon.

According to a tweet that is still visible on OAN's account, the network did "over a half dozen interviews with Ukrainian officials, including Ukrainian MP Andrii Derkach." And they left the tweet about it on their website.

One America News
@OANN
CONFIRMED - @OANN's @ChanelRion concluded over a half dozen interviews with Ukrainian officials, including Ukrainian MP Andrii Derkach, pic shown.

Part III of "Ukrainian Witnesses Destroy Schiff's Case w/ Rudy Giuliani" to air Saturday, Dec 15 at 10pm EST!

The Pic

The report never names OAN but it's pretty clear that the network was among those targeted along with Fox News and The Hill's John Solomon, who spread lies about Biden and Ukraine.

It shows how Putin had been directing a "long game" of interference in American elections: How he set up a network of Trump supporting proxies (Giuliani, Pompeo, and USAG Barr, obviously); How he was behind the 2016 attacks on Obama Administration; How he approved the Ukrainian conspirators' operation -- including Trump, who attempted the shakedown designed to spark the conspiracy to frame the Bidens for corruption in his phone call to Zelensky. Putin, the old KGB man is still that same old KGB man.

The implication of the evidence in the intelligence report is that Trump's former NSA, John Bolton resigned/was fired because he was boiling with suspicion about Putin's long game and expressed those suspicions to Trump. So, he had to go.

Bolton, a key anti-Russia neoconservative who preached American dominance could not have stood silently by witnessing Trump's obeisance to Putin that was undermining American power. A groveling by Trump to Putin that strengthened Russian power and systematically introduced rot into the American government that produced chaos, promoted the unqualified, and dismantled our democratic institutions.

His ideological conflict with Trump and everything he knew and saw while the NSA most likely led him, once relieved of his office, to voluntarily sit for extensive interviewing with intelligence officials. Wherein he filled in details and confirmed their growing framework outlining the Putin plot. And due to that -- out of an abundance of charity -- I think I understand why Bolton refused to testify under oath to Congressional oversight committees about what he knew. He couldn't because the intelligence investigation into all this was not yet complete. In short, I wonder -- Was Bolton the "confidential informant" who helped confirm what the intelligence community was trying to prove in its budding criminal case? He was in position to do so; he was involved in and witnessed communications; and he probably had "tapes" that he turned over to counter intelligence. All of which documented the network of Russian assets within the Trump Administration and conservative media. An aside: I'll bet Zelensky has also been cooperating with the US intelligence services, building their case with testimony from his side of events.

The clues are all assembled that make a strong criminal case against the entire upper echelon of the Trump Administration as willing assets of Putin's attempt to destroy American democracy. All that needs to be done is to prove intent.

Biden's USAG, Merrick Garland is taking care of that. He has the Mueller Report that Barr worked so hard to stifle. It's chock full of the evidence of intent. I think when all is put together, a lot of traitorous rogues will find themselves in jail -- and back in jail. People like Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, and Paul Manafort. Garland practically promised in his confirmation hearing that he was going to "roll them up."

Let's wait and see.

Infamous Trump Tower Money Laundering Cover Up Meeting Keeps on Giving (to Trump Legal Hell)

Documents obtained by The Daily Beast link the $230 million fraud discussed at the Trump Tower meeting in 2016 to Russia’s black-market weapons of mass destruction program.

A company newly sanctioned by the U.S. over Alexei Navalny’s poisoning attack is tied to the money-laundering network that Natalia Veselnitskaya tried to cover up at the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting.

We now know why Vladimir Putin was so desperate to play down the international corruption probes that began when Sergei Magnitsky uncovered a $230 million fraud on the Russian people. For the first time, that dark-money network can be linked to the murderous chemical-weapons program run by Russia’s notorious intelligence services.

For his discovery and exposure of the scheme, Magnitsky ended up dead in a Russian prison cell. "Investigations tracing that stolen money continue to expose an international web of bank accounts linked to alleged wrongdoing." Consequences from those investigation also continue.

In response to Putin's attempt to assassinate the dissident activist, "the Biden administration said it was sanctioning a German chemicals company called Riol-Chemie because of its “activities in support of Russia’s weapons of mass destruction programs.” This is in addition to Biden's "sanctions against seven senior Russian officials and 14 other entities involved in chemical and biological weapons production on March 2."

Investigative files compiled by the authorities in Lithuania. . .show that Riol-Chemie received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a British Virgin Islands-registered company accused of laundering some of the stolen money that was uncovered by Magnitsky.,

French authorities (uncovered) financial records that show two New Zealand-registered companies. . .also received funds from the $230 million fraud (and) wired over $1 million to Riol-Chemie.

. . .purchase orders and invoices. . .show that the company received components from a now-defunct American manufacturer called Aeroflex. Records show that Aeroflex, which was then based in New York, took orders for radiation-hardened semiconductors and regulators in 2007. These components are often used to build missiles and satellites.

The orders were to be sent to Riol-Chemie in northern Germany, but records show that the tightly controlled radiation chips were paid for by yet another entity accused of laundering the stolen Russian money. According to the paperwork, the invoice went to Tolbrist Alliance Inc., a shell company listed in the Offshore Leaks Database by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists as being registered to a post-office box in the British Virgin Islands.

There's much more money laundering revealed in The Daily Beast report covering the tranche of documents about the scheme. I suggest it's a damn good read if you want to understand how corrupt the Trump Crime Family is. Just follow the dark money, it leads right to their position as the nexus for money stolen from Russian tax payers, flying around the world in secret bank accounts, shuffled to shell companies, rinsed in Trump real estate dreams of Trump Tower Moscow, returned to Putin intelligence services to be turned into weaponry used by Russia's allies in the Mideast, and against Putin's nemesis, Mr. Navalny.

No wonder Mr. Magnitsky had to die. His expose of the Putin-Trump attempts to squash the various investigations that resulted from the American Magnitsky Act and duplicated by many other governments have driven him mad. And Ms. Veselnitskya's lobbying attempts to get Trump to ignore or dismantle the law have done the same to Trump who, in part, as a result of her meeting with Trump Jr. in the Tower have the Retired Old Orange Florida Man up to his nostrils in criminal hot water.

All this resulted for want of the dirt that Ms. Veselnitskaya said she had on his 2016 presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Meanwhile, Back in Manhattan. . .

Cyrus Vance is having a field day now that he has Trump's tax returns. The latest fallout is the announcement that his focus is fastening on Donald Trump's longtime bodyguard Matthew Calimari "Mr. Squid," according to former "Mr. Fixer," Michael Cohen,

. . .was familiar with Trump's alleged scheme to inflate the value of his assets to insurance companies as part of a tax evasion scheme. . .

Calimari has worked for the former president for 40 years. . .he and his namesake son reportedly ran surveillance operations at Trump's properties.

(Asked back in February, 2019) who else knew about Trump providing inflated assets to an insurance company, Cohen said, “Allen Weisselberg, Ron Lieberman and Matthew Calamari.” He didn’t elaborate.

Mr. Vance will take care of that.

"We have people looking into everything.

The former top prosecutor of the Capitol insurrection said that Trump might be responsible for the insurgency on Jan. 6.

Michael Sherwin, former interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia said that it's undeniable that Trump "was the magnet that brought the people to D.C."

"Now the question is, is he criminally culpable for everything that happened during the siege, during the breach? What I could tell you is this, based upon, again, what we see in the public record and what we see in public statements in court."

"That moves the needle towards that direction. Maybe the President is culpable for those actions."

Based on his CBS interview, I'd say Trump is facing at least an obstruction charge. That's 20 years in prison. ""They breached the Capitol with the intent, the goal to obstruct official proceedings, the counts, the Electoral College count." Trump's entire speech, his glee at the violent incursion, his refusal to take action against the attackers, and his record to stop and block a certified election meet the requirements for obstruction.

Republicans, try as they might to look the other way, that ain't gonna work under Biden. Merrick Garland is the new sheriff in town. And he's making the cases. Sedition charges are being built as the investigation continues. I doubt investigation would be still ongoing if there were not probable cause to bring sedition charges. Expect it won't just be the civilian Trump supporters. There are culpable elected officials in their crosshairs.

And if we ever get the medical examiner's cause of death for Officer Siknick, then we'll know if murder charges are probable, too.

All that said, if I were Donald Trump, I'd fear the NY and GA pending criminal investigations into election fraud having severe consequences and probable jail time. he ran his mouth over the line in GA and his tax signature in NY.

I just wonder if it would be possible for a prosecutor to seat a jury that would convict Trump no matter how air tight the case. There are so many Trump fanatics that it would be impossible that they wouldn't be in the jury pool and they'd lie through their teeth about how impartial they are just to get on jury to sabotage it.

>28 jjwilson61:
In Manhattan -- NO PROBLEM; in Fulton Cty. GA -- Little Problem of.

>17 John5918: While I admire your professional tone, I disagree that "everybody is against voter fraud". There are more than a few handfuls or pockets of people in the mode of "by any means necessary". I have seen the Antifa people backing those who throw gay men from high town spires to their deaths below. They made an awful racket, crowding and deriding anyone with a First Amendment Right which clashed with theirs. The hammer and sickle were evident in North Carolina's capitol. In Winston-Salem, we had a lawyer and his obese son getting 'voters' registered. They approached many people who could speak no English. We still have addresses where there are unlikely numbers of voters living there.

>30 smirks4u: I don't understand what you could possibly mean by most of that.

In Winston-Salem, we had a lawyer and his obese son getting 'voters' registered. They approached many people who could speak no English.

And how could they know whether the people spoke English before they approached them?

We have enough allegations about voter fraud; how about some evidence?

>30 smirks4u: I disagree that "everybody is against voter fraud"

Apologies. Sloppy language on my part, which I thought was clear but apparently wasn't. When I said, "everybody is against voter fraud", I didn't mean that there is nobody in the world who is in favour of voter fraud. Clearly a voter fraudster such as your lawyer (what has his son's weight got to do with it, incidentally?) is in favour of it. If your allegation is evidence-based, presumably he is currently being charged? What I meant is that being against voter fraud is bipartisan and uncontroversial. There is no mainstream political party that is officially in favour of voter fraud, although Republican efforts to restrict people's options for voting do raise concerns.

The hammer and sickle were evident in North Carolina's capitol

What have the hammer and sickle got to do with voter fraud?

>30 smirks4u: "I have seen the Antifa people backing those who throw gay men from high town spires to their deaths below"

Do say more about this. I have not heard about these people. I have heard plenty about those who throw gay men - and other LGBT+ folks - out the metaphorical window, but Antifa is generally not backing the Republican party.

"They made an awful racket, crowding and deriding anyone with a First Amendment Right which clashed with theirs"

Obviously, everyone's First Amendment rights are the same, so it's not clear how they could "clash".

"The hammer and sickle were evident in North Carolina's capitol."

Ah, what?

"In Winston-Salem, we had a lawyer and his obese son getting 'voters' registered."

Putting scare quotes around "voters" is a little odd. It seems to imply that you think these people are registering people who you think are not eligible to vote. I've done plenty of voter registration in my time, and one of the things you don't do when you're registering voters is verify eligibility - that's the job of the clerk's office which accepts the registration cards. As a volunteer registering voters, you're encouraging people to take part in the American democratic process, and you're not there to decide on the basis of outward appearances who is eligible and who is not.

"They approached many people who could speak no English."

Our previous president ("the former guy") could hardly speak English, and had no legal place of residence, but he was allowed to vote. What's your point?

"We still have addresses where there are unlikely numbers of voters living there."

What actually does this mean?

I’m finding entertainment value in the utter incoherence of that post. My neighbor talks like that too, and he sends me links to the stories he reads where these things are stitched together.
Silly, but also sad.

I would say #30 is one odd and incoherent post. Really this crap about voter fraud is a thing in some minds but there is no real evidence that there is any significant fraud. Donald lost by 7 million votes. In 2016 he becomes president despite Clinton getting almost 3 million more votes. Most people don’t like him.

I can’t take ‘Antifa people backing those who throw gay men from high town spires to their deaths below’ seriously and find it more than strange this statement coming from a conservative as if they have ever cared about the well being of gay men or the LBGTQ population.

>30 smirks4u:

You have no basis to disagree with "everybody's against voter fraud."

Historically, Democrats, liberals, and Progressives have proven they are, under all circumstances.

Historically, Republicans, right-wingers, racists, and white supremacists have prove they ARE, too, when they falsely accuse Democrats, liberals, and Progressives of it. That's because their rule for disapproval exempts their actual record of non-stop voter fraud and only condemns their made up conspiracies about everyone else who actually isn't doing it

So, the poster you criticize is perfectly correct. And you are perfectly ignorant of historical fact when it comes to Republicans.

>31 prosfilaes: I was watching people who could not converse in English. I was watching, firsthand, in North Carolina, an attorney ensuring that these foreign nationals were able to vote. Is that an allegation? Could that possibly be a simple statement of fact that decries the Liberal flag of 'let the viruses eat'? If I am a Guatemalan trying to enter Mexico's southern border, there is a big honking wall; bigger than around Pelosi's compound. I can never vote if I am not a certified citizen of Mexico. I can buy a house, but I cannot own the land it sits on. If I break a Mexican law, can I expect my president to say, "Where there is a Guatemalan, there is Guatemala!"?
The Internal Revenue Service sent 23,994 tax refunds worth a combined $46,378,040 to “unauthorized” alien workers who all used the same address in Atlanta, Ga., in 2011, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
The IRS sent 11,284 refunds worth a combined $2,164,976 to unauthorized alien workers at a second Atlanta address; 3,608 worth $2,691,448 to a third; and 2,386 worth $1,232,943 to a fourth. Can we still trust the same demographic alleles to not cheat on something as critical path as their voting for puppets?

>32 John5918: I am against voter fraud. If someone is not a citizen, they cannot legally vote. If someone does not have a pulse, they cannot legally vote. If someone has a relative/caretaker/coworker who is purloining their voting form to commit voter fraud; I am against that. It seems reasonable that all the people who have an ID to buy a beer might be able to find that ID to go vote. My identity is usually challenged about once a week. How do all of the illegal aliens in my state function without a lot of help?
Regarding the son's weight, not everyone is 6'3" and 320 pounds. That is a description of a suspect. Law enforcement here was successfully sued, or pulled in its horns long ago. Speaking Spanish only is practically carte blanche to be treated with diplomatic immunity here. The fleas on the tail are wagging the dog.
The hammer and sickle was one facet of the Antifa movement. Antifa is a group that has a history of drowning anyone's opinion but theirs. They do this in person, in websites, and via people such as an Elon University who actively goes after anyone conservative in her computer time. Antifa's name claims not to be Fascist, but their behavior gives lie to their intent.

>33 kiparsky: "Do say more about this. I have not heard about these people. I have heard plenty about those who throw gay men - and other LGBT+ folks - out the metaphorical window, but Antifa is generally not backing the Republican party."
The people the FBI dislikes right now, the Patriot movement; was against Muslim/Sharia Law. (Girls with pubic hair are legally women. Women are vessels, and sometimes vessels get broken. Gay men get pitched off of the minaret towers.) The gay men we sidled up to the Patriots on the NC Capitol Grounds; as the seething, cursing, raging Antifa people screamed epithets. Fascism at its finest. Shout down anything that does not tickle one's ears. Tear the pages out. Burn the books. Kill the messenger. Genghis Khan would have adopted them if they could fight. Khan spilled as much ink into rivers as blood.

>37 smirks4u:

Reading ALL your posts in this thread I find myself in a parallel position that you claim you were in. To paraphrase, "I was reading what a person who can not write in English," attempts.

BTW the way there is but one First Amendment. Period. You did know that, didn't you?

As for your own "demographic alleles" (whatever that means), well, I'll make an assumption based on your style and the context. Around here, nobody can trust that "demographic alleles'" unsubstantiated declarations for reasons they keep providing in seeming limitless supply.

I wish there were something that could be done to accommodate your personal "demographic allele" expressionistic style around here, but I can't think of a thing.

>39 smirks4u: "The people the FBI dislikes right now, the Patriot movement; was against Muslim/Sharia Law"

Yes, and they're also, independently, generally in favor of their own variant of Sharia law - women are to be property of men, shall not be allowed to make decisions about health care, women who have sex should be shamed unless they do it with the permission of their owners, etc, and as far as I can tell the only time the Patridiots ever mentioned gay rights is when they wanted to point out that other people are as against those rights as they themselves are.

In a nutshell, you're trying to set up a sort of arithmetical proof that Antifa is opposed to gay rights, and it runs like this:

(a) The "Islamists" are against gay rights.
(b) The so-called "Patriots" are against the "Islamists"
(c) The people you are pleased to refer to as "Antifa" oppose the so-called "Patriots".
(d) therefore by simple arithmetic the "Patriots" are champions of gay rights by virtue of opposing the "Islamists" who are opponents of gay rights, and by the same reasoning "Antifas" are opposed to gay rights by virtue of standing in opposition to the "Patriots".

However, this falls down on the assumption that there is some sort of fundamental difference between one gang of religious thugs who want to oppress those who disagree with them and the Islamists.

>40 Limelite: If you are sincere, I will attempt to help.
The First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." That is more than one right within the one Amendment; okay? Next.
Demographics are any characteristics. Alleles are sets or groups. In this age of being metaphorically ridden out on a rail for describing someone, it was subtlety.
I keep substantiating with facts, numbers and firsthand observations. You appear to keep dodging. I can only explain it. I cannot make you understand it.

>41 kiparsky: When in doubt, call names. If someone thinks I am a religious thug, fine. Better people than us have died to protect non-fighting words. I don't see it that way, but in a world where carpenter's are resurrected, anything is possible. (Catherine Hepburn).
Are Patriots an equal and opposite force to Muslims? Thomas Jefferson organized the United States' Marine Corps to combat the Barbary Pirates. Iran attacked our embassy. Muslims attacked downtown New York once or twice, involving deaths. Boko haram kidnapped over two hundred young women and girls; and went on an international forum to smile about the horrors they visited upon them. The USS Cole was bombed by Muslims. Usama bin Laden organized mass murder. Mohammed, the only prophet in Islam, 'married' Aisha when she was six years old. He wiggled his nasties between her thighs to reach sexual satisfaction, until she was nine. Then she was considered to be an adult woman, and was raped from then on. Non-Muslims can be made to shave their forehead, give up their clothing on the street, walk in the street dung to make way for Muslim men; and give up their living quarters to visiting Muslims. They can be made to wear two different shoes on their feet and a red belt around their neck. Is the Patriot movement doing anything remotely as oppressive as this? Nope. The Patriot movement probably had several thousand firearms, and how many rounds were fired on January 6th? How many people were beaten or killed in the antigovernmental takeover in the Pacific Northwest? How many arrests of Liberals occurred? Did the FBI rent billboards to hunt down BLM members stopping vehicles in the street?

Perhaps relevant to some of the recent conversation above.

Guns but not votes: Republican fealty to the constitution is completely one-eyed (Guardian)

When Republicans want to make it tougher to vote than to purchase a gun, something is definitely off-kilter...

>43 smirks4u: To be honest, I had no idea you identified as a thug, but whether you do or not, that's actually got nothing to do with the fact that your argument is utter nonsense.

Try to keep on the subject if you can.

>43 smirks4u:

You list a random collection of things which Muslims have done over the last 1,400 years. Over the same timescale, Christians have done most of those things, and more, as have pretty much any dominant identity group. At the same time you appear to imply that Islam and Islamic shari'a are monolithic. They're not. You then try to compare apples with oranges, a 1,400 year old world religion with 1.3 billion adherents, to a small modern right wing white supremacist armed militia in a single country, and to a small modern antifascist movement again in a single country. It makes no sense.

>37 smirks4u: Can we still trust the same demographic alleles to not cheat on something as critical path as their voting for puppets?

Economists point out that a rational economic actor would not vote; that the economic value of voting is less than the cost of getting off your ass and voting. You give a bunch of numbers in the millions, at hundreds or thousands per person, and say that someone who would ask for hundreds or thousands of their money back (tax returns, of course, mean that the tax was paid in the first place) would take the risk of contacting the government for nothing of monetary value.

>42 smirks4u: I keep substantiating with facts, numbers and firsthand observations.

There's no citations in any of your statements. First-hand observations don't mean much, especially as you ignore Kiparsky's point that it's not the voter register's job to check whether potential voters are citizens.

Besides which, this is basically a Gish gallop. You keep tossing more and more stuff out, in a broader and broader range, and nobody could address every point you make, and you barely address any point anyone else makes.

>47 prosfilaes: I was not aware of the term "Gish gallop", very useful. Thanks!

(I'm just going to highlight the first item under "See also" on the wikipedia page for this technique)

>45 kiparsky: Sorry, no. I am referring to someone submitting that anyone in a group they don't like is a "thug"; and I am potentially in part of that group. Is the topic not how Liberals are going to criminalize being conservative? Is it not about absolute control? "To be honest"... where is the sardonic eye roll button on this thing? :)

>46 John5918: Sir, I am against anyone 'marrying' a six-year-old girl. She was Aisha, and in some circles, I note no one is chanting, "Say her name!"
I am against anyone, of any stripe, torturing women and forcing them to wear clothing that hides injuries; and additionally helps hide the fact many are kidnapped.
There are factions within Muslim culture. We have local companies hiring certain groups. People are splashing toilet water with their left hands to their backsides. Those people are shut off from many areas of the facilities. There are places in Detroit where being a non-Muslim, in a Muslim-dominated factory; makes any trip to the bathroom potentially your last. Again, cross-contamination events with J-curve potential repercussions.
Islam depends on Amway-like growth. You take over a village. You cut the heads off every man who does not convert. You take all the widows and orphans as trophy meat. You put any converted males at the front of the column. You rinse and repeat in the next village or town. The Catholic Church did a lot of hellish things back in older times. Islam today has practitioners coming in peace, but eventually purveying war as the scenario progresses.

>47 prosfilaes: Collusion is entering into a conspiratorial mindset to allow crimes. Illegal voting, by the definition of 'illegal', is a crime. Saying you were following orders, or it was not your job to report a crime is a flounder. I pointed out one group was caught cheating, and submitting that such groups might intend to cheat again (by mail). If my communication offended you somehow, I do not see how. If introducing data streams into a conversation is forbidden by someone, I missed that.
"First-hand observations don't mean much" speaks volumes on your bias.
Tax returns

>50 smirks4u: Are you here for the argument then? Is that the 5 minute or are you here for the full half hour?

"There's (sic) no citations in any of your statements" Citations:
www.taxconnections.com/taxblog/millions-in-tax-refund-checks-sent-to-unauthorized-alien-workers-in-atlanta/
"Mexico is one of the few countries that have not imposed health restrictions on people entering the country by land or air." www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-22/mexico-limits-nonessential-travel-border-guatemala
Limelite mentions President Trump and Russia, while non-Russian-speaking Biden Hunter paid up to $80,000 a month by Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, not for his expertise (he had none) but to buy political leverage and influence with his father, at the time vice president in charge of foreign policy in Ukraine. He had no training or experience in the position for which he was hired. Collusion. www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/bombshell-biden-and-son-corruption-exposed

>51 smirks4u: "Illegal voting, by the definition of 'illegal', is a crime"

I notice that you're not complaining about Donald Trump illegally voting in Florida, where he does not legally have a residence. Why is that?

>49 smirks4u: I am referring to someone submitting that anyone in a group they don't like is a "thug"

There are lots of groups that I don't like. Many of them are not thugs. The "Patriots", on the whole, are thugs. If you're one of them, you're probably someone that I could call a thug.

Is the topic not how Liberals are going to criminalize being conservative? Is it not about absolute control?

I was under the impression it was about "Tracking Trump's Criminal Liability Post-Presidency", but that's just because I read the thread title and made that assumption. If you want to think it's about how you're being oppressed by those bad old liberals, well, go on and tell us about it. I always love hearing from a special conservative snowflake about how everyone's picking on them. It makes me laugh long and loud.

>50 smirks4u: I am against anyone 'marrying' a six-year-old girl

Like you, I'm against those things which happened centuries ago. I am also against any abuse of women, children or anybody else that happens today, whether it be domestic violence or a rich businessman grabbing women by the pussy in the street (and boasting about it). I am against kidnapping, whoever it is done by, for whatever reason, whether that be a Nigerian fringe Muslim group, Nigerian organised criminals seeking ransoms, international sex traffickers, or governments which try to diguise it by calling it "rendition". But I'm also against characterising whole groups of people by the actions of a few.

There are factions within Muslim culture

Well, that's progress, and it basically undermines much of what you previously said. There are some Muslims doing bad things, just as there are some Christians, some Hindus, some atheists, some of any identity group doing bad things. You may be aware that there are also some Muslims doing extremely good things, just as there are some Christians, some Hindus, some atheists, some of any identity group, doing good things. There is also a huge silent majority in any religious or other identity group who are just trying to live their lives, earn a living, bring up their children. So what's your actual point?

You take over a village. You cut the heads off every man who does not convert. You take all the widows and orphans as trophy meat. You put any converted males at the front of the column. You rinse and repeat in the next village or town

Funnily enough I lived in a Muslim country for many years, one ruled by an Islamist military regime. While the generals and their foot soldiers certainly did some very bad things, I don't recognise this description as being general to Islam. It could also be a description of many repressive regimes, of any religion and none. Totalitarian regimes often blend religious and political ideologies, but that does not mean that either the religion itself or its worldwide adherents subscribe to that ideology. An example is US right wing Christianity today, which is looked at with horror by mainstream Christians in many parts of the world, just as many Muslims look with horror on what is being done in their name by small groups of extremists.

Islam today has practitioners coming in peace, but eventually purveying war as the scenario progresses.

I've had the privilege of engaging with Islamic practitioners of peace who are, er, practitioners of peace. You may have noticed that in 2019 the brutal Islamist military dictatorship in Sudan was overthrown by a nonviolent revolution which was led by Muslims, especially women and youth. Even when they were being beaten, raped and murdered by security forces (ie "as the scenario progresses", to use your words), they maintained their nonviolent stance, and they prevailed.

>52 jjwilson61:

Looks like the full half hour.

>53 smirks4u: www.taxconnections.com/taxblog/millions-in-tax-refund-checks-sent-to-unauthorized-alien-workers-in-atlanta/

A mediocre source, at best. But still, if we're talking about people who pay taxes filing a tax return, I'm less than shocked. It also seems quite the presumption to blame immigrants for this, as well; if we don't believe they're actual workers, like some of the insinuations in that article, we don't know that they're not American citizens exploiting the system.

non-Russian-speaking Biden Hunter paid up to $80,000 a month by Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, not for his expertise (he had none) but to buy political leverage and influence with his father, at the time vice president in charge of foreign policy in Ukraine. He had no training or experience in the position for which he was hired. Collusion.

We've all heard the stories. I wouldn't particularly trust Hunter Biden (though I don't see why him not speaking Russian would matter in Ukraine), but he took a job that was offered to him. He was a Yale-educated lawyer with connections, which is enough to get him a position on the board of many American companies. There's no evidence that Hunter Biden attempted to influence his father, or that his father was influenced by Hunter Biden's position. The article you link goes into the New York Post article about the laptop, which has never released enough information to convince anyone to believe it; even journalists have been refused a chance to look at the full emails, including headers that might be used to verify the authenticity of the emails.

www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-22/mexico-limits-nonessential-travel-border-guatemala

It's funny, the only people who talk about what Mexico does like this are Republicans. "Mexico is sending us rapists" etc., but suddenly when it's convenient, "why we don't do the same thing as Mexico?" Even if Mexico was a similar nation to the US, I still wouldn't find "but Mexico does it" a justification. If you're annoyed that you can't buy land in Mexico, talk to your senator, and maybe it will be brought up next time NAFTA is renegotiated.

>51 smirks4u: "First-hand observations don't mean much" speaks volumes on your bias.

Not really. The quality of bystander observation is notoriously pretty bad, especially when they have a strong bias on the situation. The question of bias here has little to do with epistemology.

>55 kiparsky: "The "Patriots", on the whole, are thugs. If you're one of them, you're probably someone that I could call a thug."
Is that name-calling, or do the rules of conduct on this site allow Liberals to persecute, and just call it nomenclature? What makes George Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Mason, Madison, or other founding fathers a thug? Their sentiments that formed this country would be banned from Twitter today. Criminalization of opposition is the topic. I am sure a few thousand people laughed as Rome burned and other tragedies. Pretty sure one of my books discusses such laughter as the crackling of thorns (burning) under a pot. Watching Biden glaze like a Krispy Kreme doughnut at the press conference yesterday was a real treat. He lied like a bearskin rug yesterday, about Trump starving children to death. It never happened. The NPR lady had a lovefest over what a "Nice guy" Biden is. When the media goes entirely to the left; ignoring crimes, lies and deer in the headlights meanderings; that is a dangerous precedent.

>56 John5918: I have heard repeatedly about Muslim atrocities being committed "long ago", centuries ago, etc. When there is One prophet of Allah, and that is Mohammed; and that One prophet being blessed five times or more a day is the one committing the atrocities; that, good sir, is the Fruit of the Bad Tree. When it is accepted as the hallmark of goodness to behead people, to rape people, to ridicule 'infidels'; that is less a religion, and more a systemic world dominion policy. Right wing Christians are not taking over Islamic-State embassies (Iran, Benghazi, Libya). They are not closing off the Straits of Arden with prolific piracy; stealing people's ships, cargo and lives until ransomed.
"some Muslims doing extremely good things": the Hells Angels do a toy run most years. You want to buy some girl scout cookies from them? Sing Kumbaya with them?
The word Taqiyya is part of Muslim/Islamic holy scripture, is it not? Qu'ran/Koran 5:32.
This is just the scripture advising someone to deceive. Theft from us 'infidels' is another matter: "Property rights for non-Muslims exist only at the discretion of their Muslim rulers. Non-submissive infidels frequently had their property stolen from them by Muhammad's warriors, which sometimes included wives and children."
https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/quran/stealing.aspx

Today, throughout parts of Germany, France, Great Britain and the US; Muslims continue this revered tradition. They take phones, money, jewelry, etc. without much consequence. In Great Britain, they have made it a hate crime to address this. They must call the Muslim an "oriental" or be jailed. An outspoken man lamenting this was put in a cell directly across from the Muslim place of worship in the worst prison. Cruel and unusual by our standards. Now that hypervigilance has feigned injury, the word oriental will be the next word pruned from George Orwell's Mini Speak.

>57 prosfilaes: "A mediocre source, at best." Was it the truth? or just poorly sourced truth?
It happened. Soldier of Fortune magazine was considered a horrible source of information, but they scooped the world on an upcoming war in the 1980's. Arianna's Huffington Post is considered a wonderful source. HP said that Donald Trump had a 1.6% chance of winning the 2016 presidency, (leaving screeching Hillary that 50 point lead she discussed)...and that was unchallenged by all the other Liberal, non-mediocre sources until the night of the election.

"The quality of bystander observation is notoriously pretty bad..." When?
We should all just do away with witnesses altogether? That is the synopsis of such a statement. If the truth is inconvenient, attack the source, attack the bias, attack the messenger? Isn't that a little on the slippery slope to book-burning and totalitarianism. Asking for a friend. We have taught so many generations that 'their truth' outweighs The Truth that plasticity is the norm. Jell-O to a tree mentality.

>59 smirks4u:

Once again your post makes very little sense, and is a mixture of half truths, falsehoods and misinterpretation. You rely on a partisan website which appears to be peddling anti-Muslim propaganda. I prefer to rely on my own experience of living and working with Muslims over many decades, as well as my own study of the religion and culture of Islam from a broad range of credible sources rather than narrow and partisan propaganda factories. You've probably never heard of Mahmud Muhammad Taha, or Farid Esack, or Rashied Omar, or Oumar Kobine Layama, to name just a few. You've certainly never met some of the women and youth who led a nonviolent revolution in Sudan in 2019, nor all the ordinary Muslims who have offered me hospitality in that country. The Islam that you are attacking is a straw person, I'm afraid. If you want to attack something and some people so vehemently you'd do well to inform yourself properly about it.

>60 smirks4u: Was it the truth? or just poorly sourced truth?

Did you even both reading what I wrote? Even if we accept it as truth, you either have tax-paying illegal immigrants getting their tax refunds, or you have people of unknown citizenship, IMO probably American citizens, engaging in fraud.

Arianna's Huffington Post is considered a wonderful source.

https://www.adfontesmedia.com/the-chart-version-3-0-what-exactly-are-we-reading/ is one chart of media bias. I'd quibble about things, but I generally agree with it. And it puts the Huffington Post halfway between quality sources and trash. The Huffington Post is considered a non-wonderful source by many people, including those that recognize Fox as trash.

that was unchallenged by all the other Liberal, non-mediocre sources until the night of the election.

FiveThirtyEight gave Trump about a 30% chance. Trump lost the popular vote by a couple million, and won by narrow margins in a few states, and the polling had Clinton winning those states, so it's not surprising that few bet on Trump. I'm not going back over newspapers of the time, but FiveThirtyEight has been a trusted source of political predictions for a while.

"The quality of bystander observation is notoriously pretty bad..." When?

https://www.psychologicalscience.org/teaching/myth-eyewitness-testimony-is-the-b... . That article isn't saying anything new, either; even before DNA testing, tests of eyewitnesses revealed their reports differ largely from each other and from what actually happened.

Isn't that a little on the slippery slope to book-burning and totalitarianism.

No. In fact, critical thinking on sources and biases are important to a citizen of a democracy.

We have taught so many generations that 'their truth' outweighs The Truth that plasticity is the norm.

So is it good or bad that y'all have done that? At least you're taking responsibility for it.

I hear this type of crap so often from Republican types so often, and it's just good for a laugh. Democrats were upset when Trump was elected, but didn't challenge it, because he won. When Trump lost, Republicans launched hundreds of lawsuits, called politicians and demanded they create votes, and eventually physically attacked Congress. They then proceeded to deny all that. Who is having 'their truth' outweighing The Truth again? COVID-19 is another recent example; which side had most of the absolute bullshit come out about COVID-19? Or global warming, or the causes of the civil war.

I'm guessing that an earthling has moulted and emerged on March 17 with new colouring.

>63 librorumamans: Be careful, that might be a TOS violation...

>63 librorumamans:

Well, it's a locust plague year.

>58 smirks4u: What makes George Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Mason, Madison, or other founding fathers a thug?

Holy non sequitur, Batman. What have they got to do with anything?

I think it's probably getting to be a reasonable time for you to decide to make a point and support it. You've been firing off in every direction, and haven't hit nothin' yet. How about you settle down and aim?

What exactly is it that you're trying to get someone to believe here?

Summing up thus far:

Antifa thugs are shown to throw gays from Ukranian minarets so that a mysteriously remunerated Hunter Biden can catch them, thus proving incontrovertibly that the Orange Zombie won the election.

Obviously.

>61 John5918: Mr. John, it's back to nailing Jell-O to a tree again. My cackling detractors tell me that my first hand experience, over several decades, is suspect at best. We are on a library site, so I am assuming most of us emerge from our cocoons, through reading/watching/listening; to expand our first-hand experience with the experiences of others. Your first-hand experience, however, is supposed to trump mine. We have Muslims here as well. I have watched the progressions.
It is not a half-truth to say that Islam was founded on the sword. Even their own literature sings Mohammed's praises (PABBUH, right?). He was so profound, that Islam "would have thrived", even "without the sword". So, why cut off all those heads and intimidate the rest? Profundity.
I take a drop of recoil at your saying I am "attacking" so vehemently, anyone. I merely pointed out documents and events. I have no bombs, aircraft, bloody blades, nor bullets pointed at innocent civilians. Muslims do. Scud missiles were not a fantasy for Israel. The USS Cole was bombed. No half truth there. A van of explosives was detonated by Muslims in the New York City. There are ample videos of actual events. The majorital redux here seems to be: Liberal four legs, good. Conservative two legs, bad. One man's critical thinking is name-calling TOS violation to another. One man's source is attacked, not because it lied; but because the message is unacceptable. Be well.

>9 lriley: "One can always wonder at the people who decide who merits and who do not."
A most excellent point, and one I feel is frequently misdiagnosed. Polarization of views in the USA have both sides questioning the sanity/merit of the other. The letter of the law allows any extrapolation of this to go poorly for either, both or all sides.

#69–just to be clear I’m still waiting for you to make one coherent argument about anything.

>68 smirks4u: I have no bombs, aircraft, bloody blades, nor bullets pointed at innocent civilians. Muslims do.

For the record, to the best of my knowledge the Muslims I work with and interact with regularly have not got bombs, aircraft, or bullets, whether pointed at civilians, be they guilty or innocent, or not.

Your Muslims may vary.

>68 smirks4u: I have no bombs, aircraft, bloody blades, nor bullets pointed at innocent civilians.

The Muslim civilians who overthrew a military regime in a nonviolent revolution in Sudan in 2019 had no bombs, aircraft, bloody blades, nor bullets. The military regime they overthrew did (and used them on innocent Muslim civilians). What's your point?

Muslims do

So do Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jews, atheists, agnostics, and just about every other identity group. What's your point?

A van of explosives was detonated by Muslims in the New York City. There are ample videos of actual events

A van of explosives was detonated by a Christian in Oklahoma City in 1995. There are ample videos of actual events. What's your point?

Here's a current issue where someone is pointing bombs, blades and bullets at innocent civilians - Global calls to tackle Myanmar military's 'reign of terror' after worst mass killing (Guardian). Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist state, although what is relevant is not the religion but that the country is ruled by a military dictatorship. Buddhism is generally viewed as a predominantly peaceful religion. To the extent that religion is relevant in Myanmar, before the current round of political protest it was innocent Muslim civilians who were the target of the bombs, blades and bullets. How does this fit into your worldview?

>68 smirks4u: My cackling detractors tell me that my first hand experience, over several decades, is suspect at best. ... Your first-hand experience, however, is supposed to trump mine.

Over decades? You were talking about one person doing voter registration, so that's hardly over decades. You tell me the people can't speak English, but how could you know that? At lot of people speak Spanish to each other but speak perfectly fluent English. I can't find any numbers on the number of American citizens who don't speak good English, but there are some. I believe the information you've given is deeply colored by your biases, and a Fair Witness (as per Stranger in a Strange Land, someone trained to report exactly what they see and nothing more) would phrase things much differently.

OTOH, while John's biases color what he says (like all of us), he's speaking of things he's known and been deeply involved in over decades.

And yes, like everything, we weigh new claims versus what we already know and believe. Many of the objections to the Cottingley Fairies were silly; the photos weren't taken on a stage or manipulated (as photos) in any way. But most people don't believe in fairies, so they came to the correct conclusion that the photos weren't of real fairies. John tells me that humans are humans, and I believe that, so I accept his basic claims. You tell me that a billion people are raving monsters, and what's more, they're not the people who invented and designed most of modern weaponry, invented and ran concentration camps, and took most of the Americas just because the current inhabitants couldn't stop them. Yeah, I just don't buy that.

I've told if you tell someone in Northern Ireland you're an atheist, you'll get asked if you're a Protestant atheist or a Catholic atheist. Well, I'm distinctly a Protestant atheist, and I think that exposure to the Bible has often served me well in shaping my thinking. There's a universalist strain in the Bible that resonates deeply with me. Combine that with the fact that Christian interpretations of the Bible range all over the place, and I have no problem believing Muslim interpretations of the Koran range similarly, and that most of them are just people living ordinary lives.

So, why cut off all those heads and intimidate the rest?

Constantine I, after God told him to paint the Chi-Rho on his shields to win in battle, fished the drowned Maxentius from the Tiber, cut off his head and marched it through the city. To go much further back, why Twelve Plagues of Egypt, when God could have sat down with the Pharaoh and told the Pharaoh that he could let the Jews go, or well... , and God would speak to his heir about this matter?

I have no bombs, aircraft, bloody blades, nor bullets pointed at innocent civilians. Muslims do.

That doesn't seem to be comparing like versus like. Your nation has the highest rate of guns in civilian hands per person. Going by GlobalFirePower.com numbers (and looking around, they seem the standard source), the US has the most powerful military, and broken down by category, besides a couple spots where the US is lacking equipment (and if our military doesn't have frigates and towed artillery, it's because it doesn't think it needs them, not because the military can't afford them), the main hole is that the US doesn't have the sheer manpower available that a few other countries have.

Among mainly Muslim counties, Pakistan and Turkey top the list, and The US vs. Pakistan and The US vs. Turkey show that the US has a much stronger military than any Muslim country. Their lists don't include nukes, of which Muslim countries--i.e. Pakistan--has 165 and the US has 3800.

The USS Cole was bombed. No half truth there.

As I said elsewhere, Muslim terrorism hasn't hit home for me. But my grandfather was close enough to feel the Alfred P. Murrah bombing, a Wal-Mart I've shopped at was the last stop of right-wing terrorists in their spree of murders (including cop killing), and my mother called me in the middle of the night because she was afraid I'd decided to take in the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. (And if someone had invited me, I would have been there. A close friend of mine was working the ER that night, and posted pictures of the blood stained floors from all the gunshot victims brought in.) I'm sorry seventeen died when the USS Cole was bombed, but the death toll at the Alfred P. Murrah bombing was 168, and the Route 91 Harvest festival 60, so even from a purely insular US perspective, your mention of the USS Cole seems a bit disproportionate.

One man's source is attacked, not because it lied; but because the message is unacceptable.

Your source was disparaged because it didn't strike me as inherently trustworthy or a known factor, being closer to just another page on the net, and it didn't link to primary sources or expand on the text. And again, if we take it at face value, if these were illegal immigrants, they were getting refunds on taxes they paid, and if they were fraudsters, I'd say it's pretty likely they were Americans from their skill at manipulating American systems.

In 1988, Iran Air Flight 655, an Airbus A300 with 290 people on board, was blown from the skies by a missile fired from the US Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Vincennes as it flew over the Persian Gulf from Iran to Dubai on July 3, 1988.

But that doesn't bother Muslim-haters.

The USS Cole? "So what?" by comparison.

Trump's criminal presidency? 500,000 Americans dead due to his malicious and intentional incompetence.

Quit the WATB diversionary red herring tactics about the Muslim religion; get back on topical track and discuss Trump's genocidal policies against his fellow countrymen during the pandemic.

In 1967 Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty—an American warship killing 34. The Israeli’s did apologize—said they’d mistaken it for Egyptian.

>75 lriley:

OMG! Christians and Jews behaving like Muslims!!!!!! What is a religious bigot's world coming to????!!!

>73 prosfilaes: a Protestant atheist or a Catholic atheist

And as Republicans in the USA scramble to restrict citizens' voting rights, the Catholic atheists amongst them would do well to recall the Catholic teaching on elections, expressed nicely in Gaudium et spes, one of the key teaching documents to emerge from the Second Vatican Council, paragraph 31:

Praise is due to those national procedures which allow the largest possible number of citizens to participate in public affairs with genuine freedom.

(from Steven Colbert last week) -

Last week a 21 year old Christian went insane and murdered several people.

This week a 21 year old Muslim went insane and murdered several people.

What next? - Will a 21 year old atheist go insane tomorrow and rearrange his bookshelf?

It’s as if one person here doesn’t understand the concept of collateral damage. Take GWB’s shock and awe preemptive attack on Iraq or all the drone striking the US and its allies have done. The torture of prisoners in al Ghraib, Guantanamo and other places and black sites. Many of these people were innocents. But unfortunately there are plenty of those like smirks who think it’s all been a one way street.

To throw some shade on the Trumpster. His betrayal of the Kurds—giving their homeland away to fucking Erdogan like he took Jerusalem and the Palestinian right of return and gave that to Netanyahu.

It's sort of funny how the so-called conservatives all seem to evaporate once you ask them to actually get to a point.

Every darned one of them - it's almost as if they actually have nothing at all to say beyond disconnected talking babbling points.

>80 kiparsky: it's almost as if they actually have nothing at all to say beyond disconnected talking babbling ...

Was that possibility in fact ever in doubt?

How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations
Shane Goldmacher | April 3, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/03/us/politics/trump-donations.html

_________________________________________

It almost certainly is (criminal). It's federal wire fraud.
Many, many counts of wire fraud.
Probably violates state laws in many places too.

Other federal violations are likely as well. Bank fraud comes to mind. Maybe campaign finance violations.

- Elizabeth de la Vega @Delavegalaw | 6:20 PM · Apr 3, 2021

#82–A consistent and thoroughly bad individual. That quoted excerpt from Gaetz’s book where he’s going on about how Donald’s thrashed the shit out out of the family man thing and Gaetz of course thinks that’s great—gives him the go ahead to be the jerkoff he is and all these evangelicals and religious figures looking the other way. Some shitbirds they are.

Jill Wine-Banks, Fmr Watergate Prosecutor Has a Legal Opinion

Jill Wine-Banks, the former organized crime prosecutor who was an assistant Watergate special prosecutor, says, referencing all-star grifter Trump's "money-bomb" scheme. . .

"You don't expect a former president of the United States to be using these kind of tactics. This is the kind of thing you expect from, oh, scam artists who sell really low-quality products.

"In this case, what was happening was people would sign up thinking they were donating one time and there would be a little button they didn't see that said make this monthly, make this weekly, and sometimes it changed from monthly to weekly after they had hit it or had entered the one-time donation amount."

"I think that that kind of fraud should have political consequences, even if it doesn't have legal. But I think there are legal consequences," she said.

Countless legal consequences for wire fraud. Who knows how many state-based fraud cases? Campaign finance fraud?

There's gonna be a popcorn shortage. Invest now!

Not criminal exactly? Telling, though...

City of Albuquerque refers Trump campaign bill to collection agency
Joy Wang | April 22, 2021

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- The City of Albuquerque referred the Trump campaign to a collection agency.

The city is seeking approximately $200,000 following the president's rally in Rio Rancho in 2019.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said the bill covers security costs that stem from the former president staying in a downtown Albuquerque hotel overnight.

The security cost include blocking off parts of downtown, paying police officers overtime and covering the paid time off expenses of city workers who had to stay home...

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/city-of-albuquerque-refers-trump-campaign-b...

Trump LOSES Appeal to Quash Subpoena That Would Force Him to Testify

It's a civil case but the incident was criminal behavior.

So, the question is, will he perjure himself in the protesters’ lawsuit accusing his bodyguards of assaulting them back in 2015?

. . .activists had gathered outside Trump Tower to protest the Republican candidate’s derogatory comments on Mexican immigrants. On that September day, soon after the demonstrators assembled on Fifth Avenue outside (Trump Tower), several members of Trump’s security team allegedly “violently attacked” them and destroyed their protest banners before a crowd that included reporters.

While president, Trump had tried to quash a subpoena that would force him to testify at the civil trial in the Bronx and sit for a videotaped deposition beforehand. In 2019, his lawyers appealed a judge’s order denying his request.

On Tuesday, the state’s Appellate Division dismissed Trump’s appeal as moot.

Said the judge, Trump is just another citizen now (and was seen to snicker into the sleeves of his robe.)

Secret William Barr memo saying not to charge Trump must be released, judge says
Katelyn Polantz | May 4, 2021

...The 9-page memo that (federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson) said should be released was finalized by two top political leaders in the Justice Department -- Steven Engel of the Office of Legal Counsel and Ed O'Callaghan, a top adviser in the Deputy Attorney General's Office -- the same day Barr briefed Congress about Mueller's findings on Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump's attempts to obstruct justice.

The Justice Department had argued in court that much of the substance of Engel and O'Callaghan's memo should stay blacked out, because it was protected internal discussions about the law and policy. One DOJ lawyer, Paul Colborn, had told the court the memo was meant to help Barr decide whether to prosecute Trump.

Engel and O'Callaghan's memo recommended no prosecution, saying that Mueller's findings weren't evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.

Jackson has read the document at issue in the case for herself, she noted. The judge said the redacted pages offer "strategic, as opposed to legal advice" to Barr. By not mentioning that in court, Jackson wrote that the DOJ was pretending the strategy discussion didn't exist.

...Jackson's strongly worded opinion, though largely about technicalities around government confidentiality, comes close to accusing the Justice Department of a cover-up.

The judge wrote that while top DOJ officials prepared the legal opinion that gave Barr cover not to prosecute Trump, they simultaneously were emailing about a higher priority they had: to inform Congress the President was exonerated.

The Mueller probe thoroughly investigated several episodes where Trump tried to impede or end the inquiry into his campaign's ties to Russia. But the special counsel left the indictment decision to Barr and his top political appointees. Mueller partly found that Justice Department policy blocked the prosecution of a sitting President. After closing his office, Mueller later told to Congress that an ex-President could be prosecuted for obstruction, yet Barr had already reached a definitive conclusion in Trump's case...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/04/politics/william-barr-memo-trump-memo/index.html

Scoop: FEC drops first of several election complaints against Trump
Lachlan Markay | 5/12/2021

The Federal Election Commission...deadlocked in a 3-3 vote on whether to probe potential campaign finance violations surrounding an infamous meeting with two Russian nationals at Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.

News of the vote comes shortly after the FEC officially closed the file on another 2016 campaign matter: former President Trump's hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The Daniels and Trump Tower cases are two in a large backlog of FEC complaints related to Trump's — and, to a smaller degree, Hillary Clinton's — conduct during the 2016 campaign.

The commission is expected to announce votes on a number of those cases in the coming weeks, with little enforcement action expected.

A source with direct knowledge of the matter told Axios that the three Republican commissioners voted against finding "reason to believe" a violation occurred in the case.

Their reasoning, the source said, was largely procedural: the five-year statute of limitations for the law at issue expires in just a few months, and they argued there now isn't enough time left to sufficiently adjudicate the matter...

https://www.axios.com/fec-drops-election-complaints-trump-99674f1a-d1f5-4cc5-ab7...

Rachel Maddow Agrees: Barr Scandal Could Spell I-N-D-I-C-T-M-E-N-T for Trump

Now that we know USAG Bill Barr

. . .lied to Congress, the court and the country when he claimed that the Justice Department had done an investigation into whether it could charge Donald Trump. Not only was there no investigation or collaboration with deputies and prosecutors, it was Barr's decision, followed by the falsification of documents to justify it after the fact. Raw Story

And now, since Trump is no longer protected from prosecution by virtue of being president, we know that Trump could be "indicted for obstruction of justice on at least the ten counts included in the Mueller report.

All that has to happen is for USAG Garland to give the green light for an investigation linking the Barr scandal to the Mueller report findings. Obstruction and cover-up proven.

View Maddow's report here.

New York attorney general adds 'criminal capacity' to probe of Trump Organization
Sonia Moghe and Kara Scannell | May 19, 2021

...Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's office is examining millions of pages of documents that include Trump's tax returns.
A person familiar with the investigation said a couple of investigators with the New York attorney general's office, who are steeped in knowledge about the Trump Organization, have joined the district attorney's team. A different person familiar with the matter said the New York attorney general is still conducting a civil investigation.

...For the past two years, James' office looked into matters including whether or not it improperly inflated assets on financial statements to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits, as well as how Trump Organization employees were compensated...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/18/politics/new-york-attorney-general-trump-organiza...

Trump Guilty of Criminal Real Estate Fraud?

Someone is very good at connecting the dots. The NYA AG must have seen something. After learning that it is no longer merely and only investigating Trump for financial wrongdoing, the office's exam of his state tax records, real estate dealings, and possibly general bookkeeping seems to have found evidence that has altered the minds and course of investigators into the Trump Organization and the man himself. It's now a criminal prosecution he's facing from the state.

Former senior prosecutor for Robert Mueller, Andrew Weissmann, explained that the Martin Act is typically used in the New York AG's office to investigate commodities fraud, but also extends to real estate fraud.

If you narrow it down to what is the attorney general has criminal jurisdiction over is the Martin Act. If you look at the provision of the Martin Act, it is (it covers) security and commodities and real estate (fraud). . . .that's what the New York attorney general has now in her sight in connection with the Trump investigation.

". . .it is important to remember that the Trump Organization is small and Donald Trump is a notorious micromanager. If there is something there, somebody is going to take the fault for that. I suspect that Letitia James is going to up on the pressure."

Yeah, speaking of pressure, CFO Allen Weisselberg possibly has flipped. If he hasn't, I'm sure James knows exactly where to apply the pressure now.

Stay tuned, the next episode in our Trump Criminal Entertainment Weekly series is going to be Which of the Trump/Kushner brats will be the first in the family to flip? The heat is definitely on.

No, I'm NOT Prescient. . .but. . .

The pressure cooker is already on the stove. The New York attorney general's office has opened a criminal tax investigation into top Trump Organization officer Allen Weisselberg, increasing the legal pressure on the long-time aide to former President Donald Trump, people familiar with the investigation say.

The pressure on Weisselberg is mounting from two directions with the attorney general looking into his personal taxes, while prosecutors in the district attorney's office are digging into his role at the Trump Organization, his personal finances, and benefits given to his son Barry, a long-time employee of the Trump Organization.

Prosecutors are seeking to find leverage that could sway Weisselberg into cooperating with authorities. . .Vance's office is coordinating with James' office on its criminal investigation into Weisselberg.

The tax investigation into Weisselberg's personal finances by New York attorney general Letitia James was opened several months ago and is being handled by a small unit within the office that has authority to bring criminal charges. . .
(SNIP)
The attorney general's office tax investigation is focusing on Weisselberg as an individual, but it could expand to include actions he has taken in his role at the Trump Organization. . .Weisselberg's former daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg, has been cooperating with investigators.
(SNIP)
The attorney general's criminal investigation into Weisselberg's personal finances began, in part, because of documents shared by his former daughter-in-law. . .

Jennifer Weisselberg was married for 14 years to Barry Weisselberg, who for two decades managed Trump Organization businesses contracted out by New York City in Central Park. . .

The lavish lifestyle that Jennifer and Barry Weisselberg lived during their 14 years of marriage was largely funded by Allen Weisselberg, Barry Weisselberg testified during a 2018 divorce deposition obtained by CNN.

Documents from Jennifer and Barry Weisselberg's divorce show thousands of dollars of payments for cars, rent, tuition, medical bills and more coming from Allen Weisselberg to his son's family.
(SNIP)
In April, Jennifer Weisselberg told CNN she believes that at least some of her two children's tuition payments were paid for by Donald Trump saying Trump paid for one child and Allen paid for the other.

"I know for a fact Donald wrote those checks," she told CNN in April.

"Jen Weisselberg has plenty to say on this subject, but she will continue to provide that and other information to relevant authorities including the Manhattan District Attorney's Office," (her lawyer) said.

Pardon me, folks but this story just reeks of hush money payments and payroll tax avoidance. Not to mention good old Al Capone style tax evasion/fraud being executed by the Orange Shitegibbon and his CFO. I also detect the pungent aroma of conspiracy to commit fraud. In sum, it's a veritable bouquet of possible long term prison sentences that could end the same way as Bernie Madoff's jail sentence for his Ponzi fraud scheme did. I'm talking death behind bars.

Secret Service to Testify in Trump Crime Family Investigation/Trial?

Trump may have involved his kids and their families in his criminal activities unintentionally. By appointing Ivanka and Jr. and s-i-l, Jared into positions of responsibility in government and tasking them with government related service, he placed them under Secret Service protection. More so than any other president's family, those agents assigned to various Trumps and to Kushner know more about their private business and overheard more intimate conversations than that common historically.

A lot more agents means a lot more witnesses and implies a greater chance of corroboration of versions of events. Harkening back to the historical record, Secret Service agents were subpoenaed to testify before the Ken Starr grand jury at the time of Pres. Clinton's impeachment.

What might they have to give evidence about? Possibly, facts surrounding Trump's use of his office for personal financial gain. Or perhaps salient information regarding his attempts to overthrow the Georgia general election by threatening state officials. We shall see. Awkward as it must be for agents, they are citizens first. Their discomfort is no different from that of a private secretary or confident of a CEO being subpoenaed to testify about what they know when their boss is being investigated for such crimes as fraud, tax evasion, or illicit business practices.

Q: When Does One NOT Convene a Grand Jury?

A: When one does NOT believe one's investigation has enough evidence to bring forward charges.

Cyrus Vance of the Manhattan DA's office has empaneled a grand jury to review the evidence in the Trump investigation. It's the grand jury's job to decide if enough evidence exists to indict the Orange Shitegibbon for crimes he committed against the IRS, against the Martin Act, and against the financial institutions that loaned him money. While the grand jury need not return any charges, it's highly doubtful that a DA of Vance's experience would convene one in the absence of any belief that he has a solid case as a result of the two year investigation.

Various news reports indicate Trump is heavily occupied by fear of prosecution as numerous meetings and confabs among family, advisors, and lawyers indicate strategy sessions for how to counter-attack the long arm of the law that seems to have him within its grasp. Money trends toward delay tactics until Trump announces formally his 2024 bid for re-election. That way he can claim political persecution because of his candidacy, a ploy guaranteed to obfuscate and cloud the credibility of Vance among his base, willing as it is to believe any lie or conspiracy pertaining to their cult leader.

IMO, fraud (tax and bank) charges will be forthcoming at a minimum. Having fought all the way to the SCOTUS and won to get Trump's tax returns, Vance has been in possession of the "mother lode." Add that the state AG joined her investigations to Vance's and the preponderance of evidence is that Vance has a preponderance of evidence worthy of prosecution and conviction in the eyes of any grand jury.

My expectation -- beyond hope -- is Trump (and quite probably other members of the Trump Organized Crime Family) will suffer a long hot summer in '21 but will eventually be cooling off in a cold prison cell instead of being involved in campaigning for president in 2024.

Any takers?

Trump Accumulating More Criminal Charges?

Blinded by pique and desire for revenge whenever he is defied, is Trump undertaking to evict Allen Weisselberg's former d-i-l, Jennifer by proxy? From where I sit, it looks like Trump has twisted Weisselberg's arm, forcing him to proceed with kicking his former d-i-l out of her residence.

Jennifer Weisselberg is very publicly advertising her cooperation with the Manhattan DA's and NY state AG's investigations into the Trump Organized Crime Family. But in an interview with Ari Melber, MSNBC, former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman indicated Trump's potential error in doing so.

. . .the idea that he's (Allen Weisselberg) trying to do this (evict Jennifer Weisselberg), amounts to witness tampering. It amounts to obstruction of justice and what it comes down to is whether he is doing it with a corrupt intent, an improper purpose," Akerman said. "Meaning, that he is doing it to silence her or to, somehow, influence her testimony. and that is what this looks like."

"That she's being evicted from an apartment, where Allen Weisselberg is the guarantor on the rent, I mean, that just, on the surface, smacks of obstruction of justice and witness tampering which are, both, federal crimes and state crimes," he said. "Witness tampering, in the federal system, carries a sentence of 20 years in prison. I mean, it is more serious than the tax evading. This is, clearly, one of those cases where the coverup could wind up being much worse for Allen Weisselberg than the actual crime that he's being investigated for."

Since Allen W. has been underwriting the rent on Jennifer's lodgings, it hardly sounds to me like the eviction action is his idea. But it does have Trump's fingerprints all over it. He is the one who really wants to shut her up and intimidation is his standard practice when he feels threatened.

If investigators can make the case for punitive intent behind the eviction, the penalty Wessilberg would face if convicted, will induce him to make a deal with the Feds. Those kinds of deals require full cooperation from the accused. In which case, I feel certain Weisselberg will sing like a canary and be a prime witness for the prosecution when Trump faces the music.

Emails Tie Top Trump Exec Allen Weisselberg to Yet Another Trump Financial Scandal
These records show he was involved with the Trump inauguration committee now under investigation for major grifting.
David Corn | May 27, 2021

...In 2020, Karl Racine, the AG in the nation’s capital, filed a lawsuit against Trump’s inauguration committee and the Trump Organization, asserting that the inauguration committee, a nonprofit corporation, misused charitable funds to enrich the Trump family. The complaint, as the attorney general put it in a statement, accuses the Presidential Inauguration Committee (known as the PIC) of coordinating “with the Trump family to grossly overpay for event space in the Trump International Hotel.” ...

Racine also alleges that the PIC improperly used nonprofit funds to host a private party at the Trump Hotel for the Trump family that cost several hundred thousand dollars...

In April 2017—three months after Trump’s inauguration—the PIC was trying to sort out its financial reports, and though the Trump Organization was not officially involved in its operation except as a payment recipient, (Allen Weisselberg, Trump Organization's CFO) was brought into the effort.

This happened on April 19, the day after the PIC filed its financial report with the Federal Election Commission and revealed that it had raised $107 million. ...twice what Barack Obama had collected for his first inauguration...concerns about influence-peddling...the Associated Press the next day noted, “That leaves a bit of a mystery: What the $107 million was spent for and how much was left over—the excess, if any, to go to charity. It also raises a new round of questions about the influence of money in politics, this time for a president who promised to ‘drain the swamp’ of Washington.”

A legal filing submitted by Racine in May 2020 in his case against the Trump Organization and the PIC included emails that show how the PIC reached out to Weisselberg on the afternoon of April 19, as news reports about the PIC’s finances were exploding...

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/05/emails-tie-trump-exec-allen-weissel...

The Secret Service Has To Protect Former Presidents — But What If They Are In Jail?
Donald Trump could be the first president to face jail or prison time, creating a dilemma for the officials charged with protecting him.
S.V. Date | May 30, 2021

...Although the agency frequently works closely with federal and state law enforcement, it has never had to deal with one of its own “protectees” potentially being in their custody.

“There is no precedent for this, so no one knows for certain the answer, and arguably President Biden gets final say over the extent of any USSS protection for his predecessor,” said Bradley Moss, a lawyer with national security expertise. “That said, it is likely former President Trump would maintain protection even if convicted and incarcerated due to his special status.”

(Jeffrey Robinson, co-author of the book, “Standing Next to History: An Agent’s Life Inside the Secret Service”), though, said it defied common sense for an incarcerated person, even an ex-president, to get special protection. “You’re not going to put Secret Service agents in prison to protect a guy who’s already being protected by the prison,” he said.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-jail-secret-service_n_60aff72ee4b0ead279663...

Manhattan DA Subpoenas Trump Org Controller to Testify Before Special Grand Jury

Remember, a special Grand Jury indicates the investigation has provided enough evidence for prosecutors that they think they have a winnable court case. It's likeliest purpose in the Trump Crime Family investigation is the issuance of indictments to one or more individuals. Folks, looks like we've got a FRAUD case for sure. Possibility tax evasion is looming. At the very least, increased pressure to get Weisselberg to flip. As reported in the NYT as quoted by Raw Story

"The executive, Jeffrey McConney, has long served as the Trump Organization's controller, making him one of a handful of high-ranking executives to oversee the company's finances.
(SNIP)
"The subpoena of Mr. McConney, who has worked at the company for nearly 35 years, suggests that the examination of Mr. Weisselberg's conduct has reached a new phase, with the grand jury hearing evidence about him.

"Under state law, witnesses such as Mr. McConney who appear before the grand jury are granted immunity on the subject of their testimony. They cannot exercise their Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions on the grounds that they might incriminate themselves. (If they lie, they still can be prosecuted for perjury.)"

Sounds like the distance between a rock and a hard place is shrinking down to just about nothing for Weisselberg and thus, Trump. Weisselberg will have a bit more wiggle room than the Orange Shitegibbon because he can do a deal like McConney has done. Trump isn't eligible for squealer status and the special Grand Jury can only issue indictments in his case.

#98–so the fact that McConney testifies truthfully at all without invoking his 5th amendment rights puts those he testifies against (Trump, other Trump’s, Weisselberg and other Trump organization employees past (if still alive) and present) squarely behind the 8 ball?

I imagine that there are Trump allies who would actually like to see that if only to further their own presidential ambitions and gosh darn it if Trump is prosecuted by the state of New York and not by the feds they won’t be able to pardon him either something I’m sure that Donald won’t understand but it will keep him from becoming too much of a nuisance. He can be a martyr instead. That’s if the prison food or an inmate doesn’t kill him first. Then he can be a dead martyr.

A question for Weisselberg and the other Trump organization employees—how far are you willing to go to protect your former boss? All the way to a prison sentence of your very own? Just saying it seems kind of stupid.

>99 lriley: Added to Weisselberg's burden of silence is the legal threat pertaining to his children. His silence to protect Trump will become the weapon against him and them. I'm betting the DA and AG of Manhattan and NY are turning the thumb screws in his own case of criminal liability as well as in his kids'.

Unless he makes a deal of the same terms as McConney, his silence will only buy long term jail sentences for him and his sons. His ex-d-i-l will see to it. Hell hath no fury like a woman being evicted from housing in the style to which she's become accustomed.

#100–they hold a lot of pre-trial prisoners on Riker’s Island. Not a very nice place. I’m thinking the Weisselberg’s wouldn’t be very happy there. Is what it is if they hold out but Riker’s as a wake up might be pretty convincing.

Stormy Daniels says she would 'love' to testify in Trump Organization probe (CNN)

Stormy Daniels said Monday that she has not yet testified in a New York criminal probe into the Trump Organization but that she would "love nothing more than" to be interviewed by prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump's sprawling company.

"I have not been called to testify yet, but I've been very forthcoming since the beginning of all this that I would love nothing more than my day in court and to give a deposition and to provide whatever evidence that they need from me," Daniels, an adult-film star whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, told CNN's John Berman on "New Day." "I mean, I have all the original forms and emails and wire transcripts and all of that stuff, and I'm happy to turn it over to anybody who needs it, honestly"...

Trump's DOJ Spied on Congressional Democrats: Schiff Demands Investigation

Under then USAG, Bill Barr, DOJ subpoenaed Apple for data from the accounts of at least two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, aides and family members. NYT reported based on three sources close to the administration.

"All told, the records of at least a dozen people tied to the committee were seized in 2017 and early 2018, including those of Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, then the panel's top Democrat and now its chairman. . ."

Two Trump attorneys are implicated.

"Prosecutors, under the beleaguered attorney general, Jeff Sessions, were hunting for the sources behind news media reports about contacts between Trump associates and Russia. Ultimately, the data and other evidence did not tie the committee to the leaks, and investigators debated whether they had hit a dead end and some even discussed closing the inquiry.

"But William P. Barr revived languishing leak investigations after he became attorney general a year later. He moved a trusted prosecutor from New Jersey with little relevant experience to the main Justice Department to work on the Schiff-related case and about a half-dozen others. . .

"The zeal in the Trump administration's efforts to hunt leakers led to the extraordinary step of subpoenaing communications metadata from members of Congress — a nearly unheard-of move outside of corruption investigations. While Justice Department leak investigations are routine, current and former congressional officials familiar with the inquiry said they could not recall an instance in which the records of lawmakers had been seized as part of one. . .

"Moreover, just as it did in investigating news organizations, the Justice Department secured a gag order on Apple that expired this year, according to a person familiar with the inquiry, so lawmakers did not know they were being investigated until Apple informed them last month."

As a result of these revelations, CNN's John Berman reports that Schiff is calling for an inspector general investigation into whether any misconduct was involved in the surveillance.

Schiff also took to Twitter to fire back against the former president, writing, "This baseless investigation, while now closed, is yet another example of Trump's corrupt weaponization of justice. And how much he imperiled our democracy."

Trump repeatedly demanded the DOJ go after his political enemies. It's clear his demands didn't fall on deaf ears.… https://t.co/4duL0v8cu2
— Adam Schiff (Adam Schiff)

This latest chapter in the endless book of Trump scandals is possibly his most Nixonian -- misusing the powers of the presidency to spy on and attack political enemies (opposition). I don't see how the similarity can escape any Republican who has knowledge of the entire Watergate mess Nixon was responsible for. It cost him the rest of his presidency, his reputation, and demeaned the entire Republican Party back when it had an ethical consciousness and was capable of shame for shameful behavior.
___________________________________________
Instant UPDATE
Bill Barr could lose his law license over Trump DOJ spy scandal

On CNN Thursday, Norm Eisen, who acted as counsel for House Democrats during the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump, expressed outrage at the New York Times report that the Justice Department secretly spied on members of Congress investigating Trump's ties to Russia — and predicted that former Attorney General William Barr could face the loss of his law license over the scandal.

"It's groundbreaking and earth-shaking. And there are going to be consequences. There's going to be fallout.

"They even went after the child of one of these targets on the Hill to get information about a child's account from Apple!. . .the question of Bill Barr ... we've already had two judges criticize him for a coverup in connection with protecting Trump from obstruction charges. Now people are going to be looking at his law license afresh."

Dems Demand Two Former U.S. Attorneys General Testify

“Former Attorneys General Barr and Sessions and other officials who were involved must testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath. If they refuse, they are subject to being subpoenaed and compelled to testify under oath," Schumer and Durbin said in a statement.

Democrats should cut to the chase and issue subpoenas. The Justice Department's internal watchdog, the Inspector General, will probe the charge of abuse of power.

In addition to Adam Schiff,

Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said he had been spied on.

“In May, I was notified by Apple that my records were among those sought by — and turned over to — the Trump administration as part of a politically motivated investigation into his perceived enemies," Swalwell said in a statement.

Trump's DOJ Subpoenaed Info on 109 Private Identifiers

More information is coming out about the Trump-era Department of Justice subpoenaing information on Democratic members of Congress.

"DOJ under Trump demanded metadata on 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses from Apple, the company said tonight. The Dept sent a broad request in February 2018 as part of its investigation that collected data on members of Congress, staffers and their families," CNN's Jim Scuitto reported Friday.

Zack Wittaker of TechCrunch reported further details.

Wittaker reported.

@zackwhittaker
More details: The grand jury subpoena sought metadata for 109 identifiers, specifically 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses. Apple said it assumes ISPs and other tech companies were also sent similar requests. Apple now limits identifiers to 25 or less.

CNN is also reporting Microsoft received a subpoena in 2017.

This scandal and probably revelations of even more corrupt DOJ practices are going to leak out over a prolonged period. Perhaps even over years. The biggest question relating to what's already known (and by extension, what will become known) is what are Democrats going to do about it? A smallish but required question is how many other communications companies received similar subpoenas and for which clients.

The ball is in USAG Merrick Garland's court. My patience for a plan of action and or action itself to rid the DOJ of corrupt Trumpist loyalists will last until the end of the month, when I expect to see or to have seen heads roll.

Justice -- that we are a Nation of Laws and adhere to the principle of equality before the law -- is the bedrock of our democracy. It has been gravely compromised during the Trump era. To save democracy, the Biden Administration must take aggressive action against its domestic enemies and those who pervert its principles. And a Democratic Congress must undertake aggressive legislative remedies to prevent more and worse tyrannical aspirants to the presidency with laws that slam the Constitutional doors on them and their ambitions.

Sessions Joins Barr, Pleading Ignorance: Rosenstein the Bad Guy or the Fall Guy?

The former Attorney General oversaw dozens of leak investigations. But he’s telling associates he knew nothing about this particular one. In a scenario that's looking like a schoolyard tattle-tale stand-off, Trump's first USAG, Jeff Sessions, is saying, "It wasn't me!" With both Barr and Session hit with the news that the Dems expect them to testify in the Apple Spygate Scandal, both persons of interest are doing their best to force investigators to find a third after pleading ignorance of what was going on in the department where they were each supposed to know what was going on during.

. . . former Attorney General Sessions has privately told people that he wasn’t aware of, nor was he briefed on, the reported data seizures while he led the Trump DOJ. This week’s revelations were a surprise to him, according to a source familiar with the matter, and another person close to Sessions.

“What’s been reported is explicitly the kind of thing that Donald Trump would often say he wanted out of his Justice Department,” said the individual familiar with the matter. “But right now, it’s unclear how many top officials at the time even knew about this.”

Under Sessions, the Justice Department launched dozens of probes into leaks of classified information.

Ordinarily, the Attorney General would’ve been aware of such politically-sensitive subpoenas. But Sessions’ tenure was anything but ordinary. . .

“In a normally-functioning Department, that is not a call that would be made without the Attorney General's approval,” Matthew Miller, a former top spokesperson for the Justice Department under the Obama administration, told The Daily Beast.

"The question to me would be whether he Sessions was recused or not. We know he was recused from the Russia investigation, and so if he decided that recusal extended to related leak investigations, then it would make sense that he wouldn't know. Recusals are bright lines,” he added.

That leaves Ron Rosenstein holding the bag. Trump nominated Rosenstein to serve as Deputy Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice on February 1, 2017.

Following the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Comey's dismissal, Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 elections and related matters. Rosenstein previously assumed authority over the parallel FBI probe after Sessions recused himself over misleading remarks he made to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary during his confirmation process. The New York Times reported Rosenstein prevented the FBI and Mueller from investigating Trump's personal and financial dealings in Russia.

That must have impressed Trump favorably. Perhaps there was something else the Deputy AG could do for him. But was there time? Rosenstein submitted his official resignation as Deputy AG on April 29, 2019.

Remember, Sessions tried to get Rosenstein to resign along with 45 other US Attorneys when he assumed office, but Trump overruled him and Rosenstein stayed. Perhaps that was enough to buy his loyalty, discretion, and silence. Rosenstein served him well in hounding James Comey out of his job as FBI Director with his memo, handed to Sessions, giving Trump the reason to fire Comey.

Following the release of the Mueller Report,

. . .as he was preparing to leave office, Rosenstein criticized the Obama administration, the FBI, Congress, and the press for their conduct regarding Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Rosenstein asserted, "The previous administration chose not to publicize the full story about Russian computer hackers and social media trolls, and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America." He asserted that former FBI director James Comey had stated that Trump pressured him to end the investigation into the matter. Rosenstein went on to say, "In politics — as in journalism — the rules of evidence do not apply." He quoted President Trump advocating for the rule of law. He also criticized the FBI and Congress for leaks regarding the investigation.

USAG Merrick Garland certainly should release the full, unredacted Mueller Report as well as include Rosenstein as a person of interest to the DOJ IG's investigation with the recommendation that Rosenstein be interviewed. Congress would be well advised to see that Rosenstein is subpoenaed as well as Sessions and Barr.

That might get the onion to start peeling itself.

NY DA: Prosecutors Wrapping It Up

Some might say that when Vance brought top organized-crime prosecutor, Mark F. Pomerantz, onto the team just before convening the special Grand Jury last February, it signaled 'game over' for Trump. Others might argue it was when Vance hired the outside forensic accountant firm, FTI Consulting to decipher Trump's tax and financial records. Morgan Magionos is a member of the FTI Consulting team who was instrumental in the successful prosecution of Paul Manafort.

CNN — A former FBI agent key to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election is one of several forensic accountants working on the Manhattan district attorney's investigation into the Trump Organization. . .
(SNIP)
Magionos, a certified fraud examiner and accountant, spent nine years at the FBI where she worked in its international corruption squad in Washington, DC. She was detailed to the Mueller investigation and traced Manafort's assets across four countries. Manafort was charged with multiple counts of bank fraud, failing to report foreign bank accounts, and filing false tax returns, among other crimes.

Tonight, MSNBC, quoting the NYT, reports that Vance likely to bring criminal charges against Trump Organization, CFO, Allen Weisselberg, before the end of summer, a move seen by analysts to crank up the pressure on him to cooperate with investigators.

The noose continues to tighten and the wheels of justice are grinding onward.
___________________________________
NYT report on impending indictment here.

RUMOR WARNING: I have only been able to find a single source who cites an informant she has trusted and worked with for 4 years who says Weisselberg has been charged today. Sources for this kind of inside information are rare because of consequences if they are exposed. I can find no secondary source or report, as a result, I am treating this report as a RUMOR. That said, today's "leak" as reported above and in linked NYT article can be the "approved" version of events that are secret but allowed to be made public and can act as foreshadowing for the really big story that will soon follow. Until then, treat this as gossip rather than scuttlebutt.

Ali Velshi (MSNBC) @AliVelshi | 2:18 PM · Jun 25, 2021:
BREAKING: The Trump Organization is expected to be hit with criminal charges
as soon as next week by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s office
in a case that Trump attorneys say is tied to tax evasion related conduct,
multiple people familiar with the matter tell NBC News.
___________________________________________

Trump Organization Could Face Criminal Charges in D.A. Inquiry
An indictment of the Trump Organization could mark the first criminal charges to emerge from an investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into Donald J. Trump and his business dealings.
William K. Rashbaum, Ben Protess and Jonah E. Bromwich | June 25, 2021

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has informed Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that it is considering criminal charges against his family business, the Trump Organization, in connection with fringe benefits the company awarded a top executive (Allen H. Weisselberg), according to several people with knowledge of the matter.

...it was not previously known that the company also might face charges.

It would be highly unusual to indict a company just for failing to pay taxes on fringe benefits, said several lawyers who specialize in tax rules. None of them could cite any recent example, noting that many companies provide their employees with perks like company cars...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/nyregion/trump-organization-criminal-charges....

Documents Show Ivanka Trump Didn’t Testify Accurately in Inauguration Scandal Case
She said she played no role in planning inaugural events. These records suggest otherwise.
David Corn | 6/28/2021

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/06/documents-show-ivanka-trump-didnt-t...

Trump Organization CFO, Weisselberg Surrenders

Trump's lifelong money-man, Alan Weisselberg, surrendered to the Manhattan DA. Now we await his decision -- whether he will plea and flip, or fight -- as he faces charges that will be unsealed later today when he appears in court at 2:15 PM. The charges most likely will stem from DA Vance's three-year investigation that

had been examining whether Mr. Weisselberg failed to pay taxes on valuable benefits he and his family received from Mr. Trump, including private school tuition for at least one of his grandchildren, free apartments and leased cars.

Even though Weisselberg is the face on the case, the entire Trump Organization is being indicted.

The broader investigation into Mr. Trump and his company’s business practices is continuing. The prosecutors have been investigating whether Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization manipulated property values to obtain loans and tax benefits, among other potential financial crimes. The New York Times

Breaking: GRAND LARCENY & TAX FRAUD

Trump Organization is now charged with being a business concern engaged in a 15-year "scheme to defraud." Weisselberg with grand larceny and tax fraud. In court this afternoon, he pleaded 'not guilty.' Then what was he doing for 15 years at the T O? Lawyers for T O also pleaded 'not guilty.' A subsidiary, Trump Payroll Corporation, was also charged in connection to the illegal payments scheme.

After the hearing, the CFO walked out, but surrendered his passport because he was deemed a flight risk. He faces 15 criminal charges, which also include conspiracy, criminal, tax fraud, and falsifying business records.

According to the prosecutor, Carey Dunne, the charges related to an "off the books tax fraud scheme" which allowed T O executives to get "secret pay raises" without paying applicable taxes.

As CEO it is impossible to imagine Trump and his kids will escape unscathed. I expect his (and their?) personal tax records will be what hangs them, as well as any paper traces associated with Weisselberg's 15 charges. He didn't do what he did without Trump's full knowledge and participation. And the offspring were in on the "take."

This is only the beginning, folks.

#112–hopefully for Donald and his family it turns out to be their end.

Kurt Eichenwald @kurteichenwald | 3:07 PM · Jul 1, 2021:
https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/1410679521649598469
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1410676547124707336.html

As someone who has written for decades about corporate crime, I was reading the Trump O/Weisselberg indictment going, "Yah, ok..hmm..yah..ok..Wait..HOLY SHIT!" The Trump Org is in deep, deep trouble. And not because of the criminal charges. Because of its bank loan covenants.../1

...in fact, if even the smallest bit of this case is true, I think the Trump Org could be dead. It's complicated, but it primarily pertains to the 12th count of the indictment.

Taking this a step at a time: Like most real estate companies, the Trump Org is horribly illiquid...2

...this means it cannot readily convert its assets into cash as needed. Worse, because of the incredible incompetence and business idiocy of Trump, cash on hand (and access rapid loans through what is known as the commercial paper market) is small. So, the company survives.../3

...on loans against assets. Trump originally depended on bank loans, then jumped into high-yield (junk) bond market, which is why so many of his businesses went bankrupt: Junk bonds gave him lots of cash to spend, but he was too stupid to apply an analysis beyond "I'm great".../4

...to figure out how he was going to generate enough cash to pay interest on bonds. He couldn't. With his dad, he tried laundering money through Trump Castle to get past a requirement with his bank loans brought on by his junk debt, but got caught. Everything crashed down.../5

...so, the bottom line: Trump knows how to borrow money, he doesn't know how to manage it. Then came The Apprentice, which gave him lots of cash. Of course, he spent it all, then used assets he purchased as security to borrow from banks on apparent assumption that "I'm great"...6

...would fix any cash flow problems. He now has huge amounts of debt against assets that are plummeting in value because of January 6 and his toxic brand name. He *needed* the presidency to survive financially. I have always believed, that is why he is so desperate to keep it...7

....because if he was president, he could hit up the Russians, Saudis, etc to bail him out. Now, with him toxic and a threat to the country, those nations know that any secret payments they make to him run a huge risk of being discovered.

Which brings us to today's charges...8

...all bank loans with a business come with "lending covenants." These are basically a series of requirements, some of which include "you'll behave" in minor character. But *the most important part* of any loan covenant is the "books and records" portion. It is included in.../9

..every covenant for a bank loan to a business. The terms are simple: You maintain truthful books and records, you attest to us that they are truthful, and we are allowed to review them at any time. There is no "You can lie *just a little bit* on your books and records".../10

...it's all or nothing, like pregnancy: You either are or you aren't. The books and records either are truthful or they aren't. Which brings us to count 12, which I think you can now understand the significance of: https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/1410682651489546242/photo/1

...Forget Weisselberg. That is every every corporate defendant, every entity that could have a loan covenant in its name. Every Trump Org bank lender in the world, right now, is looking at this indictment, looking at their covenants, and calling the Trump Org demanding.../12

...they turn over every relevant book and record pertaining to these issues. If they refuse...BOOM. Loans pulled. If they do and the banks don't like what they see...BOOM. Loans pulled. If the loans come due (which 100s of millions do next year) no way they get refinanced..../13

...there may be something I am missing here, but I do not see how the Trump Org survives this without some sort of corrupt deal overseas. But even that seems far-fetched. Instead, it may be the biggest real estate corp bankruptcy in history..../14

......and given that those of us who covered his business for decades - back when he was a democrat/reform party/whoever would have him - and always knew he was a crook, all I can say is, what the hell took so long?

...His cash flow has collapsed, values of most of premier assets are underwater, $400 mill coming due next year and only way to pay it is to roll over the debt, now a books and records violation. Drexel Burnham had $1 trill in assets, went bankrupt for want of $100 mill in cash.

#114—no one stays at his hotels, resorts or golf clubs anymore either. He needs his voters to keep donating money. That’s a main reason why he’s out doing these rallies.

>114 lriley: Bang on! We already know he funneled over $2M from his campaign donations to his personal businesses. He can't pay off the debt he owes in loans on his real estate holdings; he hit the grifting ("campaign") trail again to milk the Stupid Cow in order, IMO, to be able to meet an interest debt due on various loans. He has to pay off millions in the next couple of years. He ain't got it.

I'm sure he owes tens of thousands in interest alone each quarter, and probably has "arrangements" with various lien holders that they won't foreclose if he meets interest obligations. He's a lifelong conman who has to grift to live. But it looks like the birth rate among suckers is in steep decline from one a minute, and Trump's in deep serious.

Trump isn't running for president when he holds a rally, he's running for his life.

Tax law experts see 'strong' case against Trump Org. CFO
KEN SWEET, MICHAEL R. SISAK and ERIC TUCKER | July 2, 2021

...(Trump Organization CFO Allen) Weisselberg cheated tax authorities by taking a hefty chunk of his annual compensation in fringe benefits...over 15 years these off-the-books perks were worth nearly $1.8 million.

...Some compared the indictment to a tax fraud case involving another real estate tycoon from 30 years ago: Leona Helmsley, the so-called “Queen of Mean” who tried to get her real estate empire to pay for a $3 million home renovation in the 1980s.

...“The dollar figures and the charges are more serious than what we had thought over the last few days with the little information we had,” said Daniel R. Alonso, a former chief assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. "In particular, the tax loss alleged is $900,000. That is a fraud amount that is definitely in the jail range for typical cases of that magnitude.”

...The indictment...says the Trump Organization, as a company, was complicit.

The company kept internal records that tracked employee compensation, and in those records, Weisselberg’s rent, the tuition payments for his grandchildren, his cars and other things were all listed as part of his compensation package. The company even reduced Weisselberg’s payroll checks to account for the indirect compensation he was getting in free rent, the indictment said.

But that compensation was recorded differently in the company’s general ledger and none of it was reported to tax authorities...

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/tax-law-experts-strong-case-trump-org-...

The accused don't seem to have defense, either. With all the incriminating documentation in prosecutors' hands and a flipped insider who is #2 behind the defendant in the T O financial hierarchy, Weisselberg's defense is just about legless. Can't plead ignorance of the law; can't appeal that 'everybody does it'; can't point the finger at an obscure underlings because there aren't any since it was essentially a family business. And he can't very well say, "Donald made me do it," without admitting a conspiracy.

I think he's got two choices -- make a plea deal or, decline a jury trial, plead guilty, and throw himself on the mercy of the court. Otherwise, if he risks a trial and is found guilty of all the charges, it's tantamount to a life sentence. My read is that finding a sympathetic jury in NYC is just about hopeless in his case, right on par with mounting a credible defense.

Allen Weisselberg’s Post-Indictment Strategic Considerations
Martin J. Sheil | July 2, 2021

...the IRS has another weapon at its disposal, and they are very likely to wield it in Weisselberg’s case. There is no statute of limitations in the IRS tax code with regard to pursuit of “civil fraud” penalties which can climb to as much as 75% of the tax evaded. That figure could easily total six figures and may very well climb into seven figures for the Trump Organization’s chief accountant...

https://www.justsecurity.org/77312/allen-weisselbergs-post-indictment-strategic-...

The Weisselberg Indictment Is Not A “Fringe Benefits” Case
Grasping the Full Scope of the Alleged Criminal Scheme
Daniel Shaviro | July 4, 2021

...10. What was Donald Trump’s role in all this? The indictment notes that “tuition expenses for Weisselberg’s family members were… paid by personal checks drawn on the account of and signed by Donald J. Trump.” It also states that, in 2005, “the Trump Corporation, acting through its president,” entered into the New York City apartment lease on Weisselberg’s behalf” – listed as an overt act in furtherance of the claimed conspiracy to evade federal income tax (Second Count; Overt Act #1).

Otherwise, however, there is little direct discussion of what Donald Trump himself did or knew personally in relation to the facts asserted in the indictment. If Trump is subsequently indicted by the DA in connection with the crimes alleged here or anything else, his conviction would require proof in court, beyond a reasonable doubt, of his requisite criminal actions and intent. In the courtroom of public discussion and debate, however, any claim that the crimes asserted in the indictment could have occurred without his participation and knowledge may be viewed by many as begging credulity....

https://www.justsecurity.org/77331/the-weisselberg-indictment-is-not-a-fringe-be...

Ivanka in Criminal Peril?

The kinds of things that Weisselberg is accused of are similar to things that Ivanka Trump also did while working for the Trump Organization.

Consider, Alan Weisselberg goes to court, pleads not guilty, asks for a jury trial, is found guilty on all or even 50% of the counts and receives a long sentence, fines, and has to pay 75-85% of the back taxes he owes. Now, turn your mind to Ivanka and listen to Donald Trump's biographer, Michael D'Antonio.

"One of the things that Allen Weisselberg is in trouble for is taking money as a contractor and then claiming self-employed status so that he can get some of the retirement benefits that the tax code allows for self-employed people. Well, we know that Ivanka Trump got quite significant sums paid to her as non-employee compensation. That freed the Trump Organization from paying part of her taxes, and it put her in a status that I think the IRS would have lots of questions about. So, these folks don't know how to play the game straight. I think everything they do is crooked."

All criminals should suffer the same outcomes for the same crimes. That's a bedrock partial definition of what Americans believe is the meaning of justice. What's sauce for the gander. . .

#120–it’s always about gaming the system with these characters and in ways that 99% of those who would vote for him would never even consider might even consider as unpatriotic if it was their next door neighbor doing it. The Trump’s flaunt their privilege and are use to getting away with it. Their supporters don’t even question it. It’s like they’re some kind of royalty.

One of extortionists who tried to shake down Trump snivels as he gets dragged to prison.

How's that for criminal liability?
Now the others!

>122 Kuiperdolin:

Maybe I'm missing something but it seems from the article that this chap tried to "shake down" Nike, not Trump.

#123--you are missing something.

>125 Earthling1:

Good to see you are still around. In these days of COVID it's always a little worrying when you don't hear from someone for a long period. I hope you're safe and well.

Why do you say that?

>123 John5918: Avanatti represented Stormy Daniels

>129 jjwilson61:

Thanks. Yes, I knew that. Maybe it's a different interpretation of the term "shake down"? I interpreted it to mean trying to obtain money through a scam, or false pretences, or by doing something shady; for a lawyer to represent a woman who alleges sexual misconduct is not shady. If it simply means trying to sue or obtain damages from someone, then I suppose he did try to "shake down" Trump; if "shake down" implies doing so as a scam, I wasn't aware that there was any evidence that he was scamming Trump.

"Most Spectacular Example of Incitement"

It's not a criminal case -- yet. But you may recall that Rep Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has sued Trump, his crony supporters, and other Republicans for inciting the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Their offered defense against the suit is a First Amendment claim, arguing that they were exercising "free speech."

The scholars call Trump's rhetoric before the riots "the most spectacular example of incitement and 'true threat' in American history," and they say he is legally liable for the destruction his supporters caused.

A coalition of the nation’s leading First Amendment scholars rejected that “spurious” defense on Thursday. . .

Led by Pentagon Papers lawyer Floyd Abrams, the four scholars threw their support behind two Democratic lawmakers accusing Trump and others of violating the Ku Klux Klan Act and other statutes by provoking the siege of the U.S. Capitol. The coalition also backed two U.S. Capitol Police officers accusing Trump of “directing” their assault.
(SNIP)
The other First Amendment luminaries signing on to the brief are Berkeley School of Law Professor Erwin Chemerinsky, Harvard University Professor Martha Minow, and Carl M. Loeb Harvard University Professor Emeritus Laurence Tribe. Floyd Abrams, a senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel and visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, is the father of Dan Abrams, the founder of Law&Crime. The quartet is represented by Steven Hirsch of Keker, Van Nest & Peters.

They filed an amicus brief that nicely makes mincemeat out of the insurrection inciters' attempt to hide behind a corrupt definition of their First Amendment rights.

The scholars argued that the court “should hold that the First Amendment does not protect, and historically has not protected, speech integral to the forms of political intimidation” envisioned under the KKK Act’s Section 1985(1), which authorizes damages against anyone who conspires to “prevent by force, intimidation or threat any person from accepting any office or trust . . . under the United States, or discharging any duties therefor.”

You may have leaped to the correct conclusion that their citation and reasoning also applies to various voter restrictive legislation passed in certain red states.

“Although the January 6 insurrection may be the most spectacular example of incitement and ‘true threat’ in American history, modern political intimidation often takes subtler forms that these statutes can address effectively—if they do not become neutered by a mistaken application of First Amendment principles,” the scholars noted in a 23-page friend-of-the-court brief. “Today, for example, ‘voters are rarely overtly threatened with physical or economic harm as they were during the civil rights era; instead, voters are deterred from voting through subtler tactics, such as aggressive poll-watching, anonymous threats of harm, frivolous and excessive voter registration challenges, and coercion by employers.'”

You've just read excerpts of a double-barrelled, politely rendered 23-page defense of American Democracy: 1) Thou shalt not incite violent mobs to do harm against duly elected officials performing their Constitutional duties; 2) Nor shalt thou inhibit the free exercise of a citizen's right to the ballot box. Neatly done, sirs and madam. Neatly done.

Trump Org. Money Man's Past 'Mistakes' Hint at Further Trouble for Trump

Thirty-year plus veteran comptroller, Jeff McConney, of Trump Organization has a history or error and admission. He . . .has reportedly already testified before the special grand jury in New York that yielded a criminal indictment against the company.

. . .never-before-seen testimony from McConney during an earlier civil case four years ago shows that while this Trump insider quickly acknowledges when the company runs afoul of the law, he does his best to protect the boss.

Following are some examples of McConney's boo-boos.

1. . . .(in) the controversy over Mar-a-Lago getting hit with $120,000 in local fines and Trump using his donor-funded charity to settle a lawsuit with the town of Palm Beach, Florida.

“I probably didn't know at that time that we probably shouldn't be using foundation funds for this type of thing… we made a mistake,” McConney told a New York AG investigator.

2. (Regarding). . .the controversy over Trump’s $25,000 gift to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s re-election effort, just months before she decided to not investigate his fraudulent Trump University.

“We found out we made the contribution to… a political organization as opposed to a charitable organization,” McConney said. “... anything and everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, with this one request.”

3. On the time Trump skipped a GOP debate in January 2016 to host his own televised spectacle in Iowa—a fishy fundraiser for veterans that got caught holding back donations. McConney told investigators he boarded a flight with Trump’s kids, their spouses, campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski, and bodyguards.

“At that time, we thought there was a possibility of handing out checks to veterans. I had a checkbook and a pen, piece of paper to write down the contributions, if that was Mr. Trump's desire,” McConney testified under oath.
(SNIP)
McConney explained how his small team of accountants oversaw bank loan paperwork, maintained the tax files, prepared Trump's personal financial statements, and tracked the checks. But more importantly, he showed an intimate knowledge of how Trump exercised authority over his money: He doesn’t sign all the checks—just the important ones, like charitable contributions.

He also reveals that he may be malleable in the criminal case being prepared against Trump Organization and its top officers, including DJT. Or that he has been already. But the civil case demonstrates that McConney has the chops to know how Trump managed his finances as CEO. Here's an example of how revelatory he can be, under oath.

In his previous testimony during the Trump Foundation case, McConney described how he would personally put in place the financial deals that (CFO Allen) Weisselberg would negotiate.

“So he is more the initiator, I guess, and I just keep everything going after that,” McConney told investigators in 2017.

And he has first person eye witness knowledge of the details of at least one Trump property that is being examined for wrong-doing in the current criminal case.

McConney’s previous testimony also describes how he would cut checks and send them straight to Trump for a signature. It also makes clear that McConney maintained the books and records for several real estate development projects including Seven Springs, the Batman-like estate north of Gotham that’s currently under investigation. The Manhattan DA and New York attorney general are exploring whether the Trump Organization inflated the value of that property for a charitable tax write-off.

McConney's reputation is that he's a firm Trump loyalist who despises Democratic liberalism. But under oath, he seems to be able to remember his own hide when it comes to admitting shady transactions and bookkeeping. IMO, McConney has already proven to prosecutors that he's a second Michael Cohen who realizes that personal skin is a higher priority than loyalty to a man going and gone down. It's most likely that it was his testimony that brought the indictment against Weisselberg and an "unnamed co-conspirator." That likely spells trouble for Trump.

After all, McConney is the self identified "cutter of all Trump's personal checks."

Today Zuma, tomorrow Trump (Star)

Zuma’s game was clearly to frighten the South African government into dropping all the charges, and it might have worked. Trump will do a Zuma, stringing the court out as long as possible and then finally resorting to an attempt to overawe the American state and constitution by violence in the streets...

>133 John5918:

I had forgotten about Gwynne Dyer; he seems to have dropped from sight in my world. I'm interested to see that he writes a widely syndicated column.

>134 librorumamans:

I'd never heard of Dyer before, but this popped up in a Kenyan newspaper and I was interested by the comparison between a disgraced former president with a degree of populist support who has now gone to prison, and another one who may well do so.

>135 John5918:

Bright guy, Gwynne Dyer. As you can see from his author page, he writes a lot about war and geopolitics. There's more, of course, on Wikipedia. I suppose he dropped below my horizon partly because he may be slowing down as he nears 80.

Thomas Barrack: Top Trump aide accused of working as foreign agent (BBC)

Billionaire and long-time Donald Trump ally Thomas J Barrack has been arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly acting as an agent of a foreign government. The 74-year-old investment firm founder served as a key adviser to the former US president's 2016 campaign, and was considered a top fundraiser. Mr Barrack is accused of illegally lobbying on behalf of the United Arab Emirates during and after the campaign...

>137 John5918:

Saw that just now on The Guardian. Why am I not surprised?

BLOCKBUSTER: Calls for Trump's Immediate Criminal Arrest

Former president Donald Trump demanded Justice Department officials simply claim the 2020 presidential election was 'corrupt" and then 'leave the rest to him." This in spite of the fact that the DOJ had found no evidence of widespread fraud. But Trump, dissatisfied with their findings, was determined to rewrite reality to fit his ego's fantasy. His plan was that " he and his allies in Congress could use the assertion to try to overturn the results." That, Dear Raders, is called a conspiracy to commit a coup to depose the legally elected POTUS and illegally seize power for himself.

The exchange unfolded during a phone call on Dec. 27 in which Mr. Trump pressed the acting attorney general at the time, Jeffrey A. Rosen, and his deputy, Richard P. Donoghue, on voter fraud claims that the department had disproved. Mr. Donoghue warned that the department had no power to change the outcome of the election. Mr. Trump replied that he did not expect that, according to notes Mr. Donoghue took memorializing the conversation.

“Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me” and to congressional allies, Mr. Donoghue wrote in summarizing Mr. Trump’s response.

Mr. Trump did not name the lawmakers, but at other points during the call, he mentioned Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, whom he described as a “fighter”; Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who at the time promoted the idea that the election was stolen from Mr. Trump; and Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, whom Mr. Trump praised for “getting to bottom of things.”

Merrick Garland, do your duty. You have witnesses, evidence, and intent of high crimes that demand justice be served. No need for any Grand Jury. This calls for an immediate arrest warrant, not more plodding Congressional committee hearings.

Failed Coup Morphs into Seditious Conspiracy

In an appearance on Friday night on Newsmax by Donald Trump's last White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows said "they are holding 'cabinet' meetings at the Trump National Golf Club."

Meadows added, "Well, we met with several of our cabinet members tonight, we actually had a follow-up member, meeting with some of our cabinet members, and as we were looking at that, we were looking at what does come next. I'm not authorized to speak on behalf of the president, but I can tell you this Steve, we wouldn't be meeting tonight if we weren't making plans to move forward in a real way, with president Trump at the head of that ticket."

From his remarks and usage of specific terms to identify an elected president's principal advisors in charge of governmental departments, it sounds like Mr. Mark is part of the shadow government of the MAGA State.

USAG Garland needs to move swiftly to dismantle the seditious 'cabinet' and arrest the participants. For good people to stand by and do nothing only gives the perps confidence that they will be met with no resistance and to drive their ambitions forward. And Trump is insanely ambitious to exploit the gullible and rule over his version of a 'taken back' America he intends to franchise off to cronies in his Empire of Trumpland. What Meadows describes is how revolutions take root and grow in numbers of mad cultists who are already semi-organized into a heavily armed force prepared to go to bloody war. To not recognize this immediate threat to our democracy is to live in Never-Neverland. To not act determinedly against it is to preemptively surrender.

‘A one-man scam Pac’: Trump’s money hustling tricks prompt fresh scrutiny
The ex-president has built an arsenal of groups staffed with ex-officials and loyalists seemingly aimed at sustaining his political hopes for a comeback
Peter Stone | 2 Aug 2021

...Just days after his defeat last November, Trump launched a new political action committee, dubbed Save America, that together with his campaign and the Republican National Committee quickly raked in tens of millions of dollars through text and email appeals for a Trump “election defense fund”, ostensibly to fight the results with baseless lawsuits alleging fraud.

The fledgling Pac had raised a whopping $31.5m by year’s end, but Save America spent nothing on legal expenses in this same period, according to public records. Run by Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Save America only spent $340,000 on fundraising expenses last year.

In another move, Trump last month announced he was filing class-action lawsuits against Facebook, Google and Twitter, alleging “censorship” due to bans by the platforms after the 6 January Capitol attack that Trump helped stoke. But the move prompted several legal experts to pan the lawsuits as frivolous and a fundraising ploy.

Trump’s new legal stratagem raised red flags, in part because he teamed up with America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a non-profit group led by ex-White House official Brooke Rollins. At a press briefing with Trump, Rollins publicly told supporters they could “join the lawsuit” by signing up on a website, takeonbigtech.org, a claim belied by details on the website which featured a red button with the words “DONATE to AFPI”.

“Donald Trump is a one-man scam Pac,” said Paul S Ryan, vice-president of policy and litigation with Common Cause. “Bait-and-switch is among his favorite fundraising tactics,” Ryan stressed, noting that Trump’s Save America Pac told “supporters he needed money to challenge the result of an election he clearly lost”, and then wound up not spending any on litigation last year.

“Now he’s at it again, with frivolous lawsuits filed in July against Facebook, Twitter and Google, accompanied by fundraising appeals,” Ryan added. “This time he’s got the unlimited dark money group America First Policy Institute in on the racket.”

Other experts voice strong concerns about Trump’s tactics with Save America

“The president deceived his donors. He asked them to give money so he could contest the election results, but then he spent their contributions to pay off unrelated debts,” said Adav Noti, a former associate general counsel at the Federal Election Commission and now chief of staff at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center.

Noti added: “ That’s dangerously close to fraud. If a regular charity – or an individual who didn’t happen to be president of the United States – had raised tens of millions of dollars through that sort of deception, they would face a serious risk of prosecution.”...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/02/donald-trump-fundraising-schemes...

My bet is when Trump finds himself over his eyebrows in legal hot water in a matter of months, his dream of running for president will be dashed. And I expect that if the remains of the Republican Party leadership attempts to lay its hands on his war chest, they'll get nothing. Trump needs all the cash he can milk from his gullible cultists to pay loans and lawyers.

But the Republican Party's history is to kowtow to the richest among them. Even if Trump can't mount his own campaign, he will try to anoint son, Jr., as long as he's not similarly occupied like daddy. Failing that, he'll still be 'king maker,' and will get to pick his favorite loyal puppet. Again because the Repub Party rolled over and let Trump rule them like obedient dogs. Now, he holds the purse strings and the nether body parts of what once was the Republican leadership and they must submit to his will and whim.

Fraudster Trump, RNC Forced to Return Millions to Scammed Donors

Rotten to the core. Online donors were guided into weekly recurring contributions. Demands for refunds spiked. Complaints to banks and credit card companies soared. But the money helped keep Donald Trump’s struggling campaign afloat. When a Trump supporter heard the call that Trump's caampaign was in trouble and needed funding, he went online and sent $500. Within a month, the man who lives on less than $1000 a month discovered his entire savings of $3000 had been drained in less than 30 days.

. . .what (one donor) believed was duplicity was actually an intentional scheme to boost revenues by the Trump campaign and the for-profit company that processed its online donations, WinRed. Facing a cash crunch and getting badly outspent by the Democrats, the campaign had begun last September to set up recurring donations by default for online donors, for every week until the election.

Contributors had to wade through a fine-print disclaimer and manually uncheck a box to opt out.

As the election neared, the Trump team made that disclaimer increasingly opaque, an investigation by The New York Times showed. It introduced a second prechecked box, known internally as a “money bomb,” that doubled a person’s contribution. Eventually its solicitations featured lines of text in bold and capital letters that overwhelmed the opt-out language.

Trump's deliberate deception raked in millions and now he and the RNC have been forced to refund $12.8 million to bilked doors in just the first six months of 2021.

Obscene tactics to deceive and defraud people out of their money is Trump's way of doing business. But no one should be shocked. Since Nixon, Republican presidential campaigns have been remembered for their dirty tricks. With only $12.8 million refunded so far, is it any wonder Trump continues to take his showman performance on the road for fund-raising rallies? He needs to bilk the gullible in the Basket of Deplorables a lot more because he also owes millions in loan debt that's due this year and next. And he doesn't have the money to keep the Russian and Ukrainian oligarch thugs who hold plenty of Trump paper from calling on him, personally.

Scotland's Highest Court OKs Investigation into Possible Trump Money Laundering

Clearing the way for a legal probe into the financing of Trump's golf hotel resorts in Scotland to begin, the Court of Session granted permission for campaigners to seek a judicial review of the Scottish Government’s position after it rejected calls to pursue an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) against the former US president’s Scottish firms. Avaaz, a US-based non-profit activism organisation, successfully petitioned Scotland’s highest court to reverse the politicians' call.

Its petition to the court stated that there are “no reasonable grounds” to suspect that known sources of lawfully obtained income would have been sufficient to bankroll Mr Trump’s acquisition of his Scottish properties.

Nick Flynn, legal director at Avaaz, said, ". . .Scottish ministers will now be challenged in court over their ongoing failure to seek an UWO to investigate Trump's suspicious Turnberry purchase. . .

"Today’s win means Scottish ministers will now be challenged in court over their ongoing failure to seek an UWO to investigate Trump's suspicious Turnberry purchase. . .

. . .we hope that ministers agree that Trump’s purchase demands the transparency that only a UWO can bring.
(SNIP)
UWOs are rarely used civil powers which allow authorities to target suspected corrupt foreign officials who have potentially laundered stolen money through the UK.

The mechanism is designed to force the owners of assets to disclose their wealth. If an official, or their family, cannot prove a legitimate source for their riches, authorities can go to court to seize the property.

Trump needn't become too upset with this latest legal probe into his dealings. Even if he can't prove legitimate wealth sources and is convicted of money laundering, and loses all his Trump branded Scottish resorts, his image will remain untarnished, so to speak. The prison uniform in Scotland is also orange.

>144 Limelite:

I understand that orange golf balls are also easier to track in the gorse.

>145 librorumamans:

Interesting, but do you know if the Scots allow prisoners to practice putts in the "yard"?

On a truthful note, some years ago I was hiking in the Cotswalds with a couple of Kiwis, taking a look at the sheep-strewn countryside. We happened on a golf course that did nothing to distinguish itself from its environment; no signs advertising private property, no manicured greens, no water traps in sight. Just the usual gorse brush, thistles, and rough clumps of tall grass. How were we to know this was the local sportsman's paradise?

What we did notice was a healthy population of rabbits and a thick scattering of rabbit holes all about us that I suppose the natives knew how to hit around and avoid sinking putts into. One didn't need any particular skill in lining up a shot. I think the object of the game played at this course was to keep the ball in the air as long as possible and smack it hard enough to drive it as far as possible. Because not even the best player in the world would have made progress keeping the ball on the ground!

Perhaps you've played there?

Merrick Garland must investigate Donald Trump’s attempted coup — not for retribution but for deterrence
For nearly all of us, a solid factual basis that one has committed a federal crime — much less inciting an insurrection against the government itself — would trigger a criminal investigation. So why the hesitation by the US attorney general?
Laurence H. Tribe | August 20, 2021

...No tradition of forbearance can properly shield what tyrants and despots regularly do: invent “votes” to convert defeat into victory, or hold onto office by fabricating claims of corruption after losing in a free and fair election. In the case of Trump, we have all been witness to what looks very much like a veritable “sore loser” crime spree that included pressuring his own Justice Department to “just say the election was corrupt” and let him and his friends in Congress do the rest; insisting that the Georgia secretary of state “just find” the 11,780 votes he needed to put that state’s 13 electoral votes in his column; inciting and giving aid and comfort to the first insurrection against our government fomented by its head; and perhaps engaging in seditious conspiracy.

Trump is not our first president credibly alleged to have committed serious crimes while in office. But even president Richard Nixon’s worst obstructions of justice did not approach the ultimate high crime of seeking to bring down the entire democratic system by which we choose our leaders every four years. When President Gerald Ford pardoned his disgraced predecessor, perhaps lighting the path for Trump to follow, at least he was not foreclosing accountability for an effort to overturn an election or cling to power after defeat. Nor was he encouraging Nixon, too politically humiliated and discredited to run again, to try repeating his abuses of power. In contrast, Trump’s apparent crimes, which he and his supporters openly insist were patriotic acts that they would gladly repeat, have the potential to leave him in power indefinitely. The only antidote is vigorous investigation and prosecution, not for purposes of retribution but for purposes of deterrence.

This risk to be averted — of an executive using corrupt or violent means to seize and hold office — was our republic’s first and animating fear. Rebels from a hereditary monarchy, the framers of our Constitution worried about a chief executive who might use the powers of the office to convert the limited term granted by the voters into a permanent appointment secured only by abusing the powers granted. Indeed, these fears nearly derailed the ratification of the Constitution itself, and led to several compromises and mechanisms — such as the impeachment power — aimed at holding the chief executive within constitutional bounds.

Trump’s relentlessness has laid bare the defects in many of those accountability mechanisms. Now Garland stands as the final line of defense for our constitutional democracy. No prior attorney general has confronted so daunting a challenge. For what might be the first time in his life and what will surely be the last, Garland could hold the future of the last best hope on earth in his hands.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/08/20/opinion/merrick-garland-must-investigate-...

In Trump Tower, key tenants have fallen behind on rent and moved out. But Trump’s PAC is helping, using political donations to rent space it barely uses.

-----------------------------------------------------

Trump Tower’s key tenants have fallen behind on rent and moved out. But Trump has one reliable customer: His own PAC.
Shayna Jacobs, David A. Fahrenthold, Jonathan O'Connell and Josh Dawsey | Sept 3, 2021

...as Trump Tower has dealt with imploding tenants, political backlash and a broader, pandemic-related slump in Manhattan office leasing since last year — it has been able to count on one reliable, high-paying tenant: former president Donald Trump’s own political operation...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-tower-pac-rent-campaign-finance/20...

Matthew "The Octopus" Calamari, Jr. Testifies before NY Grand Jury

The Trump Organization's corporate director of security was subpoenaed to appear last Thursday. His dad is/was Trump Organization COO, who is "also under scrutiny by prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office."

Prosecutors have examined an apartment Mr. Calamari received from the Trump Organization and how he reported that apartment on his taxes. . .

Jeffrey McConney, a senior finance official at the Trump Organization, has already appeared to give his testimony. He prepared Calamari Sr.'s taxes. And he's expected to testify again -- probably under the condition of letting Sr. tell his lies and then bring back the tax prep person to hang him. It's unclear if McConney was tax preparer to Calamari, Jr., which would be another opportunity for him to corroborate or not. According to the WSJ,

Calamari Jr.’s testimony before the grand jury would grant him immunity on the subjects about which he testifies and signals prosecutors don’t plan to indict him.

Prosecutors continue to investigate whether the elder Mr. Calamari received tax-free fringe benefits and to determine whether his cooperation would be helpful to them. . .

Calamari, père et fils, had been questioned about their "perks" before Weisselberg's indictment for tax fraud but Calamari père is a fiercely loyal Trumpian. That seems to point to prosecutors going for the soft underbelly by offering Calamari fils immunity to rat on his own, as well as daddy's, tax evasions in order to flip the old man to rat, in turn, on the conspiracy to defraud the government of money owed with Weisselberg's and Trump's full knowledge and participation in the scheme. The hope being that the carrot of a reduced sentence will induce Calamari, Sr. to set loyalty aside in favor of his own skin and give over all he knows.

Most of that, in spite of its logic, is speculation, but what is known is that Calamari, Sr.'s lawyers are talking to prosecutors. An extra turn has just been given to the screw by his own son.

Judge Orders Trump Org. To Obey Subpoenas

Trump has been improperly using executive privilege to hide from and put off obeying subpoenas demanding he produce documents pertaining to his loans and tax filings by the end of next week. If he fails in this, he will be forced to hire an outside expert to search its documents.

This is a civil case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James who is working in conjunction with the Manhattan district attorney in the separate criminal one.

The Trump Organization has until Sept. 30 to file a report on its efforts to preserve, collect and produce all documents responsive to subpoenas issued by James as part of a civil probe into whether the company manipulated the value of its assets for loans and tax breaks, state court Justice Arthur Engoron said in a Sept. 2 order unsealed on Friday.

In a statement responding to the judge's order, James' office said: "For more than a year now, the Trump Organization has failed to adequately respond to our subpoenas, hiding behind procedural delays and excuses. Once again, the court has ordered that the Trump Organization must turn over the information and documents we are seeking, otherwise face an independent third-party that will ensure that takes place. Our work will continue undeterred because no one is above the law."

From The Hill:

"In the civil case, court records show that James' office is investigating the valuation of several Trump properties including the Seven Springs resort in Westchester County, N.Y.; an office building on Wall Street in New York City; the Trump International Hotel in Chicago; and the Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles."

Trump's Social Media Platform Could Already Face Legal Issues, After Allegedly Ripping Off Code
The Don has released a beta of his new social media platform and, predictably, it's a knock-off version of an already existing platform.
Lucas Ropek | Oct 21,2021

...Truth Social is basically a reincarnation of Trump’s first love: Twitter. On it, you can post “Truths” (aka tweets), “Re-Truths” (retweets), and there’s also a “Truth Feed” (Twitter feed). Since Trump’s modus operandi has classically been to take something that somebody else already did, stamp his big, fat, bolded name on it, promise it’s going to be better, and then make it worse, this is pretty much par for the course.

However, it would appear that Trump’s new site is not only unoriginal in concept but also in code. As originally reported by Vice News, Truth Social seems to have lifted its digital DNA directly from Mastodon, the open-source alternative social network known for its focus on user privacy and autonomy.

...Mastodon leases its software under something called an AGPLv3 license, which basically stipulates that users can use its code so long as they acknowledge where it came from and make the copied or modified code available for public inspection. However, in its own terms of service, Truth Social claims that “all source code” from its software is proprietary, essentially failing to mention that it lifted it from somewhere else...

https://gizmodo.com/trump-may-already-face-legal-issues-for-new-social-medi-1847...

Robert Costa: Trump Usurped Pence & Took Over VP J6 Eve

At least in terms of public messaging. DJT was on the phone to his team's plotters of the J8 insurrection the night before Jan. 6th because he could not pound Pence into submission over denying Biden's certification. Costa and Woodward were outside the Willard Hotel, locale of the president's reelection War room, at the time and saw Rudy Giuliani, Steve Bannon and others gathering inside ahead of the "Save America" rally that would take place the next day, triggering the "Destroy America Insurrection" storming of the Capitol.

Trump's phone call was a strategic consultation about how he would usurp Pence and tell his supporters and American citizens that Pence agreed with him that Democrats had stolen the election from him. Which Pence did not.

"We talked recently with a Republican, former Republican head of the criminal division in the Justice Department, who said there is a lay-down case just in what we know," Woodward said. "It's 18 U.S. Code, section 371>/b>. I'm sorry this sounds technical, but it is. It's a law that says it's a crime to defraud the government in any deceptive way, and that's exactly what they did here."

It's exactly what Trump solicited with that phone call.

Legal Expert Reveals Overlooked Trump Crime with Guaranteed Guilty Verdict

The POTUS has a unique duty to enforce the laws as Chief Executive. If he does not, and instead participates in breaking the law, he is as responsible for the crime which breaks the law he fails to enforce as if he were an accomplice to the crime himself because, as president, he has a responsibility to intervene. There is precedent for this in law.

Legal expert, Albert W. Alschuler, explains.

. . .a railroad conductor who failed to prevent passengers from transporting bootleg liquor was himself convicted of transporting the liquor. Similarly, a parent who made no effort to stop an assault on her child was guilty of the assault herself. And a police officer who arranges to be somewhere else at the time of a robbery aids and abets the robbery. This officer can be convicted along with the robbers at the scene."

Alschuler just handed investigators and the DOJ a clear new charge against Donald Trump, and a guaranteed conviction because no evidence exists that Trump lifted a finger to halt the Capitol attack. Quite the contrary. He planned, encouraged, cheered, and fiddled like a Roman emperor before, during and after the violent events of J6.

Lock him up!

Trump’s $300 Million SPAC Deal May Have Skirted Securities Laws
The former president began discussing a deal with a ‘blank check’ company early this year. Investors weren’t told.
Matthew Goldstein, Lauren Hirsch and David Enrich | Oct. 29, 2021

Just days after Donald J. Trump left the White House, two former contestants on his reality show, “The Apprentice,” approached him with a pitch. Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky wanted to create a conservative media giant.

Mr. Trump was taken with the idea. But he had to figure out how to pay for it.

This month, the former president found a way. He agreed to merge his social media venture with what’s known as a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The result is that Mr. Trump — largely shut out of the mainstream financial industry because of his history of bankruptcies and loan defaults — secured nearly $300 million in funding for his new business.

SPACs sell their shares to investors through an initial public offering and then find a private company with which to merge. Because SPACs are empty vessels, stock exchanges allow them to list their shares without disclosing much financial information. But that creates opportunities for SPACs to serve as backdoor vehicles for companies to go public without receiving the kind of investor scrutiny they would in a traditional listing. To prevent that, SPACs aren’t supposed to have a merger planned at the time of their I.P.O.

(a little-known Miami banker named Patrick Orlando...had been discussing a deal with Mr. Trump since at least March...That was well before his SPAC, Digital World Acquisition, made its debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange last month. In doing so, Mr. Orlando’s SPAC may have skirted securities laws and stock exchange rules...

...talks between Mr. Orlando and Mr. Trump or their associates consequently could draw scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/29/business/trump-spac-digital-world.html?referr...

Vanity Fair: Trump’s Odds of Escaping Criminal Charges in Georgia Do Not Look Good

Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger confirms the ex-president threatened him over the 2020 election results while demanding he magically come up with enough votes to beat Biden. Fulton County, Georgia prosecutors have "got it in writing."

. . .prosecutors are extremely interested in a new book out today by Raffensperger, Integrity Counts, in which he says in no uncertain terms that Trump threatened him while demanding he magically come up with 11,780 votes necessary to beat Joe Biden.

Recall that Raffensperger has stated he was unaware that Trump's phone calls were being taped by Gov. Kemp administration lawyers. Read pertinent excerpts from the book reprinted at the Vanity Fair link above.

In September the Brookings Institution, a D.C. think tank, released a 109-page report that analyzed publicly available evidence concerning Trump’s and his allies’ efforts to pressure Georgia officials to “change the lawful outcome of the election.” They concluded that the ex-president could be charged with multiple crimes, including “criminal solicitation to commit election fraud; intentional interference with performance of election duties; conspiracy to commit election fraud; criminal solicitation; and state RICO violations,” in addition to violations of more than a dozen other Georgia state statutes. “We conclude that Trump’s post-election conduct in Georgia leaves him at substantial risk of possible state charges predicated on multiple crimes,” the report stated. Obviously, one of the least-helpful things Trump has going for him, from an evidence standpoint, is his phone call to Raffensperger.

The Georgia Secretary of State has gone on the record regarding his position, saying, "he would “gladly participate” in an interview with the Fulton County district attorney about Trump pressuring election officials over the 2020 results. 'I did my job. I followed the law,' he said."

In the meantime, Trump underwent an overnight sea-change. Wednesday morning no longer found him persisting in his claims that the Virginia gubernatorial race "is rife with fraud." I wonder why that is?

FBI Raids 2 Locations of People Tied to 'Project Veritas' in Theft of Diary From Biden’s Daughter

Acting, no doubt, on Trump interests to slime candidate Biden during the last election by smearing his children, the so-called 'Project Veritas' is back in the news this week in action stemming from an investigation into its alleged criminal activity begun in under former USAG Bill Barr. The investigation is into how pages from Ashley Biden’s journal came to be published by a right wing website (not 'Project Veritas') a week and a half before the 2020 presidential election.

Project Veritas has a history of targeting Democratic congressional campaigns, labor organizations, news media and others. The group conducts sting operations, using hidden cameras and fake identities. At one point, Project Veritas relied on a former British spy named Richard Seddon to help train its operatives, teaching them espionage tactics such as using deception to secure information from potential targets.

Flyover Media, the company that owns the website that published the pages from the diary, is registered to the same Sheridan, Wyo., address as Mr. Seddon’s company, Branch Six Consulting International. ('P V' leader James) O’Keefe. . .was once the president of a company that later registered at the same address.

One of the properties raided is the NYC apartment of Spencer Meads, the longtime Project Veritas operative and confidante of O’Keefe. Meads had been involved in undercover operations for the group.

In 2016, a Project Veritas operative infiltrated Democracy Partners, a political consulting firm, using a fake name, fabricated résumé and made secret recordings of the staff.

Democracy Partners later sued Project Veritas. In a ruling last month in the lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman said that Democracy Partners could refer to the conduct by Project Veritas as a “political spying operation” in the upcoming trial.