WTF Community

Day 747

General Discussion
#1

Updated 2/5/2019 11:50 AM PST

1/ Trump's inaugural committee was ordered to turn over documents related to donations and spending by the inaugural committee following a subpoena by the Southern District of New York. Federal prosecutors are seeking all information about donors, vendors, contractors, bank accounts, and foreign contributors related to the inaugural committee, which raised a record $107 million – more than twice the amount raised to fund Obama's 2009 inaugural. Federal prosecutors are also seeking documents related to a Los Angeles venture capitalist, Imaad Zuberi, who gave $900,000 to the committee through his private-equity firm, Avenue Ventures, and once registered as a foreign agent working on behalf of the Sri Lankan government. The subpoena suggests that SDNY prosecutors are investigating crimes related to conspiracy to defraud the U.S., mail fraud, false statements, wire fraud, and money laundering. The investigation is being led by the public corruption unit of the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office, and grew out of the probe into Michael Cohen's business dealings. Cohen has since pleaded guilty to eight charges and has been sentenced to three years in prison. (Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/02/05/day-747/
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#2

Now the Trump Organization is not only being hit with subpoenas – their executives are also being called in for interviews with federal prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors in New York have requested interviews in recent weeks with executives at the Trump Organization, according to people familiar with the matter, signaling a growing potential threat to President Donald Trump and those in his orbit from criminal investigations by the Manhattan US Attorney’s office. …

The specific inquiry or topics of interest by prosecutors in any interviews with Trump Organization executives wasn’t immediately clear. The sources were not authorized to speak on the record. A spokesperson for the company didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Side Note: The article doesn’t say where this leaked information is coming from, but there’s a strong possibility it’s originating within the Trump Organization itself. If so, this would be bad news for Trump. Who knows what might be leaked next from within the organization?

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#3

My hopes are that at minimum Ivanka & Jared get swept off to jail over this. Esp. Ivanka was heavily involved.

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#4

I wonder if she gets tired of using this excuse…

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#5

NYTimes:

Watch State of the Union: Live Video, Fact Checks and Analysis

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#6

This article gives me hope. The parallels between Nixon’s cover-up and Ollie North’s intent to defraud with Trump and his gangsta’s is remarkable. Of course, both those things were serious, but Nixon had the sense to quit while he was ahead and Ollie was never called to task for his antics, it was all considered kind of a joke. What this article tells me is that the Mueller case could be very strong. Like almost airtight. An Open & Shut Case. And that made me really feel good.

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#7

Absolutely! The Grifter crime family… and if they get a RICO conviction that would be the cherry on top for me.

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#8

:raised_hands::princess:t2: Golf clap

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Now for the democratic response from Stacey Abrams :raised_hands::princess:t2:

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#9

Wittes asks for one sentence description of SOTU…

’

No legislation with investigation’ stands out to me

He continued: “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn’t work that way!”

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#10

Not sure how to read this. The article makes it sound like Cohen told the committee he was postponing his testimony (as opposed to the committee making the call) – maybe Mueller told Cohen to delay it?

President Donald Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen has postponed his congressional testimony before a second House committee, as the House Intelligence panel has scrapped his planned Friday appearance.

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said in a statement that Cohen’s closed-door testimony would be postponed until later this month.
“In the interests of the investigation, Michael Cohen’s testimony has been postponed until February 28th,” said Schiff, a Democrat from California.

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#11

A very sad day. This is a travesty. :cry:

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#12

Great…I believe there are over 50 of them.

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#13

Not sure if this is related, but today there was docket activity in Cohen’s case – a sealed document was placed “in the vault.”

United States v. Cohen, 1:18-cr-00850 – CourtListener.com (Scroll to bottom.)

There’s some buzz about this on the twitter sphere, but no solid conclusions yet. Waiting for a major news outlet to pick it up.

See UPDATE below.

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#14

Schiff is fulfilling his pledge to revive the House Intel Committee’s investigation into Trump. They are hitting the ground running.

The House Intelligence Committee voted on Wednesday to send dozens of witness interview transcripts from its Russia investigation to special counsel Robert Mueller, who could use them to prosecute potential instances of perjury.

It’s the first act of the intelligence panel under the leadership of Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who has vowed to revive the committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller has already prosecuted some Trump associates for lying to Congress.

“The special counsel’s office, the Justice Department and its elements will now have access to those transcripts for any purpose which will facilitate justice,” Schiff told reporters after the committee’s vote, adding that the transcripts will be sent to Mueller’s investigators immediately.

The panel’s Democrats have long suggested that Donald Trump Jr. and other witnesses might have lied to the committee as part of its investigation, and they’ve publicly encouraged Mueller to examine whether perjury or obstruction of justice charges are warranted against him or others.

Federal investigators have already used some of the committee’s transcripts to prosecute at least two longtime Trump associates for perjury. [Cohen and Stone] …

On Wednesday, the committee also announced the official parameters for its investigation, which Schiff said will “go beyond Russia” and “will allow us to investigate any credible allegation that financial interests or other interests are driving the decision-making of the president or anyone in the administration.”

In a statement, Schiff said House investigators will broaden the initial scope of the Russia probe by looking into whether Trump or his associates “have sought to influence U.S. government policy in service of foreign interests,” and “whether any foreign actor has sought to compromise or holds leverage, financial or otherwise, over Donald Trump, his family, his business, or his associates.”

:muscle: :mag_right: :balance_scale:

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#15

re: Sealed document…

Any guesses as to what it is…?

I believe that Cohen feels that he or someone in his family is under threat, and danger, so I would imagine it might be a statement regarding all of T’s malfeasance, or a very damning document (ie’s T’s signature, or conversation with someone…)

But I believe it is a Hail Mary to make sure what he knows, gets delivered to someone in justice.

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#16

Breaking…Indictment…Paul Erickson on charges of wire fraud and money laundering. :boom:

Paul Erickson, the American political operative and boyfriend of admitted Russian agent Maria Butina, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in South Dakota on charges of wire fraud and money laundering.

The U.S. attorney for the district of South Dakota is handling the prosecution, which is separate from the case that was lodged against Butina in Washington, D.C.

Erickson, 56, was arrested on Tuesday and entered a plea of not guilty at an arraignment, according to the court filings.

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🇷🇺 All Things Trump/Russia! (Resources)
Day 748
#17

UPDATE: Now the docket shows that the sealed document filed earlier today has been deleted because “The document was incorrectly filed in this case.” :man_shrugging:

United States v. Cohen, 1:18-cr-00850 – CourtListener.com (Scroll to end.)

This could mean that 1) The document belongs to another case and has nothing to do with Cohen or 2) It does apply to Cohen, but needs to be refiled or 3) Just about anything under the sun. So there’s not much point in dwelling on this one. Plenty of eyes are on the docket and will let us know if there are further developments. :eyes:

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#18

You know Trump had to raise a leg and claim this area for his wall first for political reasons - so he can give the big finger to the Native Americand and the nature reserve on private land to no less. He already is the most destructive presidential admin on nature and climate issues so this is the insult he wants meanwhile whining about be 'haressed"!

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#19

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