If you just read the gaslighting fake news headlines, you probably think that the ongoing attempt to depose Trump has hit gold dust with the convictions of Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen.
While the Manafort conviction over tax irregularities can be dismissed as past personal incompetence, the Cohen conviction looks more dangerous, with the Legacy Media drooling about how Cohen has struck a plea bargain deal that will see him drop the President in the shit.
According to this narrative, Cohen will supposedly "reveal" how the President'conspired to "corrupt" the election and knew of Russian involvement, blah, blah, blah! Yes, it's another Watergate, etc., etc.
But just exactly what did they get Cohen on, and how can these charges be weaponised against the duly-elected President of the United States?
Cohen was convicted on eight counts, namely:
Counts 1 to 5: Evasion of Assessment of Income Tax Liability
Count 6: False Statements to a Bank
Count 7: Causing an Unlawful Corporate Contribution
Count 8: Excessive Campaign Contribution
Only 7 and 8 could involve Trump in any way, and only if they can define personal payments to Stormy Daniels (aka "hush money") as a "campaign contribution," and then only if they can prove that Trump directly ordered it.
But part of the charges that Cohen confessed to include US Code § 2(b), which states:
But part of the charges that Cohen confessed to include US Code § 2(b), which states:
"Whoever willfully causes an act to be done which if directly performed by him or another would be an offense against the United States, is punishable as a principal."
This means that Cohen effectively admitted to being the principal himself, that is, the guy making the call on whether to pay the money or not.
If this is the Stormy Daniels money, then Cohen was given authority by Trump to pay off gold diggers without bothering his boss about the details, which he would then bill Trump for. While Trump picked up the bill, he didn't make the executive decision. This is standard practice for billionaires.
If this is the Stormy Daniels money, then Cohen was given authority by Trump to pay off gold diggers without bothering his boss about the details, which he would then bill Trump for. While Trump picked up the bill, he didn't make the executive decision. This is standard practice for billionaires.
It is also very telling that there is no charge of conspiracy. If Cohen and Trump had "conspired" in some form, it would be here.
Also it is very questionable if the hush money to Daniels can be called "campaign contributions."
Former Federal Election Commission Chairman Professor Bradley Smith recently said in an interview with Mark Levin that the payments to Daniels DO NOT qualify as campaign violations:
“When the FEC wrote the regulation that says what constitutes campaign expenditures and what constitutes personal use, it rejected specifically the idea that a campaign expenditure was anything related to a campaign, and instead says it has to be something that exists only because of the campaign and solely for that reason.”
That is, Trump had a lot of reasons -- business, personal, etc. -- for shutting up Daniel's sex talk. It wasn't just about politics.
But what about Cohen's admission that he broke the law by contributing more than $25,000 in political contributions?
But what about Cohen's admission that he broke the law by contributing more than $25,000 in political contributions?
The plea deal merely mentions the excess money was paid for "a candidate for federal office who ran in 2016." The obvious thing here is that everyone is assuming the candidate is Trump himself and the money was for Daniels. But, why this mealy-mouthed refusal to mention Trump by name?
Looking at all the details above, it looks increasingly like Cohen got into deep water not for payments to Trump's campaign but for donations to other candidates, as well as tax evasion. Of the 100＋ audio tapes seized by the Feds only one had a conversation with Trump, while there were dozens of other major candidates in 2016 who may very well be on those other tapes.
What could be going on here is that Cohen broke campaign law by donations to other candidates in an attempt to hedge his bets, and that this is now being used by prosecutors to strong-arm him into breaking client confidentiality with regard to Trump, or just make up stories.
In short, this looks like a heavy-handed attempt by the Deep State to strike at Trump again by striking at the people around him and associated with him.
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