The Russia Investigations and other Trump-related cases

[RoseMorninStar]

What astounds me is the number of people who are OK with the lying. Yes, most people tell a lie here & there (and that seems to be how they justify the lying in this administration), but some people lie so often, it seems they don't find lying any different than telling the truth. That pathological lying is not the same as telling an occasional fib.

[Dave_LF]

So Trump's argument is that we shouldn't listen to Cohen because... he has a history of lying?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This is some compelling stuff.

[Primula Baggins]

What, exactly, Voronwë? Or is that sardonic humor? I can’t watch or listen.

[RoseMorninStar]

So Trump's argument is that we shouldn't listen to Cohen because... he has a history of lying?

Oh, the irony, aina?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

What, exactly, Voronwë? Or is that sardonic humor? I can’t watch or listen.

I listened to about an hour of it. Great theater, though none of what I listened to was earthshattering in terms of the content (pretty much all of the important content was covered in his opening statement, which I did not listen to, but read and looked at the documents). Some of it was painful to listen to, but I did hear some genuine remorse and redemption, which came through exclusively when he was responding to the GOP members attempts to discredit him. The moment that will stick with me the most was when he said "Shame on you, Mr. Jordan" to Jim Jordan, the ranking GOP member on the committee, and the head of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, who I think has come across particularly badly in this hearing (though I'm sure that Mr. Trump is happy with his performance).

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I am extremely impressed with the chairman, Elijah Cummings. And as I mentioned in the other thread, I was also particularly impressed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's questioning.

[yovargas]

As someone who didn't follow it throughout the day, is it fair to say that nothing of consequence came from the hearings and that opinions about it will be overwhelmingly determined by one's partisan leanings?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

No to the former; yes to the latter.

ETA: This was among the most significant parts, I thought.

https://goo.gl/2WzD7i

And this one:

https://goo.gl/vJWbrz

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[Frelga]

When you retweet after reading only the first sentence.

Screenshot_20190228-000718.jpeg (81.99 KiB) Viewed 7459 times

[yovargas]

No to the former; yes to the latter.

ETA: This was among the most significant parts, I thought.

https://goo.gl/2WzD7i

And this one:

https://goo.gl/vJWbrz

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Do you really think that could lead to an actual investigation into his taxes? I'm very skeptical but you would know better than me.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I don't think it will, I know it will.

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[Dave_LF]

He wouldn't be the first mobster to be caught by tax fraud

[Griffon64]

I'd worry that Republicans in power won't let him get caught. In retrospect, Trump had his finger right on the pulse of the parts of the party that matter, politically, when he said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and walk away from it without consequence.

ETA: of course, I can easily be proven wrong if any necessary investigations are carried out in good faith, in a bipartisan manner, in the fashion that one would expect one's government to act.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The House Ways and Means Committee has the authority to obtain tax returns of any American citizen, including the president. They have already begun that process, and the events at yesterday's hearings will help that process. Mr. Trump and his allies will still try to block them from obtaining the tax returns, but it is unclear what legal basis they have to prevent it. One of the most interesting things that Cohen said was that he didn't think that Mr. Trump was actually under audit, since he had requested a copy of the audit when he was still the President's attorney and defender and no one could give him one, and even more remarkably that his impression was that the real reason that Trump wanted to avoid disclosing his returns was because he wanted to avoid sparking an audit.

Griffy, sadly, I don't think you will be proven wrong.

This article perfectly encapsulates why I was so impressed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez compared to most of her colleagues.

How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Won the Cohen Hearing
Too many representatives chose to bloviate instead of interrogate — except for one.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The so-called "Mueller report" is finished and has been delivered to Attorney General Barr, who has informed the Chairs and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees that he will inform them of Mueller's "principle conclusions" as soon as this weekend. No further indictments are expected.

Most likely much ado about nothing, although there are many other investigations that are ongoing.

[yovargas]

Does informing the "Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees" mean we get informed too or not necessarily?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

My understanding is that those "principle conclusions" will be released publicly at the same time they are provided to Congress, or soon after. Whether or when we would get to see the underlying details (I have heard that the report is "comprehensive," whatever that means), that is an open question.

[River]

I feel like there are too many loose ends for this to be the end all be all. There's that mystery company and that Miller guy still fighting their grand jury subpoenas, for example. But maybe those cases will get farmed out somehow?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Reportedly, SCOTUS discussed whether to grant mystery foreign company's petition for certiorari yesterday in their weekly closed door meeting, so we may know as soon as Monday whether they will grant the petition and take up the case. But I guess whatever they are looking for from mystery foreign company is not necessary to reach their conclusions on the core issues of the investigation. As for Miller, we are still waiting for him and his attorneys to decide whether to ask for en banc review by the Court of Appeals or petition to the SCOTUS for review, but again I guess whatever they want from him is also not necessary for the core investigation.

Just a week ago, the SCO filed a status report asking for a delay of Gates' sentencing because "Gates continues to cooperate with respect to several ongoing investigations." I would guess that one of those investigations is an investigation into Mr. Trump's inaugural l committee, of which he was the deputy chairman (long after Manafort had been forced out of the campaign). And of course the U.S. Attorney in New York is still investigating the campaign violations, and has already explicitly implicated Mr. Trump. Though I suspect that will be held in abeyance until he leaves office, and then he may or may not be charged.