Robert Mueller, Former F.B.I. Director, Is Named Special Counsel for Russia Investigation

Some idiots will support a crook as he robs them blind.

DD

 

The Democrats should absolutely not try to impeach based on a campaign finance violation.

But here we are, debating posters who continue to strawman what we want and continue to pretend they know what is in the redacted lines of court filings and within Mueller's head in a very tightly sealed investigation that never leaks.

I'm only willing to impeach if Mueller concludes his investigation and the findings are so bad that it is within certainly that a 2/3rds vote would pass in the Senate. That means it's so obvious and blatant that the GOP has no method to spin.

A year long drawn out impeachment battle is not worth the divisiveness that it will cause across the nation. If the impeachment proceedings begin in a few months, it will take at least a year to compete. By that time we might as well just elect him out of office in 2020. It would be much cleaner and less divisive. The country would be better off if Trump looses in 2020 decisively.

 

No Collusion. #winning

 

Redacted lines galore. #Nostradamus

 

There may be no collusion....but there are crimes that were committed. Trump is going to jail, it just a matter of when. Whitewater didn't get Clinton impeached, the Blowjob did.

 

...The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.

This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump - helped along by Aras and Emin.

What do you think is the best way to handle this information and would you be able to speak to Emin about it directly?

Rob Goldstone
...

...
Thanks Rob I appreciate that. I am on the road at the moment but perhaps I just speak to Emin first. Seems we have some time and if it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer. Could we do a call first thing next week when I am back?

Best,
Don
...

 

Completely agree. However it still is worth reminding everyone that by historical standards, yes, Trump should be impeached. Here’s where I’d rank the severity of impeachment or removal of past presidents in relation to Trumps crimes:

1. Conspiracy to commit a crime (break in), and obstruction of justice - Nixon
2. Two counts of campaign violations, potential obstruction- Trump
3. Purgery - Clinton
4. Tenure of office act - Johnson

The big question mark here is conspiracy in relation to the Russian hacking and influence campaign. If it’s found that Trump has any criminal liability here in relation to the other three impeachment cases in our nations history, the case for impeaching trump is insanely overwhelming.

Still I’m totally in agreement about doing everything they can to avoid it and prepare to beat him in 2020. But still important to understand in historical terms, he really should be impeached.

 

Rebuttal*

 

If we assume that you are correct that there are campaign finance violations by Trump that need to be pursued, then let's have a look at campaign violations that Obama was convicted of and that his campaign was fined $375,000 for to see what happens when a presidential candidate violates campaign finance laws:

Obama 2008 campaign fined $375,000 for $2,000,000 in illegal campaign contributions

Campaign finance violations are typically treated as administrative violations by the campaign that is handled with a fine, paid by the campaign, and not the candidate.

If Trump has committed impeachable offenses for the current alleged $280,000 in improper campaign contributions, then how much more was Barack Obama, with his $2,000,000 of improper campaign contributions, for which he walked with a $375,000 fine to his campaign?

 

Do you understand different tiers of violations?

I did the driving violation analogy before. What Obama's campaign did which was submit paperwork late was a civil offense. That would be equivalent of driving with a expired inspection sticker. A fine at most.

Trump and Cohen used private undisclosed funds to support the campaign which is a felony. That would be equivalent of a DUI which is a felony.

It's a criminal misdemeanor and not something by itself is worthy of impeachment which we all agree on.

 

I read the same story on foxnews.com.

The difference is the conspiracy by Trump, Cohen, and Pecker, as opposed to failing to file paperwork in a timely manner on large donations as required by law.

The two situations are materially different. It's like the difference between accidentally discharging a gun and hitting someone, and shooting someone in the face because you want their wallet. In both cases, someone is shot, but the details matter.

 

So Obama gets a comparative free pass and Trump gets as close to the gallows as can be suggested while still passing the red-face test. Unfortunately, it is not much of a surprise that you would take this stance.

 

You didn't read anything I typed.

 

Good article. McCarthy has been a straight shooter throughout this whole exercise. In fact, he has been one of the very few in the media that has been.

A couple of paragraphs from this article:

'According to prosecutors, Pecker arranged with Cohen that the Enquirer would buy McDougal’s story for $150,000 and bury it. Although it was contemplated that Cohen would reimburse Pecker (and then be reimbursed by Trump), the reimbursement did not happen.'​

And then this:

Arguably, the payment is not a donation if it was made for an expense that was independent of the campaign – that is, money that would have had to be paid even if there were no campaign.

Cohen chose to plead guilty and forfeited the right to contest this point. That concession is not binding on Trump. If the president is charged, I expect he would vigorously argue that the payment was not a campaign contribution.​

So, it appears that all Trump really needs to do is pay this money back, and that ends any further discussion about this, at least among the non-TDS crowd.

If for some reason he does not want to do that, his defense is almost assuredly going to be that these were not campaign related expenses. The standard is typically if the expenses would have been incurred if there was no campaign, then they are not campaign expenses. So if Trump can demonstrate that he has in the past paid other people to not disclose scandalous stories - prior to the campaign - then this is over with. It is my understanding that he has.

Or if he wants to nip this in the bud even sooner, again, just pay these people their money back. Game over.

 

False equivalency for the STUPID!

Obama was determined to be oblivious to the violations, and paid a fine. Trump ordered them - which is a felony.

What Moronman just said was equivalent to a person getting a ticket for a tail light being out to a Drunk driver who kills someone in an accident.

They are not EVEN close...bud !

DD

 

Do you think all the dedacted content in court filings submitted by the Southern District of New York and the special counsel only reffere to campaign finance violations?

Really? No one is saying that Trump is going down for campaign financing. You do know all these charges that are sticking to Trump's ascoiates are the ones that survived after cooperation? God knows what Mueller let go because of 19 different interviews from Flynn and 20 hrs of content from Cohen.

 

If they had anything more substantial, do you believe that they would really be willing to embarrass themselves with this kind of incredibly weak nonsense? This stunt positively reeks of desperation and failure.

But please do keep us posted about any actual facts to back up your conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton lost because of a conspiracy between Donald Trump and the Russians to steal the 2016 presidential election. Will you please? The next facts that you provide to support this conspiracy theory will be the first. So that will be real news, if you can ever provide it.

 

Failure?

Keep lying pal.

Mueller has been convicting people left and right, hardly a failure.

Many Are Getting Arrested.

DD