RUSSIA/РОССИЯ THREAD—ASSANGE CHRGD W/ SPYING—DJT IMPEACHED TWICE-US TREASURY SANCTS KILIMNIK AS RUSSIAN AGNT
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:ALERTRED::ALERTRED::ALERTRED::ALERTRED:
AFTER THE COHEN RAID THE POTUS INTERVIEW WITH MUELLER BROKE DOWN COMPLETELY.
THE TIME TABLE FOR MUELLER'S REPORT HAS BEEN EXPEDITED AND WILL SPEED UP
Trump, Mueller teams prepare to move forward without presidential interview
Monday’s raid on Trump’s personal lawyer upended talks for the president to sit down with investigators.
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office and President Donald Trump’s legal team are now proceeding with strategies that presume a presidential interview will likely not take place as part of the Russia investigation, after months of talks between the two sides collapsed earlier this week, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
On Monday Trump’s lawyers were discussing a possible interview with Mueller's team and had begun to hash out the final sticking points, including the timing, scope and length, according to people familiar with the discussions. One person familiar with the strategy said the president’s lawyers had sought over the weekend to expand his legal team to include individuals who would prepare him for an interview. Another person familiar with the matter, however, said preparations had not yet gone that far.
But the prospects for a presidential interview drastically dimmed once the FBI raided the home, office and hotel room of Trump’s long-time personal lawyer, Michael Cohen on Monday, these people said. The president criticized the raid as out of bounds in Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with Trump aides.
The president’s lawyers wanted any interview to last only a few hours, according to one person familiar with the matter. They also wanted Mueller to agree to write a report within at least three or four months after completing the interview, this person said.
Prior to Monday’s raid, Mueller’s team had been aiming to finalize a report on its findings on whether the president has tried to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation in the coming months, as early as May or as late as July, three sources said. That timeline hinged in part on reaching a decision on a presidential interview, these people said. One person familiar with the investigation described a decision on an interview as one of the last steps Mueller was seeking to take before closing his investigation into obstruction.
Now, according to two sources, Mueller’s team may be able to close the obstruction probe more quickly as they will not need to prepare for the interview or follow up on what the president says.
The raid on Cohen “significantly complicated” any negotiations for the president’s legal team, according to a person familiar with the discussions, who also cautioned that “you never say never” in terms of a possible interview. This person said the president’s legal team is still in frequent contact with Mueller’s team on other issues related to the investigation.
The president’s lawyers declined to comment for this report.
Three sources familiar with the investigation said the findings Mueller has collected on Trump’s attempts to obstruct justice include: His intent to fire former FBI Director James Comey; his role in the crafting of a misleading public statement on the nature of a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son and Russians; Trump’s dangling of pardons before grand jury witnesses who might testify against him; and pressuring Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
Mueller would then likely send a confidential report to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Russia investigation. Rosenstein could decide whether to make the report public and send its findings to Congress. From there, Congress would then decide whether to begin impeachment proceedings against the president, said two of the sources.
Rosenstein met with the president at the White House on Thursday. A White House official told reporters the meeting was about "routine department business." A Justice Department spokeswoman said it was part of a scheduled meeting with officials from other agencies as well as DOJ.
The special counsel’s office declined to comment on this report or whether it would seek to subpoena Trump to testify before a grand jury.
Since the FBI raid seizing Cohen’s documents and electronics, Trump has soured on the idea of sitting for an interview with Mueller, people familiar with his thinking said. Trump’s lawyers were wary of him agreeing to a sit-down, but in the days before the raid they had started initial preparations for Trump to take part in a possible interview in part because the president could overrule their advice, people familiar with the discussions said.
Prior to the FBI raid on Cohen, Trump’s legal team also had been preparing various approaches depending on how discussions with Mueller concluded, people familiar with the matter said.
If Trump were to decline a voluntary interview, his legal team discussed making the case that a sitting president can’t be subpoenaed, according to people familiar with the discussions. The argument hinges on the idea that a sitting president can’t be indicted, with Trump’s lawyers surmising that if a president can’t be indicted he can’t be subpoenaed.
Two people familiar with the investigation said they expect a flurry of activity from Mueller’s office on the investigation in the next six weeks around the anniversary of his appointment as special counsel.
It’s unclear what other top Trump aides Mueller has left to interview. He still hasn’t requested an interview with Vice President Mike Pence and may be unlikely to do so, two people familiar with the matter said. Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr. have both been focuses of the investigation.
Mueller has indicted Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, and secured plea deals and cooperation agreements from Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn and campaign aide Rick Gates, as well as Russian individuals and others accused of lying to the FBI or helping Russia interfere in the U.S. presidential election in 2016.
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Th3G3ntleman
Superstar
Certainly after this president walks the plank, we're gonna need to have a serious national conversation about the powers of the executive branch. I mean a one party president, senate, and house smorgasbord has always been dictator-y to an extent but to see it work like this has got to instill the need for more checks.
Dorian Breh
Veteran
GnauzBookOfRhymes
Superstar
GnauzBookOfRhymes
Superstar
brehs,
Donald Trump more than likely has a half Mexican child.
Let that marinate.
Donald Trump more than likely has a half Mexican child.
Let that marinate.
He don't even claim his own seed. When was the last time you seen him show Barron any affection? When has he even acknowledged him?
If you had a pulse Trump was trying to put his dikk in you.
Raw.
I understand now why STDs were his Vietnam.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...42549c-3ddf-11e8-974f-aacd97698cef_story.html
FBI raid sought Trump lawyer’s communications with bank that loaned him money against his taxi business
By Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Carol D. Leonnig
A federal investigation into what role President Trump’s personal attorney played in facilitating payments to two women who alleged affairs with Trump is also examining the lawyer’s interactions with a bank that gave him loans against his taxi business.
When they raided the office of Trump lawyer Michael D. Cohen on Monday, FBI agents sought his communications with New York-based Sterling National Bank about taxi medallions owned by Cohen, according to a person familiar with the search warrant.
The request indicates that prosecutors may have interest in specific financial transactions that Cohen undertook while using his taxi business as collateral.
The request for records about Cohen’s communications with Sterling provides a fuller picture of the federal investigation into the longtime Trump confidant. The probe appears focused in part on Cohen’s efforts tamp down negative stories about the real estate mogul as he ran for president, according to people familiar with the work of investigators.
People with knowledge of the inquiry have told The Washington Post that Cohen is under investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations.
[Trump attorney Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations]
Cohen has held taxi interests as a side business even as he worked as a top lawyer for Trump for the last decade. Public records show he took out a business loan from Sterling in late 2014 for an unspecified amount using three taxi companies as collateral. Cohen also obtained a $1.98 million real estate loan with his in-laws from the bank in 2015, records show.
Andy MacMillan, a spokesman for Sterling, declined to comment on Cohen, saying customer information is confidential. He said the bank cooperates with all proper government requests for information or documents.
Cohen did not respond to requests for comment. His attorney, Stephen Ryan, declined to comment. Earlier this week, Ryan called the raids “inappropriate and unnecessary” and complained that investigators seized privileged records.
The effort by investigators to obtain documents related to the bank and Cohen’s taxi business is the latest detail to emerge about the raid of Cohen’s office and residences Monday, which enraged Trump.
During their search, federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York also sought information related to Cohen’s October 2016 payment of $130,000 to an adult-film star who claims she had an affair with Trump. Cohen has said he used a home equity line of credit to make the payment and that Trump was not aware of it.
The search warrant also included requests for information on Cohen’s communications with Trump about “potential sources of negative publicity” before the 2016 election, including an “Access Hollywood” tape that captured Trump making vulgar comments about women, The Post has reported.
[Federal investigators sought Trump’s communications with his lawyer about ‘Access Hollywood’ tape]
The inquiry was opened by the Manhattan-based U.S. attorney’s office following a referral from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
Though taxi medallions have declined dramatically in value with the proliferation of ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft, they remain valuable assets that allow holders to operate a taxi. The medallions are also often used by their holders as collateral for loans. Industry analysts say the New York City medallions reached a peak value of about $1.2 million apiece in 2014 but are currently worth about $300,000 each.
Cohen started in the cab business in the 1990s while working as a personal injury lawyer, years before he joined the Trump Organization.
In an interview with The Post last year, Cohen said his clients at the time included many taxi cab companies and that he learned one client was selling his taxi business.
“He asked me if I wanted to buy it. So I took a shot and I knew his partner, because I represented him as well. That’s how I got into the taxi business,” Cohen said.
Cohen left the taxi business a decade ago to work for Trump, but he has maintained ownership of a few dozen taxi medallions in New York and Chicago, according to Cohen and public records. He owns his medallions through a series of companies with colorful names such as Sir Michael Hacking Corporation and Lady Laura Hacking Corporation, apparently named for his wife, public records show.
When he was in the taxi business full-time, Cohen worked with Simon Garber, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union who also operated a fleet of cabs in Moscow. (Cohen said he never worked with Garber in Russia.):weebaynanimated:
Cohen said his New York fleet also included medallions he purchased from his wife’s parents.
By 2003, when Cohen made an unsuccessful New York City Council bid, he owned a fleet of 200 taxis, he told a voter’s guide at the time.
Cohen told The Post last year that he sold the management of the fleet to Garber around that time, but he retained ownership of some medallions. Their relationship soured during a bitter contractual dispute.
By then, Cohen was working as an attorney at the Trump Organization and collecting income on a small number of medallions. He contracted with Evgeny “Gene” Friedman, another immigrant from the former Soviet Union known as the “Taxi King” of New York, to manage his fleet, according to people with knowledge of the taxi industry.:weebaynanimated:
Friedman has struggled financially as the value of taxi medallions has plummeted in recent years. He declared bankruptcy on some of his medallions in 2016 and last year was charged by the New York state attorney general with theft related to allegedly failing to pay $5 million in taxes, according to public records. Friedman has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial June 18.:weebaynanimated:
Friedman’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment. Another Friedman attorney has denied that he committed wrongdoing.
Records held by the New York Department of Taxation and Finance show that Cohen’s medallion companies currently owe more than $55,000 in taxes.
Alice Crites contributed to this report.
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@DonKnock @dza @88m3 @wire28 @smitty22 @fact @Hood Critic @ExodusNirvana @Blessed Is the Man @dtownreppin214 @JKFrazier @BigMoneyGrip @Soymuscle Mike @.r. @Dorian Breh @Dameon Farrow @TheNig @VR Tripper @re'up @Blackfyre_Berserker @Cali_livin
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Barron probably goes weeks at a time without the touch of another human.
Trump walks past his son as if he is a 5ft tall roomba.
Barron probably smears feces on the bathroom walls of air-force one.
never forget they hated this....
