Welcome To Trump World

[aj3647]

From your article: " during the presidential campaign [[Trump) hammered former Hillary Clinton staffer"s who took the Fifth during the investigation of her private email server." They weren't mobsters. They were just computer guys who worked on Hillary's email server.
Trump gets it right about Clinton staff 'taking the Fifth'

OK oladub, now that you've gotten your obligatory mention of Hillary Clinton out of the way, take that same logic and extend it to Donald Trump's personal lawyer pleading the fifth in regards to a payment made to a porn star to buy her silence. What are your thoughts? Again, try to stick to the topical issue at hand instead of steering the conversation back to Hillary Clinton. She hasn't held public office in six years.

Because ALL the assholes “running” the investigations are democrats like yourself who are not interested in the truth; only in making their dreams come true - again like yourself.

Democrats run the Justice Department now?

Fact: Robert Mueller is a Republican. He's registered as a Republican in the District of Columbia and was appointed FBI Director in 2001 by Republican President George W Bush. Mueller was named Special Counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is also...you guessed it...a Republican. Rosenstein was appointed to his post by Donald Trump. Last I checked, Donald Trump was...a Republican. Meanwhile the Justice Department is run by a guy named Jeff Sessions who is also, I'm fairly certain, a Republican.

[oladub]

TK, Robert Swan Mueller III is both intelligent and was a decorated Marine. However, his worthiness as a prosecutor is blemished by lying. According to Icelandic minister Ögmunder Jonasson, FBI director Mueller introduced FBI agents under false pretenses to go after whistleblowers Snowden, Assange, and Wikileaks. FBI agents were consequently expelled from Iceland. Not everyone believes Mueller changed his spots.

Regarding your military record distraction, Bush the Elder and Carter were the last Presidents with honorable military records. How were Bill Clinton and Obama's military records better than Trump's?

[oladub]

OK oladub, now that you've gotten your obligatory mention of Hillary Clinton out of the way, take that same logic and extend it to Donald Trump's personal lawyer pleading the fifth in regards to a payment made to a porn star to buy her silence. What are your thoughts? Again, try to stick to the topical issue at hand instead of steering the conversation back to Hillary Clinton. She hasn't held public office in six years.

Democrats run the Justice Department now?

Fact: Robert Mueller is a Republican. He's registered as a Republican in the District of Columbia and was appointed FBI Director in 2001 by Republican President George W Bush. Mueller was named Special Counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is also...you guessed it...a Republican. Rosenstein was appointed to his post by Donald Trump. Last I checked, Donald Trump was...a Republican. Meanwhile the Justice Department is run by a guy named Jeff Sessions who is also, I'm fairly certain, a Republican.

aj, I didn't bring up Hillary Clinton. You did. I quoted from the article you posted. Are only you allowed to bring up Hillary? My thought, since you asked, is that Mueller is a proven lier.

I don't care if Mueller and Rosenstein are Republicans. So is McCain, the Bush family, some prominent neocons, and a good many corporatists who would like to see Trump gone. I thought Mueller was supposed to be investigating Russia's influence on the election based in part on a DNC financed foreigner made dossier, [[foreign influence and collusion in our election?) about water sports but has since drifted on to domestic hookers.

Meanwhile, unemployment rates are at record lows in 14 states and among African-American, and Hispanic-Americans and South Korea's Foreign Minister is crediting Trump with bringing Kim to the bargaining table. But if you want to steer conversation to hookers, that's always fun.

[aj3647]

aj, I didn't bring up Hillary Clinton. You did. I quoted from the article you posted. Are only you allowed to bring up Hillary? My thought, since you asked, is that Mueller is a proven lier.

I don't care if Mueller and Rosenstein are Republicans. So is McCain, the Bush family, some prominent neocons, and a good many corporatists who would like to see Trump gone. I thought Mueller was supposed to be investigating Russia's influence on the election based in part on a DNC financed foreigner made dossier, [[foreign influence and collusion in our election?) about water sports but has since drifted on to domestic hookers.

Meanwhile, unemployment rates are at record lows in 14 states and among African-American, and Hispanic-Americans and South Korea's Foreign Minister is crediting Trump with bringing Kim to the bargaining table. But if you want to steer conversation to hookers, that's always fun.

The words "Hillary Clinton" were found nowhere in my post. I simply quoted Donald Trump's thought on the type of people who plead the Fifth Amendment, because it was relevant to a news story that is happening right now, in the year 2018. I provided the link only to prove that Donald Trump did indeed utter those words, lest some of the mouth-breathers who post here simply declare it "fake news" in order to dismiss it. You took that link, mined it for a mention of Hillary Clinton, and then tried to steer the conversation towards Hillary Clinton and her email sever from 8 years ago.

And sure, you're allowed to bring up Hillary. In fact, you seem to do a lot, despite the fact that she holds no public office and hasn't since 2012. But hey, let's keep the spotlight on her, rather than talk about who the current President is or the things he's doing, because it seems you would rather NOT talk about those things, given your propensity for deflection and red herrings.

Yes, the Stormy Daniels stuff falls outside the scope of Robert Mueller's investigation...which is why he had handed over evidence that he discovered to the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. It was their office which requested a search warrant, and it was their office who carried it out. And it is their office that is now in possession of mountains of files, hard drives, and at least 17 cell phones belonging to Michael Cohen...a guy who is about to invoke his Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. Still think it's all a "witch hunt", oladub? That these men: Flynn, Gates, Manafort, Cohen...that they're all innocent and being railroaded? You can play it off as being politically-motivated all you want, that doesn't change the guilty pleas. That doesn't change the mountains of evidence uncovered. And that won't change the guilty verdicts.

I'm curious oladub, in your expert opinion, what do you think is going to happen with Michael Cohen? Do you think he's going to skate on all of this with no charges filed [[because he's totally innocent of any criminal wrongdoing and it's all a "witch hunt"), or do you think he'll be charged with a boatload of felonies? I'll stake my reputation on "boatload of felonies", so you can feel free to gloat if I'm wrong. Will you make a prediction?

[Richard]

Lol, an anonymous poster on the internet willing to stake their reputation.

[oladub]

Since you are having word comprehension problems this morning, this is what I wrote:

"From your article: " during the presidential campaign [[Trump) hammered former Hillary Clinton staffer"s who took the Fifth during the investigation of her private email server." They weren't mobsters. They were just computer guys who worked on Hillary's email server.
Trump gets it right about Clinton staff 'taking the Fifth'"

I quoted the article you introduced and linked in which Hillary was mentioned. Even if I had introduced Hillary into this discussion that would be fair based on Hillary having been the other choice and her continued media presence blaming women, Bernie, Russians, Americans workers, and everyone else for her loss. Sorry, otherwise I do not share your concern about what happens to Michael Cohen and the entire Russiagate fiasco. And yes, its a witch hunt in which client lawyer confidentiality was violated in a Nazi like manner. That alone should be grounds for a mistrial. If you want to impeach Trump, I would instead suggest nailing him for bombing Syria without Congress first declaring war. Of course, Obama should somehow be similarly punished for doing the same and killing hundreds of times more people for good measure. And what of the hundreds of members of Congress and judges who were silent or supported acts of war on Libya and Syria? Remind me of why unconstitutional wars are less of an issue than prostitution.

[aj3647]

And yes, its a witch hunt in which client lawyer confidentiality was violated in a Nazi like manner. That alone should be grounds for a mistrial.

How was attorney-client privilege violated? Specifically. Please state your evidence. You should offer your expert legal advice to Cohen's defense attorneys, since you seem to know something they don't. They aren't even attempting to argue that the evidence seizure was illegal, they simply asked for an independent third-party to review any evidence seized so that legitimate attorney-client communications could be excluded, which the judge AGREED TO. So again, I ask, where's the violation of attorney-client privilege?

FYI, as far as "attorney-client privilege" goes:
1) Cohen admitted in court that he only has THREE legal clients. Three.
2) One of those was Sean Hannity, who publicly said that he was not a formal client of Cohen's and simply asked him for some legal advice on real estate.
3) Another one of the three clients was Donald Trump, who just went on Fox & Friends yesterday to claim that Cohen did a "tiny, tiny amount of work" for him and that the offenses for which Cohen is currently under investigation have "nothing to do with him [[Trump)."

So given these self-admitted statements, it seems unlikely that much of what the FBI seized from Cohen's office would be legitimately covered under attorney-client privilege since Cohen seemingly did almost no work as an actual attorney for his tiny handful of clients. And that's by the admission of his own clients.

Trump was all too happy to throw Cohen right under the bus, and now he's fucked.

I know you got your law degree online from Trump University and all, but let me fill you in on a simple legal fact: just because he is an attorney does not mean ALL of Cohen's communications are somehow protected by attorney-client privilege. Lawyers are not immune from the law just because they are lawyers, and yes if a lawyer breaks the law, they can be raided by law enforcement to seek evidence of a crime.

[Jimaz]

Once [Michael Cohen] jumps ship, who is even left to defend Trump? Ben Carson?

I was thinking about it earlier; as more and more of his inner circle team around him continue to be fired, alienated, indicted and/or just plain quit... I have to think it's getting pretty quiet and lonely up there. Could you see a point in the near future when the only thing that remains is to distance oneself from the POTUS as much as possible? Could Trump go down on this sinking ship all alone? What a sight that would be.

Judging by this you must be correct about the loneliness:
'Fox & Friends' Couldn't Get Trump Off The Phone.

They finally cut his ramble short with "We could talk to you all day but it looks like you have a million things to do."

That's the first time I've ever heard of someone having to cut a president short.

[oladub]

How was attorney-client privilege violated?

If any information concerning Trump was obtained, we do not know who has since seen it and who it has been passed on to. That would constitute a violation of client-attorney privilege and could be the basis for a mistrial. Mueller muddied his own quest. While this might be your idealized Amerika of thuggish lawyers breaking into attorney offices seizing records and, going back to Mueller in Iceland, using false premises to go after whistleblowers, I wouldn't want Mueller's storm troopers raiding my lawyer or accountant's offices no matter what their intricate excuses, alibis, and reassurances. Mueller's break in could have waited until Mueller was through with whatever he is doing trying to find Russian interference in the election; a dopey and hypocritical assignment and quest given that we should assume Russia, China, Iran, and others do try to interfere as we interfere with theirs. Such desperation might suggest that Mueller is frustrated.

[Canadian Visitor]

Column in Today's Toronto Star suggests that Trump [[and Congress) and moving the United States towards another Financial Crisis.

Read article, and comment.

https://www.thestar.com/business/opi...uld-worry.html

[Richard]

I guess without reading the 2300 pages of the Dodd frank emplmented by the previous administration it is hard to determine a future crash.

So what happened in the intrerest of protecting the consumer and trying to stop the cycling that has occurred sense the 1800s?

The banking was turned over to 5 banks who then controlled everything,tight credit restrictions were placed which stalled the economy because then nobody could get loans,construction ground to a halt,real estate ground to a halt because nobody could get loans.

Local community banks that were essential for small local start ups and community investment were wiped out and it went back to only those who's net worth was in the upper 3% had no problem.

The roll backs started in 2017 the question is,in the last year has the city of Detroit shown more project growth then it has in the past due to the ease of credit restrictions.

During the crash and the years that followed the money did not dry up and go away,the restrictions on lending it shut it off and prolonged the suffering.

The ups and downs happen and nobody can predict or time them,if they could they would be the highest paid person on the planet.

So if one prefers 5 banks controlling everything is good,then what the currant president did is bad and the Sky is falling.

[Canadian Visitor]

The ups and downs happen and nobody can predict or time them,if they could they would be the highest paid person on the planet.

So if one prefers 5 banks controlling everything is good,then what the currant president did is bad and the Sky is falling.

Last bit first, you are aware, that in Canada 'The Big 5' banks have controlled the market for decades.

Our banks also didn't cut lending materially during the financial crisis and weathered it just fine.

I have no objection to a less oligopolistic banking system, however, it doesn't result in unreasonably restricted access to credit.

***

Stopping the swings in the credit market is actually quite easy; its merely having the political will to curtail greed.

Don't allow people to buy homes w/less than 20% down; don't allow people to buy cars or anything over $10,000 in value without 50% down [[homes excepted); don't allow the buying of stocks on leverage; don't allow variable rate mortgages, don't allow leveraged buy outs.

Finally don't allow banks to over-leverage themselves. I would go further than the Basel Accords and demand 20% Tier 1 capital. That's completely reasonable and all but wipes out the risk of a liquidity crunch.

There, done, your welcome, LOL.

If you require people to pay cash for more things or a greater proportion of, you virtually eliminate the risk of huge price swings, you reduce the risk of borrowers going under water by at least 1/3, and you limit the banks exposure risk.

This will not tank the economy, what it will do is decimate the bankruptcy industry. Apologies to Bankruptcy Guy, but there are better places for the money.

You can phase in the changes over a few years if desired to reduce any adjustment pains.

***

Lest someone ask, no Canada is nowhere near that restrictive, and yes I would favour it.

Though we have different measures in place, in Canada, in order to get any mortgage, you must qualify for a 5-year fixed based on the Banks of Canada's benchmark rate, or the contract rate offered by your bank, plus 2 percentage points.

We also require anyone who puts less than 20% down to buy mortgage insurance, which will pay the bank if you default.

Additionally, we require 5% down as an absolute minimum, but also 10% for any portion of a purchase price for a home than exceeds $500,000.

[[example: You buy a home for $1,000,000, you must have a down payment equal to 5% of the first $500,000, and 10% of the second $500,000 or 7.5% over all).

Also, in Canada, there are no walk-away mortgages. You can't just discharge the debt, by turning over the keys.

I personally don't think that's tough enough, but its a good place to start.

You'll note the Toronto housing market continues to tear notwithstanding these restrictions.

Albeit it has slowed down just a tad, thank goodness.

[coracle]

Good news in Trump World today. McCain is not seeking re-election.

[aj3647]

If any information concerning Trump was obtained, we do not know who has since seen it and who it has been passed on to. That would constitute a violation of client-attorney privilege and could be the basis for a mistrial. Mueller muddied his own quest. While this might be your idealized Amerika of thuggish lawyers breaking into attorney offices seizing records and, going back to Mueller in Iceland, using false premises to go after whistleblowers, I wouldn't want Mueller's storm troopers raiding my lawyer or accountant's offices no matter what their intricate excuses, alibis, and reassurances. Mueller's break in could have waited until Mueller was through with whatever he is doing trying to find Russian interference in the election; a dopey and hypocritical assignment and quest given that we should assume Russia, China, Iran, and others do try to interfere as we interfere with theirs. Such desperation might suggest that Mueller is frustrated.

Are you allergic to the facts, oladub? You seem to become more and more disconnected from reality with every post. Here, some facts for you, since you seem so hellbent on lying constantly

1) Mueller had NOTHING TO DO with the raid on Michael Cohen. That was conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Southern New York. Mueller did not request the search warrant, nor did he carry it out, nor will he be investigating what was uncovered, nor will he be involved in the decision to charge Michael Cohen, nor will he be involved in the inevitable prosecution of Michael Cohen. You tying Mueller's name to this doesn't mean he's involved, it just makes you a look like a liar and a fool.

2) What you describe as a "break-in", I would call a "lawful search and seizure." You know, since they had a search warrant, signed by a judge, in accordance with the Bill of Rights. You ever read the Fourth Amendment, oladub? Do you know how the law works?

If any aspect of the raid was illegal, don't you think Michael Cohen's lawyers [[who, BTW, are being paid by the Trump Campaign to defend Cohen) would be making that argument in court? As I suggested before, since you are such a legal expert, why are you not volunteering your legal services to Michael Cohen? I don't know which law school you graduated from, but surely it must be a top-tier school and Cohen's lawyers would be lucky to have you. Time to nut up, oladub, your legal expertise is being wasted here.

As a matter of fact, since Michael Cohen is hardly the first lawyer to break the law and have his offices raided by the authorities, there are long-established procedures in place to protect attorney-client privileged communications in incidents just like this one.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/10/polit...ege/index.html

The US Attorneys' manual says a "privilege team" exists "to protect the attorney-client privilege and to ensure that the investigation is not compromised by exposure to privileged material."In other words, a taint team is intended to act as a protective buffer between an individual subject to a seizure and prosecutors when material is seized that may be privileged.


The FBI just proved Donald Trump wrong on attorney-client privilege


"The taint team lawyers review the documents and remove anything that is covered by the attorney client privilege," CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin wrote in an email. "They pass the non-attorney client material to the investigators, who are not 'tainted' by contact with the privileged material."
Chris Christie, the Republican former governor of New Jersey and onetime head of the Trump transition team, pushed back against the President's assertion that "attorney-client privilege is dead" in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" by explaining how the taint team will work.

"Attorney-client privilege is not dead, because of the way the Justice Department is going to approach this," Christie said. "There's going to be a taint team. They call it a taint team because you don't want to taint the prosecutors who are actually investigating it by seeing potentially privileged information that they have no right to see."

However, in the Cohen case, the judge went one step further and granted a request from Cohen's legal team to appoint a "Special Master" to review all the seized material and separate out any communications which would fall under attorney-client privilege. That person is retired federal judge Barbara Jones. Cohen's lawyers were totally OK with this. All of this falls within pre-established legal precedent for how to deal with materials seized from a lawyer during a criminal investigation into that lawyer.

Anyways, you keep on believing what you choose to believe and I'm going to come back here and specifically rub your face in it when Cohen goes down. I guess time will tell which one of us will be right, but spoiler alert, it's going to be me.

[aj3647]

It's becoming a contest to see which group of people in Trump's life has more drama: Trump's lawyers or Trump's doctors.

Trump's longtime personal doctor of nearly 30 years, Dr. Harold Bornstein, claims that Trump "personally dictated" the letter that Bornstein released in 2015 in which he claimed that Trump was in "excellent health", had a blood pressure of 115/65, and would be the "healthiest individual ever elected to the Presidency" and that it was all made up.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/01/polit...ter/index.html

Bornstein also claims that Trump's bodyguard, Keith Schuller, showed up to his office with a lawyer and another hired goon and forcibly took all physical copies of Trump's medical records. This, of course, would be illegal, since such documentation could only be legally released by a physician to a third party if there was a signed HIPAA release. Even if there was, that does not entitle the recipient to take the original physical records, only copies [[physicians retain records on their patients even if the patients leave their care, the physical records themselves are technically the property of the physician or medical facility that created them).

The White House, for what it's worth, isn't even denying that Schiller did this, they're just disputing some of the details of how it happened.

Meanwhile, now we've learned that Trump's attacks on Senator Jon Tester are based on lies, as the White House knew well in advance of RADM Ronny Jackson's nomination to be Secretary of the VA that there were serious concerns about his behavior and professionalism:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/30/polit...son/index.html

Apparently, Dr. Jackson without authorization disclosed sensitive health information about the Second Lady, Karen Pence, to a third party. When Karen Pence's doctor learned about this, he confronted Dr. Jackson and later reported that Jackson "physically intimidated" him and treated him in a grossly unprofessional fashion. Pence's doctor was apparently so disturbed by Jackson's behavior that he reported it directly to the White House. And keep in mind, this was BEFORE he was nominated for a cabinet post. This story has led even the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Sen. Johnny Isakson [[R-GA) to admit that the allegations concerning RADM Jackson are credible. Again, for what it's worth, the White House is not allowing Jackson to resume his previous position as Trump's physician. Weird, since he's such a great guy and all.

Meanwhile, since it seems like Trump's doctors are having all the fun, Trump lawyer Ty Cobb has just quit [[been forced out) of Trump's legal team.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/02/polit...obb/index.html

[Maof]

^^^^ahahahahahaha...when i initially heard what Bornstein wrote about Trump's health, i thought he was either paid to say so or Trump wrote it himself. Funny as hell!! Always something with this guy!

[canuck]

^^^^ahahahahahaha...when i initially heard what Bornstein wrote about Trump's health, i thought he was either paid to say so or Trump wrote it himself. Funny as hell!! Always something with this guy!

Whaddya expect from Chumpty Dumpty?

[Richard]

The memos were provided to CNN on the condition that the vice president's physician not be named and that the memos not be published.

So it is he said she said,unnamed sources etc.

Breaking news, unnamed sources have said the sky is falling. Duck

Breaking news 3.5 million unnamed sources said Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president.

Your honor I have unnamed sources that said the president was speeding,Trump haters yell out ... give him a ticket ... while SGT Joe Friday would say "Just the facts ma'am.

Without the facts they are throwing things at the wall hopelessly wanting something to stick,replace peanut butter with unnamed sources.

[oladub]

aj, I stand by what I previously wrote. You will have to peddle your coup to someone else. If you want to attack Trump, do so for bombing Syria without a declaration of war and go after Obama for doing a hundred times worse. Mueller remains a liar based on the false pretenses he used as an FBI director to tackle whistleblowers in Iceland. That is to say he targeted whistleblowers rather than the corruption and rot whistleblowers brought to light. Mueller is therefore, in my opinion, not qualified to carry on his present mission whatever it has evolved into.

Good luck on selling the "privilege team" to rubes. We hear of new leaks every week but we are supposed to believe the "privilege team" will maintain purity? Maybe this time it will be different?

To generalize, Washington lawyers, our contemporary pharisees, and maybe even Washington, D.C., reminds me of the reference to whited sepulchers; clean on the outside but full of rot inside. No sale.

[canuck]

aj, I stand by what I previously wrote. You will have to peddle your coup to someone else. If you want to attack Trump, do so for bombing Syria without a declaration of war and go after Obama for doing a hundred times worse. Mueller remains a liar based on the false pretenses he used as an FBI director to tackle whistleblowers in Iceland. That is to say he targeted whistleblowers rather than the corruption and rot whistleblowers brought to light. Mueller is therefore, in my opinion, not qualified to carry on his present mission whatever it has evolved into.

Good luck on selling the "privilege team" to rubes. We hear of new leaks every week but we are supposed to believe the "privilege team" will maintain purity? Maybe this time it will be different?

To generalize, Washington lawyers, our contemporary pharisees, and maybe even Washington, D.C., reminds me of the reference to whited sepulchers; clean on the outside but full of rot inside. No sale.

Yes, and Chump is the new Messiah on whose shoulders the burden of chasing the money changers at the temple rests.

[coracle]

“Chumpty Dumpty” and the “Chump” [[and others I’ve forgotten). How old are you Canuck? Have you reached double numbers yet?

[canuck]

“Chumpty Dumpty” and the “Chump” [[and others I’ve forgotten). How old are you Canuck? Have you reached double numbers yet?

I am eternal.
If I were to start tweeting, I could tell you how ugly or insane or what I liar you are, oh! and how much folks love me. That would make me a wise man.

[Maof]

And then there's Rudy....the soap opera continues.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/02/polit...mey/index.html

[coracle]

I am eternal.
If I were to start tweeting, I could tell you how ugly or insane or what I liar you are, oh! and how much folks love me. That would make me a wise man.

Sorry canuck, I grossly under estimated. You're obviously well into your triple figures.

[canuck]

Sorry canuck, I grossly under estimated. You're obviously well into your triple figures.

lol. Yes, as far as my yearly canuckistani income, for sure.

Honestly, I don't dislike Chump. I think he raised the bar on a lot of issues.