So a lot has happened this week in Washington. Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and fixer turned himself in to the Feds and struck a deal to plead guilty to 8 separate counts. The counts alone could have gotten him around 65 years behind bars if he went to trial, but the plea deal gets him 3-5 years and opens him up to be used for his extensive knowledge of all things Trump related.
An interesting excerpt from Cohen's Plea Deal is listed below. It can be hard to read based on the fact that names are replaced with general terms, but if you read along, it is fairly obvious who they are referring to.
Here are a couple of excerpts from Cohen's Plea Deal that are most concerning to Trump:
Couple the fact that Cohen is opening up the floodgates and agreeing to provide whatever information investigators need on Trump, his lawyer also came forward with a statement that clearly denoted that Cohen will not accept a pardon from Criminal Trump.
Then there is Manafort. Manafort has already been found guilty on 8 charges that could put him away from some time. He also has another court case to go through in Washington that will likely result in much additional prison time. The likeliness of Manafort choosing his Family over Trump and Freedom over Trump is very high at this point as well.
Manafort and Cohen are two people who know right where all the bodies are buried so-to-speak, and Trump is absolutely terrified of what is to come. That is somewhat evident in is unhinged twitter rants filled with lies and diversion, and Giuliani's rants on news shows.
Trump continues to lie and have Giuliani lie, and have Press Sec. Sanders lie, and everyone in his inner circle lie in order to cover up the truth that is coming from all of the investigations looming around this Administration.
Mark My Words: When this is over, it will go down in history as something far worse than Watergate.
DUNK
An interesting excerpt from Cohen's Plea Deal is listed below. It can be hard to read based on the fact that names are replaced with general terms, but if you read along, it is fairly obvious who they are referring to.
Here are a couple of excerpts from Cohen's Plea Deal that are most concerning to Trump:
- First, in June 2016, a model and actress ("Woman-1") began attempting to sell her story of her alleged extramarital affair with Individual-1 that had taken place in 2006 and 2007, knowing the story would be of considerable value because of the election. Woman-1 retained an attorney ("Attorney-1"), who in turn contacted the editor-in-chief of Magazine-1 ("Editor-1"), and offered to sell Woman-1's story to Magazine-1. Chairman-1 and Editor-1 informed Cohen of the story. At Cohen's urging the subject to Cohen's promise that Corporation-1 would be reimbursed, Editor-1 ultimately began negotiating for the purchase of the story.
- On August 5, 2016, Corporation-1 entered into an agreement with Woman-1 to acquire her "limited life rights" to the story of her relationship with "any then-married man", in exchange for $150,000 and a commitment to feature her on two magazine covers and publish more than 100 magazine articles authored by her. Despite the cover and article features to the agreement, its principal purpose, as understood by those involved, including Cohen, was to suppress Woman-1's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.
- Between late August 2016 and September 2016, Cohen agreed with Chairman-1 to assign the rights to the non-disclosure portion of Corporation-1's agreement with Woman-1 to Cohen for $125,000. Cohen incorporated a shell entity called "Resolution Consultants LLC" for use in the transaction. Both Chairman-1 and Cohen ultimately signed the agreement, and a consultant for Corporation-1, using his own shell entity, provided Cohen with an invoice for the payment of $125,000. However, in early October 2016, after the assignment agreement was signed but before Cohen had paid the $125,000, Chairman-1 contacted Cohen and told him, in substance, that the deal was off and that Cohen should tear up the assignment agreement.
- Second, on October 8, 2016, an agent for an adult film actress ("Woman-2") informed Editor-1 that Woman-2 was willing to make public statements and confirm on the record her alleged past affair with Individual-1. Chairman-1 and Editor-1 then contacted Cohen and put him in touch with Attorney-1, who was also representing Woman-2. Over the course of the next few days, Cohen negotiated a $130,000 agreement with Attorney-1 to himself purchase Woman-2's silence, and received a signed confidential settlement agreement and a separate side letter agreement from Attorney-1.
- Cohen did not immediately execute the agreement, nor did he pay Woman-2. On the evening of October 25, 2016, with no deal with Woman-2 finalized, Attorney-1 told Editor-1 that Woman-2 was close to completing a deal with another outlet to make her story public. Editor-1, in turn, texted Cohen that "[w]e have to coordinate something on the matter [Attorney-1 is] calling you about or it could look awfully bad for everyone." Chairman-1 and Editor-1 then called Cohen through an encrypted telephone application. Cohen agreed to make the payment, and then called Attorney-1 to finalize the deal.
- The next day, on October 26, 2016, Cohen emailed an incorporating service to obtain the corporate formation documents for another shell corporation, Essential Consultants LLC, which Cohen had incorporated a few days prior. Later that afternoon, Cohen drew down $131,000 from the fraudulently obtained HELOC and requested that it be deposited into a bank account Cohen had just opened in the name of Essential Consultants. The next morning, on October 27, 2016, Cohen went to Bank-3 and wired approximately $130,000 from Essential Consultants to Attorney-1. On the bank form to complete the wire, Cohen falsely indicated that the "purpose of wire being sent" was "retainer." On November 1, 2016, Cohen received from Attorney-1 copies of the final, signed confidential settlement agreement and side letter agreement.
- Cohen caused and made the payments described herein in order to influence the 2016 presidential election. In so doing, he coordinated with one or more members of the campaign, including through meetings and phone calls, about the fact, nature, and timing of the payments. As a result of the payments solicited and made by Cohen, neither Woman-1 nor Woman-2 spoke to the press prior to the election.
- In January 2017, Cohen in seeking reimbursement for election-related expenses, presented executives of the Company with a copy of a bank statement from the Essential Consultants bank account, which reflected the $130,000 payment Cohen had made to the bank account of Attorney-1 in order to keep Woman-2 silent in advance of the election, plus a $35 wire fee, adding, in handwriting, an additional "$50,000." The $50,000 represented a claimed payment for "tech services," which in fact related to work Cohen had solicited from a technology company during an in connection with the campaign. Cohen added these amounts to the sum of $180,035. After receiving this document, executives of the Company "grossed up" for tax purposes Cohen's requested reimbursement of $180,000 to $360,000, and then added a bonus of $60,000 so that Cohen would be paid $420,000 in total. Executives of the Company also determined that the $420,000 would be paid to Cohen in monthly amounts of $35,000 over the course of 12 months, and that Cohen should send invoices for these payments.
- On February 14, 2017, Cohen sent an executive of the Company ("Executive-1") the first of his monthly invoices, requesting "[p]ursuant to [a] retainer agreement, . . . payment for services rendered for the months of January and February, 2017." The invoice listed $35,000 for each of those two months. Executive-1 forwarded the invoice to another executive of the Company ("Executive-2") the same day by email, and it was approved. Executive-1 forwarded that email to another employee of the Company, stating: "Please pay from the Trust. Post to legal expenses. Put 'retainer for the months of January and February 2017' in the description."
- Throughout 2017, Cohen sent to one or more representatives of the Company monthly invoices, which stated, "Pursuant to the retainer agreement, kindly remit payment for services rendered for" the relevant month in 2017, and sought $35,000 per month. The Company accounted for these payments as legal expenses. In truth and in fact, there was no such retainer agreement, and the monthly invoices Cohen submitted were not in connection with any legal services he had provided in 2017.
Couple the fact that Cohen is opening up the floodgates and agreeing to provide whatever information investigators need on Trump, his lawyer also came forward with a statement that clearly denoted that Cohen will not accept a pardon from Criminal Trump.
Then there is Manafort. Manafort has already been found guilty on 8 charges that could put him away from some time. He also has another court case to go through in Washington that will likely result in much additional prison time. The likeliness of Manafort choosing his Family over Trump and Freedom over Trump is very high at this point as well.
Manafort and Cohen are two people who know right where all the bodies are buried so-to-speak, and Trump is absolutely terrified of what is to come. That is somewhat evident in is unhinged twitter rants filled with lies and diversion, and Giuliani's rants on news shows.
Trump continues to lie and have Giuliani lie, and have Press Sec. Sanders lie, and everyone in his inner circle lie in order to cover up the truth that is coming from all of the investigations looming around this Administration.
Mark My Words: When this is over, it will go down in history as something far worse than Watergate.
DUNK
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