Cohen's third client is revealed:

[Rough Beast Sloucher]

Not really. And that is not quite what happened. Unfortunately I can't link until I get home. It was an illegal campaign fund "in kind". The same thing as the Stormy pay off.

An 'in kind' contribution involves goods or services, not money. There was no 'fund' involved. It came out of Cohen's pocket.The 'in kind' business is just a way to make it seem as something more than what it is because most people have no idea what 'in kind' means.The question is whether this can legitimately be considered a campaign contribution no matter what it is called. That would be a really hard sell in court or Mueller would have pursued it himself by requesting convening a grand jury and seeking an indictment. He has already done that for things he turned up that did not even involve the campaign, which is supposed to be what he is investigating. This is all about 'getting' Trump.

 

[fantome profane]

Saying that hush money a lawyer paid out of his own pocket is a campaign contribution is stretching things a bit.

It is not a stretch at all. It was money paid out to help Trump get elected. It does not matter if the money went for ads, or for transportation, or hush money.

Personally I don’t care about the Stormy Daniels issue, and although I do think the money paid was a violation I don’t care either. If society wasn’t so prudish and hypocritical there would have been no need for the money in the first place.

But what if we are talking about more than just money? What if there is evidence that Cohen is guilty of extortion, or blackmail? After all there is more than one way to silence someone. Should he be prosecuted if he did something like that? Even if it is embarrassing to Trump?

 

[metis]

Cohen admitted paying this money. So why did the FBI confiscate all his files?

That's the million dollar question, but we don't know the answer to this. What we do know is that it would take "probable cause" of a rather serious nature to get a search warrant for three of his locations, including his work place as being a high-profile lawyer for the president. We also know that this investigation is not of just a misdemeanor but that of a criminal nature.

There long has been speculation of Trump playing rather fast & loose with attempting to secure loans and also to try and make some deals in Moscow and elsewhere, especially since he hit a roadblock attempting to get loans from western sources, with the exception of the German bank that has been found guilty and has had to pay over $1 billion for illegal deals that involved some money-laundering.

The fact that it is in NY does not matter all that much. Trump could not possibly fire a US District Court judge no matter where the venue was.

I've heard over and over again that he cannot in this case fire the judge because the case is being funneled through the state, not the fed. Even if he could, another judge could pick up the case, and Trump would have no say over that.

 

[metis]

It is not that Trump has decided to not go with more sanctions but that the decision was deferred.

And deferred for what reason? What in reality was likely to change? And this is not the first time Trump has backed off on Russian sanctions, so I do believe there's something else at stake here, and my guess is that Putin has Trump by the short-hairs on something, especially since this is the pattern we've seen over and over again with those two-- the bromance.

 

[metis]

It came out of Cohen's pocket.

Then why did the bank that Cohen went through red-flag it?

 

[Thermos aquaticus]

It gets ignored all the time, unless one is out to get the other guy. I am not aware of any other Special Counsel bothering to inform the FBI about things like that. And of course, the raids have nothing whatsoever to do with hush money to women that would embarrass Trump, right?

How did you determine that the Department of Justice ignores crimes all of the time?

 

[Thermos aquaticus]

Saying that hush money a lawyer paid out of his own pocket is a campaign contribution is stretching things a bit. It does not sound like a conviction would ever come out of it.

The John Edward's case is an obvious precedent for this case. He received money from political contributors to cover up his own misdeeds. Ultimately, the FEC determined that the money was given to him in order to keep his wife from finding out so it wasn't considered a political contribution. You can read more here:

John Edwards' Hush Money Was Not Illegal, FEC Told Campaign

Given that a similar incidence was investigated in the past certainly supports the idea that it should also be investigated in the present.

If Mueller thought it would he would recommend prosecution in his role as Special Counsel.

It is outside of his mandate, so he couldn't make any recommendation. That is why the information was passed on to the Attorney's General office in New York where they made the determination to investigate further, including gathering evidence at Cohen's residences.

 

[columbus]

An 'in kind' contribution involves goods or services, not money.

That's what Cohen did, he provided a service. He provided the silence of a pornographic actress long enough for Trump to get elected.
Tom

 

[Nous]

An 'in kind' contribution involves goods or services, not money.

As already noted here (#140), a “contribution” is defined in 52 U.S. Code § 30101(8)(A)(i) as:

(i) any gift, subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value made by any person for the purpose of influencing any election for Federal office​

 

[columbus]

As already noted here (#140), a “contribution” is defined in 52 U.S. Code § 30101(8)(A)(i) as:

(i) any gift, subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value made by any person for the purpose of influencing any election for Federal office​

I think that the problem Trump and Cohen are having now is that the bimbo's silence was worth a lot more than $130K.
She's got a seven figure payout coming, now that her client actually got "elected". He's a billionaire, why should she settle for a few bucks when sleazebags like this President regularly pay out a lot more.
Tom

 

[Nous]

I think that the problem Trump and Cohen are having now is that the bimbo's silence was worth a lot more than $130K.

Yeah. She's definitely going to cost him more than $130,000, as are the other porn stars and prostitutes he likes to hang with.