*Lies – Page 23 – * Failed Pols

December 4, 2018June 16, 2020

Michael Cohen: Trump Says He’s Lying about Lying

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, has pleaded guilty to lying with intent to mislead Congress about the timeline of real estate negotiations between Trump and Key Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump, Cohen, and others originally denied that any serious talks about a potential Moscow Trump Tower took place after January of 2016. On Thursday, November 29, however, Michael Cohen said that Trump had still been pursuing a deal in June 2016, when Trump’s presidential campaign was underway.

Trump has repeatedly said that after January 2016, he had “nothing to do with Russia,” and Cohen originally backed him up. On Thursday, however, Cohen admitted that this was not true, thereby raising questions about the veracity of statements by various members of Donald Trump’s family.

Though earlier, Michael Cohen had said that an email he sent the Kremlin regarding a potential real estate deal was never returned, he has now admitted that he did speak with a representative for Vladimir Putin about the deal. Cohen also admitted to an ongoing effort by the Trump Organization to seek Putin’s assistance in facilitating the deal.

On January 11, 2017, Trump tweeted, “Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA – NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!”

Donald Trump continues to insist that Michael Cohen is lying (now lying about having lied).

Trump also claims not to have known about the Trump Organization’s real estate negotiations with Russia in advance, though Michael Cohen told Congress that he did brief Trump. This, then, brings up questions again about whether Donald Trump knew in advance about the now well-publicized meeting Trump Jr. and some Trump campaign officials planned with Russians who claimed to have dirt on Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate.

Trump has said that even if he had pursued the Trump Tower deal with Moscow, he wouldn’t have been breaking any laws. This is almost beside the point, since Cohen’s guilty plea has wider implications than just showing that Cohen himself, as well as Donald Trump, and possibly Trump, Jr. and Ivanka Trump, have not been truthful in their accounts of their relationship with Russia.

It reinforces the evidence that the Trump Organization was already communicating with Moscow when Moscow was attempting to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It hardly matters whether Michael Cohen is lying now about having lied earlier, or whether he is telling the truth now about his previous lies to cover for Donald Trump; the can of worms has burst open.

Full Panel: Michael Cohen pleads guilty to lying to Congress | Meet The Press | NBC News [2018-12-02]

Political fallout from Michael Cohen’s new plea deal | Fox News [2018-11-29]

November 27, 2018June 16, 2020

Is the Mueller Investigation Safe from Matt Whitaker?

The recent appointment of Matt Whitaker as acting Attorney General following the forced resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions has caused many to fear that it means the shutdown of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Since Matt Whitaker is not particularly qualified for the position of attorney general, acting or otherwise, some fear that Whitaker was appointed for the express purpose of not only ending the Russia probe, but firing Robert Mueller.

Fueling speculation is the fact that, in addition to Matt Whitaker’s lack of qualifications for his new role, Whitaker has openly criticized the Mueller investigation (which he will now oversee).

In an interview with CNN in 2017, when Whitaker was a CNN contributor, he talked of a scenario where the person who replaced Jeff Sessions could decrease Mueller’s budget “so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt.”

Also on CNN, Matt Whitaker insisted that Mueller’s investigation would amount to nothing, and that Mueller was crossing a “red line” by investigating the financial ties between the Trump Organization and Russia. Further, he held that no wrongdoing had occurred when Donald Trump Junior met with a Russian attorney to discuss Hillary Clinton.

In early November 2018, in a CNN editorial, Whitaker said that Mueller’s probe might end up “a mere witch hunt.”

“Mueller has come up to a red line in the Russia 2016 election-meddling investigation that he is dangerously close to crossing,” wrote Whitaker.

Even if Matt Whitaker were the impartial overseer of the Mueller investigation that the law requires, the inappropriate partiality, as well as questionable ethics of some of his other activities would, under any other circumstances, be disqualifying.

In a recent example, the Office of Special Counsel was recently called on to investigate Whitaker for allegedly violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees’ political activity. While he was Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor under Jeff Sessions, Whitaker received several political donations. Whitaker’s 2014 U.S. Senate campaign committee was found to be currently active, and took in almost $9,000 in political contributions in early 2018.

As the top law enforcement official of the United States, Matt Whitaker should be an impartial overseer of federal investigations. As chief legal principal, he should be above reproach. Matt Whitaker is neither. Until a permanent Attorney General is appointed, it looks as if the fate of Robert Mueller’s Russia probe lies in Whitaker’s hands – and could be in peril.

Kellyanne Conway on Matt Whitaker, Russia probe | Fox News [2018-11-11]

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker meeting with ethics officials |
CBS News [2018-11-13]