How much resources are The Times putting into finding all Cohen's other shell companies? There must be a ton with all kinds of juicy details. Of course Mueller knows all this after his raid, but I'm sure there's a journalist race behind the scenes.
5
I really think the US presently is in more danger now than at any time in its post civil war history. A foreign entity has taken over and corrupted large parts of its political institutions, backed by a cynical and ruthless cabal of ultra rich right wing media moguls. NYT, you are in the front lines now. Don't let up.
29
"Laundering" means washing.
How ironical, how unthinkable that Trump can wash anything.
2
Some problems: 1. neither Trump's base nor the Republicans (party and elected officials) will pay any attention to these realities 2. The Congressional Republicans will never allow any real action against Trump, even if his behavior is proven to have been criminal. We are stuck with a corrupt, and often incompetent, administration, where the Republicans only criticism is, " We don't like trump, but we like what he does." What he does of course is cut regulations and cut taxes. He is a financial benefit to corporations and the rich. It will take a long time to undo his damage.
20
Congress needs to pass a law to require financial disclosure by presidential candidates and by the President. If such a law cannot be realized at the moment, then next year will have to do.
11
Just thinking about tangential and unimportant things. But, what must Robert Mueller's life be like? Can he sit down and enjoy a good dinner? Does he even have time for dinner? How does he sleep? I mean, we think *our* jobs are stressful. Geez.
11
As I read through all these discussions of Trump's and Cohen's shadowy connections, the discussion between Don Corleone and his son Michael in The Godfather keeps coming to mind:
Don: "But I always thought that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the strings. Senator Corleone, Governor Corleone, something."
Michael: "We'll get there, pop. We'll get there."
With the Trump family entrenched in the Oval Office and Cohen as his bumbling consigliere handling the family's issues, I believe "we've gotten there" at last.
7
In spite of Donald Trump’s constant whining about the “witch hunt” of Robert Mueller’s investigation and the stern command to Mueller by Mike Pence to “wrap it up,” this editorial speaks words for all of us to live by:
“[Q]uestions about Mr. Trump’s finances, and those about whether his campaign cooperated with Russian hacking of the 2016 election, need to be asked in the same breath.”
The unintended candor by Don, Jr. and Eric about their father not needing banks when the Russians have plenty of money has taken on greater meaning, now that we begin to learn more about the grand scale of opportunistic graft of the fixer, Michael Cohen.
Any Republican in the Senate or House who stays silent about this outrage deserves far worse than simply losing a bid for re-election.
13
Trump is a crook and a liar! Since he was elected POTUS via a democratic election, we are all stuck with him. However, one would think that the people's representatives in the Congress might want to look into Trump's shenanigans more seriously than they are doing now. Trump needs to be forced to reveal his tax returns! He also needs to be stopped from backing out of multi-national deals as a one man decision! He is a dangerous & ill-informed crook with no conscience or patriotism. He will sell America to the highest bidder as long as it lines his pockets!
7
Isn’t it illegal to launder money? Don’t impeach him. Indict him when he is no longer president.
5
We don't need to decide who we believe, we just need to decide when we believe the Trumps themselves. Was it what they said yesterday, or the day before? -Or the year before -or the decade before. The only real reason to listen to them is to find out how the past has changed. And why, though that question seems to answer itself.
5
I'm so glad that we managed to avoid all the distracting, scandals and investigations that would have been a part of a Clinton presidency.
We really lucked out.
14
Years ago, Mr. Nixon, when he was on the ropes, publically declared, “I am not a crook,” crude words spoken by a President of our country. He may or may not have been telling the truth.
Can Mr. Trump make the same declaration?
4
Tax returns today or lock him up tomorrow. The outlines of this story were obvious to anyone paying attention 18 months ago; how nice of the Times to acknowledge at last the sky is up and the earth is down.
7
Don't hold your breath. The tax returns will bring him down overnight.
1
And how about that sale of a Trump property in Florida to a Russian oligarch far in excess of its value? Why would anyone pay that, unless there was some dodgy side deal? Trump is corrupt as they come. Hopefully the investigation results in shedding daylight on this crooked lab specimen.
15
Remember what Deep Throat said: Follow the money!
13
My concern is not so much Trump or the supplicant Republican Party but that 40% of Americans want to live in a Banana Republic, while 60% don’t. You either want to live in an open society in which the government is transparent, attempts to improve the lives and environment of its citizens and abhors the daily ration of venality, arrogance and crass stupidity that we are exposed to or you don’t. There really is no middle ground. And how you ask can the 40% outweigh the 60%? The answer, of course, lies in the geographical distribution of the 40% and the fact that the Republican gerrymandering of the electoral map means that this minority component of the electorate is over represented at the expense of the under represented majority. Until this changes elections will be meaningless and, height of irony, there will be for most, taxation without significant representation.
28
I must have misheard. I thought Trump said he would "drain the swamp," but it must've been "drown the swamp."
6
Trump who lied many times saying he had no business dealings with the Russians. Or he had never been to Russia, will have to answer now to the Mueller Commission investigating Russia's ties to his campaign, how and where his fixer Michael Cohen got millions of dollars from.
Obviously, as we all know Trump's answer will be , "I don't know what my lawyer does. I haven't seen Mike Cohen before he was charged by the cops in New York."
"But we all know the answer Mr. Trump about where your 'fixer' Cohen got his money from ?
He got it from Russia.
And the reason why the Russians with close ties to Putin gave money to your 'fixer', because they wanted to influence our election and put you in the White House."
Actually beside Trump everyone in this country are quite convinced about Russia's role in our last election whether they want to admit it or not.
Most of the Americans also know that if there were no hacking of Hillary's emails from her campaign computers, most probably she would've the won the election and become our first ever female president sitting in the White House.
Instead we've to deal with this con man from New York who's highly connected with the mobsters from Russia with direct orders from their president Putin who wanted no one in the White House other than his apprentice Donald J. trump.
So if we really stress on this truth, then it'll not be too complicated for us to think that our great country is not great anymore under a Russian puppet called Trump.
11
I don't know if everybody in the US is convinced about Russian collusion. Thing is, all of the US intelligence agencies are convinced and they know a whole lot more than the American people. (Of course the US Defense Department is convinced of the threat of anthropogenic global warming...)
3
Mueller is closing in, but I fear that when he presents the case, we may find ourselves looking at another Civil War.
I can’t see the rabid Trump supporter accepting impeachment, no matter how airtight the case. Will those with arms revolt? Will there be a fractured military as well?
Mueller needs to do his job, but I fear the verdict will set off riots and violence like we have never seen. Brace yourselves.
11
One of my fears as well.
it was completely obvious during the election that trump was getting his money from russian oligarchs. unfortunately the press was too interested in the clinton emails to make the effort to track down this story. perhaps if they had we would not be in the mess we are currently in
17
Trump is not some foxy billionaire who is outmaneuvering the sclerotic old elites, he's an unethical man who has no conscience and is too lazy to succeed with intelligence and hard work but always seeks shortcuts and never gives his word faithfully. He lies without any concerns beyond his immediate objectives. He never bothers to consider the consequences of his behaviors beyond the immediate objectives. He is easily manipulated by anyone who seriously thinks through the consequences, which is why Putin has made him an asset for the Russian state by using his dependency upon the money provided by Russians for Trump's businesses.
15
The walls are a tumblin' down.
All else is distraction.
4
No collusion, huh? Yeah, right. Never have we seen such a blatant act of corruption in government than what we are witnessing now. These shady deals and back ally style negotiations confirm what many Americans believe - that the Trump campaign was in bed with the Russians to help him win the election for their benefit. And Donald Trump knew all about it.
The American public no longer needs Donald Trump’s tax returns to find out what he’s been up to. These revelations give us a complete view of this shadowy figure who sits in the White house.
11
If the banks would not touch Trump, and he was buying real estate with all cash. Is there some imaginative explanation other than Russian Oligarchs laundering money especially in light of what Donny Jr. has stated. If one was looking to launder monies why take the risk of dealing with someone with Trump's reputation.
There had to be a way to hide the fact because there are safeguards against laundering money. And they have been successful in hiding the fact that monies have been laundered, considering that it has been relatively common knowledge that the Russians have been buying considerable amounts of real estate mostly in NYC; without having their names on any deeds.
When will Donald J. Trump ever be held accountable for his lying and cheating?
5
It was true in 1973: Follow the Money. It is true now. Why otherwise would Mr. Trump lie about releasing his taxes and then refuse to release them? He knows there is a lot of stuff in there he does not want people to see. It will interfere with his scam of being President.
9
It looks like we don’t have all the things in place to protect the citizens in our country from people like Trump. The three branches of the government are meant to be checks and balances. We have a liar and a con as a president and where is Congress?
My guess is they are actually thrilled with Trump, because the press continues to chase daily/weekly shiny objects, while the Republican Congress undo all the laws and regulations for their rich rich donors.
There aren’t any checks and balances. If we want to change anything we will have to do it at the polls in November 2018 to get our country back.
8
Just follow the money trail and everything else will follow. I have yet to see anything that does not change this dictum.
3
Way back in the 1800's, a London newspaper reviewed one of Anthony Trollop's novels. I forget which one. And they used an interesting metaphor.
They compared Mr. Trollop to the policeman,Truth--suddenly and unexpectedly shining a bright light on the dark doings of Victorian society.
And we all remember, of course, Diogenes and his lantern. Must be an honest man SOMEWHERE hereabouts. . . .
OH MY GOODNESS, NEW YORK TIMES!
We NEED that honest man with his bright light. . ..
. .. we NEED Diogenes with his lantern. . .
. ..we need SOMEONE or other to tell us the truth about SOMETHING or other. . . .
. .. 'cause America, right now, is becoming a very dark place. Lotta dark doings here there and everywhere.
And so--you tell us--our present-day Diogenes is one Robert Mueller.
Good luck, Mr. Mueller. Keep that bright light shining. And. . . .
. ..happy hunting!
6
On this subject: Why hasn't the NY Times or the Washington Post examined the background and Russians/Trump connection to US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross? He was appointed quickly and remains a silent figure in the Trump cabinet and administration. Prior to Trump's appointment, Ross was working at the Bank of Cyprus, a known institution that was involved with many Russians, real estate deals, and possible money laundering, etc. And why hasn't more of an effort been made by demanding Trump's tax returns and other shady dealings of his own and his close family members in several foreign countries?
9
Have we so gutted our support for public education that the American people not understand what the term "conflict of interest" means in practice, i.e., that it actually represents a threat to their and our country's security and prosperity?
Russia isn't the only foreign power with which Trump is enmeshed. For example, the NY Times itself reported in 2016 that an office building on Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan, of which Mr. Trump was part owner, carried a $950 million loan and that the Bank of China was among the lenders.
Of course, by electing him to the presidency, we have put him in a position to trade his company's financial obligations under that loan (and others) for U.S. public policy "gives." Perhaps that perfect example of the danger posed by conflicts of interest explains some of his "flip-flops" that tend to follow his initially agressive and hostile tweeting and baiting.
10
And Trump and his apologists keep saying there is no evidence of collusion. Imagine what they would be saying if the same evidence was out in the open on a Democrat. The House would have already voted for impeachment. But Republicans see no problems with this.
13
Only a very guilty man would so tenaciously guard his tax returns from the public eye. America needs to see those tax returns, needs to examine the state of Donald Trump's financial affairs; and I use the term "affairs" purposely.
14
No. That would give them an automatic veto on any candidate they agree with politically or for any reason. That is a power that, in a democracy, should rest with voters. The problems of the current travesty is that that power was usurped by political manipulation. This is a problem but I believe it can be fixed within the democratic system. Giving the FBI or any one group veto power would fatally usurp the particular role of democracy.
2
Um, the FBI is in charge of law enforcement. If laws were broken they have a duty to look into it.
5
All of America is now asking — how is it legal for someone so indebted to foreign powers allowed to run and win the highest office? But this is only the result of lax regulations and dark money flowing for years, aided by both parties.
That said, it is a high bar to prove both Trump is indebted AND has acted against American interests because of these debts. Though it’s very hard to see how firing Comey and trying to lift sanctions in spite of bad Russian behavior won’t be seen as exactly that—a betrayal of the American people.
5
I'm amazed that more corporations haven't hired that brilliant legal and accounting mind, Michael Cohen, for advice on US accounting standards. Clearly, they are all missing opportunities.
And tell us again, Justice Roberts, about how money is not influencing political decisions.
21
If the Mueller team simply follows the money, the convoluted trail will reveal all the wrong doings leading up to the election. In the beginning, I questioned whether Trump believed he could win, even with Russian help, because he alone knew what he had done, and what could be revealed concerning his connections, and his finances. Today, I still believe Trump is a canny conman, but so invested in his own “brilliance”, he can’t see the forest for the trees. He, and no one else, has opened himself to microscopic examination, and it cannot end well for him.
7
And it is no surprise that we begin to hear Pence publicly call for an end to the investigation. We are getting a little too close to the sunlight..
17
Among the many disturbing facts mentioned in the editorial and the president's propensity to destroy relationships in pursuit of a "better deal" (so far, without success) lies an important reason why his legacy is likely to be one of failure--he doesn't understand that relationships, not "deals", are what matters when it comes to success in international affairs. Contrary to what the president apparently believes, there is no "military solution" to any of the problems facing the U.S. on the global stage, and any "deal" in which one side uses its superior military or economic power to impose its will on others without regard to their legitimate interests is doomed to fail, often with spectacularly unfortunate results (see, e.g., the Treaty of Versailles and its role in the rise of the Third Reich.) The fact that the president was able to find financial backers in Russia to support his business endeavors after his serial bankruptcies destroyed relationships with U.S.-based lenders has undoubtedly reinforced his belief that relationships may be squandered with impunity; unfortunately, what appears to work over the short term in business does not necessarily work over the long term (we'll see what happens to the Trump empire when the pigeons come home to roost), and certainly does not work in the world of international relations, where a rise in instability (and terrorism), rather than a forgiveness of debt in bankruptcy, are the likely consequences of overreach.
9
Henceforth, we should have a law that requires all federal electoral candidates must pass the FBI security clearance. This would have prevented a person like Trump to be ever elected.
18
Agreed. Trump couldn't pass the security screening that I had to go through as a bank employee years ago.
6
The smoke has been visible for over a year. This new information about Cohen’s shell companies and where the money came from reveal the gun.
So what is Mueller waiting for?
Perhaps, the President of the United States, caught red handed in the greatest democratic heist in history, is not punishable.
Perhaps, we have revealed the greatest weakness in our own democratic process, that we can not put handcuffs on the one person who has the power to burn down the democratic process.
I implore congress to begin drafting laws to ensure no President has the ability to make a mockery of our democracy again.
First, it must be required to see tax returns of all presidential hopefuls. You don’t get to have hidden agendas if you want that position.
Second, we must require a paper trail with all electronic voting. I’m not convinced that we can be certain no votes were changed by Russian hackers.
Third, the President of the United States must be vulnerable to being held accountable for illegal behavior. No person should be above the law, especially someone with the ability to impact the country and it people with such magnitude.
Finally, repeal Citizens United, which supports companies like AT&T to pay millions for preferential treatment by our government.
Without taking legislative action against the audacious criminal actions of this administration and their Russian supporters, we can be certain to see our democracy crumble.
22
I would add any person running for Congress and/or Federal Office should be able to pass an FBI Security Clearance. ecpotus and most of his cronies wouldn't have made it past this test first.
8
There is little I can add beyond disgust for this president and his party who see or hear no evil and speak in whispers among themselves. Trump has built a moat around the White House and filled it with swamp creatures. The public will eventually get over the gun/NRA problem and become sufficiently worried that our country has reached the precipice that separates moral indignation from what's in it for me, that even the Red State folks will realize that America is no long first among equals. History will document the Trump administration as built on lies and pay-offs, manipulatons of facts and was corrupt to it's core. Kim Jong un, China and no doubt Putin are enjoying the show and will play this president to their advantage.
19
It must be fun to be a journalist these days. Like many other media sources, the Times just keeps on rattling off the effects of our political breakdown without a word about the cause.
Since Trump's latest follies are a ready source of content with no hard digging involved and little backlash likely, why would any political pundit want to suggest that Citizens United should be repealed?
4
If this President was a Democrat he would have been out months ago. Republicans just want power & money and don't care about America. The whole administration is corrupt & disgusting and I'm ashamed that Americans voted for him and still support. Why, unless you're super rich. Mitch Mconnell and the rest need to March to the White House and tell Trump "Get Out." The Dems would have done it a long time ago.
15
The shame Trump & company bring to the country and the indelible stain they will leave are unprecedented.
The only hope of cleansing it lies in exposing all the filth and corruption, still a long way off. The worst is yet to come.
15
We knew, or should have known, all this before the election but not enough people cared.
A nation gets the the government it deserves and the United States we knew is gone.
9
Not even the United States of American Exceptionalism deserves Trump.
2
The New York Times appears to be accusing Michael Cohen of profiteering off his connection to president Trump. This might be deplorable, but it is not illegal.
Cohen established Essential Consultants LLC, on Oct. 17, 2016, ten days after the 2016 election. The leaked bank documents show that money flowed into Essential Consultants from Columbus Nova, Novartis. Korea Aerospace, AT&T and other clients. It’s true that Columbus Nova is an affiliate of a Russian company established by Russian oligarch, but the notion that the money Columbus Nova paid Essential Consultants had anything to do with Russian interference in the 2016 election is absurd. The money would have flowed from Essential Consultants to Columbus Nova if it were payment for sabotaging the 2016 election.
Cohens says he used his personal line of credit to borrow money, which he deposited to Essential Consultants’ bank account, before writing a check on the account to pay Stormy Daniels her hush money. The apparent purpose was to obscure the money trial. This would have been money laundering if the payment has been made to fund an illegal activity or to cover up a crime, but paying a person hush money to remain silent about a consensual sexual affair is not a crime.
1
Maybe all that but blatant influence peddling is a crime against democracy.
2
Legalistic hair-splitting like the above is how William Case earned the affectionate nickname "Head".
4
October 17, 2016 is not after the election, it’s 22 days before the election. No one is saying the money subsequently coming into Essential Consultants was payment for sabotaging the election. The better explanation is that it was for access to the president. I’m sure there’s a law about that. I guess paying hush money isn’t illegal, but 1) it’s not exactly presidential and 2) it’s illegal if it’s a contribution in kind to a political campaign.
5
The Times has managed to change a two thousand year old expression by Caesar. It now reads: "All roads lead to Moscow." A far stretch for any writer of current history and events.
2
How do you translate "The Art of the BACKROOM Deal" into Russian? If you want to know how to say it in both languages, just ask Trump or anyone in the GOP endorsing this 2-bit criminal.
7
SHOCKED.....SHOCKED...........there is gambling in the casino.
5
What are you trying to prove? That Putin influences Trump in breaking the Iran deal? Russia is very supportive of this deal and Iran. Trump introduced more sanctions against Russia. Is this what Putin wants? We are now at the beginning of WWIII. Is this what Putin wanted? Russians put a lot of money into the U.S. So do the Chinese. They feel that their money is safe here. Russians bought a lot of real estate in New York. You know this well. Why do you print this misleading editorial? You are politically irresponsible.
"Russians bought a lot of real estate in New York."
Clearly some of it was in Rhinebeck. Hope the cash transfers from the Kremlin are arriving as scheduled.
3
There was never any collusion with the Russian gov't with Trump to aid his election. All this stuff has fallen out
of favor with Mueller and the NYTs efforts to drive Trump out of office, such as Russian hacking and the stupid accusation of Russian bots sowing bad intentions toward the US political system among voters are now directed
toward Trump's hush money to the porn actress Stormy Daniels. Certainly Trump is a lecherous old man, whose cupidity is bottomless. One can only hope that this hush money will lead to more serious trouble for Trump.
re may have been corrupt activities by Trump and rich Russians. Mueller is trying to prove obstruction of justice by Trump who is trying to hide these activities.
Trump is a traitor no doubt about it. Mueller needs to act now to save our nation.
5
Elena Baronofff of Baronoff Realty (now deceased)
was the exclusive sales agent for three Trump-
branded towers. She personally sold units from the
lobby of Trump International Beach Resorts in
Sunny Isles, Fl.
Baronoff was a Uzbek immigrant who arrived in the
United States as an cultural attache in diplomacy
from the Soviet Union.
In the winter of 2007-2008 she accompanied Ivanka
and Eric Trump on a trip to Russia. In a photo taken
in Moscow with Ivanka & Eric was Michael Babel,
a former executive of a property firm owned by Oleg
Deripaski, the Russian metals tycoon Paul Manafort
allegedly offered personal updates on Trump's
presidental campaign. Babel latet fled Russia to
evade bribery charges.
Baronoff was a "suspected organized crime figure".
She also had interesting ties to Sicily. She reportedly
met her friend, the Russian foreign minuster Sergey
Lavrov there. And was friendly wuth Dino Papale,
a local businessman, who described himself to the
NYT's as "president of Trump's Sicilian fan club".
After the election, Papale hinted to a local paper
that Trump paid a secret visit to the island in 2013,
and that he had organized meetings between
Trump and the Russians..
*Excerpts from Rolling Stone's article titled a
"Brief History of Michael Cohen's Criminal Ties".
12
And since super pac money is all anonymous, who knows how much money Russians have poured into those. Citizens United is killing our country.
8
The real question is what will get Republican lawmakers down off the fence? So far, only death or retirement has invited any criticism at all. When will the GOP dump Trump? The most recent primaries are not reassuring.
5
Why aren't you/we calling Trumps actions TREASON. Aiding and abetting a foreign government.
3
Some seem to think only one side does this. Isn't that sweet? A bit naive.....
The most corrupt bunch in the history of this country.
5
Where is IRS ? Do they know all these illegal transactions? Is there any law enforcement agency who keep track of illegal flow of money under the table? Is there any law or punishment for bribing president's friends to have access to him? Our president is involved in shady business like mafia? How this bankrupt man has become a billionaire ? Using our White House , these con people are becoming super rich? Has America become a lawless country? Or the laws are only for ordinary people ? Why Trump was hiding his Tax Returns? Suspicious!
3
So, what's new? Or, more specifically, News? Trump's entire business career has been spent in the shadows. His so-called fabulous tremendous deals are the stuff dreams are made of, those dreams being the kind Tony Soprano would have. Anyone who deals in the New York - New Jersey real estate, building, contracting business most assuredly will come across not only some shady customers but downright descendants of the five major New York crime families. Waste management anyone?
Along with his attorney Michael Cohen, when it comes to nefarious business practices, Trump is sitting waist-deep in the big muddy.
DD
Manhattan
8
And we all know who is the Big Fool. (just an obscure folk song reference from the sixties, folks. go back to sleep)
Business as usual. It would take something truly outrageous, like a ban on assault weapons, to make a dent in the 40% base vote enjoyed by Don the Con.
2
There you have it. Trump cannot afford to upset the Russians who finance his businesses. He cannot avoid mixing his personal interests with his actions in political office. Maybe that is why he condemns Sessions for recusing himself to avoid a breach of legal ethics, it calls into question the ethics of a high office holder not doing so. Trump fears a Democratic majority in Congress that will force Trump’s disgraceful conduct into the light.
6
Ari Melber suggested yesterday that the approach to this story shouldn't be "follow the money" so much as "follow the debt."
4
I believe we are missing the point. The money has flowed in to Trump and his allies from Russia and their oligarchs. Trump has paid his debt to the Russians two days ago when he with drew the U.S. from the Iranian nuclear deal.
Russia has been suffering economic pressures, especially since oil prices have fallen. Russia's main source of money is its oil. The promises Putin made to improve the Russian economy can now be full filled. On RT two talking heads were talking about how much this action by Trump will help Putin and the Russian economy. Since Trump came into office oil has gone from $27 a barrel to $77 a barrel. Putin has already made over $520 million more than they were. Now with the pact with Iran gone oil will continue to go up and one of Russia's friends is open for business again where they can buy Russia's weapons and its oil and gas.
Soon Russia will have the $127 Billion it needed to meet the promises Putin made in the election. Also, by making a deal with N.Korea it takes the sanctions away and opens a direct pipeline for oil and gas trade between Russia and N.Korea, and allowing N.Korea to purchase Russian weapons. So Russia got its moneys worth from supporting Trump, and Trump in his diabolical way has paid off his debt to Putin, while making himself look like a hero to the American people, by bringing war to Iran and peace to N.Korea. Great sleigh of hand to Americans too stupid to realize they have been Conned by a Master.
6
How do you translate "The Art of the Background Deal" into Russian? If you want to know how to say it in both languages, just ask Trump or anyone in the GOP endorsing this 2-bit criminal.
1
State Republican parties SHOULD have denied DT entry to their primaries...he was not a Republican and wouldn’t release his taxes. Will they let him run next time from prison?
2
Yes, thank goodness for Robert Mueller - and for The NY Times, the Washington Post and for the First Amendment. The reporting by both papers in this extraordinary political era of sleazy con jobs and overt racism and misogyny has been absolutely suberb. I have faith that our much-maligned but increasingly valuable institutions will see us out of this swamp.
4
Thank you for this editorial. It's important. (Prepare for a 'Fake News' outburst)
Now please, do a comprehensive editorial on the various attempts to stop this investigation.
3
Sometimes it takes time for a simple, elegant explanation to emerge from noisy, uncertain, incomplete data. Thank you NYT editors for this clear sketch, anchored in a simple fact: “Russians and cash — they’ve been a part of Mr. Trump’s life for years”. Next step: Follow the money’s path through Trump Tower and onward.
3
So, hmmmm, those very patriotic undereducated, according to Mr Edsall today, Americans who voted for Trump believing he will be their back; are they chagrinned, feeling betrayed, embarrassed, or angry? Do the Trump voters understand or care how un lawful, unpatriotic, illegal, criminal and unAmerican such activities as money laundering and election meddling with Russia is?
3
This whole administration and everything about Trump and his cronies reminds me of the movie "Layer Cake." It is an organized crime family. There is no other explanation. It is a nightmare that they have gained access to and are subverting our country and harming the entire world.
2
It would be a great service if the NYT and WP were to analyze every executive order and every withdrawal from international agreements, etc., to assess the positive impact on Russia and the array of Russian oligarchs in Trump's and Cohen's orbits.
I suspect we will find that every decision benefits Russia and specific Russians more than it benefits America and Americans.
For that matter, some decisions might very well benefit, at least in the long run, Chinese interests. The ZTE article is a case in point. On the one hand, it's a bold move to punish a Chinese company violating American policy regarding re-export of American technology. On the other, it reduces American exports, might very well result in the loss of American jobs, and will spur the Chinese to develop a competing technology that in the end will strengthen the Chinese economy in ways adverse to US interests.
6
The need for laws mandating that candidates for such important positions fully release their tax returns has never been more evident. Trump's base duplicity that he couldn't release his tax returns because of some still unproven "audit", should have been and remains disqualifying for any person who wishes to hold this position as representative of the most powerful nation on earth. No one should be in this position under any circumstance unless their capacity to serve is a complete open book. Just as any Presidential candidate's physical and mental health of matters of legitimate and complete evaluation, a POTUS's financial affairs cannot be held private for anyone wishing to hold this position.
14
Sanctions and tax liability created the need for oligarchs to launder their rubles.
What's $400 Million to a bunch of dirty billionaires? Pocket change.
MAGA . Electoral College was supposed to protect us from crooks and grifters. They're Fired.
12
So exactly what services did Essential Consultants LLC provide any of these "clients"? From what I understand, it had at most one employee--Michael Cohen. Yet a hedge fund, AT&T and Novartis, among others, hired this entity? How did they find this wonderful "consultant"? And where did the money go after it was paid?
What started with a roll in the hay with a porn actress is going to wind up with money laundering and campaign finance-related criminal indictments. By the time this is done Trump will be wishing that explaining Stormy to Melania was his biggest problem.
25
and yet - his congressional enablers and the devoted following of roughly 40 percent of voters - will keep this man in the White House for at least his first term. As I write this, I am visiting with family in northern Maine, way up in the County - Trump and LePage country. After spending a week listening to the locals at the general store and even members of my own family praise their savior in Washington, I can assure you, nothing that Mueller presents us with, no matter how damning, will alter their image of him. And, they’re angry at what they perceive to be a leftist conspiracy.
22
I think Robert Mueller is getting close and the Whitehouse knows it.
Now, Mike Pence is out there saying it's time to wrap the investigation up, talking the Trump talking points.
It sounds like Mike Pence is worried that someone will start asking him questions of exactly what did he know, and what has he been lying about.....he is starting to sound a lot like Spiro Agnew during the Nixon Watergate investigation; Spiro Agnew ended up in jail for his own corruption charges.
Mike Pence with his "holier than thou" attitude, is always fluttering around the flame, but feigns ignorance about everything that has been going around him. I can't believe Mike Pence is really that big a dunce, although he does act like one or someone that has a schoolboy crush on Donald Trump, and seems to parrot what ever Donald Trump wants him to say, so these words seem to be more Donald Trump's than Mike Pence's own mind working here.
Mike Pence is Donald Trump's Stepford Husband, or the human Chatty Cathy doll and when you pull the string in his back, you get whatever pre-recorded response that Donald Trump has loaded in him.
I think it's time people start getting a little suspicious of Mike Pence's involvement, he seems to be too dumb by choice, and it begs the question exactly what is Mike Pence afraid of being found out.
32
I think Mike Pence isnt a dunce, he just rides his own bike, maybe even makes an effort to insulate himself from all the flies surrounding Trump. I know next to nothing about Pence, but I've heard that he is very, very religious. Religion in this country, the world really, has left a very bad taste in my mouth (No, I wasn't an alter boy), I've found that most really religious people, are only really religious when it's convenient to them, when it somehow benefits them. And I truly fear and do not want, any semi religious, or truly religious people leading me. Or having any effect on the laws of my country. WWMPD. What Would Mike Pence Do?
2
BorisRoberts - You might want to do some reading about Pence. His idea of religion is to inflict harm on the most vulnerable members of our society and he particularly loves harming and demeaning women.
1
Mike Pence is one of the biggest and phoniest of hypocrites, he wants to completely control woman's bodies and tell them what he thinks is their rights, and not what the constitution provides for woman's protection.
Connect the dots! Manafort became campaign manager in March 2016. He worked for a Ukrainian pro-Russia political party. Russia stormed into Crimea and Eastern Ukraine and got sanctioned.
Why! Why would you take that baggage onto your campaign?
We await evidence of link to the campaign, but "(Manafort) is accused of funnelling the funds through foreign shell companies, including many that were based in Cyprus."
"Mueller’s team has separately issued a subpoena for information from Deutsche Bank. .. The German bank is Trump’s biggest lender... Deutsche Bank said in a statement: “We severed our relationship with FBME (closed Cyprus bank) in 2014.."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/24/fbi-investigates-russian...
Never forget that REAL Russian interference was pushed by Trump campaign representative JD Gordon to align a 2016 GOP policy amendment with 'Trump's' views.
"Approximately 10 days after Manafort emailed Kilimnik with his offer to Deripaska, an amendment to the Republican Party's draft policy on Ukraine proposing that the GOP commit to sending "lethal weapons" to the Ukrainian army to fend off Russian aggression was changed to "provide appropriate assistance."
http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-manafort-putin-oleg-deripaska-trump-...
"It's called Pay to Play" Trump used to deride Hillary at his rallies. Russian oligarchs don't make public filings, like the ones Michael Avenatti found.
12
Had it not been for the Russia scandal, this corruption would have never seen daylight. It illustrates that corruption is basic to Washington’s culture. The public good is totally lost in a sea of graft, i.e. “pay to play” and lobbyists.
The democratic model we were all taught is school is an utter fantasy. All laws are crafted with carve-outs funded by those with capital and access. What is the distinction between a “campaign contribution” and graft ?
Trump and his toadies are loathsome, but this story merely expresses the continuity of corruption that plagues Washington.
10
My view entirely. Which is why I have no shame for demanding Medicare for All, tuition-free public college and vocational school, and paid parental leave and subsidized childcare and taxing the bejeezus out of the top 5% to pay for it. When you have a greedy, unethical and criminal elite milking the system and controlling the system for their own benefit, honest, hard-working middle Americans deserve a few benefits too.
3
The Russians and major corporations did a money dump on Trump before an election that the entire universe predicted that Clinton would win in the biggest landslide in recorded history. but then putin manipulated enough voters to give Trump the electoral college all during the Obama administration right under the noses of the fbi,cia, dia,nsa,etc. wow!!!
3
Because of his refusal to disclose his family and personal income tax returns and business records to the American people Trump's 'money trail' is not 'shadowy'. It is a super massive black hole.
By failing to declare and divest his assets into a blind trust the Trump Organization is still profitably controlled by the Trump kids.
13
As historians sift through the wreckage of the Trump presidency, they will invariably place the Stormy Daniels lawsuit in the eye of the storm that leveled Donald Trump. The tendrils from that one time payment of hush money grew and swept out and around the president, like arms of a hurricane, leading to and then closing a circle back to Russian interference, influence, collusion and kompromat.
9
Well, as Mike Pence said this morning, it's time to wrap up the Mueller probe.....and to get on with indicting the Trump crime family.
11
Michael Cohen must be a really smart guy. I mean to say, Korea Aerospace says they needed Cohen's advice on how to create a new accounting system. WOW! The guy must know his numbers, eh?
AT&T dumped money into Cohen's pocket for advice on their merger plans with Comcast. He sure knows his way around the telecommunications biz. And Novartis needed advice about dodging the control of drug pricing.
Well, of course, what they all wanted was the access to the Oval Office Mr. Cohen promised them. Despite being Trump's personal lawyer and fixer for years, he was given the Trump Dump rejection of a White House job, including his hoped-for job as Chief of Staff.
But, hey! He had a sales pitch and it brought it boatloads of cash. All he had to do was provide Trump's feedback and endorsement.
Obese probability of that happening. Not that Trump is above corrupt business practices.
As many of us have speculated over the past two years, there is appearance of Russian influence on Trump's decisions. It is as if Putin has something on Trump; perhaps a video of the "golden showers" in a Moscow hotel room where three prostitutes urinated on the bed where Michelle and Barack Obama slept, all for the entertainment of Trump; or, perhaps Putin has all of the records of Trump's business loans from Russian oligarchs.
Trump didn't plan on winning the WH job. But he did. The race for the POTUS has always been about enriching himself. And the Russians are in on the con.
9
Trump’s new book - The Art of Illiberal Democracy and the Back Room Deal.
4
Say, any chance Republicans on Capitol Hill would consider the takeover of the United States government by a foreign adversary as serious as Hillary Clinton's emails? Maybe reporters should ask them.
6
This seems like the only real explanation of collusion. If Mueller can conclusively find the links to Turmp's campaign finances from Russian sources, then he is a cooked goose. Keep going Mr. Mueller!
10
Gee, this sounds exactly what Donald Trump was falsely accusing Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, pay for play, buying access to the Oval Office and it seems like this is the way....greedy Donald Trump wants to make sure he and the Trump organization get their cut of the money pie.
Didn't they used call this good old fashioned "graft" in the old days?
7
This was my presumption all along: that Trump was in debt up to his eyeballs to Russian oligarchs/mob/Kremlin and was therefore beholden to them. Why else be so friendly to Putin? Why else refuse to reveal his tax records?
Glad to see the investigators are closing in.
10
If they are able to expose Mr. Trump for the fraud he is, Michael Avanati, Stormy Daniels, and Robert Mueller should jointly be awarded the Nobel prize. If Mr. Trump gets the prize, I will book a flight to the next available planet.
3
Didn't I say it? Just follow the money.
1
One wonders after all the nation has gone through, will go through, if the foolish anti-Hillary hysteria continues. Comey of course the boy scout gets a lot of credit for his last-minute revelations that proved again to be made of nothing. As Matthew Dowd put it on Stephanopoulos' show Sunday, the Benghazi hearings went on forever with: zero indictments; Whitewater also lasted a very long time w/: zero indictments. Mueller's been at it for what, close to a year with: 26 indictments. And we are left w/the man in the White House who will stoop, never rise, to any deal that benefits him. You can make bet that a former KGB guy can out-con a guy from Queens.
10
Benghazi with zero indictments? Why would anyone think there would be any indictments?
Stupid does not equal criminal. Bad decisions while possibly criminal are normally just dumb. An investigation into how bad decisions are made would be proper to hopefully reduce the chance that they would be repeated or at a minimum let the bad decision makers aware that some one is looking over their shoulders and they should be wiser.
"WHEN WILL TRUMP DISCLOSE ALL HIS TAX RETURNS?" That should be The NYTimes' banner headline every day until he does.
11
Quite clearly there is a "Pay to Play" phenomenon tied to "special circumstances." Either favors, bribes or extortion. The Trump-Cohen slush fund was hidden.
The verbose Rudy Giuliani called it 'funneling money.'
No surprise Donald Trump expects people and corporations to pay to play. Cold hard cash exchanged for a chance to "do business" and "transact" in his political marketplace.
How very Trumpian. How very corrupt.
3
Sounds like the American companies who poured money into Cohen's LLC came to realize they made a bad investment. The Russians,on the other hand, have come to the conclusion their investment is working out beyond their wildest dreams. I'm sure they think Trump's base is like the Russian people. They will fall for anything.
5
Jimbo: These are Russian Jewish mobsters with respect to Cohen, not Russians close to Putin as the article and dozens like it emanating from the Times would suggest, disgusting. Read the excellent article on Cohen in last weeks Sunday Times it outlines the players quite well, they are predominantly Jewish Americans who once lived in Russia or with ties to Ukrainian Jewish mobsters. Not intimates of Putin, quite the opposite in fact, the reason they are here is many of them were not were not wanted in Russia.
2
Let's remember that there is no federal statute concerning collusion. If there were, Sheldon Adelson would have been in jail long ago.
Conspiracy is a crime. But to be proven, there has to be some underlying criminal act, then an agreement to further that crime.
Nixon was not directly involved in the Watergate break-in. But he was directly involved in the cover up. Hence obstruction of justice and his eventual resignation.
Trump was a sleazy businessman and has surrounded himself with a bunch of sleazy, self-servers, out for their own enrichment. But so far their lying on federal forms or failing to declare income from lobbying efforts are individual crimes and not conspiracies.
Even if some of these current investigations amount to election law violations, the typical result is for the campaign or individual to pay a fine. Again no conspiracy.
Would I like to see Trump gone? Yes. Would I like to see the Democrats back in power in 2020? Yes.
But I don't want either to occur at the expense of our constitution or as a result of trial by innuendo, rumor or mear allegation.
Ken Starr wandered far off the path when he investigated Clinton for six years, which I opposed. And I think it's time for the Mueller probe to either come forward with the underlying crimes or simply prosecute the bit players for their individual transgressions.
The constitution never envisioned endless investigation as political opposition. It's time to remember that.
3
Mueller hasn’t been investigating that long and it doesn’t sound like he’s wandered off the path. There’s no comparison with the Ken Starr investigation. Watergate is a more appropriate comparison. Be patient.
4
Money laundering is a crime. Seems like that may be the crux of this matter.
3
It's obvious. The "money trail" leads to Donald J. Trump. Not too difficult to figure out. His credit a shambles in the United States, Trump turned to Russian oligarchs for financing. Cohen was the go-between arranging deals for Trump so he could continue to live his opulent lifestyle. You don't have to be a Bob Woodward or a Carl Bernstein to sleuth this one.
7
It's in the DNA...
Elsewhere in these pages there is reporting on a continuing debate whether $$ and culture can be separated to tease out why white blue collar voters favored Trump. The weight of the evidence points to their being cojoined. Like the cold virus, we are cultural bias carriers and when external conditions place stress on our bodies the sickness manifests itself. The potential for bias is in our DNA and worsening financial opportunities and skewed income created the conditions for a Trump vote.
Russian election interference and Russian money laundering and Trump are also cojoined. Trump incompetence created a hugely stressful financial situation. This opened the morally weak Trump and his bankrupt organization to the only available financial solution. Russian $$ infected Trump and his empire and from their its' ethical foundations. Trump's moral turpitude and criminal activity are cojoined. It's in the DNA. The symptoms are clear but because we are a democracy honoring the rule of law we need Mueller to confirm the diagnosis.
Cultural/moral and financial bankruptcy cannot be separated. Trump is a carrier. The infection is highly contagious and dangerous to national and international health. It requires incisive diagnosis and strong remedies. Let's hope the GoP isn't so contaminated it prefers the disease to the remedy.
I think most Americans still value honesty and integrity, and this painful presidency will end soon. Policy does not preclude character.
If you are a bad actor, you should not hold public office. If you break the law, you shouldn’t hold public office. Hopefully, the trauma of Trump will ultimately bring us back to our senses.
2
We forget that Russia has not been a communist country in decades. For the past thirty years it has been rebuilding its ruling class, one based not on breeding and divine right, but on muscle and murder.
Putin has harnessed paranoid, hard-right, Russian nationalists to make laws in his Duma, while murdering and imprisoning artists and journalists, and exploiting the misogyny in his country in order to keep the opposition weak. His sole goal in life is the acquisition of money and power, and he surrounds himself with the same kinds of people.
No wonder the Trumps, with their shady, money-laundering background and similar ambitions, are drawn to the Russian style of politics. It's very practical for anyone who wants to be a strongman and run a country as if it were his own personal mob territory.
6
How much of our government has been for sale since Donald J's miniature inauguration? It looks as though Cohen is going to be spending some of his future in a federal correctional facility. It is going to be interesting to see how many more indictments occur during the Mueller probe. I think that we are finally starting to see the "end of the beginning".
4
Many fine points is this opinion piece written by the editorial board of the Times. However, what is truly needed are stories linking the exponential and interlocked growth of corporations to the demise of nation states. As illustrated by payments to Cohen's shell company, corporations seek to buy loyalty and direct future legislation. The Times needs to explore this scenario in greater depth. It is not the government that is in control but the armies of corporate lobbyists systematically capturing government to serve their insatiable and amoral ledger books. Trump is merely a symptom of this much larger disease.
3
I know Donald Trump bragged about being a great salesman, and he most admired P.T. Barnum, but little did we know he would be selling the office of the President, too.
2
The moral compass of our political leadership and a segment of our citizenry has gone south. It doesn't matter anymore how the game is played as long as one scores a big win!
1
Trump initially saw the presidency as a get-out-of-jail free card – anyone else would have been prosecuted for the money-laundering, tax evasion, likely bribery of foreign governments and other crimes. Now he sees as a cash machine, modeling himself after Putin. He is nothing more than a petty pay-to-play potentate. At the minimum, he has already committed obstruction of justice (firing Comey, orchestrating firing of others including Andrew McCabe, now targeting Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller), abuse of power. He has violated the Emoluments Clause, enriching himself from foreign powers who buy favorable policy while Trump Organization and his crime family benefit from favorable policies like China granting Ivanka coveted trademarks. The Michael Cohen case is beyond pay-to-play – it is outright bribery, in exchange for favorable policies including environmental, mergers, drug prices. This is so much beyond “violating norms” of the office.
4
I've known a few guys like Trump and his cronies. They wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night without ever drawing an honest breath in-between. The idea of doing anything by the book is completely foreign to them. If Mueller were to set about seriously tracing Trump's money history, he would probably find something about him stealing from poor boxes as a kid. There is no end to what he might find. There is only a beginning without any end.
5
It has been, and continues to be all about the money. Even the Stormy Daniels controversy: if (more likely when) Melania divorces her husband, their pre-nup almost certainly has a clause invalidating it if it can be proven that either party has committed adultery. If this comes to pass, she will clean him out financially.
Trump has bent and broken the law his entire career and always gotten off with a slap on the wrist. The one exception was his divorce from Ivana, which just happened to coincide with the beginning of his financial woes and multiple bankruptcies, which in turn forced him to seek his financing from more 'shadowy' sources.
2
In the end, one must commend the IRS commitment to privacy, as there have been zero leaks of Trump's tax returns for the past 10 years (other than the 2005 partial leak which probably came from Trump himself).
I'm sure the audits must have been finalized for some of those years.
1
Seriously? Are we REALLY surprised by a shady money trail? A New York real estate developer with tied to criminal elements launders money.... wow, he's shady? We knew this, have know this for more than 20 year. How about focusing on the money he is personally making (in the light of day) by being president with hotels, Mara logo, golf, etc.....
132
Because that is not going to get him impeached and hopefully tried for treason. What he did with Russia before and during the election is. That’s the difference here.
17
Donald said he was rich and so was immune from the tug of money. Rats.
What this entire episode clearly shows is the toxic effect of money in politics. What is legal in the pay-to-play program is appalling.
We need mandatory public campaign financing as our first priority -- so elected officials will work for the public and not for the money.
And we need to impose strict ethics regulation on anyone doing business in America -- with substantial penalties attached.
6
Probably it is good for Trump that Mueller is investigating him that would keep him in check to do any bad deals while he is president and encourage him to work hard to make good deals for American people as he has been doing, at least the deals his supporters think are good. It is an irony that Mueller investigation is bad for Democrats as it would prevent Trump from doing things that would have created impeachable offences. It is not that easy for Mueller to find an impeachable offence from his current investigation based on what we already know.
2
'Collusion': not a legal term. Russian agents may have manipulated the Trump team, but to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Trump and/or his team 'knowingly' aided and abetted election hacking by the Russians is almost impossible to prove. Unless there's recorded conversations, texts, emails, its: 'he said, she said'.
Whereas: Money laundering leaves a documented trail for forensic accountants. That's the direction the investigations should pursue.
5
It's not "almost impossible to prove" Trump conspired with Russian agents, and the Senate trial that follows impeachment isn't a criminal trial anyway.
1
A reasonable person might wonder how someone with Trump's questionable financial entanglements might have escaped serious scrutiny or penalty by the IRS for all these years. Either the IRS may have missed some pretty obvious financial impropriety, or the tax returns may not have been entirely truthful. Hard to imagine that being the case with a straight shooter like Mr. Trump.
15
The FEC needs some new teeth.
While it may be relevant to ask about "donations" that may have been used by the elected presidents' campaign in some way to influence the last presidential election, there needs to be equal scrutiny on the other side. It actually seems easier to unravel the flow of foreign "donations" to the Clintons.
I abhor these intrusions by foreign entities, they need to be stopoed. completely.
7
If Mueller finds all this to be true, and I think he will, then I think Trump should be indicted, as the election is null and void for his campaign committing treason by conspiring with a foreign enemy. Yes, I know that there is no precedent for this, but there is also no precedent for most of what Trump has done or is doing. There is no precedent for a major party not vetting a candidate for the presidency to see where most of his funding is coming from for over a decade. There is no precedent for the level of corruption and deceit in this administration, nor the amount of investigations and ethics violations. Pence should not be allowed to assume the presidency since he also knew about Michael Flynn contacts with Russia to let them know they would get there relief from sanctions as soon as Trump took office, as he had been warned about him by Elijah Cummings and the House Oversight Committee, as he was head of the transition team. Ryan should not be considered for the presidency, since he joked about the Russians funding Trump's election and said let's keep it in the family, as a family secret. I don't know who is next in line, but John McCain or Mitt Romney at least would restore order and credibility to the chaos that will surely ensue. Justice will be served. The day of reckoning is coming. Let's stand for "one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
6
The line of succession officially goes (it should be noted this list defines who is President. The position of the Vice President is filled through Senate action, not succession):
Vice President
Speaker of the House
President pro Tempore of the Senate
Secretary of State
Secretary of the Treasury
Secretary of Defense
Attorney General
Secretary of the Interior
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Secretary of Homeland Security
Given this entire list consists of either negligent apologists or direct members of what might be an illegal administration, this would result in nothing less than a full-blown Constitutional crisis. The Founders tried to disabuse the possibility of foreign intervention in our political process, but never foresaw globalization or the possibility of being able to transfer money by shifting bits in a server.
1
Duh The stink the corruption & the lame excuses all point to a dirty money laundering monster machine
No wonder 45 screamed ‘ you can’t look at my finances That’s the red line’
HE knows exactly what transpired and when.
Let Mueller investigate
It’s what all the deflections are about
Now more than ever this ‘ transactional’ imbecilic boy man & his corrupt hypocritical party need to be brought to their knees to restore decency to our country
It’s the patriotic thing to do
Far more so than brandishing a sloganned baseball cap and insulting the American flag
brandished as a sword
22
Adam Stoler, I agree with your second sentence. That's the first place I would have looked!
I realize that the NYT's really believes that DT is the first and only politician to ever have a "Shadowy Money Trail".
Had you, the Editorial Board spent this much time investigating the Clinton Foundation, perhaps, your constant negative opinion articles would warrant attention.
However, since you and your opinion writers are so closed minded, opinionated, and biased ( and the fact that you supported Hillary for President), how could we expect you to deal with the "real" issues facing America. You know, N. Korea, the Chinese, Iran, NAFTA, etc.
If Trump wanted to have sex with Stormy, how does that affect us, the American public.
Perhaps, had you, the NYT's Editorial Board been more concerned with Obama ramming through the Iran Nuclear Agreement, without Congressional approval, or the approval of the electorate, your opinions might have a little more meaning. Then, perhaps, DT would not have had to pull out of this horrendous agreement. As it is, you seem to continuously exhort the same, one sided, biased rhetoric.
How about dealing with issues that really affect America and its citizens?
3
Seems to me the possibility that your President may be beholden to Russian interests would be of paramount importance to the American people.
Everything, everything else, pales in comparison. None of it matters as much as this.
4
This is the most fact-free article ever written. Trump dealt with many businessmen around the globe, including Russians. What’s your point NYT?
4
I'll bite, name six of those businessmen.
BTW, if it's the norm for Trump to cozy up to the Russians why does he keep denying it and lying about it?
2
Russia is an autocracy where the only people making money are Putin's supporting henchmen, that's the point. There is no money leaving Russia without Putin's approval, comrade.
1
Why does no one mention the tax audit which was Trump's on-going election excuse for not releasing his tax returns? It is a year and a half on, and we have not a word on the subject. Did Trump's inauguration lead the IRS to drop it out of deference to or fear of or order by Trump?
8
Nothing like a showy 'Welcome Home' for those three just released by North Korea to take the focus off the real story behind Trump's Russian money connection....Look! Squirrel!
19
It seems much more likely that Trumps fear and love for Putin is more money based than pee tape based (though they are not mutually exclusive). Trumps fear is such that it seems to me that Putin is in a position to take what Trump values most. Which is not his reputation, his presidency or his marriage (the consequences of an humiliating tape), but the means to take Trump Org from him. It really is the only explanation for Trumps behaviour.
Either way, Trump is owned, which has implications not just for your national security, but for the global security.
The likes of your Mr Nunes have now gained global attention for his behaviour. History will not be kind to Nunes or others who seek to protect the truth from sunlight. The truth will eventually out, as it always does. But will it out in time?
9
Lock Trump up. Preferably in the same cell with Cohen, Bannon and all the rest of this gang of thieves.
14
VOTE before he gives the keys to the White House to Putin. He is already walking out of Iran partnership, the heath of the whole planet and making sure that the economy tanks by starting trade wars. Putin is sliding right in to fill the void, leaving our allies holding the bag without the support needed to stop him. It almost seems like that was the plan all along... maybe its not Obama's policies he is destroying. That's the cover story for the blackmail and payola he has going on with Vlad the Impaler. Why not, if it were Hillary or any Dem, that's the story DT and the R's would be screaming. I like that idea.. I wonder hjow long it woy me take to spread on FB, Twitter?
VOTE.
6
If Moscow had bought POTUS, would anything look different to what we see today ie. whether it can be proved or not, you basically seem to have a Russian shill sitting in the White House.
7
...drip, drip, drip...follow the money.
2
Indeed, what does Vlad the Impaler have on President Dennison?
8
Jim...Why are you in denial? If the country is "doing great," this is an economic hangover from the Obama days, a man whom you refuse to give credit for anything. The Times didn't "lose the election," America did. And it did so because Russian operatives successfully suppressed voter turnout in several key states in the Rust Belt. Read the bipartisan Senate report.
11
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and flies like a duck, it is a duck........
This heaping pile of violation against the constitution is most definitely an impeachable offense. Most of what we have heard that Trump has done up until now is simply ignorance, this crosses the line.
Trump himself seems to be an eager player in this game of international 3 card monte.
"Above all, to thine own bank account be true....." the motto of both the Trump administration and Trump corporation.
We the people need to take back our government before Trump turns our democracy into pay to play based fascist regime.
7
There you have it. The president of the USA made millions laundering money for the Russian mob. The GOP knows this, but chooses to look the other way. Crisis people? What crisis?
11
Thanks! Keep shinning the spotlight on the racketeers. Racketeers commit violence against us all. See
https://www.legalreader.com/republican-racketeers-violent-policies/
6
Trump has publicly stated that he is a very greedy man. OK so are a lot of people. But now is the time to find out exactly what Trump has done to satisfy that greed.
To date Trump has gotten away with not releasing his tax returns.
To date Trump has kept hidden the White House Visitor Logs so we have no idea who has had meetings with Trump. I would not put it past Trump to be making money on insider trading deals like his friend Carl Ichan.
I think Mr. Cohen's little LLC Company is just one of the many avenues that he and Trump have opened up since the inauguration (or maybe even before) to make as money for themselves as they can.
If pay for play was a no-no for the Clintons, it is and should be a no-no for the Trumps. And Jared.
In America today it is not unusual for money to buy policy and the politicians who make said policy. A sad but true state of affairs.
What is unique about Trump is the number of Russians and their money that swarm about him and his family. What kind of influence and policy have the Russians bought from Trump?
And let's not forget that the RNC seems to be getting into the act with the benefits of Russian money. Coincidence that Cohen was a RNC fundraiser with ties to Russia? Coincidence that Don Jr. and the NRA GOP have Russian oligarch friends in common?
Tip of the iceberg if you follow the money.
6
Of course they are bribes. Who would seriously believe that Cohen has become an expert in so many fields.
7
Now Mike Pence is out there saying it's time to wrap the investigation up, talking the Trump talking points.
It sounds like Mike Pence is worried that someone will start asking him questions of exactly what did he know, and what has he been lying about.....he is starting to sound a lot like Spiro Agnew during the Nixon Watergate investigation; Spiro Agnew ended up in jail for his own corruption charges.
Mike Pence with his "holier than thou" attitude, is always fluttering around the flame, but feigns ignorance about everything that has been going around him. I can't believe Mike Pence is really that big a dunce, although he does act like one or someone that has a schoolboy crush on Donald Trump, and seems to parrot what ever Donald Trump wants him to say, so these words seem to be more Donald Trump's than Mike Pence's own mind working here.
Mike Pence is Donald Trump's Stepford Husband, or the human Chatty Cathy doll and when you pull the string in his back, you get whatever pre-recorded response that Donald Trump has loaded in him.
I think it's time people start getting a little suspicious of Mike Pence's involvement, he seems to be too dumb by choice, and it begs the question exactly what is Mike Pence afraid of being found out.
15
No reputable U.S. bank would ever loan money to the King of bankruptcies; Michael Cohen had deep ties to the Russian Mob since 1999;We don`t. rely on American banks/We have all the funding we need out of Russia/Eric Trump. HELLO! If this does not paint a crystal clear picture of how up to their eyeballs the Trump swamp truly is; what is it going to take?! Without Russia it is blindingly obvious that Trump would have never survived financially for a very long time now. This should be all the proof in the world anybody with an objective point of view would need to realize how "IN DEBT" Trump is to his Russian Friends!!
9
Robert Mueller and Michael Avenotti, you are my heroes. Please burn Donald Trump's disgraceful presidency and business empire to the ground.
6
Yes. Thanks for coming to the party, though you are quite late.
It's taken the NYT 3 years to say what was blatantly obvious since the Trump campaign launched in 2015.
The NYT continues to ignore/collude in hiding the complicit role of the RNC & numerous GOP lawmakers/power brokers.
Approximately 1 year ago - May 15th'ish, 2017 - this story broke with voice recording, and I quote the Republican congressional leadership:
“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump, swear to God.” - Kevin McCarthy
“This is an off the record . . . No leaks! . . . All right?” - Paul Ryan
'And then, amid more laughter, Ryan says, “This is how we know we’re a real family here.”'
'“That’s how you know that we’re tight,” Steve Scalise, the House Majority Whip, says.'
'“What’s said in the family stays in the family,” Ryan concludes.'
Michelle Wolf is correct. MSM owners are happy (gleeful even) to tolerate the destruction of our self-governance for their profits. And your vast privilege means you'll be the last to suffer from these abuses/crimes. Thus, the majority of us will suffer on and ever-more deeply until you hurt too. For example, yesterday Trump gave a huge painful wallop to the west coast economy by intentionally harming Boeing. Expect more of this internal economic terrorism misreported through a lens of false equivalence.
#WeSeeYou #QuislingJournos and if we make it to this round of fascism's version of Nuremberg Trials, we'll remember who and what you chose.
9
The criminal Trump will take down all the corrupt CEO's who pay to play with a crook. Get those pot dealers out of jail , we need the room!
8
No wonder during the trip to Moscow for the pageant somebody had recommended 'Russia has the most beautiful prostitutes'! Somebody had intelligence on him! I love it!
4
This whole thing stinks to high heaven, as is clear to anyone who has cared to pay attention.
Unfortunately, there is a sizable portion of the electorate that has not.
8
Trump scandals have been public since the 80's. (How stupid and corrupt do you have to be to go bankrupt in the casino business - and to continue to legally defraud creditors as a business strategy.) There were the Mafia connections, the legions of women, the Deutche Bank money laundering with the Russians ... The list is inexhaustible. And, millions of Americans voted for him, and continue to support his regime. Ironically, the electoral college was supposed to save the Republic from mob rule.
9
Throw money at the Trump cronies, simple graft , NY realestate buyoff.
Sad part is likely Cohen, Flynn, Manefort etc all just taking graft and donnie and his kiddos TOO stupid and low class grifters themselves to stop them, or at least dissociate throw the grfters out
Honestly , think donnie finds it normal to have people around him taking graft, NOT HIS PROBLEM just normal business!
5
If you want to know about trump follow the Russian money
3
Pretty much everyone now agrees that the Russians used their intelligence services to influence the 2016 election, but neither the Trump administration nor the GOP controlled Congress has done ANYTHING to prevent Russian interference this November.
Why? Because the Russians helped Trump win, and maintaining power is all that matters to the GOP establishment.
8
The Congress needs to immediately pass a law REQUIRING the public release of tax returns by anyone who stands for election to the Presidency, Congress or appointment to a cabinet position. This law needs to be retroactive in scope
15
Here's what I still don't get: how has the IRS not already nailed him 10x over?
Presumably his tax returns are pretty tight in that they show income from all sorts of other sketchy Essential Consultants LLC. There won't be anything obvious like Vekselberg Real Estate Ventures. We have to assume Mueller has way more than the tax returns at this point and the tax returns wouldn't mean anything to a lay person.
9
It looks like Russians may have been funding Trump’s slush fund for “hush money”.
5
To misquote a famous figure, ''Lock Him up!'' Just lock him up!
8
Trump accused Hillary Clinton of "pay for play." With the Don, whatever he accuses others of doing is something he turns out to have been doing. So AT&T was paying for favors from the federal government and helped fund the cash payout to the presidents porn actress mistress. Maybe AT&T should change its name to AT&A. Why are so many American businesses eager to sell out America?
9
Can we all say the word TREASON?
8
The NYT knows the answer (DJT should not have been elected president and should not still be president and should be run out of office) it just needs to get there but cannot based on the facts at hand. So it lives off innuendo. And when even innuendo fails in the face of facts it moves the goal posts in hopes of getting the result it is looking for. Good luck, lets hope it is not four years or more before the NYT can finally come up with something that actually sticks.
4
This whole subject has gotten a little old.
1
How curious; exactly what some people were saying a few months into the Watergate investigation. You're bored? Turn the page.
3
Really? Seems to me it keeps getting more and more interesting.
The illustration deserves an award.
6
You elected him. You, Mitch and the Mendacious Orchestra of Ignorance. I think it’s time to build a wall on the Canadian Border to save us from whatever disease is eating the brains of Americans!
10
Wait - some of us had and still have our gray matter in tact and so wish to re-locate north of the north border but lack the funds and other milestones to prove our worthiness. It's an awful feeling. Will Canada offer up sanction stations for those of us without the million dollar bank account bur who need and want to escape this mess of a former nation? Please!
5
How come everyone wants to go to Canada? Never to Mexico where the climate is less frigid? Racism is certainly not a factor? Or let's go to Sweden, another formerly vanilla northern European country.
Don't bother with the wall. We cannot afford the price of your beer.
He's a criminal and a traitor. He stole the election. Nothing is too bad that can be done to him.
8
it is as has been thought and asserted since before the election-Trump and family are retainers of former SSRs and the Putin czardom in Russia. Were he a garden variety extreme con-he would be pure anti Russian.
Instead, during a televised "event" in July 2016, before the election, Candidate Trump begged the Russians, please, hack my opponent even more, please , Russian hackers, break into my nasty opponent's computer and reveal everything in her e-mail. Had any other candidate: -say Nixon, or Goldwater or even any of the Bush Repubs done this, they would have been sent back to Texas to work on their "Ranches".
Trump committed treason in the oen that day-he has been a traitor for years with his secret relations with big Russian government . Why, after all does he only marry women from former Satellites of the USSR?
We don't need a czarist slave to have a stupid and moronic president, as Bush 2 proved.
9
Russian Kompromot usually involves Sex or Money. What are Donald Trump's two greatest weaknesses?
10
He's dirty, covered in dirt.
6
The Senate and Congressional committees have reported no Trump-Russia collusion.
Therefore, all the more reason for the NYT to continue its pathetic efforts to prove that Putin and Trump are twins separated at birth, and that Trump is in thrall to Putin, a mere puppet of a Tsar-wannabe.
Dear fellow Democrats, the people in flyover country are not as stupid as we and the NYT try to portray them. Many of them in fact have brains and wits, and are tired of the NYT's endless and silly efforts to denigrate President Trump, his associates, his family, his friends, his accomplishments.
If we Democrats want to take the mid-term elections and the 2020 elections, we need to move beyond Trump-bashing to present positive candidates--and a positive platform--that appeals to voters.
2
I live in flyover country, surrounded by MAGA-hatters who were saying "Hillary's a crook" at the time they chose to vote for a real crook. They could have selected an honest candidate. Instead they selected a crook, and now that his crookedness is finally getting some attention, they call it "Trump-bashing," instead of just desserts.
2
This clicks—the entire sequence from about 2006.
5
Russians and cash. And so much more. I do not believe Trump decided to run for President and then Putin (Russia) got involved. I think Putin started setting the groundwork and then Trump ran for office. Do you think Putin, a former KBG officer, would only get dirt on Hillary? Do you think Putin would only funnel money to Trump? There have been rumors the RNC took dirty money. Once they did that they became part of the plan.
“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post (May 17, 2017 Washington Post). Paul Ryan then stopped the conversation and swore those present to secrecy. Nunes is doing all he can to stop the Mueller investigation, abetted by Paul Ryan. Paul Manafort picked Mike Pence for VP and then convinced Trump to choose him.
And then we have in the US our own want-to-be oligarchs. The Mercer family, Adelson, Bannon, Erik Prince, Manafort, Flynn to name a few. Money and power.
The very core of our democracy is at stake. I hope and pray our democracy survives.
9
I often wonder what Dean Baquet's "money trail" might be like, and even Arthur Sulzberger's. I'll bet both men, if investigated nonstop for 18 months by an "elite" team of federal pit-bulls, might eventually be "guilty" of something -- even underpaying the babysitter in the late 1990's. What this paper is supposed to do, however, is separate facts from gossip. And under Baquet, it has failed.
2
So is Rudy up to speed yet that Trump's fixer is a treasonous bagman? We are.
7
Sadly, America, the Republican Party is determined to torpedo democracy and the rule of the law, for the sake of their greed for power. Their aim is to blow a hole in the USA, so they can over-run us and impose their corrupt authoritarian kleptocracy. It is a full blown civil war, and the American people didn't see it coming, and have not created adequate defenses. Republicans will lie endlessly, and cheat, steal, bully, smash laws, trash law enforcement, break our military alliances, and thumb their nose at justice and the constitution to "win." We must vote them out!
10
I truly believe we are going to need to undertake far more than just 'vote them out.'
1
If you are heavily in debt and your income statement shows $1 billion in loses and American banks won't touch you who better to get money from than the Russians? And who better to do that then Cohen the shadowy fixer with ties to the Russians? Want to do something crooked? Hire a crook.
8
Trump is truly the most vile thing that has ever happened to our country. I fear our last chance to correct this ship is November 2018, but something tells me that Trump, Russia, and traitors within the GOP have something in store for election day.
9
This is all going to come down to the dumbest, lest informed, gullible people this country has produced got conned into putting a highly compromised criminal who played a character of himself based in the nineties in a reality TV show that saw diminished ratings every season it went on. It is so sad that so many Trump supporters have no idea they voted for someone who was just playing the role of "successful businessmen" . God knows what classified, sensitive information the Trump family has given Russia to date. Who knows how many bad deals are being shoved through that are bad for the American people but good for the Trump family. How many bad deals have been shoved through that gave advantages to any country/company that made big contributions to the Trump inauguration slush fund. We seen his cabinet get caught lying and stealing from public coffers with no consequences. Future generations will marvel at how we have so many flat out stupid people in this country.
10
follow the rubles
howard fineman
9
The person that the republicans are whole heartily supporting is a criminal. There is no doubt about it.
7
The refrain from even before the 2016 election was "show me your tax returns" Donald Trump.
While there is something slightly delicious about AT&T and others depositing money into a shell corporation to be paid out to porn stars, I can't help but now wonder if even Trump's tax returns might also function as an empty shell.
Since Trump has said only dumb people pay taxes, the returns are certain to downplay any income. But I'm wondering if they also show much of anything else that has a basis in fact. Like much of the Trump empire, even the tax returns may be nothing more than a giant shell game, a ruse with little to do with reality.
Maybe Michael Avenatti has it right. Maybe the call should be "show me your bank statements" Donald Trump.
8
@avds
Please, sir, get your facts straight.
AT&T paid money, hoping for Insights on how trump operates, and his views on regulatory matters. They hoped to get that information from trump's 'attorney' Michael Cohen.
At NO TIME did AT&T, (as you wrongly assert) "deposit (sic) money into a shell corporation to be paid out to porn stars"
Misstatements are one thing, posting blatant falsehoods in not helpful in any sense.
1
No, just to clarify, AT&T kept depositing money into Cohen's LLC after it paid out the porn star. So much for AT&Ts due diligence.
But, according to Rudy Giuliani, $35K a month was paid to Michael Cohen to "fix" things like payments to porn stars. Are there yet more shady LLCs to come? Follow the money.
4
This is absurd.
For a guy who’s worth at least $3 billion and recently spent $400 million in cash to buy new properties what’s the big deal about $1 million his attorney collected?
Also, this publication constantly derides Trump for implying that all Mexicans are criminals.
In reading this editorial one would think that all Russians are criminals.
2
@Turco
The "big deal" is that trump hid the money paid by RUSSIANS to pay for his dalliance with a porn star; hoping to buy her silence just before a national election (that he knew he could possibly loose).
4
I hope the NY Times continues to opine and investigate this "shadowy money" and Russian connection. Please try to have at least one news item a day and at least two opinion pieces a week on this subject until the midterms.
When the Republicans maintain the House and increase their majority in the Senate, please refer to all of the "RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA!" stories from the previous year to explain why this happened.
Let me be the first to tell you. A backlash is coming more than the one in 2016 that denied Hilary her rightful inheritance. (Well, that was how she campaigned.) You don't think the general population is getting tired of this? Ask Kanye West.
The Donald sure surrounds himself with only the best people. I wonder if it was maybe opposite day when TD uttered that tale?
The Donald and his coterie make it plain to all of us that they make money by playing by their own rules - i.e. there are no rules - do whatever it takes to get more money.
Someday this is all going to make a great Netflix series.
The only problem that I see is that most of the prominent male actors will have been me-tooed out of the business by then.
2
How deep is this rabbit hole of corruption? I've got a feeling that we've just scratched the surface and if we keep digging the hole will continue until we come out on the other side of the world..not in China but Moscow, Russia. One would expect the consequence of electing someone like Trump would be wide spread kleptocracy. Not only by him but his entire family, associates and oh yes his cabinet officials. This is your typical corruption...but selling out to the Russians? This cannot stand and these silent Republicans that enable these criminal traitors and impede justice must be held..all of them..accountable.
4
Comrade Trump went bankrupt several times, and found solace at the buss of Cohen and Russian Mafia blood-stained money.
The Department of the Treasury and IRS are so incompetent, that he has walked as a free man for decades despite despicable crimes and falsehoods.
6
Trump International Money Laundry. That's what the Russian connection is ALL about. It's obvious to anyone with an IQ above room temperature.
A cool room , by the way.
6
The Gambino Style “roll up” that Mueller uses casts a global “cannon net”. The quarry ensnared in the net trussed, hooded become pliable.
The Cohen electronics quarry netted has the potential to be the “lead domino”.
“The Valachi Papers” a useful primer on how the Trump operation will be undone.
3
Who you are you going to believe, Trump or your lying eyes? The level of corruption Americans tolerate and endure would make an honest person cry. Bigly sad. We are finding out who we really are, and it ain't pretty.
8
ask and answer but please get it over with. this is all taking too long and at every new drop of information the times wants to slow things down and make it part of episode xxx on The Americans.
did cohen set up the company to pay stormy daniels, or did he pay stormy daniels out of a company he was setting up for other reasons. is it unusual for business to pay consultants to have a pulse and a stake with a new administration, surely not. is russian money for business necessarily the same as russian money that pays for keri russell's wigs and weapons on the americans, well that is admittedly unclear, but russia after the fall of the USSR was everybody's favorite new playground, along with Dubai, so are all money flows necessarily corrupt, maybe, maybe not.
clear it up. the world is waiting. this endless investigation is keeping america in stall. does the times really want to stall everything for 2 or 6 more years? seems like.
Trump has always signalled his own vulnerabilities with his inability to keep his mouth shut: "Stay away from my family and my business dealings".
We know Putin is one of the most corrupt leaders in the world. First with privatisation, and now with all business dealings in Russia, he gets his cut. He needs help though. It's hard work to move all those billions into offshore havens. The Oligarchs are born. The Oligarchs become billionaires themselves as long as they stay in favour and don't fall out of open windows. Two of the conduits for laundering money included the Bank of Cyprus (And what do you know Wilbur?) and Deutsche Bank. Next in line come the "Useful Idiots"... in this case a family named Trump. Broke and greedy enough to take the bait they use for recruitment. Hookers, money...whatever it takes. Who needs banks, "We see a lot of money flowing in from Russia". Condos bought for cash over market value; Palm Beach mansions bought for double their value; and sweetheart real estate deals with corrupt regimes in unsavoury places. That was the leverage Putin needed. The goal is to lift sanctions (Magnitsky Act) to get access to the laundered billions. The quid pro quo was a little help with the election.
There's a reason Mueller put money laundering experts on his team. They're follow the money and following the debt. No wonder Trump is becoming unhinged as they tighten the circle around collusion and money laundering.
8
It seems incredible that this shady web of corruption actually makes collusion not the central matter. These are crimes regardless of Trump’s election. This was going on for years and the election shed light on it. The Russians have been playing this game for decades. Cohen-like wise guys are newbies. Once the mob has you in their grip, it will never let you get away unscathed. Russia played a low risk-high reward game. If everything goes down, it’s a problem for the U.S. Americans bet on Trump and are losing bigly.
4
Does anybody ever wonder how so many Americans could vote for somebody like Trump that he could actually get elected? How could so many Americans be so gullible, stupid, and outright immoral to vote for a man like Trump?
One might say with some honesty that America did not truly understand how bad and lacking in principle he was until he demonstrated this during his time in office. But certainly there were many indications during the campaign of just how depraved he was and is. Foremost among these were all the accusations against him of improper sexual advances. We also had the audio of him bragging about how he could take advantage of women in a sexual way. Why would you vote for somebody like that?
It is not Donald Trump that worries me. There are likely millions of people like him in this world. It is violent America and the American people who bother me. Not all of them, of course. But far too many of them.
I think this country is a lost cause. As I look at the recent history of America, from Vietnam, to Iraq, to coddling of Israel, to Trump, to the countless deaths by gunshot, to financial shenanigans, this is not a country I wish to be associated with. If I had the wherewithal, I would leave. Unfortunately, it looks like I will die in this country that I have come to despise.
8
Agree 100%. I moved to Stockholm , Sweden 25 years ago and have never looked back.!
4
So agree. I wish I had never left Europe; could have remained for the rest of my life and had quality life; bad choices haunt forever and are particularly stinging now. For those who have a chance to escape - do it - now and never give it up.
There is far better living in myriad countries.
2
Trump's connections to corrupt Russian money are screamingly obvious. Exposure (the wrong kind) is Donald Trump's worst nightmare. That exposure is also inevitable, and he has to sense that.
It would not surprise me if Mr. Trump has contingency plans for a life in exile to avoid U.S. justice. The cons that Mr. Trump has pulled will make Ponzi and Madoff appear as amateurs.
6
Much that Trump says is projection. “Lying Hillary” is “Lying Trump” - hugely. “Jail Hillary” says “Jail Trump and Eric and Cohen and Manafort and Jared and....” “I will make a better and cheaper health system” means he will destroy the system for millions and make a few wealthier. The tax cut was for the little guys and wouldn’t help his taxes at all means just the opposite. Put down Gold families and POW’s like John McCain is really a put down of his fake injury to “escape” military draft and lack of service to our nation. He cons others and himself.
5
Someone committed a felony by handing over suspicious activity report bank account information to Stormy Daniels' lawyer, and apparently, to The Times, as well..... 31 U.S.C. § 5318(g)(2)(A).
Trace everything back to Cohn - Trump's contact in NYC. That guy is slime, evil, the devil incarnate. He taught Trump everything about racketeering, money laundering, how to be a sleeze. Now it is becoming clearer why Trump wants done away with regulations. He needs russian companies to be able to invest in him. He can't with regulations and sanctions. No wonder he hates Mueller and wants him gone. Mueller is following the money and finding Trump's ties to the mob and other shady dealers.
4
American voters have elected, with Putin's blessings a thug financed by mob money, as their President.
Who could have known that American democracy, constitution and democratic institutions are so weak and so cheap that they can be swayed or outrightly brought with just a few million dollars.
Trump voters: Are you still feeling the fake greatness hangover?
3
Follow the money! NOT MY PRESIDENT is guided by GREED!
The banking records and ledgers will reveal the facts of who received how much and when.
4
In another comment for this article, someone asked how and why Trump remains steady, if not climbing, in the approval polls -- despite all of the evidence of his corruption. Well, it's partly because of headlines in publications like the NY Times that normalize him. Today, it's "Trump Greets Three Americans Freed From North Korea." No comments allowed in that article. I wonder why -- maybe because you would feel the full fury and outrage of your readers who are paying attention?
4
Why is Cohen still the NRC deputy finance chair?
3
Thank you for your hard-hitting editorial exposing the shocking fact that an American businessman did business with Russians. If you substitute "child molesters" for "Russians," i guess I could understand your concern, but otherwise, what is your point?
1
You can fool all republicans all of the time.
Most Americans some of the time.
But not all Americans all of the time.
5
At best, Trump is a charlatan; at worst a traitor. Maybe both. But there is one thing of which I am sure, the Republicans will never step up and defend America from this threat.
4
“Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets,” Donald Jr. said in 2008. “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”
Yes, Fredo, but shhh!
4
Collusion? Well, so far it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, but the Administration is serving borscht.
3
Russian oligarchs loaned Trump money and Trump put up the United States as collateral.
5
Corrupt pay for play is now a 'known known' in the sleazy backwaters of Trumpworld. Public corruption is an outrageous betrayal of the American people as well as a crime and must be rooted out and punished to the full extent of the law.
Yet where is the outrage?
Worse, there is the the much more serious 'known unknown' of treason. Do those selling pay for play in the sleazy backwaters of Trumpworld do so on behalf of foreign governments---like Russia, Israel, or the Saudis?
Americans sometimes tolerate and look the other way concerning mere hustlers and opportunists, but we utterly despise traitors. Trump and his minions have been playing with fire while wallowing in the mud and risk hanging by the heels in the public square if they turned traitor doing so.
We need to know now how far Trumpworld corruption and crime have gone, how long its been going on, and who's dirty.
Its time to go public, name names, show whats been done, how its been done, and turn public outrage loose.
2
Unfortunately, I believe Trump on one count. That he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and his supporters would still back him. Motivated by racism, xenophobia and blissfully ignorant, they will turn a blind eye towards anything Mueller uncovers. Bruni's dialogue with the Republican operative underscores the depth of Trump voters' ignorance. Many of them in rural America are armed to the teeth and I do not think they will go quietly into that good night.
2
I really hope that that Congress, in 2021 (after Trump can't veto anything) starts to pass some meaningful banking laws to keep these questionable consulting fees, errr donations, from further muddying our elections. Passing election contribution reform to negate Citizens United would also be welcome.
Those that followed the ascendancy of Trump always figured it would be the financial issues that would be the downfall. As Comey said, if you tell someone not to look at something, it's usually where the secrets and lies hide.
We figured it would stem from his taxes, not a porn star.
2
This points out, to me, how we as a country, have not aggressively gone after white collar crime. Why are these people (Manafort, Cohen, trump, Kushner, etc) only under the microscope now, when they have been engaging in these activities for years?
2
Considering the way Russians supposedly eliminate people, it kind of explains why Trump is reportedly a germaphobe and worried about being poisoned.
1
Cut a deal with Haspel and let her head the CIA if she agrees to waterboard Trump until he releases his tax returns and corporate financial data. He is probably worth about $1.75, owes $2 billion to Russian oligarchs, and doesn't donate any money to non Trump branded charities .
2
Had Hillary one one hundreth of the "money trail" that trump clearly has with Putin, she'd be impeached.
But for the Cowards in today's GOP? Nothing but silence.
4
It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that we have a compromised President. We also have a compromised House GOP.
3
I applaud the NYT from not reaching the obvious conclusions.
This is the definition of real news: giving you the facts that point to only one conclusion-- treason --but not saying that, because it is still unproven. Real. News.
We all know what this scoundrel has done. If we were Republicans, he would have been out of office months ago, and we would be American heroes.
7
Just read the Rolling Stone article on Michael Cohen's
Russian & Ukraine connections (April issue) that another
poster recommended as quite a read.
Indeed. There's a whole tableau of questionable and
unsavory characters at every turn.
Apparently Russian didn't send us their "best" people.
6
Preet Bharara was on the same trail before Donald Trump obstructed justice by firing him.
11
When you elect a game show host president, you get a game show.
6
When you elect a criminal, you get a corrupt administration.
2
What has bothered me in Trump's behavior is his sudden turning on Putin when he approved more sanctions after years of groveling praise of Putin. It's sounds to me like a capo telling his boss, "look, things are getting pretty hot for me here in Brooklyn suppose I duck out of town for while?"
3
Well it’s all a bit late, but the Times and the Post are beginning to do reporting instead of complaining. Unfortunately, the Mueller investigation will never see the light of day due to the GOP Congress’ refusal to release it. So we are very dependent on this reporting to get at the facts.
6
Trump's money trail is as "Shadowy" as a sunny day in Mar-a-Lago. The only thing 'shading' it is his unwillingness to talk.
The keyword "grifter" comes to mind when I think of the business history of trump. He is so used to living/scamming off other people's money and now has the vast resources of the US tax payers to live/scam on for the foreseeable future. He'll carry this scam forward (he can't help himself). This article helps to elaborate on this very negative behavior and how damaging it is to those who participate. A quote from a famous and terrifying movie also comes to mind, "His (trump's) pathology is a thousand times more savage and terrifying...etc..). Name to movie if you can!
1
It looks like the quid pro quo here is the Russians (mob, Putin, corrupt government officials and oligarchs) got their dirty money borrowed and laundered through Trump, who was saved from financial failure, making him beholden to them. Knowing what they had, they pulled out all the stops to get Trump elected, including likely funding provided to the campaign and NRA, hacking the DNC, and colluding with Cohen, Manafort and other campaign people.
2
You define the term "shrill". Get over it. You lost the election and our country is doing great because of that.
This editorial is a profile of crooks, plain and simple, and one is our president. We cannot fall back on Congress to act in our interest then you are absolutely right: Mueller is the backboard.
If the upcoming election is America's only recourse, let's get going.
3
Many of the Trump Organization's shady dealings have been reported by the free press, but little seems to have come of it. The widespread use of shell companies that have no purpose other than to hide or obscure the flow of dirty money is a flaw in the legal system and something that Congress should fix. There is something fundamentally wrong in a country where crooked financial dealings are not investigated and prosecuted vigorously. It makes regular working people who pay their taxes look like fools.
What is more stunning is the fact that lawmakers seem to have little appetite to clean up this mess.
4
The key word that may determine Trump’s political future isn’t “collusion.” It’s “abortions.” As in, how many women did Trump have Cohen pay off to undergo abortions after he impregnated them?
Attorney Michael Avenati has suggested that the huge amount of money paid to Trump’s "personal attorney" Michael Cohen by entities such as those mentioned in this editorial was an "extramarital affair slush fund" for Trump.
There's an extremely convincing, detailed article in the current issue of New York Magazine explaining why it's likely Trump paid $1.6 million through Cohen to a Playboy model who became pregnant and had an abortion. Another “client” of Cohen’s who profits from peddling influence, Elliott Broidy, took responsibility, but his story isn’t credible.
Preserving the privacy of the women involved, the Democrats and the media should investigate aggressively to determine how many abortions Trump has paid for. If Evangelicals and other Republicans continue to support him after that truth is revealed, they are truly lost. But I give them more credit. I think enough of them will react with revulsion to seriously erode Trump’s base.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/theory-playboy-model-had-af...
2
To a lay man like myself it appears that Michael Cohen was peddling access to the POTUS. It sure seems like a classic bribery situation. It’s clear that the money trail needs to be investigated ASAP to find out what’s going on. If nefarious acts have occurred then the perpetuators need to be brought to justice.
1
As usual, Frank Rich of NY Magazine said it best yesterday:
Avenatti [lawyer for Stormy Daniels], whose revelations have since been verified by the Times and others, is doing exactly what Woodward and Bernstein did in Watergate — following the money. By doing so he has unveiled an example of collusion so flagrant that it made Trump and Rudy Giuliani suddenly go mute: a Putin crony’s cash turns out to be an essential component of the racketeering scheme used to silence Stormy Daniels and thus clear Trump’s path to the White House in the final stretch of the 2016 election. Like the Nixon campaign slush fund that Woodward and Bernstein uncovered, this money trail also implicates corporate players hoping to curry favor with a corrupt president. Back then it was the telecommunications giant ITT, then fending off antitrust suits from the government, that got caught red-handed; this time it’s AT&T. Both the Nixon and Trump slush funds were initially set up to illegally manipulate an American presidential election, hush money included. But the Watergate burglars’ dirty tricks, criminal as they were, were homegrown. Even Nixon would have drawn the line at colluding with Russians — or, in those days, the Soviets — to sabotage the Democrats."
How I miss Frank Rich's voice in the NYT!
2
There is some good that can come out of the Trump and especially the Cohen investigation. We are witnessing a one man wrecking crew. Day by day he has been exposing Cohen's lies as well as Trump's . Michael Avenatti is no pushover. He's made Trump nervous. I just hope Trump doesn't do something diabolical to Avenatti. I hope the democrats are watching him do his magic. Unless his battle against Cohen and Trump is a fiasco, which I doubt, Avenatti should be considered as strong presidential candidate to go against Trump. And he just might win. He has all the tools. Okay, maybe Senator first. But look where Trump came from a reality show.
1
Trump lies. He lies about what time it is. What day it is. It's a rare day that isn't a cascade of lies.
He lies about stuff no one else would bother lying about. If he lies about the most trivial, why on earth wouldn't he lie about what's important to him, like his financiers, his taxes, his pay-offs, his business, his "success."
We know it's pathological. He's used to getting whatever he wants and when he doesn't he lies about. Of, course he lies to himself. He believes in his alternative reality where he's a billionaire-stable genius-beloved dear leader because in real life the mirror would reflect an aggregation of hedonistic appetites (better known as perversion), absence of a moral self, egregious vanity, and the new description of self-obsession and selfishness, which is "Trumpish."
He never grew up and yet he's stuck in his midlife crisis as a senior citizen.
The only thing he's remotely good at is saying he's the best, which is another lie.
Now from his fog of deception emerges the neon-lit truth: the President of the United States is in hock to Putin and his friends.
The whiff of smoke that first appeared when he lied about his tax returns presaged the 45 alarm firestorm that's consuming the White House with the rest of the country choking from smoke inhalation.
Trump is the Manchurian Candidate on steroids.
Stick the fork in already.
5
Keep digging. Eventually you will uncover much Russian money stolen from the Russian people and quietly laundered through the Trump organization.
3
Following the money makes sense. But ignoring the Clinton Foundation and its activities, especially its alleged financing faulty research on Russian collusion, makes no sense. Keep digging in ALL directions.
1
It's all an episode of Hee Haw!
1
There is no free lunch. We're dealing here with dinners and parties. Could they be free?. Only those who born yesterday would say yes. Anyone familiar with the so-called Socialist states like Russia and China knows quite well about their networks of deal making and their sophisticated intelligence agencies. The Chinese ZTE is just an example. Don't forget that Putin was a former KGB head. He is now a core leader and President of every thing as his Chinese ally.
Too bad the media didn't go after the Clintons and the DNC with the same furor. If they had , and actually listened to how many members of the democratic base refused to vote for Hillary, then there would be no President Trump. Instead anyone who questioned what was going on at the DNC had the comments deleted, was insulted or in some cases banned from web sites they had belonged to for many years.
The media went along with Wasserman Schultz and tried to crown Hillary which is really what led to the democrats losing. Either there is a relentless call to clean house at BOTH parties and truly investigate BOTH parties or this is just continued whining over Hillary losing. Enough already.
Become relentless in the pursuit of cleaning up the whole process or continue seeing a downward spiral in how people view the press. In which case your editorials and opinions will be as useful in swaying voters as they were in 2016.
It's amazing how the media still doesn't get it.
Who would have thought the Trump presidency was the best that money could buy?
1
Thank you, NYTimes, for the editorial and the reader responses. They're like an elbow rubbing off some of the dried mud on the dirty clown car window so we can peer inside.
One thing I see better is Trump's reasoning behind his rallies. I'd interpreted them only as the equivalent of a godawful gang haircut -- appealing to the gang and revving up the gang's admiration but ugly and off-putting to non-members. Useless, in other words, other than ego-boosting and neediness-soothing.
Now, in addition, I see his ludicrous rallies as genuinely useful. They are deliberate signals to his Republican enablers in Congress who desperately want the votes of the Trump gang of deplorables. If the base still loves him, they have to love him, too. His survival hinges on his Republican enablers -- and their election fortunes hinge on the gang's unconditional love for Trump.
I see his fear more clearly now. If the enablers desert him, he has SO much to lose. Because, it seems, there's a high probability that our president really is a crook.
2
Who knew trump wasn't really a developer? The laundry business has been good to him tho. All those purloined rubles to be cleaned.
It's uncanny. Shake the trump-rooted money tree and Russians fall from every branch.
2
Ah yes, within all the smoldering and smoke bellowing out of the White House, we are now seeing some sparks, a flame or two here and there... all indicators of conflagration. And then possibly implosion.
Looking forward to hearing from Rudy G., and then the inevitable tweet storm.
It's getting very interesting now.
1
This "Russia thing" is much more than about collusion. It looks more and more as though the president is deeply beholden to Russian money for his election. Michael Cohen, a shyster lawyer and fixer with shady connections is at the center of the president's financial situation which may explain why his taxes are kept secret.
This money trail probably involves Paul Manafort who is already suspected of money laundering. The president went ballistic when he learned of the FBI's seizures of Cohen's computers and records. Somewhere, hidden among the mountains of documents, loan requests and emails, is a treasure trove of information that may explain why the president has not been forthcoming about.
If Russians helped the president win the White House and the president said to them "show me the money" and they did, then they own him, and by agreement, America as well.
1
And yet this may all be legal. What a country.
1
The weird thing is that so many wrong-sided people harp on the horror that Hillary Clinton's campaign paid for some (already paid for), research on Trump. The dossier. There was every reason to think Trump had skeletons in his closet.
There already was major dirt on Trump. Failed businesses...scandals...lawsuits...unhinged...immoral...
But all that was still not enough. What smart person would not research the unhinged opposition candidate?
The real dossier should have been completed by multiple non-partisan agencies months before the election. What we are finding out now should have come out by the summer of 2016. If only the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, the AMA. the APA had all done due diligence and vetted Trump and his associates before the election.
The tax returns need to be published immediately. No more delay. Trump was elected on a promise that he would show them when elected. And many times before.
"2011
During his "birther" campaign of falsely claiming President Obama was not born in the United States, Trump offered a public deal: If Obama released his birth certificate, he'd release his tax returns.
"Maybe I'm going to do the tax returns when Obama does his birth certificate," he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
This makes Watergate look like kid stuff.
Old news. Trump is clearly the ultimate "teflon" President, who would make Ronald Reagan blush. Nothing will stick. Mueller is a fixer, as he was on the 9/11 case (or no case?!), the Anthrax case, the warrantless wiretapping, sanctioned torture, etc. Get used to this circus lasting two more years. The media can't issue indictments, only Bob "You can't handle the truth" Mueller and all the other ghouls at Justice who know where the bodies are buried can indict. And they'll just keep serving up the small fry, the "expendables". At any rate, Trump will issue pardons and claim plausible deniability. We've seen this all before, only this time, it might just be the great unravelling.
Thank you NYT for raising these questions, as the official news agencies such as FOX, never mention it.
1
Is it illegal for Russian oligarchs to provide laundered hush money during election campaigns to pornographic actresses who have had adulterous affairs with American presidential candidates?
Such a question would have seemed unthinkably preposterous at any time from the founding of the Republic until 18 months ago.
When Alaric and his Visigoths sacked Rome in 410, Saint Augustine reacted by penning his classic of western civilization 'City of God'.
One can only hope that the fall of that City Set Upon a Hill that was once the United States of America will inspire some latter day seer to envision a similar moral and ethical renewal.
You'd think AT&T, Novartis, et al. wouldn't have been so sloppy. I am not surprised that they paid for influence but I am a little surprised they did it in a such a ham-fisted way.
1
Trump is not being taken for a ride. He is no chump.He and his family are doing well.Putin will take car of him. An alliance exists with Russia, which hopefully includes China along with Israel and some Sunni Muslim States. All very Mafia like in dividing power. Where that leaves what exists of American democracy, and how much the US public cares seems to me an open question.
1
For all his awfulness and corruption, Trump appears to be winning. He's like Capone lite. Not financial crimes, not double-dealing with a foreign power to win an election, not prostitutes, not sexual harassment, rape, or affairs, not nepotism, nor incompetence have done the trick. He appears to be winning a war on perception. He has all the attention all the time. I hate to say it, but I think on sheer propaganda alone and fixing the vote if necessary, he has managed to turn a democracy into something like a flag-waving mafia donship. He stands a good chance of winning in 2020. I hope I'm wrong.
1
Trump screamed "Pay to play"against the Clinton Foundation. Now he's doing the same thing through Cohen. Most people would find that hypocrisy but Trumptards think that's good business by a stable genius.
3
Poor Crooked Cohen. He thought he was made in the shade. With the Russkies paying and American companies paying for inside information, the cash was rolling in. He had money to spare when Stormy needed paying. But the paper trail wasn't all it should be. So the credit line against his home equity had to be the source for Stormy's payment. Preposterous? Yes. But not a patch on what Mueller will do with all the income streams and how they intersect with Trump Organization money. And once Little Donnie and Eric get swept into all this, it's only a question of when Trump fires them and lets them take the fall.
If Cohen had money to spare, why did he have to take out a loan on his parents-in-law's house?
2
The NY Times needs to demand that AT&T and Novartis (and the rest) turn over ALL emails, communications, and work-product related to their relationship with Michael Cohen and Essential Consultants, LLC.
Not just answer question with vague statements.
They were doing business with a corrupt criminal enterprise. If they were trying to do legitimate business, let the world know. Hide nothing.
It's all going to come out anyway.
Cohen is overdue an indictment. Or several.
2
Given this late information about Mr. Cohen it seems more than probable he is the perhaps the biggest piece of Mr. Mueller's puzzle and the completion is neigh. For years Trump has lied, cheated, dodged many bullets, and relied on people brighter, yet equally corrupt and morally compromised, to do his bidding. Cohen the fair-haired boy was given carte blanche to rock and roll with the Russian oligarchs and young Eric let the cat out of the bag. Are the tax returns vital here, not really Trump has left more than enough pieces of the puzzle for Mr. Mueller to complete. Besides his tax returns are no doubt another example of "fake news."
What happened to Trump / Russian election collusion?
Be patient, it's coming.
I hope all the Americans out there working two jobs just to afford a modest home, a reliable car, a cell phone and maybe take the kids to Disneyland are paying attention to how the fat cats roll. The sleazy Trumps and Cohens of America and all their cronies are not only living large, corrupting our government, laundering dirty money, evading taxes and legal consequences, but they just got rewarded with a big fat tax cut. And not one of them has to worry about paying their family's medical bills, repaying student loans or caring for parents and grandparents in declining health. Honest, tax-paying working people are being played for chumps. Maybe one day we'll get tired of it.
3
The question I always want answered is: why do Americans vote against their own best interests? Why always bamboozled by crooks?
2
Are we numb yet? Are we past our capacity for further astonishment of how rotten this all smells? Drain the swamp? President Tweet is the swamp. Lock-her-up Hillary Clinton is squeaky clean compared to all the muck piled up around this president (is he really STILL the POTUS?). No wonder Tweet and his family had to do so much money laundering. He's like the kid who has pie filling all over his face and hands who is discovered in the kitchen next to the half-eaten blueberry pie that mom told the kids not to touch because it was for company and he declares through all the bluish smears around his mouth, "I didn't do it." No grievance is too foul that it would prompt republicans not to look the other way. For them, blatant corruption is their business model now because their power is so equally and blatantly corrupt. Democrats who remain silent will also be among the swamp dwellers that voters must evict. This nest of vipers and serpents is devouring itself. Maybe they'll take the whole swamp with them when they go.
1
They say that birds of a feather flock together. It is positively amazing how many sleazy characters are or have been part of Trump’s inner circle. Michael Cohen is a prime example of this gang of self-serving money-grabbing Trumpites. What does it say about Trump?
1
Brilliant editorial !! The only adjustment I would suggest would be to substitute "Putin" for references to the "Russians". I am sure that the poor Russian people have nothing to do with this caper. I don't believe that Trump's Komprat would have happened except for Putin and the Siloviki he controls.
Perhaps Adam Schiff will read this editorial to McConnell and the Senate and have it become part of the record. The plot thickens!!
follow the money....mueller no doubt already has trump's tax returns...now he's putting it all together -with, by the way-avenatti's intrepid support. i just wish the thief-in-chief's die hard supporters would understand the gravity of the situation.
1
Trump’s presidency, just like his Atlantic City casinos, is failing and this time he’s leaving the American people on hook!
1
Welcome to American politics. Do you really think the Clinton Foundation was set up for only charity? Look at the Podesta emails and the 'donation" money involved with the Clinton Foundation. It makes this Cohen stuff look like chump change.
Exactly how corrupt a president are we willing to elect? Exactly how corrupt a president -- and administration -- are we willing to tolerate? And how long are we able to live with the incalulable levels of corruption that permeate both the executive and legislative branches (McConnell and friends ALSO received Russian cash)?
Lock them up.
If you want the Democratic equivalent to this, just Google Doug Band, Teneo, Podesta emails and the Clinton Foundation. It makes this Trump-Cohen pay-to-play operation look absolutely amateurish and small potatoes.
Mr. Mueller is out of time and must reveal all of the information his team has collected, along with all of the indictments he has under seal.
The treasonous Trump team Russian money laundering company emergently and permanently must be put out of business.
1
The Trump cult members will not care about anything noted Witch Hunter Muller uncovers. They won't care if Trump sold the White House silverware to Putin. They won't care if the Trump Organization's coffers overflow with money from warlords (hey he's a brilliant businessman).
The hypocrisy is mind numbing. Change the name to Obama in any if these stories and then it would have been the end of the world. So here we are covered in connecting dots, and Trump and his minions will just gloat and acknowledge their dirty deeds because they know they can get away with it. And they will, none of them will pay any price.
The rest of us will be on Xanax for the rest of our lives.
2
There are the Russian oligarchs. And then, there are the American oligarchs--the Kochs, the Mercers, the Wynns, the Murdochs (British), etc., etc,. and THEIR "state-owned" media (AKA: Fox "News."). And then, there are Novartis, AT&T, and the Korean aircraft manufacturer--three of, no doubt, hundreds of companies and corporations who pay to play through a vast and shady network of shell companies. Trump is beholden to each and every one and we, as a nation, are held captive by this one man's sleazy greed and megalomania. Meanwhile, Republicans in the House and the Senate. . . .well, you know. They let Nunes and Gowdy off lead a long time ago.
It's been obvious since the beginning that Trump's fortune is a result of money laundering for the Russian mob.
2
Will the liberal fever-dreams about Russian collusion ever end? Nah. In the absence of any ideas about how to improve the economy, it's pretty much all the left has.
1
Everything needs to be put on the table for everyone to see...ASAP
We seem to be headed towards another August 1974 moment. Despite possible success in NK, the cloth is soiled and it cannot remain that way.
325,000,000 souls deserve a country, not a dog and pony show, controlled by lobbyists....
Please help.....
AT&T paid $600K, in twelve $50K installments, into the same LLC slush fund which paid out hush money to an adult film star.. Time for AT&T Directors / shareholders to demand a forensic audit..who authorized the payment, who solicited it, how did they know where to direct it, how was it classified, was there a contract, did their legal department review it, are there other similar “arrangements” for influential cronies?
1
It's not so much blackmail as it is debts owed to Russian criminals. Trump, a notoriously cheap and petty man, would find any way not to use his own money, even in the course of paying someone else back who lent him cash. It is much easier to sell out a country that you can care less about. Trump has essentially executed treasonous activities against this nation ihs Trump Country folk love so much.
Yes, and why has the president still not released his tax returns? That would be a gesture of good faith, would it not? After all, he did promise to do so after the election.
Sing it with me, uh 1, uh 2, uh 1 2 3 4 . . .
https://youtu.be/_wd0-CM2UL0
1
It’s been slow in coming, but the Times and the Post are now doing real reporting on Trump’s finances and not just complaints. We depend on investigative reporting to out the details. Mueller might do that in his report, but the GOP Congress will suppress its release.
A vigilant press is all that remains to us.
2
This certainly explains why Trump is so adamant that any investigation into his business dealings crosses a red line.
We already know he’s been using the presidency to enrich himself by steering so much business to his properties, charging more for membership in his clubs, sending family members out to promote business deals, and so on. His insistence on loyalty above all certainty suggests he has reason to worry about what those close to him know and see.
Could he act any more guilty?
2
High time they looked at all his tax returns!
3
Trump campaigned on a promise to "drain the swamp". Well, as we all suspected, Donald J. Trump has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the personification of THE SWAMP -- a swamp creature who represents a real and present threat to our Democratic institutions...How often must we listen to this dictatorial Neanderthal threaten to eviscerate the independence of our three separate but equal branches of our system of government while also working to silence our free press. His callous ignorance has hurt us both at home and abroad. And now that we definitively know that Russia did indeed play a integral role in helping him to steal the presidency, his election should by all rights be declared "NULL and VOID"!
12
I agree. Null and void.
As Congressman Eric Swalwell said on one of the news programs this evening. every time you shake a tree anywhere around the Trump "family," another Russian falls out.
And we're supposed to believe Trump that he has nothing to do with the Russians?
6
Sadly, from what I've read elsewhere today, Fox News has barely touched this story with a 10-foot pole, instead focusing today on stories about therapy goats, Melania's poll numbers, and cheerleaders. Thus, people like my conservative relatives are either 1) blithely unaware or 2) wouldn't believe it, anyway, since Fox isn't reporting it.
7
Trump won through illegal personal data profiling conducted by Bannon, Mercer and Cambridge Analytica with the help of the Russian hackbot army. They stirred up enough misogyny, racism and anti-Hillary hysteria to game the Electoral College and make him president, against the wishes of the majority. In this way American democracy was defeated in 2016.
His behaviour can't be measured by the usual standards because he is illegitimate from inception. The media should simply drop the pretence of respect for the presidency. He is not a President, he is a paid operative. The destruction, discord and instability that Trump embodies are precisely what the unholy alliance that backs him wants and have achieved beyond their wildest expectations. They knew better than we what Trump is about. Is this not perfectly clear by now? And they will continue to back Trump and the GOP by any means. The Russians know useful fools when they see them: Manafort, Flynn, Page, Kushner and the Trumps were all ripe for the plucking, a dream team. And the GOP has a veritable larder-full, like Nunes, on the take and primed for sleaze by the Kochs and the NRA.
Defeat is very hard thing to admit, but that is exactly what Trump represents; every day that goes by without facing the fact that America lost when Trump won makes matters worse, because it is still going on. Pride is blinding. The biggest scam and cover-up in American history is underway.
704
Sorry. No one can say what was the single aspect that caused Trump to win. Personally, I believe it was Comey announcing that Hillary was under investigation before any conclusions were reached.
7
Angstrom Unit -- I am in complete agreement with your comment. I've never been one to spend much time on conspiracy theories, but am beginning to question what is behind each news story that I read. What strings are being pulled with/by China to manipulate the situation with North Korea (and what is China gaining in the bargain)? Has our president (I choke on the title) committed treason in his personal/presidential transactions with Russia?
Something I would like to see is a more detailed analysis of all the financial transactions that drive public policy outcomes. Wish we could get true transparency of the transactions between lobbyists, business executives and congressional members (both during and around their terms). Only then can voters truly have the information needed to make good decisions at the voting booth. How about it NYT -- could this be an ongoing series?
55
Agree! How about Iran sanctions, and the possibility that oil prices will go up and Russia and Saudi Arabia stand to make more money? I guess if you can’t get sanctions lifted you can help them pocket more cash in other ways....
Someone on TV put it the other night: "Any time you shake the Trump money tree, a Russian falls out."
Yet every 2 seconds Trump is shouting "No collusion! No collusion with Russia! No collusion!"
Only Devin Nunes, Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan seem to believe that. Even Sean Hannity is beginning to have his doubts (Thanks, Rudy!) And Trey Gowdy now knows it's nonsense. Trump and the Trump organization is totally, and completely symbiotically linked to Russian oligarch money...and NO Russian oligarch survives without Vladimir Putin's absolute control of him/her.
Shake the Trump Money Tree and a Russian falls out.
4
Devin Nunez has many Russian business partners. I think it is why he was chosen for the chair position.
This goes deep into the NRA as well as the RNC.
No Problem.
The NY Times is right to ask about Trump's campaign finances - so long as the NY Times asks as many probing questions about the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and about her campaign tactics against Bernie Sanders.
As many.
I recall the Clintons were mobbed up with the Russians too, but that never really got investigated thanks to Obama, Lynch, Comey et al.
Some years ago there was a funny movie starring Alan Arkin and Carl Reiner called "The Russians Are Coming".Well,they have come and it is not funny!They did not have to send troops, they just sent money.By choosing to invest in Trump Inc.they got a double prize.They were able to launder money and they compromised a president and sowed chaos in our elections.It has become abundantly obvious that Mr.Trump is beholden to the Russians.We need Mr.Mueller's report so we know the details of this Russian takeover.
5
Show me a high end real estate developer in the 2000’s in New York or Florida, and I will show you Russian transactions. Have you ever walked along the beach in Miami in the last 20 years? You would think you were in Odessa if you looked at the people and not the water.
4
I love the smell of collusion in the evening
2
The advantage of having one's adversary worship at the altar of the Almighty Dollar is that one does not have to stray very far to discover their transgressions.
2
Trump is so used to getting away with virtual murder that he feels no obligation to explain his actions or consider how they are perceived by others. As a private businessman, it was one thing. As President, he has a higher obligation that he refuses to acknowledge. His financial life is particularly complex and littered with apparent conflicts of interest. He owes the country better, including making good on his promise to release of his tax returns.
Americans are becoming inured to his deception, outrageous and possibly illegal behavior. What's perhaps more maddening and hypocritical is that Congressional Republicans are willing, if not eager, to turn a blind eye to his obvious indiscretions, after spending two decades accusing the Clintons and Barack Obama of anything they could throw at them.
Americans should be reassured, to some extent, that Robert Mueller is on the case. While the outcome of his investigation is as yet unknown, he appears to be persistent, level-headed, thorough and even intrepid in his work. Ferreting out the truth, if any, in Trump's misleading and inconsistent statements, actions and complex financial existence is not easy or for the faint of heart, but Americans deserve to know the truth, something Trump is not known for providing.
Trump is not indifferent to this investigation, and neither should Americans be. We should care every bit as much as Trump does, lest we become a country of Donald Trump, by Donald Trump, and for only Donald Trump.
297
The picture of the Russian matryoshka doll is an apt metaphor for the "shell company" that Trump's "fixer" created for him. That says it all about this present administration. The Mueller investigation and aggressive, investigative journalism is what is going to keep unpacking that doll.
3
Unless Democrats win both houses of Congress in the midterm election, the shady liar-in-chief mob boss occupant of the White House will continue to prevail. running roughshod over democracy and the rule of law with Congressional Republicans playing henchmen. The corruption of the entire Republican Party is breathtaking. Any true American patriot knew candidate Donald Trump was a fraud who played the system and flouted the law for his own personal gain. Trump's felonious behavior continues unchecked. Whether his win of the White House was legitimate or a win secured due to targeted Russian meddling, all signs point to collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The subterfuge, shell companies, secret meetings with Russian operatives and big money changing hands, all of which are methodically being revealed along with factual evidence, would seem to point to a very sophisticated coverup that is playing out like a Russian spy thriller. The Trump organization connections to Russia appear to run very deep. It would also seem very unlikely that the egocentric Donald Trump would not have personally sanctioned collusion with the Russian government.
Godspeed, Robert Mueller. Prove to all Americans who truly love their country, democracy and respect the rule of law that good will ultimately trump evil.
402
The best hope is to vote him out of office in 2020 and then as a private citizen he can and will be be brought to justice. He and his toady family will rue the day he ever ran for President
1
Just yesterday I heard reported that the oligarch vekelsberg dumped 2million dollars in Mitch McConnell’s coffers .... it’s big and wide.
23
This whole Russia-Trump connection has become so obvious now that it is as easy as falling off a log to discern. Trump and his organization long ago became a Russian money-laundering enterprise, with branch real-estate "opportunities" in almost every country imaginable. Michael Cohen, with his Russia and Eastern European connections through Brooklyn became the indispensable man in that operation, with excellent money-laundering credentials and experience all by himself. Why add Cohen to the White House staff? He's much more valuable on the outside, continuing to do business for himself and the Trump Organization. Then add Manafort ... read his indictment. It is a "how-to" guide to laundering illegal Russian money into the U.S. This all becomes so easy to see. What is unimaginable is how and why Donald Trump thought it was a good idea to run for President of the United States, with this kind of dirty enterprise at the core of his business. It shows a spectacular, world-class hubris and mind-boggling absence of judgment.
367
Trump ran because he could. He has proven, so far that he, and he alone, is above the law. He has no shame. And he has gotten away with everything thus far in his life, without consequences.
Here is hoping that Mueller is close to arresting him for money laundering, tax evasion, collusion and treason.
59
I think the answer to your question is that he did not believe he would win. He craved the attention the campaign would give him, which he thought would only increase the worth of the Trump brand.
34
I agree Albert, he thought it would be fun to stir things up, but not actually BE president.
Want to bet that somewhere behind the thaw from North Korea lies Putin hoping to distract from the increasingly obvious hold he has over Trump?
3
No one except Hillary Clinton should be held responsible for "hacking" the 2016 election. It was her unguarded server, after all, that allowed hostile powers to follow every communication the Secretary of State made during her four years. Hillary is the only one with Russia connections.
Deutsche Bank. This bank is the key to most of this. The PWM (Private Wealth Management) division helped launder hundreds millions to Donald. All the people I have spoken to at Deutsche are trying to get fired so they can get out with a settlement before this all comes crashing down.
4
We have rarely seen a more vivid example of the well-known principle of crime investigation: "Follow the Money." BTW. am I the first person to suggest Avenatti for President?
3
Clearly Trump has been laundering Russian money for years. Clearly every Republican in Congress is working hard, very hard, to cover up this fact. Clearly every Republican in Congress benefits either directly from Russian money, or from Russian money laundered through the NRA, or through other corrupt funds from the Kochs, Mercers, DeVos, etc. The Republicans, from top to bottom, have sold out America to the highest bidder. Just look at the immense wealth McConnel has amassed, and the way he is smoothing the way for his father-in-law to rake in even more. What a shameful end to this country.
5
Sarah Huckabee Sanders' demotion by Trump to a level where she can or will answer no questions about the major scandal surrounding the White House should be read as part of Russia's campaign to damage and denigrate US democracy.
The role of the press has been so debased by Trump that it shouldn't be interpreted as a mere artifact of Trump's gangsterism. It is most definitely helpful to Putin's plan to restore the Soviet Empire.
3
This stuff is fascinating and the daily drip from the leaking faucet keeps the presses rolling overtime, I imagine. But like the antics of the financial "wizards" who were able to cloud up the markets and lay the foundations for the Great Recession, I fear investigators will turn up nothing "illegal" here that will taint the major players. I think very smart, well-educated lawyers with no morals whatsoever are available to game any system at any time for the right price. Sadly, this is the American Way.
1
I believe the investigative reporting should be expanded to congress and non-elected officials. Has Trump dealt with Russians in the past ? Of course he has. Has he had sexual relation with foreign women. Without a doubt. Yes he has had financial dealings with many countries. Is he colluding to do something against the United States ? It's highly doubtful that anyone would put up with the scrutiny, being made fun of on network television nightly, being accused of having consensual sex with almost any woman he's come into contact with, and constantly ridiculed would become president as a cabal from the Russian Government. Whether you like him or hate him the man has a pretty thick skin.
"I am not a crook." - R.M. Nixon, 1973
"No collusion." - D.T., 2018
American democracy survived Nixon; let's hope it will survive our current charlatan.
1
Ironic as it is there is no comparison to the Clinton Foundation. Former President Clinton alone racked in that kind of cash with one swing of speaking fees through Russia.
The Leftists will continue to unseat a duly elected President, condemning the electoral college meanwhile embracing a system of superdelegates.
When it comes to financial corruption, massive donations from big pharm, foriegn entries, Wall Street they look away.
Now unverified docs they hope will bring a President down.
Unreal.
It's been well rumored for years that Trump and his organization money launder. Unable to borrow money from banks due to his well known record of multiple bankruptcies and stiffing creditors, this loud mouthed
braggart of debt started using cash to buy his golf courses and resorts. The connection of his fixer Michael
Cohen with the Russian mob and similar oligarchs is well known. His use of Deutsche bank with its reputation for laundering Russian money is equally suspicious.
It is totally predictable why Trump has not opened up his
taxes and financial records to inquiry. In my opinion, he is a money launderer who uses without circumspection predominantly Russian money to finance his businesses.
I feel that this is likely criminal and is the true basis of his Russian collusion and conspiracy. He is totally compromised.
How he has gotten away for years from this is shameful and revealing of how poorly regulated legally the real estate industry is? How he was able to campaign for President and defy norms such as opening his taxes and financial books is reprehensible? The press and the Republican Party failed to do their job with the diligence required. In the future opening financial records and taxes and divestment of Presidential candidates from their corporate ownership should be minimum legal requirements for running for President. Yes Trump's money and debt trail is all revealing about the nature of his character and likely criminal exposure.
295
And lest we forget, Deutsche Bank was a major player in the launch of the Great Recession of 2008. With hedge funds and other players willing to use Collatorelized Debt Obligations (CDO's) and other nefarious investment instruments, including the sub-prime mortgage scams concocted by the lenders, the real estate industry and the escrow companies (think CountryWide Mortgage), it was Deutsche Bank that led the way as banking systems in many countries fell for their scams.
With eight years of an Obama presidency where regulations were tightened in response to Wall Street's criminal behavior, it is now the GOP mantra to once again deregulate Corporate America thus exposing Americans to the real risk of another Great Recession, or worse, The Great Depression2.
34
To be fair to the legitimate media, once it was obvious Trump wasn't going to make his finances public, journalists started digging and it has taken this long for the cracks in the Evil Empire to open enough to be able to nail the Jello to the wall. Even then, it has taken a steady-nerved, dedicated public servant, an honest judge, and a whole lot of journalistic digging to get this far. There is still hope.
11
An investigative reporter for New York Magazine documented a 250M loan to Trump when his casinos were going under; the money was laundered through The Bank of Cyprus and deposited in Deutsche Bank, the lending bank. Deutsche Bank has stalled Mueller so far in opening its records. Russian oligarchs in London have a lot of stolen Russian treasury money to throw around; they are the source of the loan from Deutsche Bank. And, they are also the major buyers of Trump apartments in Trump Tower. The question is not how much is Trump compromised by the above debt, in addition to another 95M loan to the Trump Organization in FL; the question is what is Congress going to do about it? Trump has two more years to loot the Treasury, destroy decades of environmental regs, accept bribes from polluting industries, and so on. Then, we have the rest of our lives to repair the damage. This is Trump's Trail of Tears, and we are the Indians.
17
Trump did not say goodbye to American banks.
American banks said goodbye to Trump.
4
If only we could see his tax returns....
2
I wonder if DJT knows of this quote from HHH:
“The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those in the shadows of life -- the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”
Maybe DJT's 'wealth' kept him from seeing others as they should be seen.
Kudos to Matt Chase for a clever illustration!
1
Said it from the beginning of the era of Trump follow the money. Anyone who is totally focused on money cannot help themselves from being totally corrupted by money.
2
Why should Donald Trump get all the credit? You forgot to thank Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, without whose help this whole production would be impossible.
1
For about six months I was working in New Haven, CT while my wife continued working back in PA. Every few weekends I would take the train back to New Haven after spending a weekend in PA. It was always late Sunday evening when I and all the Russians exited Union Station. I felt I was in Moscow. And this was 2006! It was creepy.
1
Why I don't understand at this juncture is why the stable genius is still in office. Isn't the money funneled through Cohen's company (right) a smoking gun?
What we need is not more questions. It is clear that there is collusion, we need impeachment. He is going to be allowed to continue until we are bankrupt and uses that is the excuse to finally destroy the social safety net. This is a well planned, well orchestrated series of lies.
2
The questions don't stop there. Are there hidden payments through shell companies which induced Trump to walk out of the Iran agreement - e.g., from the Saudi Crown Prince, known to be both reckless and bitterly hostile to Iran? Are increased revenues to Russia from higher oil prices because of tensions and renewed sanctions on Iran a factor in this decision? By now, we all know that Trump's main motivation in life is money and he has no scruples about how he makes it. We also know that he was deeply indebted to Russia for hundreds of millions of dollars laundered through real estate "investments" by oligarchs and mafiosi close to Putin. Putin also helped Trump get to the White House with cyber-warfare, hacking by the Russian military agency, bots in social media, and black propaganda. So what favors is Trump repaying now and how much money is he making from his decisions?
2
So our fearless leader would be a do-nothing pauper without Russian money.
Seeing as money is most important to him, the dots are beginning to be connected that shows why our president has been a Russian protector and defender.
Without them, he’s revealed to be the loser that he has always been, exploiting others for personal gain.
2
Until two days ago, I had great admiration for Eric Schneiderman. I followed his work and his positions closely, and derived great optimism about our future from doing so. I even committed to making a monthly contribution to his campaign. I am now forced to admit, with great disappointment and humiliation for having been played for a sucker, that he is a vile human being who has no place in our public discourse. It's been depressing and disconcerting and discouraging in terms of how I view the health of our democracy. It's time for Trump supporters to have the fortitude to go through the same process.
1
This is a constitutional crisis.
No matter what is finally uncovered about Trump, the Republicans won't do anything about it because they don't feel it's in their interest (and they won't be voted out in November because gerrymandering is too extreme).
How can we be rid of this man, his cronies, and his incredibly destructive regime? There doesn't seem to be a mechanism to do it.
2
Why has the media not been able to start a "tax-er" movement on Trump as strong as the "birther" movement that was shouted from the rooftops by both Trump and Melania and every conservative news outlet?? Sure, lots of people in comment sections mention it, but that's not going to get us anywhere. Why isn't the media pursuing the "show us your taxes" the way they harped on Obama's birth certificate? Or is it just that there is so much else to gnaw at in this administration that it just gets lost in the morass?
3
I would not be surprised at all if it happened the other way round, it was the Trump campaign who invited Russia to meddle with the US elections in 2016. It is a cliche but it seems to work most of the times: Follow the money. Whatever it is us the voters deserve to know.
2
Let's stop dancing around the issue of Trump getting money from Russia. They weren't loaning him money. They were laundering their money through his properties and businesses.
1
How can there be any doubt that Trump colluded with the Russians? The mutual benefit to both was too much to resist. Surely Mr. Mueller and his team have by now connected the dots on this hardly transparent puzzle.
What scares me the most however is that even when Mueller finally unveils the "smoking gun(s)", Trump's supporters will refuse to believe it, and the Republicans will refuse to act. We will be left with a Constitutional crisis of a traitorous President, under the control of our sworn enemy and no way, short of insurrection, to remove him.
We are on the cusp of the darkest days of our republic.
350
Yes, this is terrifying. Thus all the courting of anti-democratic cultural types in the U.S., white supremacists, evangelical religious right extremists, weapon-ist extremists, and the richer end of the petit bourgeois.
It's probably too late and unfixable.
15
And the proof is in Trump's foreign policies--all very pleasing to Vladimir Putin and his "Brain" Alkesandr Dugin, who have focused on splitting up the transatlantic alliance...
18
And the shadow on the Trump presidency is November elections (more so than the Mueller investigation), when hopefully, as other comments have observed, Dems will win both house and senate for any justice to be done.
As it is, there is no certainty that what Mueller uncovers will ever be revealed to the public, which is pretty amazing if you think about it.
My understanding is that the Justice Department (Rod Rosenstein) gets first dibs on what to do with Mueller's findings; then if so moved, findings are sent off to the House of Representatives where as things stand, the findings are dead in the water due to Republican complicity.
I am guessing that Mueller is contemplating delaying delivering an indictment on the Trump presidency (if he can nail it down) until after November elections in the interest of due process.
Most amazing, even surreal with coloring of Twilight Zone horror, is the prospect that the days of our republic only become darker, and Trump completes 4 years, and even gets re-elected. Don't dismiss this possibility.
If I told you during the election what we know now, most would have dismissed my remarks as unfounded conspiracy theory and the rantings of a 'nut-job.'
26
There was a time when the term "fixer" only seemed to apply to mobsters and their ilk. Now it seems the media has become comfortable with using the term to describe the role of Michael Cohen.
Does this signify that the entire Trump empire/administration has been based on mobster-like agreements and activities? If so, the only thing that Trump appears to have done to "clean the swamp" of the usual political/lobbying rats was to install newly-installed Russian-connected ones.
What a world we live in nowadays!
For someone who keeps peddling "NO COLLUSION!," a lot of Russians with close ties to Putin keep turning up. Granted I'm not privy to everything Muller knows, but I don't think it's a coincidence.
4
Are we surprised?
Trump is persona non grata with the American Banks, his trail of bankruptcies are legend.
So he begs, steals, borrows, acts as an influence peddler to get the capital he need from his Russian friends or should I say masters?
1
Follow the money.... The Trump organization has been at best shady for years, and more likely has been laundering money, has perhaps evaded taxes, and who knows what else. It makes absolutely no sense that the "king of debt" would stop borrowing money while going on a spending spree. Combined with previous comments by his sons and others, secrecy about his tax returns, and close association with so many sleazy characters who have been dealing with the Russians - all you have to do is connect the dots. Let's just hope there's proof there!
2
I can't even get to the end of these conspiracy theory pieces any more. They are just too convoluted. As soon as your read the words "linked to" you know we are about to enter a Wonderland of insinuation devoid relevant facts. What is Trump's connection to the shadowy Russian oligarch mentioned in the editorial? Trump has a lawyer. That lawyer set up a shell company, which is legal. An investment company transferred money to the lawyer's shell company. There is no known evidence that the transfers of money were illegal or that they had anything to do with Trump or the Russian oligarch. The investment company has clients, including one who is a Russian oligarch, which makes sense since Russian oligarchs are by definition very wealthy and need to have their money managed, and investment firms are in the business of attracting customers with lots of money. So Trump is four degrees of separation removed from the Russian oligarch. He probably has a closer connection to Kevin Bacon. Does the Times plan on pursuing every politician who "is linked" to an investment firm that has a client who is a Russian oligarch? Or just Republicans?
What I feel most disturbed about in all of this is that none of this is classified information and, as this editorial notes, it goes back decades. The fact that Trump no longer borrowed money from banks was well known years before the election. Any banker could tell you. So, I have to wonder a couple of things: Why wasn't the FBI investigating such obvious indicators of money laundering back around 2010? And, why didn't our investigative press do more to expose the Russian mob connections prior to the election? How many more criminals are sitting on the FBI's back burner while openly breaking the law? Why does the 4th estate, our watchdog against wrongdoing, the educator of the electorate, seem to lazily rely on information spoon fed by politicians and other self-serving sources? New York Times, and Washington Post, and others in the media who aspire to the noble cause of their vocation, we need you to do your job if we are to preserve our country, which, for now, includes a free press.
3
For anyone that thought Trump won this election and acts as president on his own independent judgment and free of influence from any "special interests," the time is nigh to admit that Trump's personal interests, in so much as they coincide with Russian state interests, are in a category that is more than "special" in terms of their control of, and influence over, the President's decisions regarding our country and our future.
But BTW, while this editorial's illustration showing the $100 bill's portrait of Ben Franklin (the only non-president to grace our country's modern paper currency) nesting in the open Matryoshka doll was eye-catching, maybe a better metaphor for this article's implications would be an open nesting doll (or maybe even better, a Trojan horse) with a face like Trump's, revealing a miniature Vladimir Putin inside?
2
"What does Putin have on Trump?"
Or rather
What does Trump owe Putin?
Our democracy.
Russia bought it, NOT fair and NOT square.
2
No wonder he has been reluctant to apply sanctions, but closed a consulate and expelled diplomats. And remember the warning to Mueller not to mess his family finances?
He did not want to bite the hand that fed him.
It is clear to anyone willing to look under the rug that the Trump machine has long been involved in money-laundering on behalf of Russian oligarchs. This more than adequately explains his unwillingness to release tax return.
A largely unreported item is that Putin's hatred of Hillary stems in no small part for her unabashed support of the the Magnitsky Act, which made it much hard for Putin and his dirty associates to both travel and use their illicitly gained funds (read Bill Browder's excellent account in 'Red Notice').
Trump will ultimately go to jail for this, and the only thing standing in the way of his removal from office is the GOP-controlled Congress.
Mueller and Comey are two of the only truly principled Republicans left.
1
Only one thing motivates Trump more than attention, and that is money. The fear that Putin, through his oligarchs, could call in his debts must have Trump trembling.
I am distraught, as a senior citizen, that almost daily we are faced with another wart on our democracy. Other comments here echo my distress, so I will deviate from evaluative comment about the situation and wait til it plays out (and it will probably get worse) and instead compliment Matt Chase and Tibor Gartner for their brilliant graphic that accompanies this piece. It not only reminds me that we do have subtle, intelligent minds at work (in the press, at least) and I didn't have to look at Trump's face again as I got to the end of my NYT read today!
1
No collusion with Russia? Evidence already publicly available about key individuals around Donald Trump suggest otherwise:
Michael D. Cohen: Under investigation by federal prosecutors for bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations. Payments to Cohen's shell company include $500,000 from Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg in 2017. In February of 2017 Cohen and Felix Sater delivered a proposal to Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on lifting sanctions against Russia.
Felix H. Sater: (born Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky) Pleaded guilty to his involvement in a $40 million stock fraud scheme orchestrated by the Russian Mafia. In 2017, Sater agreed to cooperate with investigators into international money laundering schemes.
Michael Flynn: Pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about contacts he had with the Russian government during Trump's presidential transition.
The evidence of a bias toward Russia by Donald Trump, his family and presidential administration is abundantly clear. The Mueller investigation likely knows more.
Trump is currently basking in a windfall foreign policy "achievement" in North Korea. The economy continues its upward trend. But Donald Trump's day of reckoning for his corruption now appears in to be in sight.
1
And why is it that Mueller has so many members on his team who are experts in prosecuting financial crimes like money laundering? We haven't heard much about that, with the obstruction business taking up all the air in the Trump saga (the MAGA saga?). But that is the real heart of Mueller's work, and will prove beyond doubt that Russia has had this massive hammer hanging over Trump's head for years. And that hammer continues to let the Russians pull the strings on the puppet Trump to do whatever bidding they desire.
It will be very interesting to read about Trump's web of venality and frank treason that Mueller is documenting now. But it will be absolutely cathartic to watch Trump disappear from the stage of national politics, bringing his cabal of corruption with him, never to return.
1
We had some sense that things would be bad, but we had no idea of the depth of corruption, sabotage, and outright theft Trump would bring us. I’m trying to be patient but the damage increases daily.
1
Trump shadowy money trail is indeed disturbing. Do we progressives pretend we don’t know about the Clinton Foundation money trail? Let’s keep it clean and also intellectually honest when we talk about politics.
1
This comment is silly. The Clinton Foundation receives high ratings from all of the reputable agencies that rate charities. Their rating numbers are comparable to those received by the various Catholic church organizations. Joe's comment is neither factual nor honest.
Joe Yoh wrote:
"Trump shadowy money trail is indeed disturbing. Do we progressives pretend we don’t know about the Clinton Foundation money trail? Let’s keep it clean and also intellectually honest when we talk about politics."
The real story is in not where the money came from, but where the money went. Follow the money. It's as simple as that.
2
Since Julian Assange helped Trump win the presidency, by hacking into Hillary Clinton's e-mails; I think it's only fair that Anonymous hack into Trump's tax records.
Fair is fair.
This stellar piece of writing should be required reading in every entity receiving federal funding. It lays out succinctly and with clarity the dirty money highway used by our nefarious president, his family and his friends and supporters, fixers all, to incorporate Russian roubles into the basic framework of not only the fake success of Trump business but the fake election results of the 2016 election. I have to ask if anyone has looked into mail-in ballots from Moscow that helped elect this scheming disgrace to lead a country founded on principles designed to prevent use this type of traitorous behavior.
I am an attorney, an officer of the court. However, I don't have the all the facts. I don't now whether the facts of Mr. Trump's actions meet the elements of laws malum prohibitum or those codified by statute.
I can say that something smells to high heaven.
The fact that Congressional leaders such as Ryan and McConnell dither, and do nothing while their stalking horse of a grifting leader gets their agenda passed is an affront to any responsible American, Republican or Democrat.
All of life is not transactional or pecuniary. Right is right, moral is moral, and not everything comes down to money. No amount of real estate tycoon puffery is going to progress the preeminent presence in the world of the United States as a nation based on the rule of law.
Laws have probably been broken; norms surely violated. People don't care how crass, impulsive, and belligerently contrarian the president is. All it will take is one major catastrophe, international war or economic crash to cause the union to go asunder.
I really don't care what a tendentious nimrod like Lawrence Kudlow says. The District of Columbia is the new powder keg of Balkans.
3
Somethings never change, the phrase during the Watergate investigation under Nixon was "follow the money" and it seems to be the buzz word today.
What was Michel Cohen's actual duties for Trump, Fixer or Bag Man, something really smells and it all leads to Trump and Trump Tower, money laundering and selling access is like a 1950's Mob family drama, it's only a matter time before the Trump family pays the price.
1
Here is the conclusion that I have drawn after reading this editorial. Either 40 percent of the American population cannot read or do not read or The New York Times and The Washington Post are not reaching a huge segment of Americans. It is difficult to understand the persistent support Donald Trump receives, particularly among those in demographic groups similar to the "Appalachian poor," unless cash is being secretly "funneled" to them. What explains the resilient support of Donald Trump by 40 percent of the American population? Can anyone honestly believe that Trump is the one who should be leading us?
1
Did AT&T money go to pay off Stormy Daniels? And why should AT&T users be expected to foot this bill?
1
In this anxious period, waiting for America to care about our democracy, I find myself able to concentrate only on minutiae. So, I ask, why hasn’t Trump released his tax returns, AS others in his position have?
............
1
I'm a firm believer in a Bernie Sanders style of government, one wherein we have the true representation we always presumed we had, as in "Government of the People, By The People, and For The People", the concept intended when the Constitution and subsequent Bill of Rights came to be.
Every administration, these last six decades, except in some respects, the Kennedy administration, has sought to, and succeeded in weakening, and even abrogating parts of out founding documents, with singular focus, performed through management of the perceptions of an unwitting populace.
Both mainstream parties, under specific mandate of their corporate handlers, have nearly completely disenfranchised the masses, meaning the poor and the middle-class, and emboldened by the lack of resistance from the people, the present cabal of corporate owned lackeys, in the Trump administration, have openly given up any pretense and installed a wholly corporate run government, along with a military industrial alliance, which together see Americas strength returning through deliberate use of strongman tactics in all areas of governance.
The people, distressed, disappointed, and seeing nothing but the same empty platitudes from the corporate owned Democratic party, delivered a powerful kick to their torturers, and figured how worse could a Republican corporate government be.
So, here we are, 6 months from the mid-terms, and the incredibly blind and unwilling Democratic party, still refuses to hear us.
2
Trump keeps talking about collusion when the problem is corruption. If you don't sit down and iron out the deal before you sell out your position of power, is it still a crime? No collusion.
Just a group of people who would sell anything in exchange for enough cash, and because of Trump's real estate businesses, a lot of access to people who need to move their cash this way, and would like a little influence with it, please.
The problem with draining a swamp is the toxic goo and decomposed material you find at the bottom.
We knew all of this going in, and enough of us ignored it, are still ignoring it because sticking it to the liberals and getting a tax cut are worth it, and looking at fact is not.
Sic transit gloria.
1
Current polls show the Dem blue wave has disappeared. Please contribute $ to 2028 battle ground state elections. I’m an independent but after all this will likely not vote Republican again in my lifetime.
Trump is a window shade installer. He sold his base all these shades with the sun painted on them. And whenever someone calls them on the phone and says: "Man, it's absolutely pouring outside", they respond "Not here, delightful from what I see". And the sound of the raindrops hitting the ground doesn't make them at all curious to lift the shade even a little bit to see where the sound is coming from. Even when the rain rises to the level of a torrent. And when their friend says "Didn't you watch the weather forecast?" the response is "The shade guy told me the forecast was wrong. I believe him because he sold me some nice shades". I believe the term is "blind loyalty".
What more proof do Congressional Republicans need that they have a Manchurian candidate as president? The Russian money trail has been admitted to on several occasions by Trump's own sons. It is well known that American banks stopped lending to him after so many bankruptcies. And $400 million spent on real estate, all in cash, stinks of money laundering for Putin's cronies. Doesn't any of this bother his Republican enablers as they keep trying to derail the Mueller investigation?
1
Certainly Mueller's team knows much more than has been disclosed or alleged publicly about Trump's ties to and dependence upon Russian money. That NY and the US Treasury and Justice Department did not pursue Anti Money Laundering investigations, of which we are aware, years before Trump began his candidacy is very disconcerting. It is blindingly clear that Trump's debts to Russians explains his special affinity for and adulation of Putin. Some of us see his very probable complicity and conspiracy with Russians not as some grand pragmatic strategy to benefit the US, but as entirely self-serving, not unlike Trump's bold violations of the emoluments clause. But that violation is only one of Trump's failures to defend and uphold the Constitution as he tries to dismantle the First Amendment's freedom of the press and has undermined the separation of powers we all, except Trump, learned in elementary school.
The most disturbing thing is that Trump is moving the country quickly, although insidiously towards authoritarianism where his outrageous, daily missives are no longer though to be perverse for a US President, but normal. As Bill Maher recently said, he has displayed all of the elements of a dictator except for a military uniform.
These dots have been evident from the get go. As were their obvious connections in a constellation of corruption among Trump and an assortment of nefarious foreign and domestic actors. Where there was a need for laundering ill gained money Trump Inc. provided a sink.
Now when this constellation is brought into sharper focus the question is whether the moral and ethical north star of Trump's supporters will continue to be darkly clouded by their deliberate effort to look away and give continued support to the collusion, corruption and deviancy united by their animus for Hillary and their mutual devotion to fossil.
As the old saying goes, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck ... it's probably a duck.
Trump is dirty, in the vernacular of cops on the beat.
Trump chose to be a money launderer and figured he could beat the Russians. After all, he developed major real estate in the NYC metro and he had to deal with the mob at some point, either through his fixer Roy Cohn, or through the mob controlled concrete business. It was a way of life.
Trump probably believed that if he could deal with the Cosa Nostra, he could deal with the Russians. So he did. Obviously, the big moose on the table was whether there exists any quid pro quos that came of dealing with Putin's guys.
The truly meaningful aspect of Trump's ties to Russian oligarchs, money and power is that so many republicans don't care.
Read the WSJ or the Fox News websites. Not only are the editors and the opinion writers beyond denial, but the readers' comments are adamant that "(a) their guy didn't do it and if he did (b) so what? He's not Hillary."
We've reached a point in this country where political dogma has become mandatory to the true believers. Republicans may as well be Islamic Jihadists for all they seem to care about secular law and government.
As Jane Mayer wrote, quoting Christopher Steele, all the criminal activities he investigated led to the Trump tower - the only question now is exactly how many criminals who resided in the Trump tower will be convicted?
1
Donald Trump is why we need a constitutional amendment to ensure that all candidates are vetted for a security clearance and financial audit during the primaries
Tax cheats, pedophiles, mobsters and coal mine murderers need not apply
It is absurd that someone like Blankenship cannot vote in Florida but he can run for senate in West Virginia
1
Real estate developer and hotel owner in NYC and Atlantic City at a time when,according to the so-called Commission trials, La Cosa Nostra controlled the carting, linen, and construction industries.
He ran with bookies, labor racketeers, and loan sharks, but because he and they “dined at Elaine’s” this paper waited too long and for too long did too little.
The US Sec of Commerce Wilber Ross sits on the board of Deutsche Bank Cyprus, now exposed for laundering Russian oligarch money. This administration is wrapped up, tied with a bow to Russian money (and the NRA...). Mr Muller needs to be expeditious in his investigation, but sadly our Congress has shown woeful lack of action in reeling in the President. They only seem to do that for Democrats. It will be up to The People to act as grown ups at the polls this fall!
How does the Hannity real estate complex benefit from all of this? His Fox salary and HUD loans cannot account for his ability to purchase a large number of properties. Did Trump’s mouth piece benefit from Russian cash? Hard to believe that the Third Client isn’t somehow mixed into this mess.
1
The question: will Republicans in Congress continue to support Trump? Is there no end to their party-first mentality?? This is my biggest worry. Will they allow him to start a war to avoid whatever it is he really faces?
The news about Cohen's shell company and its gigantic "fees" is fresh but no surprise. The editorial's narrative of shadowy - read, Russian - post-bankruptcies financing is excellent but also no surprise. Much of this was reported in various news outlets during the campaign. But somehow it never gained widespread traction with the public, who were too bedazzled or addled (as was the media in general) by Trump's showmanship. The news about the Iran deal was neatly timed as the latest distraction from the drumbeat of the investigations into Trump's malfeasance. We must not let ourselves be distracted again.
It looks like what Donald Trump meant by draining the swamp, was that he was going to drain the swamp outside the Whitehouse and fill the his Oval Office with the swamp and Trump is now wallowing in a cesspool of corruption and dirty money.
I think what people are starting to realize who have worked for Trump with good intentions, is that they are all disposable and Trump has no problem using people and discarding them for his own self protection, an untrustworthy, sleazy manipulator and user; this is the lesson that Michael Cohen is now learning the hard way.
133
The real problem in America is that selling political access is not illegal, as it is a thriving industry where many former Senators go to cash in after leaving office. American government is the best government money can buy. If Michael Cohen had simply registered as a lobbyist, various payments to him would be nothing more than a footnote.
4
In response to some comments, Trump’s tax returns aren’t going to evidence the cash flows that are suspected from this new reporting. I suspect the entire point of an LLC created by Cohen and taking millions for no work would be hide a slush fund controlled by Trump, directly or indirectly, and Trump revealing the cash on a tax return would defeat the purpose.
7
I long ago sent the issues to the recycling bin, but The New Yorker was reporting on Trump's forays --more precisely his children's advances-- into the Russian hotel/casino/resort business. There, their contacts were uniformly of suspicious character, the monies that might be available always of hazy provenance. These articles appeared in the years before Trump's lark became the bizarre Alice in Blunderland world we inhabit today.
Trump and family have been in and partaken of the morass that is Russian finance for more than a decade. Even if collusion turns out to be unprovable, complicity in the murky waters of Russian organized crime is why Trump's promise to drain the swamp in Washington will never happen.
8
During campaign 2016, the headline "release tax returns, release tax returns" day after day would have better served us than the relentless focus on emails. The constant demand to release tax returns might have spared us this terrible president.
14
I think we already know quite a bit about Mr. Trump's finances that according to his sons involved lots of investment from Russians, and if you believe our intelligence agencies versus our mendacious president, we know quite a bit about what Russia did during the campaign season and continues to do through today.
The only thing we don't know is exactly how those two thru-lines intersect. Is it any wonder that the VP and Trump's allies in congress want this investigation to end now before the dots are connected?
32
More than ever, we need to see Trumps tax records. Current disclosures about financial dealings may lead to tax evasion charges. Which would be fitting for someone who said its smart to avoid taxes.
So much smoke! There has to be a fire somewhere in this conglomeration of unusual financial dealings and characters.
Rather than impeachment, it may be easier for internal revenue to seize his property for back taxes.
36
True, oh so true. No wonder he is reticent about his tax records. Trey Gowdy and Issa should be all over this one with supreme subpoena power!
It's a complex Web that runs through Trump's shadowy financial deals, campaign finance misuse, and his dubious Russian ties that were instrumental in the meddling of US elections, which Robert Mueller is really focused on in his probe
21
I read in the NYT that Donald Trump has credit at Deutsch Bank. Is that wrong? I believe he does have debt. Also, it may be very hard to track funds from illegal activities or rents from capture of government agencies to Mr Trump's own pockets. Even the legal propriety of the Stormy payoff is beyond objectivity when extended to the president's 20,000 foot perch.
Trump is a quintessential New York spinner, and he will convince many that his policies are for their benefit, while positioning his patrons to profit. This has already happened, and it is not entirely new to Washington D.C.
It fails the smell test, but our votes are all we have.
30
No bank would give trump credit after six bankruptcies.
1
Sadly, yes.
Yes, first it was the Japanese buying NYC real estate. Then it was Chinese. Now its Russian. Wait Money for flows where it flows. Either you're
It's telling that a Republican-led Congress seems unperturbed by Trump's hidden "debts & liabilities" to the extent these entanglements are affecting his leadership of U.S. policies. Money has always been at the heart of GOP dogma, we all know that, but to be benign to corruption and masking at this level is new ground for even them.
57
It seems to me the easiest way to understand Mr. Trump's finances would be to take a look at those income tax filings that he promised to release prior to his election. For a man who always fulfills his promises to the American voter, he certainly is taking his time on that one!
85
He has no problem lying, so why would his tax filings be accurate? Audit everything, follow the money. Luckily, prosecutors know that.
13
I fail to understand the obsession with Trump's tax returns. This is a man who lies about absolutely everything. Why in the world would his tax returns be an accurate picture of his finances?
4
Sure does explain why he never showed us his tax returns, abd further highlights the failure of the Republican Congress in demanding them.
If the Democrats take the House in 2018, the first order of business for the new chair of the House Oversight Committee needs to be a subpoena for them.
States need to pass laws banning him from the ballot unless he releases his tax returns before the 2020 election.
90
Follow the lead of ny state
Where it’s already law
3
Sadly, according to new polls, 50% (50%!) of the American public would, at this moment, vote for Donald Trump in 2020. It’s beyond belief. I can no longer understand human psychology.
115
I will explain it to you. I voted for democrats for decades and have never been more disgusted with the party. In NJ, the new governor just passed a law giving state financial aid to illegal immigrants. So how will they prove their income and the income of their illegal parents?This at a time when property taxes, utilities, and costs of living are off the charts to help fund such nonsense.
He also wants to give illegal immigrant licenses while I have to bring in my whole life history to renew my license. So illegals will get a license with less proof than that required by citizens?
I never ever thought I would say this but I would vote for Trump over any of the present democratic pool and the DNC platform. The DNC use to fight for American workers and we voted for them. They have decided that is no longer their agenda so I have decided I will no longer vote for them.
Also, their using the republican party as the big bad bogeyman no longer works. Time for democrats to actually represent the Americans who put them in office, not the citizens of foreign countries. Until then they can expect to lose the presidency in 2020.
1
It simply means that 50 percent of the Americans have no issues with corruption and criminal activities. According to them the law is for Mexican immigrants and minorities. Nothing different that the modus operandi of banana republics.
8
If you look at the intelligence bell curve, 50% is below 100 IQ. You have to rich or ignorant or so prejudiced the truth holds no sway, to support Trump.
9
Follow the money. Robert Mueller and his top-notch legal team have known this all along. It's why Trump was never going to release his tax returns to the public. It's why he drew a red line with the special counsel to not investigate his finances, or those of his family and the Trump
Organization.
You can run but you can't hide, Mr. President.
89
Mueller has it all.
This week's uproar is about Cohen's "consulting practice". Mueller has had this sliver of now public information for 6 months. Who knows what else he has .......other than a lot.
Mueller didn't get a no knock warrant on Cohen's offices because of a hush payment to a porn star; he got a warrant because of a tsunami of evidence of wide ranging criminal activity going back years. Cohen is in a world of hurt. And so are the Trumps ( plural).
Cohen's office was next door to Trump's at The Trump Organization because he , Cohen, was the bag man and fixer which were the two most important functions at the company. The Trump Organization was a money laundering front for Russians: that was its business. For crying out loud, even Bannon said so. The sons even boasted about their Russian "financing". Is there any mystery to it?
The investigation goes on because Mueller can't believe the depth and breadth of the corruption. It's simply staggering. Then Kushner provides additional volumes of criminal activity.
I don't think Mueller will subpeona Trump because he doesn't need his testimony. He has more than enough in ( fraudulent ) records and corroborating evidence from those cooperating.
Trump knows how badly Cohen can hurt him. And will: Cohen has no choice to cooperate with the SDNY unless he wants to spend years in jail.
The Trump's are America's First Crime Family. Every one of them is a con artist. Even Melania can't help but plagiarize.
3
What I want to know is why didn’t this activity raise red flags 10 years ago? We have agencies and regulators that are supposed to look and catch this kind of thing. It’s not like $400 million in cash is a small sum.
89
A lot of what we believe about the rule of law in the US is mere propaganda. Trump will get away with it and will be re-elected. MAGA is meant to make America safe for white collar crimes.
3
10 years ago we were doing a national financial tailspin thanks to a GOP's second term of control in Congress...but we had some hope because Obama (not yet completely erased from history by DJT) helped pull us out in a measured and reasonable way. Those days might be gone forever.
2
This could be why Mulvaney is in charge of a few money bureaus and Mnuchin in charge of the treasury.
3
This is a story about bribery and extortion: pure and simple. The twist here is that the source of funds was Russian, funneled through shell companies, and washed thru condo's. And with that, Trump pays cash for real estate. It's an age old game.
80
I would like to see the contract behind the AT&T payment to this fly-by-night LLC for 'actual work done'. Is ths just a bribe? Our highly paid CEOs either need to uphold higher standards, or step aside.
62
Excellent summary of what is currently known, and any idiot can easily connect the dots. But, unless control of congress changes in November, I have only three words in reply - It. Won't. Matter.
95
I think we'll be here a while yet. It's a slow business, financial investigations. First you have to hunt down the transactions (made a great deal easier if the recipient lazily reuses the same shell company!), then you have to satisfactorily discredit each of the explanations given for them which is a precise and time consuming job. Only after you've got the liars over a barrel can you really get on with establishing what really happened.
I know it's tempting to jump straight to "this obviously must be Trump's money" but if Mueller needs to take it to a court to get subpoenas or warrants he'll need to be able to show why these payments can't be what they were described as first, and inherent unlikeliness is not enough. I'm sure he'll get there. I'm also sure that there's enough hard evidence of irregularities now that if the US court system is still at all credible, firing Mueller won't stop it.
57
I used to make puzzles as a kid. Some people continue to enjoy that through adulthood. Robert Mueller seems to be an expert puzzle maker.
The first thing you do when making a puzzle, from what I remember, is you look for the corners and the edges. Get them in place first. That doesn't give you a clear picture of the final result, but it gives you a border to operate within. Then group some colors together. See what pieces fit. Sky colors on top. A blurry idea will start to take shape.
I think we're seeing that Robert Mueller and his team have already figured out the corners and the edges... they've grouped a lot of colors together... and they're putting bigger pieces in place to clear their vision. My guess is they have a good idea of what the final picture will look like.
126
For oh too long Trumps hookup to Russia has been looming as clear as a bell that Tolls for Putin. The latest Iran decision furthers Putin’s aims by raising oil prices ( they’re main income) and further dethroning the United States as a world power.
Trumps refusal to implement sanctions against the oligarchs, that were voted for by congress, only serves to prove the above points.
78
Not to mention how the Iran decision benefits the American fossil fuel industry as well!
4
As one of the talking heads noted, there is method in Donald Trump's methods or madness. The more unpredictable he is, the more companies need to spend money on lobbyists or others who claim to have a special connection with the President. If the Trump Organization or members of his inner circle benefit as a result....
16
The very large sums from donors and lobbyists are really corruption. They are corruption even when it goes to politicians you like. They are corruption even though the Supreme Court absurdly denied that in its Citizens United holding.
Those combine with "investments" that are transparently personal gifts, something that Richard Nixon and LBJ mastered long ago. It has continued. That was the core of the accusation about the Clintons' real estate deal in Whitewater (and cattle futures and much else), and now in Russian real estate for Trump.
Our politics has become disgustingly corrupt. It is not just Trump.
If that is used only against Trump, as here, it is just more corruption, in our face, like Captain Louis Renault (played by Claude Rains) in Casablanca collecting his winnings while protesting gambling.
Yes, clean it all up. But no, don't act shocked that Trump did it too.
45
There you go with more of this false equivalence. We're looking at unpresidented [sic] corruption. Yes, it needs to be rooted out across the board, but no, Trump is not just the latest example. He is far and away the most egregious example, and incredibly 40% of the public seems content to let him get away with it.
4
It is the way Trump has done it that is beyond the pale.
3
Aw c’mon Mark, you have the powers of reason and inference, please use them. Regardless of who you voted for or sympathize with, you can’t deny that a credible picture is slowly coming into focus, a picture of Trump as the Manchurian candidate. After bottoming out financially, he started working for Russia through Michael Cohen. He was groomed to become our President, a puppet of ex-KGB agent Putin.. It’s not the money itself that is so troubling, the money only proves that he sold out his country, you, me, his detractors, and his supporters. He sold us out. I’d call that treason.
3
I don’t think Donald Trump said goodbye to American banks. Rather, American banks said goodbye to Trump, in aftermath of bankruptcies and failed projects.
What better place to turn than shadowy Russian sources of financing?
102
Russian oligarchs use Manhattan real estate (Trump) as a money laundering operation. It's so obvious that it makes your eyes water. Same thing is happening in London.
2
Gotta wonder how many more shell companies are out there taking in cash for "consulting" fees like these. How common is this stuff? I for one hope that this is just a band of sleazy and sloppy Trumpies and not a sign of something far more pervasive.
51
Maybe we should get concerned when the amounts reach Clinton levels, the gold standard of influence pedalling I would think. Tony Podesta built an obscenely expensive (and obscene) art collection just by having a stack of his brother’s business cards on the counter in his company’s lobby. This isn’t whataboutism, this is fact, and one the media is curiously incurious about. Or the Obamas - now worth what, $80,000,000? Tell us they weren’t gaining off the presidency landing book deals as soon as they left office. If you’re worth a million going in and know there’s an 80x payout at the end how does that affect your presidency? Could explain a lot of the indecision. If you want to stop corruption start doing serious journalism and cover everything and everybody. Right now you’re just spinning inconvenient truths in your latest assault on the current presidency and you full well know it’s because of ideological dissonance. Also, pick up the writing a bit in these editorials. Tone and style is almost juvenile and amateurish in comparison to your other fine writers. These things are starting to sound like the lefty Breitbart.
It all goes back to the tax returns. Never again should we allow a President to take office without a full and truthful financial disclosure.
292
What makes you think Trump hasn’t lied on his tax returns? He routinely lies consistently about everything else.
8
And what if the tax returns are utterly fraudulent? Since the Republican Congress has hollowed out the IRS's auditing and verification function, can we really guarantee the returns tell the true story?
5
There is zero chance he didn't lie on his tax returns. This is Donald Trump. There is zero chance anything in his tax returns is credible.
"I'm so rich, I don't need special interests supporting me." Like the Kochs, Mercers, Aldersons, Singers, Wynns, Russians, and on and on...
106
I do not understand. If ATT,NOVARTIS and other companies who gave money to Trump pipelines expect a payback that is considered good business investments but Cohens pipeline to the Russians way before Trump considered running for President got financing for Trumps projects with the idea that the financiers were going to make a profit just like a bank. So who do you indict ATT.....
or some Russian Oligarch.
6
Because the Russian financing of Trump golf properties was likely part of a money laundering work around effort of US sanctions against Russian oligarchs.
Why not both?
Even Mario Puzo could not have made this up; even today, knowing (or at least having read the reams of reporting on this issue), I find the whole thing surreal for, if true, it means that the President of the US is in cahoots with the Russian mob . . .
145
Exactly, I've been saying it for months! Trump has no morals or ethics. Money and power are his Gods. And he worships himself above all.
5
He has been for decades.
5
He is!
3
AND, what was in it for Putin that we pulled out of the Iran deal? Why, in fact, was that a campaign promise? Why would red America want that? Does it affect them in any way? To pull out will make life harder for all of us and that does NOT even include the possibility of Nuclear WAR. What does Putin gain here? More Oil revenues, even as we pay higher prices for gasoline? Recall that the sanctions against Russia make it impossible for Putin to drill the Arctic and the Black Sea area. That is what the "Russian Babies Meeting" was ALL about! To enrich Putin. Does Russia have business in Iran, that from which American Companies are now banned? I do not put anything beyond immoral treasonist Trump. you can tell him I said that!
56
Trump is so enmeshed with Russian money and shady deals that the issue now is not whether he is guilty of collusion but whether there is any remote possibility that he could possibly be innocent.
We hold to the rubric of "innocent until proved guilty". But this president is already proved guilty of corruption so vast even before he assumed the office that the real question is why we permit him to still be hanging around the Oval Office.
Racketeering, tax evasion, and fraud are more serious than impeachment because they carry long prison sentences. Trump now lives in an inescapable nightmare.
160
Which raises the question, "Could Donald Trump get any level of security clearance were he not President?" Yet another in the myriad ways Trump is a threat to national security.
8
Until we get a Congress with integrity, Trump lives in a dream world, and we are the ones living in the nightmare.
8
His escape from the fires burning at his feet will be to set the entire world on fire.
5
Cohen sounds more like Trump's bagman than fixer. How many Presidents have had either? Follow the money Mr. Mueller.
42
"How many Presidents have had either?"
Quite a few. Certainly both LBJ and then Nixon, and it did not stop with them.
7
This editorial does a great job waving away some of the thick smoke so we can better see the fire at its center. And it appears to be a raging one, and located at the very seat of our government.
I’d encourage everyone - Trump supporters included - to pause and consider the implications of this scandal if our suspicions are proved correct. Though it may not meet the legal definition of treason, a U.S. president knowingly accepting the help of Russia to win the presidency and enrich himself shows a level of mendacity and corruption that makes Watergate look like a pickpocketing ring.
The only question now is whether we can manage to put out this fire before it consumes our republic.
118
Thank goodness we have virtue left among some of our elites in the form of the NYT editorial board and other democracy-caring elites -- to challenge the corruption and anti-democratic, autocratic faction behind Trump. Thank you, NYT. You have many many supporters who are grateful for your defense of our democracy.
76
There was once a golden time when ignorance was bliss, but this time has passed. Where Joe Sixpack was previously content to go to work, earn an honest crust and return home to watch the game, now, his sad lot fully exposed, he seethes against the establishment. Sadly, that rage directed at an old order recently elected Donald Trump, a man so insouciant to his criminal inclinations, he believes that law breaking - if he even knows laws exist - amounts to brilliant business acumen. Making money by not following the rules is presumably easier than the rules impose, so ignoring them becomes an obvious expedience. Anyway, everyone is doing it.
Governance is a bit harder though. Western democracies tend not to be criminal empires. One cannot run a democracy like a protection racket. Putin has Russians believing that making him and his ilk rich will put food on their table and protect them for the foreseeable future. Trump attempted just the same with America, making the fatal error of thinking that traditionally liberated Americans think the same way as perennially oppressed Russians, bringing dodgy Russian advice and policies, backed by many roubles, to the Land of the Free.
In a way, Trump is an accidental traitor: he didn’t know where the line between a shady buck and tyranny resides. Ignorance is no defence. Removing the man, as is required, and the mantra, may not be enough, however, to eradicate the stain this American obscenity has globally inflicted.
69
If Trump thought that firing James Comey a year ago would lift the pressures about the Russian thing from him as he told Kislyak and Lavrov the day after, he was a victim of his own “fake news.”
The latest revelation of Cohen’s shell companies backed with money from Putin’s oligarchs so that they could pay for play is the latest evidence that Trump is Putin’s puppet. Cambridge Analytica pulled the strings of American voters thanks to the Trump/Russian mafia connection.
With Mueller at the helm, “we will never surrender” to our adversaries’ infiltration of this country aided and abetted by Republican collaborators. The truth will out, and justice will prevail.
33
One hypothesis could explain a great deal. What if Mr. Trump had nothing close to the wealth he claims to have? What if his debts were roughly the same as or greater than his assets?
If this were true, Trump could not have done what other presidents have done and divested. Doing so would have wiped him out. In fact, he would need the income from each and every one of his many presidential visits to Trump properties. All of his tax returns would have made this clear. When no American banks would loan him money, he would have had no choice but to take illicit Russian money for business purposes. He would have been unable to pay hush money himself, and would have turned to the same sources. In fact, he would not have been able to pay his own campaign costs himself. His troubling behavior vis-a-vis Russia would be indicative of any number of Russian blackmail opportunities: The money involved tax fraud, money laundering and organized crime. The source was oligarchs connected to the Kremlin. His actual financial status could have been revealed. His campaign had been bankrolled by the Russians, just as the hush money payments were. Etc.
59
Start with Trump's flipping of a house in Florida for, if I recall correctly, a 40 million dollar profit in only a few years.
Dirty money for a very dirty man.
3
Remember Nixon saying his wife wore a cloth coat? This is orders of magnitude beyond Nixon, White Water, Iran-Contra or the like. The most closest precedent is Harding.
Fun in its way, but deadly serious. While these escapades unfold, Trump is “wagging the country,” very very dangerously, to distract. Congress and We The People need to stand up for our country, now, it is not all about Mueller.
35
The circumstances are becoming more frightening by the day.
On one level we have a corrupt administration hellbent to siphon off as much money and resources for themselves and friends, and a administration deeply corrupted by lying in bed with Russian money.
Leading to the next more frightening level this administration’s minimizing of Russian interference in our elections and cyberattacks on our electoral system.
A complicit Republican Congress only sees the winning and holding onto power while ignoring the degradation to our democracy.
58
It's time to see Trump's tax returns .... no, it's WAY past time to see Trump's tax returns. Congress really needs to press him to release the past 5 years.
39
Okay, here's a crazy idea. Another article in this edition of the paper detailed NY AG Schneiderman's excessive drinking and the way it led to his violent behavior with some women. Maybe Trump's goons knew this about Schneiderman and used it to exert pressure on him?
Yes, I know that Schneiderman has a reputation of being a strong opponent hot on Trump's trail, but I remember reading about some money laundering case being mysteriously settled in the past year.
Yes, this sounds crazy, but what do we see in the news every day? Things we never thought we would see, that's for sure. So forgive me for some idle speculation.
15
Trump's popularity with his base is stronger than ever. You could have video of Russians handing him bags of cash and he'd cry "fake news!" and they'd believe it. Of course there are no such videos and likely no such events.
But since even the most undeniable corruption would not sway his base, swatting these stories away is going to be childs play. Trump & Family benefited from deals and understood if they wanted the money to keep coming they figured out what the Russians wanted and did it. But as our esteemed leader says, "No Collusion!!"
19
Umm... how about treason? Sure, he could go down for graft (on stilts), but it does not explain his highly peculiar affect with regard to Putin and his cronies. And if Putin is pulling strings behind, say, the abrogation of the Iran treaty, well, then you also have treason, on stilts...
Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has been doing great, deep reporting for at least a year on Cohen's ties to the Russian mob and to Russian oligarchs. His latest podcast is a conversation with Seth Hettena, author of the just-released Trump/Russia: a Definitive History. Hettena describes Trump as a long-time "mob-friendly businessman," who now "happens also to be President of the United States."
Hettena says he thinks this should be on the front-page of every paper. It's hard to disagree. The reporting, by him, Marshall, and others, is out there. I welcome this column by the NYT editors, but they're behind the curve on this. The Times needs to step up its game.
37
This is unbelievable. It's all unbelievable. That sense of acute disbelief after waking up on November 9th to the news that what seemed to happen on November 8th wasn't just a bad dream and it was time to get dressed and go out to vote still remains. Only it has acquired formlessness that engulfs all previously reliable points of reference of a world that can be made sense of, if only moment by moment. The astonishing thing is that this plague has been spread by a single infected individual out of the nearly 8 billion souls who have unwittingly breathed the same air.
19
Trump complains that 91% of the news about Trump is negative and is therefore fake news.
Uh, the reason 91% of the news is negative is because Trump is 91% negative.
Stop doing bad things and do good things instead, and stop trying to obstruct justice and destroy. Although, it's probably too late for Trump to redeem his soul...
19
So, you can pay a lawyer for advice concerning the “thinking” of his other clients?
Remind me not to think around my counsel.
8
There is no collusion. We all know that. Just the puppeteer pulling the strings.
7
Seth Meyers asked a good question on his show tonight: Who told these companies to give money to Cohen's shell company?
61
The Russian money, connections, responses, and conciliatory abeyance to Russia have created an ocean of Putin spy craft. Trump is drowning in it now as are all those in his campaign, personal and financial circles.
A storm's a-coming. The secret tax returns, kompromat, and hundreds of millions in cash payments for properties cannot be explained away or hidden behind the screen of daily scandals and insults.
As Republicans like to say, there's a trickle down effect. Or a deluge.
16
The most likely result of the disclosure of Cohen’s confidential banking records is the prosecution of the person or persons responsible for the leaks. The Treasury Department’s inspector general is has already launched an investigation. According to the Washington Post, “Cohen’s lawyers on Wednesday accused Avenatti of improper possession of his bank records.” If the FBI or Mullet investigators are found to be responsible, it could impact the entire Russian investigation.
2
Note that Cohen's lawyers are not saying the information is wrong.
2
I would bet my life that Mueller is NOT responsible for this leak. And Avenatti should have a statue built for him, not be investigated by the horrible Steve Mnuchin.
2
I've been saying for some time, now, that the one (slightly) saving grace of this ludicrous horror show is its entertainment value.
At this point, we really need Jimmy Breslin to return, to properly chronicle the tragicomic misadventures of Donnie, Mikey and Rudy: "The Gang that Couldn't Cheat Straight"
6
This editorial makes me relieved to know that someone is busy keeping track of the context, stringing together the evidence piece by piece. If only Mueller were doing this, Trump could just get rid of Mueller. But an editorial like this tells Trump that the evidence is peserved in more places than one. This mass of context is shocking. Stormy Daniels is nothing compared to some of Trump's other bed partners. They might not get him prosecuted and convicted of a crime, but the implications stink to high heaven, and he ought to resign or be ousted immediately. This will never happen given Trump's and his cronies' modus operandi to hunker down with the spoils of their illicit election victory and defy criticism. As more details of these relationships emerge, it will be interesting to see how much sleaze Trump's supporters will take before they stop cheering.
21
A strong 42% will NEVER stop cheering - and that is the scary part for our country. These people LOVE that Trump is doing this. It proves he's 'like a very stable genius'. Just like bragging about not paying taxes - proves he's smart, not unpatriotic, to them.
2
It wouldn't matter if there's proof that Putin himself donated to Trumps campaign. As long as the Republican Party sits on their hands and Fox continues to mislead their viewers absolutely not one thing will happen.
22
Has any other US president been owned lock, stock and barrel by a hostile foreign power? And been closely involved with that country’s underworld? Why would anyone or any reputable company send this amount of money to a shell LLC and not report it properly? This is a scandal of EPIC proportions and will only get worse, and it’s getting buried by the withdrawal from the Iran deal. Unbelievable! I guess when we go to war yet again in the Mideast we’ll forget about the whole thing.
29
Neocon leaders got us into the 'quick' (they assumed it would be) war in Iraq. They were very wrong, weren't they? And now they want to go to war with Iran? Iran is so much bigger, stronger, more resilient, better equipped, better manned than Iraq. It will be a very, very terrible war. If these leaders like Pompeo and Bolton and Trump want to go to war (didn't Trump campaign against 'dumb' wars?) they need to bring back the draft, ASAP and THEIR children need to be the first to go, right on the front lines. Nobody goes unless THEY go!
2
I do believe in your democratic institutions and the thousands of public servants trying to resist to this "gang of bandits" who is currently in charge of your country.
Most people I talk with understand that the Russian mob is behind the "designation" (not the election!) of Trump as your president.
The lack of action from the Congress is utterly unacceptable andvery disturbing .
One thing is obvious,United Citizen opens a breach in your democracy and you will have to fix it in order to regain your country.
I am confident that "We The People" will prevail at the end of this usurpation of your government.
Godspeed America and good luck, you deserve way better than Trump as President and the GOP as the majority in Congress...!
40
Yves: I'm sorry America has become such a bad neighbor to Canada. I know many of us wish we lived in Canada right about now. We hope this nightmare ends soon.
2
We the People need to realize there is a war being waged against us. It is the 1% versus the 99%. The 99% is losing horribly. We sit and bicker, Republican vs. Democrat, Male vs. Female, Black vs. White, Immigrant vs. Citizen. Its really not about any of that, its all about the MONEY. They put their puppets in office, they write the Laws to suit their needs. They have stolen from us and continue to do so. They hide behind their nefarious dealings by stating "Its not illegal". Well it should be and their must be a price paid. After all is said and done, some very self-important people need to go to prison, including elected officials who have aided and abetted these crimes.
40
Well......if nobody went to prison for torture and now we're ready to hire a torturer to head the CIA....I don't have hope that people will go to prison for this. My whole-hearted wish is that I live long enough (I'm 66) to see Trump and Ivanka and Don, Jr. head off to prison wearing nice, bright orange jumpsuits. But I really do not have much hope.
2
The word you are looking for Mr. Cohen is leverage. Mr. Mueller now has leverage.
10
Remember the funds for the inaugural festivities were handled in a very sketchy way with extremely high amounts being paid for services that were of very small dollar value and large amounts funneled through Mrs. Trumps friend. It might turn out that Melania had her own slush fund which might also help explain why she is still playing the role of faithful first lady. Some of that inaugural campaign money was paid indirectly by one of Putin's oligarchs.
It may be difficult to subpoena the president but it might be easy to subpoena the first lady if there is sufficient evidence to bring her before a grand jury. She may be involved in this more than anyone has suspected. #Her too?
14
The whole Trump Crime Family - including FLOTUS who is a thief, we all know that now - are grifters. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. are GRIFTERS and CONS and they are going to take down our country before they go down.
Poor little Barron, to be raised in a family of grifters, cons and criminals.
1
Congressmen, Senators, it’s time: Party or Country?
Or, in an appeal to your self-serving instincts, which side of the table do you want to be on when all the cards are down?
18
Unless Mr. Flood quickly asserts more influence, Trump or Giuliani will be claiming they had no idea what Mr.Cohen was doing. Not sanctioned by us, they’ll say. Throw in the towel guys and save us taxpayers some money. The swamp is clearly backing up.
9
It cannot be a coincidence that Trump has never used a mocking nickname for Putin. And that he shows nothing but respect and admiration for the Russian leader. Trump warmly received Russian representatives in the Oval Office no less. There is only one credible explanation for this Russian romance. Russian banks and financiers own Trump.They can close him down any time they want.
30
As the saying goes in spycraft, 'Your best work will never be seen....' and so it is with Russia, or at least they thought so until Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, through laziness, incompetence or stupidity unintentionally opened the curtain revealing just how insidious Russian penetration of American business and government is.
To give Trump the benefit of the doubt, it's possible (not probable) he was/is in the dark about all of this which appears to be his defense . But Trump is a micro-manager with an inbuilt early-warning mechanism that served him well in his previous occupation...he knows instinctively when someone else is eating or even sniffing his lunch. His guardedness about his finances, his baffling support of Putin, his willingness to lie and exaggerate, his savage attacks on those who disagree with him are his tools of trade for survival. Unfortunately, America has bestowed on this man awesome and undeserved power - which he uses to enrich and protect himself and his family. The danger for all of us is lies in his stripping of the fundamentals of Democracy and his readiness to sacrifice what is near and dear to us for his own personal interests.
18
Russia wants a weak and isolated US, and with Trump they already got it. So it’s not clearly a problem for Putin when the story leaks through Trump’s incompetence. It weakens the US further. Putin is proud of his work an is respected by many leaders.
"On Wednesday, Novartis said it had actually spent $1.2 million in total, $800,000 more than was originally reported, and AT&T said it had paid as much as $600,000, three times what had been reported. Both issued statements denying any wrongdoing but still leaving the impression that they were paying for access to the president or his fixer."
"Paying for access"? While I understand the realpolitik at play behind your use of a euphemism here, this is, after all, an opinion piece. You are free to voice your opinion on whether a spade is a spade.
According to Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, you can get away with saying anything, even gross mischaracterizations of the truth. I worry your euphemism risks further normalizing extremely antisocial behavior. In Cohen's case, Novartis, and AT&T are not paying Cohen for access. They are paying trump for results, for favors, for deregulation. There is already a word for this. It is called a bribe.
30
Deep Throat said it best "Follow the money".
THE Donald may have summarized our times well "Worse than Watergate!"
Two persistent questions may now be converging. (1) Why is HE so defensive of HIS financial history? (2) Why does HE continually defend Putin’s Russia?
Well basically only dealing in cash for the past decade, a main source being Russian mafia money, and needing a “fixer” to pull it all together may just be the ticket.
Big real estate deals are a great method of money laundering. This is especially true when it can be done in New York City just down the road from Wall Street.
There is so much psychological projection associated with HIM, the blaming of others for what you are precisely guilty of, that it does make one wonder how to interpret HIS cry of “Lock her up!”
13
Hold on..... your editorial claims that more then One Million dollars passed through Essential Consultants. Swiss pharmaceutical company, Novartis admits to paying 1.2 Millions. Reports of over 4.2 Million have been reported. What about other accounts that we’re unaware of... Mueller knows other financial entities.
6
Mueller must be aware of all of this. He must be trying to build a case so rock solid Trump and Republicans will not be able to squirm out of it. He musn't wait too long though he and Putin are working fast to make some big world changes.
13
I was naive to believe it was too extreme to claim Trump was colluded with Russia however he looked suspicious. Now it looks money unites and separates the wealthy and business people without borders while nationalism divides people closing borders.
6
Cohen's racket sounds a little like the pay-for-access Clinton "Foundation"—which has now slipped into oblivion. I wonder why.
And it points out the terrible choices the electorate was faced with in the last presidential election.
2
Let's see, Cohen, creates a shell company as an LLC to protect himself from losing everything if he's sued. Setting up an LLC is a simple process widely advertised on TV and commonly used by even the smallest business.
Cohen was advertising himself as a Lobbyist and as such, was paid handsomely by companies for his services. It's become clear that Novartis received nothing for their $1.2 million, but that's the breaks when hiring Lobbyists.
Now if you're looking for proven, documented, Russian payments to American Presidential candidates, the best exemplar that have been rigorously proven are the public and private payments to Bill and Hillary Clinton through speaking fees and $100+ Million payments to their charitable organizations.
It is moving toward a year and half with the Democrats screaming Trump Russia Collusion and nothing, nothing has been found.
* At a session on June 9, 1954, McCarthy charged that one of Welch's attorneys had ties to a Communist organization. As an amazed television audience looked on, Welch responded with the immortal lines that ultimately ended McCarthy's career:
"Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness." When McCarthy tried to continue his attack, Welch angrily interrupted, "Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?"
*https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Have_you_no_sense_of...
McCarthy’s lawyer and advisor Roy Cohn was Trump’s lawyer and mentor so let’s not assume Mr Trump learned nothing from him.
Let’s see Trump’s taxes and business entanglements is the logical response. And put him under oath. He is supposed to work for us.
1
Nothing has been found? There have been five guilty pleas, and dozens of indictments. Please pay attention.
1
Your statement "nothing has been found" is naive at best and mendacious at worst. Mueller's team is not leaking. Plenty has already been found.
1
As the little old lady once said, "It's Turtles all the way down. Putin is winning. And as another little old lady said, "It's corruption all the way down." Putin is polishing his dance steps.
The Climate accord deal over.
The nuclear deal with Iran over.
Our striving for a clean environment over.
Fair Housing over.
Good education for all unraveling.
"if we have nuclear weapons why
aren't we using them?" Coming.
Sweet dreams.
372
Indict, imprison, and impeach. Trump is a National Disgrace.
22
The sequence is wrong since a sitting president cannot be put on trial but the steps are appropriate if the evidence sustains it.
1. impeach 2. convict 3. imprison. It only takes a majority in Congress to impeach. Convicting requires 2/3 of the Senate to accomplish, so, not likely considering the vote will be along party lines. Imprison, well that won't happen either, because even if enough Republicans cross party lines in the Senate to convict and remove the president from office, President Pence will pardon Trump. And the next decision is where to put the presidential museum... 5th Ave or Palm Beach.
It's true, we have yet to see the fire, but the thickness of the smoke is causing many casualties from inhalation.
I think we are certainly past the fourth alarm, with more to come. Somewhere in the basement or attic, or both, embers will keep reigniting, making more smoke, until the house collapses.
Even as bodies are being pulled from the rubble, some observers will continue to question how such a tragedy could have occurred without having produced the lashing flames of a bonfire.
3
There is one more aspect not mentioned in the article. Russia establishes its influence in the Middle East through Syria's president Baschar al-Assad who is tied to Iran. Furthermore, Iran's nuclear program has been made possible by Russian engineers and Russian technology most likely with the support of the Russian government . Thus, the withdrawal of the USA from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action of 2015 is related to Mr Trump's sympathy for the Russian government.
20
When you consult with a doctor because you have a serious medical condition, the first thing the doctor orders is a set of blood tests. Without this blood work, the doctor can not make a definitive diagnosis.
Trump's tax returns and finances are to Mueller what blood tests are to a competent doctor.
And Mr. Mueller knows that too. Let's hope he already has possession of those tax returns.
26
All this is so obvious, our shyster president with his "fixer" - contemptible, and yet he is president and way too many people support this destructive cowardly hypocrite.
Why is the other scandal being forgotten: the Israeli Cube opposition research on Obama's people who supported the Iran deal. Iran is now all too likely to start up it's uranium enrichment program. Bolton is in the pocket of MEK, not a nice group, along with being trigger happy and diplomacy-averse.
There are too many scandals: we can't keep track. While Putin and KJU and China and all play Trump like a fiddle, my country is burning. Dangerous indeed.
33
How are we okay with all the shadow banking that goes on in the world? It operates at a level where I will never have access to it and could live a long life without a need for it. It was created to do shady things such as dodge taxes, launder money and corrupt democracy. It needs to end but I fear it never will as the power that run the place also use it to it's awful advantage. I sit down every evening and read about all the ways the wealthy are running right over us and I become sadder every day. Are we as a country lost or are we salvageable?
56
With this article, the outline of the puzzle seems finally to have fallen into a recognisable shape. Financial connections with Russians always seemed to be the corrupting factor, but understanding that Cohen with his Russian connections appeared as Trump began to borrow from these sources describes how so many people fit together.
It is a grave concern when a nation's leadership is compromised and corrupt. It is doubly concerning when that leadership is run by former KGB officers and mob bosses. I can only shake my head when I think, as difficult as it is to put these pieces together, Trump's supporters will never be able to believe, let alone understand, whom they've elected. No amount of beating them over the head with facts will open their eyes. For a very large portion of the population, Trump must to go to salvage Government. This may, however, spark bitter division and confrontation on many levels and lead to destruction of fraying sinews of trust and confidence in democracy.
The price to be paid will be high and we had better start thinking seriously how to repair the serious damage that will continue to be revealed one oddly shaped piece at a time.
65
Conservative news is not reporting any of this so... it’s not even that a large part of the country is ignoring Trumps possible mob-like laundering schemes with the Russians, it’s that they are woefully misinformed.
21
Mike Pence just told Andrea Mitchell that 'it's time to shut this investigation down' and that there is conjecture that this will be a strong rallying cry for the midterms. Instead of "lock her up" it will be 'shut it down'.
These people are evil and must be stopped.
5
As much as I'd like to see Donald in an orange jumpsuit, the hard evidence does not appear to be there- so far. Depending on Russians to keep him in action does not mean that he promised them government access six years ago. At the time, Don was just hoping to stay out of jail.
The best hustlers, like him, have no content. Don has perfected the art of telling suckers what they want to hear.
We get out of this via product boycotts. If corporate money is all that counts these days, let's at least land a few punches.
17
I couldn't agree more, and may I politely suggest that we small folk start by moving our money from banks to credit unions. I'm 60 years old and have never had a bank account. Mortgages, credit cards, savings, IRAs, certificates, international atm access -- I get them all from my credit union at better rates than the banks. And the money I save finances my neighbors' mortgages, not oil pipelines and other planet-destroying projects. It's a win-win-win, folks!
17
Trump has been laundering money for the Russian mob. And now we have evidence that AT&T, Novartis and other corporations are paying him under the table through his shyster Michael Cohen. Those are more than enough crimes to not only impeach him, but put him in prison the rest of his life.
I expect Mueller has nearly all the proof he needs to make those cases.
1
I don't doubt that you're correct here, Clearheaded, but let's hope that if Mueller has hard evidence for those charges, and that it gets out to the public. We don't want an abrupt resignation and a closing of the files.
The first thing Democrats need to do ( other than implement impeachment proceedings against the president ) when taking back power in the midterms and 2020, is to enact an air tight law requiring all Presidential candidates to release their tax returns going forward.
There are SOOOOOO many other things that need to be done in regards to election reform ( such as public financed elections, mandatory voting via paper ballots via mail, repeal of Citizen's United, national holiday to vote, re-implementation of Voting right's act and strengthening it, making voting easier, etc , etc, etc, ), but none of the above matters if the actual candidate is corrupt.
Release the tax returns.
80
Absolutely spot on.
2
There are a lot of dots in the various articles in the NYTimes articles about Trump and Russia. I'm waiting for someone, hopefully Mueller, to connect those dots and draw a big arrow pointing to Trump. I've always been suspicious about Trump's true worth. He came out of those bankruptcies unscathed. How did that happen legally? Maybe we should start calling him the Teflon Don II.
23
The Board says that cash exchanges between Trump and the Russians are relevant to the election tampering investigation. Law enforcement traces money to detect suspicious conduct and they investigate suspicious conduct by tracing money. In FBI training, these tactics are taught before the agents are taught what FBI stands for. The Board now has all the savvy of an FBI agent after a day of training. Before the Board tells us how to investigate crime, they ought to look at the FBI Manual to check whether they're stating the obvious. Here, they come off as ingenues. The relationship between money and fraud -- which the Board thinks it has discovered -- is known by most readers and at least 10% of third graders.
3
It's not a question of "discovered" in the sense you use it. It's more like "discovery" in the legal sense. We've all known for years that Trump is a conman and uses every bullying and shady tactic he can to advance himself. But when that material rises to the level of evidence acceptable in a court of law, that is different. (I thought you knew this.)
19
I wish I could say that the NYTimes printing this story has made me feel better. Trump remains in power, and his cabinet and advisers are more and more made up of crooks and war mongers doing what they can to enrich themselves and bring down this country to war. There is not going to be enough justice in this country for this man’s crimes and his mis-administration of government.
98
Let alone the bought and paid for Republicans in legislatures, courts, and authorities across the land. Bye-bye democracy, one law for the rich and another for those on the treadmill.
24
This editorial does a great job connecting a number of dots. There are still gaps, but they will fall into place. The way this is going it is making scandals like Teapot Dome and Watergate, look very mild, in comparison. Trump, his family, his close confidants are involved in an every deepening scandal. A kind of scandal one would never expect at the top of the US Government.
Mr. Mueller continues to get closer and closer to this top, who is Donald Trump. It is for this reason why Trump, in recent days, has been on the attack against Mr. Mueller, the free press> and, why he is deflecting attention to breaking the Iran nuclear deal, talking with North Korea, waiting fro three imprisoned Americans to return from North Korea as a political stunt. And, turning against all our allies.
Trump may know he is close to being brought down. And, the way he is acting, he wants to bring down the United States with him. He is not draining the swamp, but he is pouring poison into well. If Trump is forced out, it could take years for the United States to repair all the damage.
140
Nick Metrowsky:
If Trump is NOT forced out, it will take even longer to repair the damage. Take SCOTUS as one example. Take the environment for another.
7
I was just thinking about Teapot Dome earlier today myself, from back when it was in the high school history books. That's what passed for egregious governmental malfeasance in the pre-Watergate days--graft payments from a domestic oil company to a corrupt Interior Secretary to tip some domestic oil field drilling rights one way instead of the other. Total money changing hands was less than $6 million in today's money. That's what passed for top-shelf corruption back then, that's what made the high school history books. If I could somehow know that something like Teapot Dome was, or will be, the worst crime of the current Administration in our post-Citizen's United world, I would fall to my knees, reach to the sky, and cry in relief.
.
This isn't a swamp, it's a sewer, and it's filled with what sewers are filled with, and the stench of it will be filling our nostrils until those involved are swept away by the rising flood of it, and it's only going to keep getting worse. People are going to swing before all this is done--I'm just hoping Lady Liberty isn't among them.
7
No real estate developer ever puts up his own cash to finance a big project. They always use other people money. They always leverage as much as possible. That's how that game is played.
If there are no USA bank records of Trump borrowing from US banks, then there are only two possibilities of where the money came from. One is foreign banks. If he borrowed from foreign banks, then there would be records of such dealings. Those should be easy to find. If they existed, the world would have known about them by now. Besides, since no American banks would loan Trump money, why would any foreign bank?
The second possibility is that the money came from ill gotten sources such as mobsters, and other private sources like Russian billionaires (who are often mobsters). This is where the money laundering comes into play. Nonbank sources of money are much more easily hidden, the proverbial suitcase of thousand dollar bills. Drug lords routinely move billions around the globe so we know that such arrangements can be made.
Now, what has Trump protested the most regarding Mueller? Do not investigate the family business!! What has he refused to disclose? The family finances.
Trump's associates have Russian mob connections. Trump's son has freely and publicly admitted that the family business is financed with Russian money. There is no way Russian money could be involved without Putin's knowledge.
How much more smoke is needed before the flames can be seen?
653
In the last dozen years or so what Trump Projects have required him to borrow money. Does anyone know? I know that he is been selling his name to many real estate projects/ developments but what has he actually done where he needed to borrow money?
5
More needs to be said about the Russian Mob. The Russian Mob in the US is being protected by trump or trump is being propped up by the Russian Mob, either way it`s a ongoing criminal operation and should be prosecuted under the RICO Act. We also need to recognize that the Russian government is not a legitimate government but a criminal organization. It doesn`t sell drugs like a old fashioned Mafia family but it does use extortion, protection, loan sharking, money laundering, influence peddling and their influence now goes all the way to OUR Whitehouse, where`s Elliot Ness when you need him.
22
To us on the outside looking in, it seems evident that Trump is complicit in something ill-gotten. But in a court of law, the threshold for a criminal conviction is "beyond a reasonable doubt..." that a bad deed has been done.
In all that Mueller has unearthed, (has he in fact gotten tax returns??), if there isn't a smoking gun to connect Trump's conscious decision-making, then a criminal conviction won't stick. Maybe Trump was sufficiently covered his tracks, and the smoking gun will not be found.
Unfortunately, I don't think the American public can bring a civil action against the President and Congress, (called an election?) which I would settle for because a civil finding only requires a "preponderance of evidence...", which I think is evident; thank you Mr. Avenatti.
6
Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo has been saying all for a few years now: the real dirtiness of Trump is going to revolve around money laundering. Bribery is just a cousin of laundering, as is the classic shakedown, which apparently Cohen was setting up with companies like Novartis.
The blind spot of criminals is that they think they are smart, but in fact they are just clever enough to avoid too much of a light being shone on how they go about their business.
The Trump presidency -- hopefully -- will be exhibit A in law textbooks about how criminals walk right into this blindspot, and thus can always be caught. Let us hope. otherwise, the US presidency is apparently just another racketeering opportunity.
304
To quote from pjc, "The blind spot of criminals is that they think they are smart, but...they are just clever enough to avoid too much light being shown one how they (do) business". Trump's gigantic ego and narcissism makes him the perfect candidate to go down via this route. He thinks he is a genius and is above the law, simply because the spotlight rarely falls brightly on white collar crime. How he thought he could avoid the giant spotlight which being president inspires is an example of his hubris. Nemesis is just around the corner.
22
Steve Bannon said the same thing, and he should know.
4
In a word: hubris; the classic downfall of over-reaching, irreverent leaders.
1
Our country is being done a favor to bring all this to light, to be able see clearly what is going on with Cohen and the president and this shell company set up by Cohen. Thank you to the NY Times for this editorial. Yesterday, in the NY Times we found out about the president's long-time personal lawyer Michael Cohen's shell company account and now we need to find out the many details of where the money came from, who it was transferred to, and what the money was used for.
73
Yep, "Americans are lucky to have Robert Mueller" AND an aggressive, fact-based,and investigatory press.
12
Trump hiding his tax returns says there is dirt in the money trail.
'Nuf said.
For Trump at this point in his lies and obfuscation, guilty of dirt until proven (i.e., shows his tax returns) innocent.
55
In America there is a presumption of innocence until proven otherwise, but in Trumps case, we are going to take away the benefit of the doubt and presume him guilty as sin until he proves himself innocent by giving us his tax papers and any other records of his finances that says he is squeaky clean of Russian money.
48
He is being presumed innocent by the justice system. Investigations are used to build a case for charges. No charges have been brought, and even when they are, he is still presumed innocent until a judgement is made by whichever court of law he is taken to. He can't complain about how the system is treating him. But others are free to connect the dots and these dots point in a lot of pretty unsavory directions.
22
Proof is for the trial. There is more than enough circumstantial evidence to indict this man, per the last grand jury I served on.
22
What a load of nonsense. The presumption of innocence applies to the legal and judicial systems, not to the opinions of private citizens. Donald Trump, for example, took out a full-page ad calling for the death penalty of a group of young black men who were later proven to be innocent of the crime they were accused of.
4
What worries me is that DJT and his crime family will be able to use the agencies of the government to go after the investigators and prosecutors. They already have to a large degree but the line of professionals doing their jobs has held so far. Mattis is the only real up and up person that seems to be left in the cabinet or at the head of any agency. How long with Rosenstein and Wray be able to hold out before they are replaced with the likes of Bolton. Which way will Sessions fall when the breaking point comes? It worries me that more people are not more worried. We have been in slow- building crisis mode since the election. We are like the proverbial frog in the pot of warm water that comes to a boil so slowly that he doesn't know when to jump out.
174
Exactly and my fears as well. If Reagan was teflon, djt is a substance that hasn't even been discovered yet.
13
“He said nice things about me” Trump told Hillary during their debate, who responded that’s because he would be Putin’s puppet. Putin has done more than say nice things about Trump: not only did he use Kremlin machinations with Cambridge Analytica but he also had his oligarchs funnel money to Trump’s consigliere, Michael Cohen, who then made his shell company. As each of the Matroyshka dolls are opened, we see that Putin is inside. Hillary had it right.
131
Apart from his extraordinary boorish language, Trump is the quintessence of the Financial-Political Complex, with a strong tendency to his personal and nepotistic enrichment. This goes way beyond the reported stories of Lincoln presenting his travel expenses to US Treasury and State of Illinois simultaneously.
14
Mr. Trump's loud and continuous protestations of innocence are based on a narrow parsing of the truth, that media seems to both support and encourage.
Did he offer to help the Russians manipulate our election process, so that he might win it (as the entire media describes it)? Unlikely; I mean, what could he offer them, they didn't need his help.
Did they offer to help HIM, by manipulating our election process so that he might win it? Much more likely, because THEY were more than able to help HIM (and he wouldn't even have to say what he'd give in return). We don't (yet) have proof that they offered...
But wait, didn't he BEG them to manipulate our election process so that he might win it? He pretty much did, on national TV, telling them how MUCH it would mean to him, if they'd just, you know, find those emails, and ruin his opponents' chances. Scarcely needed help from Weener and Comey, although if it was always a Plan B to take it over the finish line, it was quite well-done.
His minions even attended that silly meeting in the tower, where they probably hoped to get a thumb-drive. And were probably told not to be so stupid, just keep an eye on WikiLeaks.
It doesn't stop being collusion just because it was them helping him, instead of him helping them... And there doesn't even have to be a quid pro quo, does there? "Help me, and then watch what I do." Trump was, and is, surrounded by people that would take a bullet for him.
37
But wait! There is certainly payback from Trump happening! Russia doesn't need money from the Presient of the United States. It needs policies to be changed. And change them Trump has.
Starting with the Republican platform changes during the convention, the dismantling of major American international agreements, and threatening the post-war order with Europe and Japan as our major allies he has already paid Russia handsomely. When he succeeds at eliminating sanctions you can bet in short order there will be a Trump Tower in Red Square.
11
What previous president had, or needed, a fixer? That pretty much sums up Donald Trump and his sleazy nature.
Maybe Trump will make "Fixer" a new cabinet position. The spineless Republican congress would have no problem approving that.
241
Many, many former presidents used fixers.
Few of them were, however, purely hoods, like Michael Cohen.
2
JFK had at least one fixer-Clark Clifford.
2
Reading articles like this makes me break out in a cold sweat. This man Trump is being boxed in with this investigation, and he knows it, and he is a dangerous animal right now. It will only get worse when Mueller drops another shoe, like another indictment.
Trump won't hesitate to fire Mueller and throw the country into a tailspin. Or worse, like a preemptive strike at a country like Iran.
110
I can imagine no greater distraction than the striking of Iran with a nuclear bomb.
3
EXACTLY! To make his presidency "legitimate" and hope we won't change horses midstream.
2
The most amazing thing to me is that under Trump there's little apparent difference between the behaviour of AT&T and the behaviour of the Russian mob. Putin-style crony capitalism now seems firmly implanted in American soil.
126
Even before Trump became president he sold real estate to the Russians who probably paid for it with laundered money. As soon as he became president his fixer, Cohen, let it be known that the USA is for sale at the right price. This will be proven in court. That is why Trump will not show his taxes. And also why he will let Cohen swing in the wind. All the king's men cannot stop Trump's deserved downfall. His actions are treasonous. His hiring of Rudy has only exacerbated his situation. And a lot of praise should go to Avenatti for his tenacity and his ability to beat Trump at his own game. And he should watch his back. Trump might use Putin's technique of silencing his opponents.
93
RICO, RICO, RICO, this wreak-os!
This is the reason that RICO was made law. These payments are just the beginning of the trail of corruption. In the end every person involved with Cohen/ Trump, every company that paid-to-play can expect charges to be brought against them.
RICO penalties have some of the longest prison sentences and also include freezing and forfeiture of assets (including corporate ones - refer to Enron prosecution). That is what Cohen and his accomplices have to look forward to.
I find comfort in what John Brennan said about Trump:
"When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history."
419
That quote was fabulous!!!!
10
The Feds only use RICO against Italians, alas.
Bravo for Brennan!
5
This all ties in to Citizens United. Money has essentially destroyed our democracy. It's an all-out bribeacracy. The fact that we allow lobbyists to buy our politicians with donations is completely insane. We have become so third world.
340
Please stop saying "third world" with such disdain and vile arrogance. America's corruption comes from her own corrupt soul which has been tainted from day one. As the Poet said : Know thyself.
3
Yes. Mulvaney admitted as much. "If you didn't contribute money, we didn't meet or speak to you." Nice too know my government is for sale.
7
Shame on the GOP for letting this go on. Shame on the DEMS for their cowed silence. Shame on Trump supporters for ignoring his utter corruption just so they can satisfy their biases.
112
Every billionaire in America should be scrutinized under the same microscope. See how long Mueller lasts then.
10
Trump is the president of the US; don't you think he should be scrutinized a bit more than an ordinary billionaire, assuming he's one?
The problem is not that Trump is being singled out--the real problem is that he seems to be getting a pass from the GOP and his racist, bigoted base, and Mueller is the only one doing any scrutinizing.
3
First, Mueller isn't claiming to be a billionaire. Second, Mueller, a Republican, was scrutinized when he was nominated to the position of the director of the FBI by, wait for, George Bush. I forget, which political party does Bush belong to? Third, only a criminal like Trump would be scared of scrutiny. It is incredibly obvious he is hiding much and even more obvious that Trump knows that Mueller knows. That's why Trump panics in the form of twitter tirades. It is obvious that you know Trump's goose is cooked, otherwise you wouldn't be parroting Fox News talking points all over this website.
1
The latest Cohen revelations are very, very suspect - It may be hard to prove, but it sure looks like inappropriate payments were made to trump thru this sketchy shell company by Russians as well as others trying to influence trump. This is undoubtedly corruption at the highest level - Now, what are we going to do about it ?
53
The 'people' of France stormed the Bastille when enough was enough. It's time we plain simple Americans storm our own Bastille - we need to take to the streets en millions masse with whatever tools it takes to scare the bejeezus out of these crooks and drive them quite literally physically out of town.
1
Increase the Republican majority in the midterms?
1
What do the shareholders of these American companies feel about payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars to shell corporations with no apparent function except to accept bribes? What work did the shell company actually perform? What product did it return? How many people actually work in there to provide services? I suggest that shareholders everywhere should put companies on notice that officers of the company who spend money so unethically will be fired.
The other question is where did that money go? Rent for rooms at Trump Tower perhaps?
64
I think your sentiment is exactly right here. Shareholders should be screaming about misuse of their money.
8
Donald Trump is a professional liar and a crook in his multiple shady real estate dealings. He hasn't changed one iota. The dictum 'follow the money' is indeed the correct one, to indict this demagogue for fraud, most likely guilty in obstructing justice. He is hiding things, for sure, from scrutiny, but Mr. Mueller may be closer than we think in nailing him down. What happened to us, in allowing the assault of the presidency by such an incompetent and corrupt individual, our ability to stop him disemboweled by a vulgar bully (a coward in disguise), now destroying the closely supervised Iranian deal, to prevent it from developing 'nukes'?
35
And here we have a president who is actively trying to separate the interests of the US from the interests of our closest allies in Europe. The Paris Climate Accord, canceling the JCPOA, these only really benefit one country, Russia. Sure, now and then Trump will shoot a few missiles into Syria, with plenty of warning, just so it's not completely obvious.
Trump hires these American heroes like Michael Flynn, despite being warned by the Obama administration, who travel to Russia and Russian-held countries and suddenly become very friendly with Russian interests.
No one who thought about Trump's past for more that 5 minutes is surprised by this. But, yea, there was an email server in Clinton's basement....
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So much for Trump being a brilliant businessman. If he were, he he would have realized that the money trail would catch up with him.
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"Follow the money" all the way to Russia. We've just gotten a peek at how Russian money flowed into Donald Trump's long-time lawyer and "fixer" Michael Cohen's shell corporation. Did it reach Mr. Trump? Mr. Cohen knows and perhaps Mr. Mueller does as well. But this is likely the proverbial "drop in the bucket" of a tsunami of Russian money that literally rescued Mr. Trump from bankruptcy. Few facts have emerged like the excessive price paid by a Russian oligarch for a Trump property in Florida. Whether or not the records of Deutsche Bank have been subpoenaed remains unclear, but that bank has already been convicted of money laundering and holds major loans to Mr. Trump. The suspicion grows that much of the money was laundered from Russia with the assistance and benefit of Trump himself. This, of course, would account for Mr. Trump's continued acquiescence to Russia from the change in the Republican Party platform, to the push for sanctions relief, to the Russian hacked "dirt" on Sec. Clinton leaked through WikiLeaks, and perhaps even to the appointments of Michael Flynn who both Barack Obama and Chris Christie warned him about and Rex Tillerson. The complex flows of Russian money from many Putin-allied oligarchs as we've just seen with Viktor Vekelsberg over a 20 year period since Trump's bankruptcy may reveal that he's been bought and paid for (aka "Kompromat") by Russia. All that remains as a plausible hypothesis that awaits Robert Mueller to prove or disprove.
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My education has been from the NY Times & WaPo -- and the New Yorker, especially Jane Mayer and Adam Davidson.
Please look up some of their articles.
My undying gratitude to all these journalists. I'm such a fan girl! They all are such stars.
46
Glad you mentioned Deutsche Bank. Good information from the New Yorker about that too. No, I'm not an employee or salesman, just find it the best reading around.
27
And I forgot about Wilbur Ross, the Bank of Cyprus - see Manafort and Russian oligarch monies - and oil money.
Hopefully, Mueller is connecting all these little dots into one big beautiful mess for Trump.
2
A Russian...his name rings something to me,yes,it is him: One of the oligarchs on the list was Viktor Vekselberg, who was identified as the founder and chairman of the Renova Group, which manages investment funds in several sectors of the Russian economy. But one intriguing bit of information was left out of the Treasury Department’s description of Vekselberg: he was recently a business associate of Wilbur Ross, President Trump’s commerce secretary.
ONLY THE BEST...
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Thanks for the tip. I just found an article by David Corn in Mother Jones about this connection.
What a tangled web!
43
This little tidbit on Ross has popped up a couple of times, even before his appointment. This has been treated as a nothing burger/fake news by the MSM. It obviously didn`t fit into the script of the ongoing reality show they are presently running as the news.
10
great quote Kate...the rest of it is "when first we practice to deceive". We have fallen down the rabbit hole! All to erase the achievements of a president who saved us from the last GOP deceptions engineered by Cheney and Company...oh, forgot to mention the huge slice of America that noticed Obama was (half) Black. They ignored that he was also HALF White, but they got out their erasers anyway after they drank the KoolAid of his rhetoric.
For everyone trying to keep up with this sprawling story in real time, take notes to share with future generations someday.
Movies, books and mini-series will attempt to capture the drama of this moment in our history.
It starts with the dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the superpower Soviet Union, the privatization of both Soviet and Chinese state enterprises and untold laundered private wealth sloshing around in the global economy.
The technology and free trade explosion fueled globalization and displaced workers across the developed world.
And all of that loose cash sloshing around the world found Trump and his tribe, disaffected by job losses, the Great Recession and related social dysfunction.
And now we have the most unstable leader on the planet since WWII. Stay tuned.
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Thank you, New York Times, for editorially initiating a new and much more consequential phase in "connecting the dots" directly between the Russian regime and the 45th President relative to potential criminal conduct. It certainly feels like the many disparate pieces of this involved felonious saga are finally starting to fall into place through your dogged reporting and that of other premier news organizations. We seem to be past the end of the beginning, and approaching the beginning of the end.
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Now, please do us a favor and tie in the treasonous Senators and Congressman and their masters who have colluded in the making of this Trojan president.
8
YES YES YES
There are lots of connections to dig up - journalists, don't let us down!
Its interesting how quickly Michael Cohen has become the nexus of the Trump campaign/administration's mine connections to Russia.
This evening I heard a witty pundit say the old mantra "follow the money" needs updating for the Trump era, to "follow the debt".
The sad thing about the entire mountain of corruption charges against this president is how few people seem to care. Oh sure, we who post here are following all the sordid details, but his supporters could care less and Congressional Republicans are actively seeking to undermine Robert Mueller.
I just hope Robert Mueller is able to finish his job. I feel we're seeing but the tip of the iceberg in the tsunami of corruption percolating throughout
this administration.
But that attributed to Trump and Cohen is the the most significant of all because it gets to the horror of our government to at.
Is the president compromised? did his greed for real estate financing make him become so beholden to Russian money that he promised sanctions relief to Moscow if he had funding both for his properties and his campaign?
Mr. Mueller, follow the debt!
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Christine, I think people care, and when the tide turns, as it’s beginning to, we will see people abandon these crooks. It’s frustrating for sure that so many still support or are staying quiet. When it happens his base we always hear about will drop to the 20s or lower I think
15
We have to ask why the republicans are so obviously undermining Mueller? Are they also on the take....
8
Sheldon,
I wish I could share your optimism. Just yesterday we were having a conversation about elections and a woman I worked with told a story about when her husband was running for a local office. After a voter heard her husband speak, the voter commented to my co-worker that he would be great in the job, but she just could not ever vote for a Democrat.
With Republicans, it is always party over country/community. That really scares me.
4
Perhaps one way trump can pay back monies borrowed from Russia is to sew discord nationally and internationally where and when Russia can benefit. Nationally he undermines our justice department and accuses the press of publishing "fake news". This leads to doubt in our democratic institutions paving the way for facisism. Internationally he cut the Iran nuclear deal. Oil from Iran can now be blocked raising the price for Russian oil. He
Praised Putin and he is trying to block or sabtoge Mueller's investigation into Putin's interference in our election. There are just too many connections making it very believable that trump is trying to retire a lot of his Russian debt.
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You give Donald Trump too much credit. Everyone who I have spoken to that has met him thinks he is a total moron. He is just being played and told what positions he should take by Jared and others who have serious financial loans and interests from the key puppeteers (Israel and Russia).
And this is why all of our presidential candidates must be required to open their books and release tax returns for full transparency. The conflicts of interest in this administration are staggering. Trump should not have been eligible to appear on the ballot.
882
Yes, it's been a tradition until now. But the next DEM president needs to get the House to create a law requiring candidates to open their finances.
47
It appears that several States are working on passing laws that Presidential candidates must release their income taxes before they can appear on their State's ballots. No name on the ballot, no votes.
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Should be for all candidates, local to national. The high level elected officials who have found to have somewhat unpatriotic ambitions that fill their pockets do not just spring up as presidential candidates. How many millionaires (and billionaires) do we now have in Congress? Hello, Scott Pruitt.
18
Quite simply, Trump's tax returns? Mueller no doubt has access to them. What about the public? I suspect something is there that POTUS doesn't want anyone to see.
69
My guess is that the tax returns are faulty too...
33
Not only an enormous ball of tangled twine, not just a single tangled thread, but rather compressed 3D spiderweb of connections between all strands, of favors, of cash, of legislative winks, of policies favoring no citizen but the highest bidder, of knowingly throwing the disadvantaged under the bus for political gain. It is beyond my ken how it was allowed to grow as it apparently has. I do hope that the investigators can somehow bring the compressed spiderweb ball back out to its full matrix so that those who care to look (and those that can't bear to look) cannot but see the connections and the deals and the money. And most importantly, the motives for Congressional and Executive actions and inactions which seem inexplicable on their face.
55
Cohen went to work for Trump in 2006, which is also when Trump had a sudden influx of cash. Cohen is connected to the Russian mob in New York. Many Russians have bought Trump properties ($100 million worth in Florida alone).
Here is what I think: Cohen has done very little real legal work for Trump. His main role was as agent, bringing in dirty Russian money via real estate deals with Trump.
This explains the cash. But there's more.
There is reportedly about $8 Trillion in Russian arctic oil waiting to be drilled. Russia did not possess the technology to drill it, but Exxon did. Exxon and Russia made a deal where Exxon would drill the oil for a 30% cut. This was underway until the sanctions following the Crimea annexation were imposed. The sanctions killed the deal.
Undoubtedly there are several powerful players who will make billions from that oil; not to mention Russia herself. And of course Putin, too (as he is reportedly the wealthiest man in Russia). Heading into the election the Russians knew if Clinton is elected there is no way the sanctions get lifted.
But if Trump is elected...maybe they go away. And we have seen there were steps taken to lift those sanctions after the election. So they decided to help Trump, which led to hacking and Facebook propaganda.
To me it's very easy to see why there was a Trump preference. He had been washing money and so the Russians have leverage. This to me explains Trump's unexplainable and unalterable devotion to Putin.
1013
I think you nailed it! Thank you for being way ahead of the curve on this.
96
Rex Tillerson was Exxon CEO.
88
Thanks for putting the timeline in context!
48
The only way to know if Russia hacked the 2016 election is to count the ballots by hand. Computer experts, including researchers from Princeton, Rice, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Ohio, and Stanford Universities, the Brennon Center, and the GAO, have proven over and over that electronic voting machines or central tabulators can be hacked (or manipulated by insiders) without leaving a trace.
Hacking Democracy - The Hack https://tinyurl.com/y7c9oopu
The full-length Emmy nominated HBO documentary: https://tinyurl.com/y7mydv7z
Victoria Collier: How to Rig an Election https://tinyurl.com/y9xx63f6
“In 2005, the non-partisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by Jimmy Carter and James Baker, stated unequivocally that the greatest threats to secure voting are insiders with direct access to the machines. ‘There is no reason to trust insiders in the election industry any more than in other industries.’”
Collier points out that Germany and Ireland went back to hand counting after realizing the vulnerabilities with electronic voting. In 2009, Germany's Constitutional Court "upheld the basic principle of the public nature of democratic elections" and ruled that the "vote count must be something the public can authenticate." In 2012, Ireland's Environmental Minister sent their machines to the recycling center. He called computerized voting a “poorly conceived, scandalous waste of money.”
I can’t think of a more important issue. #DemocracyDemandsTransparentVoteCourting
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Stephen Spoonamore, Computer Security Guru, Election Theft with Voter Machines
https://tinyurl.com/y7855vmp
"I am a Republican. This is not a partisan issue. This is a democracy issue. If you actually care about a constitutional democracy where every person actually votes, that the vote is validated, and the people who end up in office are reflected on the basis of the way people voted you care about this issue. If you don't want people to vote, and you don't want people's vote to count, you want to rule without owning it by a mandate, then you are very supportive of Diebold."
Josh Mitteldorf: Intro to Election Theft in America (part 1 of 4)
https://tinyurl.com/yanc473c
“Are votes in American elections being counted fairly and accurately? In an open democracy worthy of the name, this should not be a question for forensic science, but in 21st century America that's just what it is. The U.S. is unique in the developed world in counting votes with proprietary software that has been ruled a trade secret, not open to inspection, even by local officials whose responsibility it is to administer elections.
“As we have learned, there is stiff resistance to looking at the ballots with human eyes. So we are left looking at statistics and anecdotes, trying to determine whether vote counts are honest and reliable. The evidence does not inspire confidence. But whatever you think of the evidence, there is no justification for a system without the possibility of public verification.”
58
Even if the votes/tallies weren't actually hacked the voter registration rolls in a few key states were. If registration rolls were changed – causing voters to be labeled as inactive & therefore dropped, a person's political party affiliation changed, or if people on the registration rolls were removed by hackers – it could cause a difference in the # of votes. Some states had Trump winning by less than 25,000 votes. If hackers had changed the registration rolls it would be more than enough. Within 2yrs of the election more than 25,000 voters were kicked off of the registration rolls due to Republican voter suppression methods like Crosscheck, &/or the States so-called "cleanup of rolls".
Changing the registration rolls is actually one of the easier ways of cheating. Of course, Trump's associates could have also changed the vote like you mentioned above.
But I've wondered: if Trump wasn't really out to win the election, and planned on using his newfound popularity to start his own tv network, then why would he hack the election & do so much to win?
Maybe the Russians, or a different group of Republicans, were more interested in a Trump presidency than he was?
37
Bravo and thank you. This issue garners little to no attention and is routinely dismissed if and when it is brought up, yet it is crucial to fully understanding what happened in 2016. I have wondered if machine hacking occured in the primaries as well, likely an even less stringently overseen operation. I lived in smaller Florida town for many years where the Supervisor of Elections was an 84 year old 30 year veteran of the position. No ageism implied, just the realities of someone fossilized in their position and zealously protecting their territory. Failure of imagination can have devastating results on our democracy, which appears more fragile each day. We need to demand paper back-up ballots at the very least.
28
During the campaign many of my friends and I distinctly remember Trump saying repeatedly that "nobody knows more about Russia than me," a phrase that apparently has been erased from the cloud. Our assumptions were that , given his close ties to monied Russians - his financiers and/or those living in his properties, he felt this indeed to be true.
Why can't the Times or some other media entity find and broadcast this boast?
160
A Russian tale of Oligarchs
The tale's of Trump and Oligarchs
Trump swims it seems 'midst many Sharks
The bankruptcy gambit
Alas seems he jammed it
Is now awash with debtor marks.
66
Nobody in their right mind would deal with the mob, whether Russian or American organized crime. Sure, there is money to be made but if you don't pay it back, if you double cross them, they will kill you. Rumors in NYC have connected Trump to organized crime for decades. Did Trump run for president to make money or for an ego trip...or did he run because he needs the protection of the Secret Service? Trump may have run because he owes some people some big favors. Putin? The mob? Big corporations that have funneled money to him? Whatever Trump is doing, he's not looking out for the average American.
331
When we're ready for a truly Black Humor TV show, they'll give you credit for the idea that Trump ran for president to get SS protection.
4
Which members of the GOP in Congress want to be that last ones to realize that the party is over? There is a short window of time, for me it has already closed, in which a GOP representative could still cut ties with the Trump administration, Mitch and Paul and possibly hold his/her head high. The clock is ticking.
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I think not! The more Liberals complain, the longer Russian thing drags on, the complaints about not seeing Trump tax returns, Pelosi telling she will raise taxes and another nasty NYT Editorial will only help keep the GOP in both Houses(Thank God!). This only fires up the 64,000,000 voting Trump base! I could not prouder our President and what he is doing!
Uh...when pigs fly.
3
And it all comes together, quite nicely. Godspeed Mr. Mueller.
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In the last day or two I sense a collective realization on the part of the media that a line has been crossed and what happens in the near future will have long term consequences for our country. With so many leads pointing to potential wrongdoings it is quite unlikely that all of them are false leads. At the same time, there is a palpable sense of caution that a premature move could bring about an avoidable and unnecessary constitutional conflict. I expect a slow and deliberate building up of a case against Trump by various investigators, and desperate attempts by Republicans to shield the president - all of these building toward a climax in the days and months before the mid-term elections. I hope the voters will be alert to the enormity of the consequences of the choices they will make.
463
You cannot rely on Republican voters to wake up to the issues and change. I give as example the more than 10,000 people in West Virginia who voted for Blankenbush. This guy had been convicted in court of causing the death of 29 coal miners and still they voted for him. What icon should be more sacred than the coal miner? And this guy's business practices led to 29 deaths and 10,000 people don't care.
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And yet we see the NYT breathlessly reporting on how Trump is masterfully "taking the reins" and could be given a Nobel prize for god's sake. You and I may see clear evidence of corruption in these revelations, but, abetted yet again by the supposedly "liberal" MSM, there are far too many fellow citizens and Republican congressmen who just don't care.
14
I too hope voters are alert because they will not be alerted by the MSM.
3
The pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fit together and I hope that Mr. Mueller can give us the whole picture at some point.
Anyone who lives his life and conducts his business in the manner that Trump does must not be allowed to remain in office.
I do not believe that any American citizen could have ever imagined the nightmare that our nation is being forced to live through all because Congress refuses to impeach Trump.
609
Nobody in the US should be above the law. If members of the administration or Congress have broken the law then they should be brought to justice ASAP.
37
Don’t let Mueller give you false hope. That Avenatti had to light up Coen’ s deals means Mueller may be waiting for the elections, or longer, to pounce.
We don’t have that kind of time.
7
The saddest thing is that trumps followers don't care.
18
"This sort of suspicious cash was at the heart of a recent report by The Washington Post that found that in the decade before the election, Mr. Trump did something unusual for a real estate developer — he all but stopped borrowing money."
We know that no US bank will lend him any money because of his record of bankruptcies. Why would anybody think he stopped borrowing money? One possibility is that he "borrowed" from a non-US entity, for which records might be harder to locate, if they exist at all.
All cash purchases are also an indication of MONEY LAUNDERING. That raises the question: who was he laundering money for? How much of a laundered dollar does the laundry get to keep? Ten cents?
We have heard from Donnie Jr and From Eric that they were getting all the cash they needed from Russia. One has to wonder how long that has continued, and in what form.
SHOW US YOUR TAX RETURNS, Donald. Federal and NY State both.
1043
It's pay to play, and Hillary with her, "foundation," was perfect for claiming a wild success, "doing good in the world." But, those big donations were all about getting access to the future President. Not to mention, the administrative staff that pushed the agenda.
Peel back a layer or two, and we see a rotten core in plain sight.
1
Yet independent auditors of charities found that the Clinton Foundation spent more than 90% of its revenue on the causes it was meant for (the remaining less than 10% went to administrative costs), something like the opposite is true of the Trump foundation.
Ah yes, and we would know about the financial entanglements (foreign/domestic, legal/illegal) of this president if he released his tax returns - as have all other presidents in modern history.
Isn't the term for such activities 'influence peddling'? I know that would be illegal if an elected official accepted such offers, but is the president's private lawyer included? Do lobbyist laws apply to such 'consulting' transactions? And what are the legal issues if some of this money was routed to Mr. Trump or his organizations? I have nothing but questions--who has answers?
86
A question: is Donald Trump so immersed financially with Russian clients and business partners, beginning prior to his nomination for President, and continuing after his inauguration as President, that he has compromised his ability to discharge the duties of his office?
Or put another way: does it factor in the President’s thinking that any decision he makes on behalf of the American people first does no harm to his standing with those who financially benefit him and his businesses?
And concluding with: is it possible (or right, or legal) for this or any American President to serve two masters at the same time, one domestic, one foreign?
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"is it possible (or right, or legal) for this or any American President to serve two masters at the same time, one domestic, one foreign?"
He can't be bothered with serving one of the two.
47
@Pmanos:
Excellent words! Your words are the words of an opening argument for the impeachment of Donald John Trump. Republicans must be forced to begin the impeachment of Trump, not Democrats. Republicans are responsible for this destruction of America by Trump, and either they fix the problem or they must face the most severe political punishment possible.
29
The answer to all your questions: yes, Donald Trump is a traitor.
19