Hope these good-fella's like the cut of their orange jumpsuits!
5
So I just listened to Sarah Sanders defend today’s events... maybe a stupid question, but isn’t she supposed to be the head of communications for the White House? Why is she allowed to blatantly lie to the American people on a daily basis? At what point do her lies make her legally complicit? #unindictoredco-conspirator
10
The Editorial Board must finally be conceding that the "Trump-Russia" collusion theory that is the basis of the Mueller "investigation"……..is simply an unverified "conspiracy theory" peddled by conspiracy theorists.
The evidence for the above fact is the Editorial Boards willingness to slay Trump as a "felon" for something they reported on back in January:
"Porn Star Was Reportedly Paid to Stay Quiet About Trump"
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/us/trump-stephanie-clifford-stormy-da...
"More Details Emerge About Trump’s Relationship With Porn Star"
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/us/politics/stormy-daniels-trump.html
Seven months later, Trump paying hush money to a porn star is reported as if Trump and Putin himself were caught in the DNC headquarters stealing emails.
The Editorial Board says: "Only a complete fantasist — that is, only President Trump and his cult — could continue to claim that this investigation of foreign subversion of an American election, which has already yielded dozens of other indictments and several guilty pleas, is a “hoax” or “scam” or “rigged witch hunt.”
I say: Only a complete fantasist - that is, the NYTimes Editors and their cult - could compare paying off a porn star and the Manafort years-old tax evasion to "foreign subversion of an American election".
6
{Only a complete fantasist — that is, only President Trump and his cult — could continue to claim that this investigation of foreign subversion of an American election, which has already yielded dozens of other indictments and several guilty pleas, is a “hoax” or “scam” or “rigged witch hunt.”} … and let’s not forget those Q-Anon-ers, who think Trump is really just “cleaning things up.” Oh, how twisted human thinking can become.
{For a witch hunt, Mr. Mueller’s investigation has already bagged a remarkable number of witches. Only the best witches, you might say.} Touché!
4
Time to bring out my "trump baby " balloon.
6
Yet, it is the Times that are 'failing'. And the Trump cult questions nothing..
Hey look over here, he says, mistrial on 10 counts! Forget those pesky felonies!
Mr. Trump is a CROOK.
6
I am applauding Sen. Elizabeth Warren's take on "Drain the Swamp!" https://nyti.ms/2oSgT3U
1
if manafort spent so much money on clothes why does he always appear in rumbled off the rack looking suits? Sorry I know this is a frivolous comment. What awful people Trump's pals are!
4
Regarding Cohen, the media want a story that has legs.
It is hard to be cynical anymore. It used to be you called everyone in government a crook just to show how smart and interested you were. It was hyperbole but directionally correct. Now it is an understatement, a soft description of reality. These guys aren't crooks. They are Dr. Evil wannabes.
Good riddance on Manafort. How long before we see the pardon from the Dr. Evil Wannabe-in-Chief?
3
Or, "All the President's Witches"
3
In your dreams. Impeachment ain’t gonna happen.
1
you put this right into your editorial "who ran the Trump campaign for three months in 2016," -- then you try and make him a big part of the campaign. Obviously it was next to nothing. Also obvious is that the charges have nothing to do with the campaign and russia.
it was about not filling your taxes properly for 5 yrs, not disclosing foreign accounts, etc.
can an organization as great as the NYT come up with better opinions than this. and leave the nonsense alone.
why don't you talk about the economy. about the middle east. about china, korea. give it a rest.
great for you, you found a new thing to jump on T about.
3
The Democrats and NYT oped writers may cry foul but I’m sure that if elections were held this October, Trump would easily beat the likes of Warren. Ultimately paying hush money is in the same league as the Lewinsky scandal.
2
You're including Republicans and their voters, right?
The Editorial Board is having some with us "All the President's Crooks" is obviously very Nixonian. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein working for The Washington Post broke the Watergate story. Their book and later movie was called " All the President's Men." And Dick Nixon was famous for saying " I am not a crook"
2
Contrary to what some people are saying, Pence would not be worse than Trump. Yes, for a short time he would be much more efficient and effective in the fascist groove with McConnell than Trump is, but the base would never go for him. He's too dull and wooden. That's not what they want. They want excitement, reality TV, bad language, overt (not sly) racism, sex, overt aggression, etc. In a word, drama. The fascist wave, which is not a majority of the public, will collapse if it has to be led a President Pence. They'll turn him off in a heartbeat. Besides, what makes you think Pence is clean enough to escape the net? Sure, he came in after the Russian relationship was well under way, but you can't be the Vice President and pretend "I know nuhtink!" He knows plenty, we can be sure. He'll get his, too.
3
Trump's sympathy with Manafort is totally understandable. For Trump, bank fraud, tax evasion and hush money are business as usual for his entire life. Trump views the presidency as though he's a landlord of one big property; he sees the "government" [i.e. Deep State] as an annoying city safety inspector demanding more smoke alarms. Most of whom can be paid off.
2
Regarding Cohen and Manafort trial outcomes: If it's what you say, I love it.
2
You don't have to like Trump to think that this is a tempest in a teapot. Is there anything new here? We have known that Cohen/Trump likely paid off Stormy Daniels for at least a year.
So we now know that Trump is sleazy and despicable? Another non-surprise. Those who haven't accepted Trump's election need to get over it. Get out and vote if you want to do something about Trump. Complaining about how his presidency is "illegitimate" won't get you anywhere.
4
What's the problem here? It's just draining the swamp, as Trump promised.
Cohen's testimony is credible because he had to testify to something he didn't want to admit to under oath in front of a judge and a room full of reporters. He faces jail time for that testimony.
The president's tweets are not credible because he keeps contradicting himself, because he is a pathological liar.
I saw a Trump supporter arguing that Cohen didn't commit a crime, he just made a plea deal???! . ignoring the fact that that means he plead down from greater crimes.
90% of the Republican Party supports a pathological liar that uses his office for political gain, and who's 5 month campaign manager and manager of the Republican National Convention, and who's "fixer" were both convicted of serious felonies.
This makes Trump a cornered animal. The attacks on our Republic from the Presidency will get worse now, not better.
We are entering a constitutional crisis We the People better realize how important our Constitution is pretty soon ,or really bad things could happen.
1
I’d really like to see a front page story over the fold with large type called something like “president is a mobster”. The content would be a comparison between our president and gangsters Real and in movies. The common thread would be an escape from the law. In the movies the head honcho would congratulate his gang ifor not breaking during questioning by police which is lo and behold exactly what our president did. He places loyalty to him above the rule of law indicating that he belongs in jail with all the rest of the gang. Maybe if I didn’t pay my taxes I get a bravo from President Trump
2
When Trump learned of Michael Cohen’s guilty pleas, he said: “Does that mean I won’t get my face on Mt. Rushmore?”
It's more like a “which” hunt, as in “Which if any of Trump's associates aren't crooks?”
3
It is not a crime to pay either of these two women for their silence. The payments were legal and did not come from campaign contributions. You would have to get Trump, under oath, to say that the purpose was to change the outcome of the election rather than spare his wife or family from potential embarrassment, to be able to charge these acts as criminal violations of federal elections code.
Paul Manafort's conviction had nothing to do with Trump. It related to tax matters that were as much as 12 years old.
There was not one single link to Russian collusion made anywhere in yesterday's proceedings.
This is reality.
It is cult like behavior for those in opposition to Trump to find anything in those proceedings that has anything to do with Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election. It is cult like behavior to claim that Trump is really in trouble now that these convicted individuals have a reason to turn on him. If yesterday was your big day.... You got nothing.
The true attack on democracy comes from those who continue to create these phony linkages where none exist. The true attack on democracy is to continue this attack on the duly elected President of the United States because you just really, really, really hate him.
3
Isn't it around this time that Trump should declare that the “people have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I’ve earned everything I’ve got.”
This is still just the tip of the Trump conspiracy to destroy our democratic system.
2
I wonder what crimes might be yet to uncover in Trump's hidden tax returns.
President Trump possesses the strongest character that we've seen in a president since Cicero. Even though President Trump has been surrounded by liars, theives, traitors and cheats for years, who try to frame him as though they were doing his bidding, he has managed to remain above it all. May God bless him with the many, many rewards that he so richly deserves.
And these are just the crooks we know about. Anyone who has ever been in Trump's orbit should be looking over their shoulders for the long arm of the law. Who will be the next to fall once the canaries sing and the fingers point?
Please call out the Republicans who support him BY NAME. Parade and shame every single one of them on the front page with their response or lack there of. for his innumerable lies and acts of anti Americanism, EVERY DAY from now until the end of his presidency. Put them on the front page every day until they do what they are refusing to do. Protect the Constitution and the rule of law of this country. The silence is deafening and their complicit behavior is traitorous..
OK - I am not a fan of Trump, and these low lifes he has surrounded himself with seem to be getting their due. BUT the NYT and its commenters are almost rabid in their desire to bring down Trump. I've got bad news for you . . . unless there is far more to this then what we've seen with Cohen and Manafort (with Manafort's issues not seemingly related to activities with the administration) you are all likely going to be very disappointed with the outcome. AND pushing for impeachment may feel good but it's a bad strategy (it will take too long, and will only further polarize those that lean toward supporting Trump, and cause them to believe that Trump is right in his claims of a biased witch hunt). Instead, why not find a far better candidate with broader appeal than someone like Warren or Hillary, and simply trounce Trump in the next election? Maybe Jamie Dimon? Howard Schultz?
5
Trump was very clear in his campaign speeches and rallies. He is the boss. He gives the orders. His people executes his orders. He wants everyone to know he is in charge. No slight is hidden from his gaze. No action by his "friends" and "enemies" goes unnoticed. He is the center of his universe.
Now, we find his people have been committing crimes to protect him and to clean up his messes. They has been bullying his "enemies." They have be defending his actions. They have been making deals to perform Trump's orders. Yet, there is an interesting gap. Somehow Trump is not involved in these actions. But, as per Trump, he is the Boss. Trump being out of the loop is not possible.
We are reaching the point of of replay the scene from "A Few Good Men." Trump as Col. Nathan R. Jessep (Jack Nicholson) to Mueller 's Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise). I believe Mueller knows that Trump wants to tell his truth, needs to tell his truth, regardless of the consequences. The most likely truth is Trump ordered all of the actions and is proud of doing it. He knows what he is doing is right and everyone else should respect him for it. Mueller wants to enable Trump to have his impassioned speech in a legal setting. It may take another 6-18 months to get there. I believe that day is coming.
1
It’s not close to being over but we’re indebted to the NYT and WAPO for their dogged reporting on this gang of pirates. I screenshot your front page to have evidence of the day. These crooks have been unbelievable and the daily outrage has been a bit mitigated by the these court results.
1
Though the mills of God grind slowly; Yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "Retribution"
When I think that despite all this chaos, misdeeds, lies, contradictions and, last but not least, treacheries carried out by Trump and his accomplices (a.k.a. the Republicans) there are still people out there who would vote for these crooks. Is there any limit to human stupidity?
1
We should all remember that Trump and Pence were on the same ticket—if one is illegitimate, so is the other. Pence benefited from Trump and the Trump campaign felonious activities. If Trump leaves, who will assume the presidency? We need a special election to find a new President and Vice President , and we need to remove Gorsuch and roll back the damage this President and Vice President have done to our republic
Please read a WP story from a few years ago...I expect equal justice.
Obama campaign to pay $375,000 fine for omitting some donor’s names in 2008
Best of the Obama campaign
By T.W. Farnam
January 4, 2013
President Obama’s campaign has agreed to pay a $375,000 fine to the Federal Election Commission, among the largest penalties in the agency’s history.
The fine was imposed after an audit of the campaign’s books showed that it failed to report the identities of donors who gave large checks in the weeks before the 2008 election, according to a copy of the agreement between the FEC and the president’s campaign.
The document shows that the Obama campaign failed to disclose the identities of donors responsible for $2 million in contributions in the weeks ahead of the election. The campaign also misreported the dates of $85 million in other contributions.
In addition, the Obama campaign also kept $1.3 million in contributions that were above the legal maximum allowed for a federal campaign, failing to return them within the 60 days required by law. The campaign kept almost $874,000 of those donations until the FEC discovered they were unlawful.
3
Yet another way in which this all reminds me of Watergate: The scandal and coverup in which the president and his cadre have embroiled themselves was entirely unnecessary.
Nixon didn't have to pull any dirty tricks on the Democrats to win in 1972. He was very much the front runner even aside from having the incumbent's advantage; the antiwar movement lost a lot of steam after the draft ended. Even with Watergate hanging over him, he took 49 states and pounded McGovern into the dust.
Similarly, Trump had decades of reputation as a hound with women behind him. He wasn't going to lose even one vote, one viewer, one iota of popularity. If his affairs came out, his fans would laugh, cheer, or at best (as the evangelicals did) offer rationalisations . I'm sure he's got a prenup with Melania stipulating that if she walks out on him, she takes only the clothes on her back (if that).
Neither Team Nixon nor Team Trump had anything to gain by the actions they sought to cover up. The wounds were not only self-inflicted but entirely gratuitous. Not even the desperate act of a man in a beartrap sawing off his leg to escape; rather, a runner just before the victory lap, drawing a target on his foot and taking aim. But deceit's the default setting of such venal men, as is turning on each other when it all falls apart.
The only thing we learn from history, it is said, is that we never learn anything from history. Trump learned nothing from Nixon.
2
Charles E. Weller, teacher, proposed a typing drill phrase, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party." Said typing drill phrase is also now used as a clarion call to muster people of good will to action. Clearly the adjective "all" as it pertains to the GOP is a misnomer. Therefore change, as some did, "aid of the party" to "aid of the country." Will that indeed efficaciously touch? Please let it so be, for nothing less is at stake than the soul of a nation.
If trump committed a crime to sway the election, then regardless of russian involvement, doesn't that mean that he isn't a legitimate president? It seems like neither he, nor pence should not get to have any further decision making power until this is fleshed out. We need an "interim executive" to mind the shop while this gets properly investigated.
I think this scandal may be a problem for Republicans at this time. Not that they will admit it publicly.
It's hard to imagine that a man who surrounds himself with felons has clean hands himself. So far we have not only Manafort and Cohen, but also Gates and the lawyer who worked with Manafort and Gates. Their accountant is essentially an unindicted co-conspirator.
The investigation is not over yet and Manafort has another trial in a few weeks.
All of this is just before the midterm elections, obviously.
Trump can scream "no collusion" all he wants, but he is guilty at the very least of obstruction of justice in his handling of the Russian/Trump son meeting in 2016 and his complaints about Manafort's trial. A president has no business commenting on an ongoing investigation or trial and Trump has done so publicly and repeatedly.
There's a lot of smoke. I think Trump is the source of the fire.
2
I predict that the day after the Nov. 2020 election, Trump will pardon everyone mentioned in this editorial including himself regardless if he wins or loses his reelection bid. He's that much of a bum.
Pity me: I used to live in Virginia, but now in Duncan Hunter’s California district.
Thank you, The New York Times. I'm sure many of us are relieved by the clarity and eloquence of this and other opinions of this regrettable administration.
2
Why is Trump still at the White House given that Cohen has implicated him in a crime?
If it was any other citizen, he or she would have been arrested by now. What kind of policy is it that holds a sitting President can not be indicted while in office?
Are we to assume that if Trump really shot someone on 5th Avenue tomorrow, the secret service would refuse to hand him over to the police for questioning because he is a "sitting president"? Isn't that just a mockery?
As a ex-Democrat who voted twice for Obama and hated Fox News and their spin on the mass media bias it has shocking to find out Fox News was correct. Don't expect to see this displayed but it would be horrific if there was no Fox News to challenge the Left monopoly on news. The left might win in impeaching the President on 'trumped" up Muellar claims but surely the public would be end up very upset and even more divide. Congrats to the Left.
Loved the closing line. Thanks for ending with humor. Actually, laughing at buffoons and bullies hurts them more than anything else. Laugh on!
Terrific editorial.
If President Trump hires only the best people, and if he hired Michael Cohen, and if he retained Michael Cohen for ten years, and if he claimed that Cohen's prosecution was a disgrace and "bad for America," and if Michael Cohen has now pled guilty to crimes naming the President as co-conspirator, and if the President now says that Cohen is a bad lawyer and that nobody should hire him, then the arithmetic is off.
Trump hired him, and quite contentedly used his services for a decade. Can you choose your roommate for jail?
1
Of all the people in Trump's orbit, who is without sin? Melania tries to stay apart, but she worked as an undocumented immigrant and her parents are the chain migrators the president wants to eliminate.
Mike Pence is insipid enough -- what else has he to do? -- but he's hateful toward gay people and just weird about women. And he lied about Mike Flynn and the Russians.
Most of the cabinet, many in the White House and campaign staff and several of Donald's friends (as if) are all caught up in one scandal or another.
Comes now Donald Trump, the godfather of this crime family, and he rails at our system of law enforcement and criminal justice.
Nothing suggest his unfitness for office more than his express expectation that he controls "justice" and is above the law.
For the rest of the world, there is one good thing that will come out of all this muck, no matter what happens. America's "holier-than-thou" attitude is gone. What a relief.
How do we get ourselves out of this? How are we going to solve the war against truth and empiricism? How are we going to get back that 30% of our country that is blinded by this terrible person?
Right On NYT editorial board. Right on.
6
A candidate can contribute whatever they want to their own campaign. It is not a crime for a candidate to pay hush money to someone who might make the candidate look bad by talking. So if Trump paid hush money there was no violation of any campaign laws. If Cohen made the payments himself then without instruction from Trump, then that would be an impermissible campaign contribution on the part of Cohen. There may be issues with failure to report a campaign contribution if that’s what Cohen’s payments were, but failure to report campaign contributions happen all of the time and the offense is considered to have been committed by the campaign and no the candidate.
7
@It isn't working
Review from an actual expert in campaign finance law:
https://www.lawfareblog.com/michael-cohen-plea-agreement-possible-meanin...
You best read the Cohen charging documents: the Information and the Plea Deal so you are familiar with the actual facts as alleged.
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4779473/Michael-Cohen-Plea-Ag...
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4779489/Cohen-Information.pdf
Trump should never have been nominated for the Presidency. It's apparent that he has been corrupt for at least 30 years, in tangent with Russians. It's a low moment for MSM. The cardinal rule for journalists is that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. MSM failed in their due diligence during the campaign. Even if they didn't support Hillary there were other GOP candidates. I now hope MSM & their owners can redeem themselves by using their voices to halt the nomination for the Supreme Court until after the November election.
6
-It is appearing that there were a series of false fact that swung the election in favor of Trump and Pence.
If Trump's election is invalid, then so is Pence's.
Seems to me we need to void the whole election and have another election.
10
It seems clear to me that many positive forces have recognized the danger a Trump president has been doing to this country, how it has been undermining so much of who we are, whether in terms of the environment, education, justice, respect for others, and so much more.
But ultimately, we are seeing truth coming to light, and there are so many people an institutions to be grateful for, including the New York Times. While there still exists the Sean Hannitys, Rudy Gullianis and othre apoligists, and of course Fox News, we are indeed being reminded that the United States is a great country that, and while it may be down at times, has the wherewithal to right itself. I believe we are witnessing this now, and I think Americans can be proud again...not due to some phony "Make America Great Again" slogan while at the same time laying us low, but reminding us that we are a country peopled by those with integrity and respect for the truth. It is a day to be proud of our country and to recall who we have been and indeed who we are.
7
Peter Lobel, this nation will not have “righted itself” until its leaders remove the cancer occupying the Oval Office. While we should be very thankful of both the Constitution and the free press, we have a shameless criminal continuing to lead America. A handful of Republican lawmakers can change that. Their cowardly reluctance is embarrassing and frustrating and shows how far we have fallen from greatness.
You asked, "Let that sink in: Mr. Trump’s own lawyer has now accused him, under oath, of committing a felony." I have and have concluded that the nation has two options in dealing with a President who is credibly accused of committing a multiple felonies. There is, of course, the much discussed political solution--the "I" word or impeachment. But there is also the legal solution which would involve indicting Donald Trump. The Republicans have made it clear that a political solution is not possible. In fact, they've been working on their own political solution which is to protect Mr. Trump by discrediting, impeding and obstructing the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Can a President be indicted? If we are to believe that the Constitution provides a uniform "rule of law" that applies to everyone, the answer should be "Yes." But, the only credible way to find out is for the attorneys in the Southern District of New York to indict Mr. Trump. They have Mr. Cohen's guilty pleas, his tapes of conversations with Donald Trump, emails and financial records including Trump's repayment plus a huge fee. They have strong legal case against the President whose criminal actions clearly affected the outcome of the 2016 election. They should pursue it by indicting Donald Trump.
26
Oh, for goodness sake, lock him up already! How much more do the people of this nation have to see and endure?
31
Speaking of all the president’s crooks, Trump is increasingly sounding like a Mafia Don. Here’s tweet from this morning:
“I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. “Justice” took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to “break” - make up stories in order to get a “deal.” Such respect for a brave man!”
The president is standing up for a convicted felon, who has been found guilty of various crimes by his own Justice Department! This does not augur well for our system of justice and our democracy going forward.
33
In other words, "You've been a good boy, Paul, and I've got you covered !"
Manafort the dictator-loving crook was willing to manage Trump's campaign for free. (He had his own motives, of course.)
Trump the greedy wannabe dictator was happy to fleece yet another gullible underling. (He had his own motives, of course.)
Sounds to me like the two of them were made for each other. Maybe they can meet up again soon, in some federal prison.
15
Oh you editors are such a funny lot. Every morning since the 2016 election you have gotten up and hoped that today would be the day you get President Trump because you want to undo an election. Well yesterday was not that day, neither is today nor the days after next. There was no "collusion" that was a false narrative spread by Brennan, Reid, the Clinton's', the democrats, and the media to explain her loss and tar President Trump in the process. If Trump did give Cohen money to pay others that is not illegal, nor is it illegal for the recipient of the funds to sign a NDA, nor is it illegal to reimburse ones attorney for making the payment.
8
It is however, illegal to convince someone to break the law on your behalf. If you hire someone to commit murder, you are also guilty of the crime committed.
@MJS
It's truly sad that there are people here that seem to over look the many convictions that are happening behind the Russian interference. Since your no constitutional scholar, or a constitutional lawyer, what you say is legal, has been proven in statute to be illegal, why else would a trained lawyer (Cohen) make a statement like that, duhhh.
None so blind as he who chooses not to see.
Before you continue shaking your head at Democrats, I suggest you read a little about campaign finance rules. The payment and the reimbursement violate federal election laws. Surely you aren’t suggesting that the President is above the law.
Manafortpaid Trump $3.5 million to get into Trump Tower. We assume the source of the money was the Russians. Did they also order him to do this. Trump was also secretly corresponding with a Russian computer server. The FBI tells us they had knowledge of multiple contacts of trump associates with the Russians. Was this a front, a diversion, by the Russians to cover up their real espionage, which they did not penetrate? We know there was a failure not to warn before the election of what they did know, but did the Russians put one over on them as to their real spying, which involved actual control of key players?
3
It is all a matter of time before it all comes crashing down. Trump may have gotten away with criminal behavior in the NYC real estate world but at the national level, he has met his match. The question is when will some of his cronies flip? That will determine the speed in which the house of cards collapses. I hope someone flips soon. Although the American institutions have shown resilience in the face of Trump's destructive behavior, if the collapse doesn't happen soon, he can do lasting damage to the Republic.
4
I am amazed at the use of word "unwittingly" when describing any American's involvement or interaction with Russians. Media uses it in the name of political correctness and people in question use it as their defense.
Let us face it. When a person of foreign origin, let alone Russian, approaches you on his own accord, it is for a reason. One has to be guarded about it. There should be no free pass called "Unwitting interaction".
6
Of course Trump has surrounded himself with other cons and swindlers and those who take advantage of the law and rules and ignore them otherwise. He would be afraid of an honest man or women on his midst. He wouldn't trust them.
5
@Marie
Birds of a feather flock together. People who aren't criminals don't hang out with criminals.
1
The word of the day is RICO. Trump, his children, Pence, Flynn, Manafort, Cohen, Conway, Ross, DeVos, Zinke, Carson, Huckabee Sanders, Kelly, Lewandowski, even Hannity they're all going down on RICO charges. They were all involved in the conspiracy and fall under RICO. Trump MUST be indicted. The circumstances and criminality are such that this can only be the outcome. Indictment, impeachment, conviction, removal, and imprisonment in SuperMax or Guantanamo Bay should be their next home for life.
20
This editorial chooses not to acknowledge is that Trump's "cult" is probably 25-35% of voters. That's the part over which I despair the most.
10
Those numbers represent a minority of American voters. Remember that when you vote in the midterms in November. It still takes a majority of votes to win as there is no Electoral College aiding the Russians with a Trumpite lackey win.
If nothing else, Cohen's plea and confession confirm that Trump has almost certainly committed serious crimes that merit his removal from office. This process will necessarily take time, especially since Mueller has yet to complete his own investigation. But in the interim, the process of confirming his Supreme Court nomination should be immediately halted and suspended until Trump's fate is determined. No corrupt and illegitimate president should have any role in choosing a Supreme Court Justice, especially when that judge may very well rule on Trump's fate.
138
@Robert
Granted. Do you have in mind anything other than the evolution of public opinion to head off confirmation? We need to come up with a mechanism.
We need a sump pump
But it would be clogged by shallow evil in a New York minute.
Let all Republicans in office divest themselves of their sanctimonious hypocrisy. Let all good Republicans divest themselves of their phony "leaders" who are beholden only to their donors and to stripping the US of what it has that used to be of value.
Stripping everything that isn't bolted down to help their wealthy friends.
Sickening! These are the ultimate anti-patriotics, these cowardly bullies.
Let's decriminalize the Republican party. A cleansing of the Augean stables is called for. Conservation is conservative. Jesus is not all about property and exclusion, hatred and hurting, machines of mass destruction and stealing elections. Don't pretend to be Christians, when you'd send him to the likes of Gitmo as a terr'ist for standing up for the little people.
9
If God is really almighty, it needs no help from anyone, and probably resents presumptuous interference.
Sadly, those who voted for him have given no indication that they seem to care. Perhaps they don't.
89
@nancy zurowski
My guess is that many Trump supporters, in platonic terms, reject sleeze, yet support him for emotional reasons, probably a deep desire to put a finger in the eye of the powerful, the prosperous, and the popular -- so understandable and so widespread. They suffer from "false consciousness", not appreciating that Trump is a faux populist -- one who really sticks a finger in the eye of the powerless, the poor, and the pariah? The obstacle to change is that we have not yet come up with an effective way to expose the false consciousness.
The GOP is the biggest crook of all.
Trump is merely the most recent symptom of the all pervasive corruption that has defined the GOP since Reagan.
The real traitor here is the entire Grand Old Party itself.
They care nothing for the law, this country, or it's citizens. They care only for themselves, their money, and the endless pursuit of power for powers sake alone.
Their moral and ethical penury is total and complete. And everyday Republicans remain in office they remain a cancer on the body politic of the Unites States of America.
13
"Only a complete fantasist" could could continue to claim the investigation is a hoax... or any American that only watches Fox News. This morning, after absorbing the ALL CAPS headline story in my NYTimes, I did my perfunctory exercise of checking out the coverage on Fox, an effort I make as part of my existence within the so-called "liberal bubble" of Manhattan. I've been doing this for the better part of the past two years, and I know that I'm stating the obvious, but there really is zero possibility that anyone who receives their news from Fox will have an informed view of what's going on in the executive branch. I repeat: ZERO chance. As long as that is the case, our rage at the destruction of our country feels futile. Too many millions of our fellow Americans simply have no idea what's really going on. They are not even listening.
18
While we wait for more shoes to drop, why not read this review of two Roy Cohn bios from 1988? Sydney Zion - Cohn's authorized biographer - was the one who outed Ellsberg re the Pentagon Papers to earn himself a checkered reputation in respectable journalism.
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/03/books/dangerous-obsessions.html
Cohn called Sydney shortly after Paul Castellano was shot to tell him about having spoken with Giuliani on behalf of Castellano as a favor to Tommy Gambino, son of the former Gambino boss and nephew to new boss Castellano.
Cohn said Rudy wasn't responding to his negotiations because he wouldn't accept his precondition to keep drugs off the table. He also blamed the wide ranging Mafia Commission investigation to be Rudy trying to make political points for his future in politics.
Cohn made it clear he did NOT inform anyone Castellano hadn't taken cooperation off the table. Did Cohn tell Sydney in hopes Sydney might clear him of such speculation in the press or among friends?
Who told the Mob Paul wasn't above breaking omerta to save his own skin? Or was Gotti always planning on moving in, but this served his own interests as much as his ambitions?
Until the ball drops, I'm just investigation old shoes.
2
lotsa witches
so many witches
10
When I looked at the front page of my Time this morning I was pleased to see the entire page covered with the latest fate of trumps crime family. Meanwhile, on Fox, the lead story is "Bright, Shiny Thing Spotted!!"
17
There's an article today in Big Think, an online publication, entitled, "New theory of dark personality reveals the 9 traits of the evil people in your life." Here is the link:
https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/new-theory-of-dark-personality-reveals-...
This article is a direct adjunct to the NYT article about "All the President's Crooks." Read it and weep and then, having read it, tell me the first name that pops into your mind.
3
We would have to do something drastic about the powers of the president.
* The candidates **MUST** provide 10 years of tax records
* There must be some curb on the pardons presidents are allowed to give.
* The justice department must be given a special status, keeping full independence from the president's power.
* Anti-constitutional behavior must become a criminal offence (as in "The press is the enemy of the people").
* Conduct of foreign policy must be made subject to congress, the president can't be allowed to sit ALONE with a foreign leader with no checks and balances on his promises.
This is the first time in which a sitting president is using his power in such flagrant way, but now that the dam was broken, we must protect against this happening again after 20 Jan. 2020
11
And .... the candidate MUST be able to secure a top security clearance.
Trump is the crook of all crooks, even worse than Bernie Madoff. The only difference is that Madoff only scammed his clinets, while Trump is scamming the whole nation and the entire world. It would be more than fair that he met the same fate as Madoff.
14
@J. von Hettlingen
I noted a Bonventre worked for him since the 1960s. That's Bonanno's mother's family name. Just my thing. He got ten years.
Bill Clinton was impeached for having a consensual extra-marital affair. Donald Trump? He's a Republican.
10
@Chicago Guy He was impeached for lying about it.
Time for Donald "No Collusion" Trump to take his shown on the road-- to Moscow. The swampiness of his administration makes Richard "I Am Not A Crook" Nixon look like an amateur. When will the Republicans in Congress find their spines and do what now obviously in the best interests of the country (and perhaps even their own party in the long run). Impeach the bum!
13
I'm looking forward to Donald Trump's first campaign rally in prison.
12
@Chicago Guy
The Lonesome Road Home. I'd like him to see an empty room, but even Nixon had his supporters as he took flight.
I have never written a letter to any elected official in my life, preferring instead to let my vote speak for itself, but this morning I fired off a missive imploring Representative Coffman to support impeachment. The other two voting members of my household are doing the same. Enough is enough. This has to end. For the good of the nation, Trump must go, and the sooner the better.
104
@Allison
It is important to "contact" Ryan and McConnell as well. They have the real power to initiate action against the president.
https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=contact
https://www.speaker.gov/contact
You do not have to live in their Districts because they are the Leaders of the House and Senate.
@Allison Good luck on receiving a response that indicates he has even read your letter. I'm betting you get a boiler-plate response if any at all.
@Allison
And do you believe Pence is better? I think they both should never have been allowed near public office. One is a complete crook and con but the other is a religious fanatic. Both scary.
Good, this might actually be the beginning of the end for Trump, and the beginning of the John Kasich/Nikki Haley campaign for '20.
2
It is not a crime for a candidate for office to enter into a non-disclosure agreement. It does not matter that the NDA concerned a salacious matter. Having your paid lawyer take of the payment, and then repaying him, is not a crime. Those charges will easily be dismissed. After nearly two years still nothing on Trump-Russia collusion. What a sham.
8
@Ben Smith
It is a crime to do it at the time they chose. They busted both individual and corporate contributions, also, so there you go. The two charges pertain to the excessive payments to accomplish these valuable NDAs for the campaign.
4
Who’s going to dismiss the charges? Cohen pled guilty to them. Now if you’re talking about Trump defending against an indictment, then your comment makes sense. I can’t wait to see it.
5
Wait for it! It took Gowdey two and a half years to go after Hillary for Benghazi. She testified for 12 hours, but Gowdey had to conclude he had no evidence. Do you recall that she even once howled in public that it was all a “witch hunt?” Actually no, that whine comes from Trump, an innocent man he says. He tweets hourly looking for a scapegoat!
BTW Mueller has spent the last 14 months on a far
more complex case than Gowdey, covering a myriad of subjects. He has several people admitting guilt and will soon turn to “Americans “ like Trump’s family. Be patient, and the truth will be your reward!
6
This whole sad story is going further and further, never finding real depths, but piddling around with side events that shouldn't bother anyone - least of all a "Special Council into Russian Election Meddling".
None of this really applies - and, therefore, is not his business, the real one which he can either not find, or is neglecting.
If he cannot find the "Great Collusion" (which nobody else has been able to see either), he should say so and go home.
Everything else is just a grave misconduct of office in the service of not the country, but only one party: the one that lost.
I cannot remember any post-election period, with an elected President in office, when so much backstabbing, muck-racking, stink-bomb-throwing, and accusations of the worst kind, without any evidence [or even attempt of providing the same - just using an enormous 'mis-information' potential and a one-party press and media] has disfigured and drowned all decent public knowledge and debate.
7
I'm sorry, gross criminality shouldn't bother anyone? The president is the ringleader of a band of criminals and we aren't supposed to care because it isn't collusion? Sorry, I'm not buying that crazy. The GOP has put party over country here if that is the line they are peddling. There are plenty of other people that could lead in the GOP - they don't have to have a criminal stinkin up the oval office!
Trump and his business associates are gangsters and always have been. Cant 't wait for the day when they're all in orange jumpsuits and serving jail time.
Trump and his criminal family may be immune from conviction and jail time because he's president and a republican congress providing cover, but once he’s out of office, the New York state attorney’s with a boat load of evidence will nail him and his criminal family.
Amen to that!
16
Those of you who are old enough will remember a movie titled "Sex, Lies and Videotape," which was not about politics. (No, millenials, there was no significant sex in Watergate - remarkable in retrospect - unless you remember the Nixon crowd.) The title will be reused for a future movie about the Trump so-called Administration.
9
How much was that tax cut?
2
@Danny
Enough to cash in my portfolio and not be taxed a dime, but then my Obamacare would not pertain which would consume half my earnings. You gotta be RICH to ditch your assets without substantial costs. I'm just trying to hold on to what I got like a lot of pre-Medicare day dreamers.
1
This is just plain cruel, getting our "progressive's" hopes up just to dash them in a week or two. Note that none of this hype leads to the conclusion that Trump "colluded" with the Russians.
7
@jaco - This progressive has been tap dancing around the kitchen all day.
It's been obvious for quite some time that Trump and co. have committed multiple offenses and now they're finally facing justice. We've got a long way to go but this is a nice start.
15
@DR
Perhaps you could elaborate? What crimes did Trump commit?
1
@jaco
He's under investigation for plenty of high crime. Trump was right to cite Capone when complaining about how they got Manafort. Capone offered his adversary at the IRS $1.5 million to make his charges go away, but the IRS remained loyal to the US Constitution. Meanwhile, the FBI did their best, but no one was arguing when the IRS got there first.
It is the Trump maladministration, not the free press, that is the enemy of the people.
13
@Andrew
It's got to be awfully creepy working at the WH, now. Anyone with a brain in their head knows the jig is up, and Donald never pays the piper. He always blames the party planner.
It MUST be acknowledged AND remembered that a President Pence would not be an improvement over a President Trump.
Sometimes "Better the devil you know than the one you don't" is the way to go.
With good luck, good planing and good voter participation a Democratic Congress could be a brake on Trump's base instincts...
94
@HapinOregon I don't think Pence would have a prayer of being re-elected. He might, however, be frogmatched wherever Mitch McConnell wants him to go, and I trust McConnell to do what's good for the country rather than what's expedient for his party much less than I trust Donald Trump to do what's good for the country rather than what enriches him and his family members the most.
@HapinOregon Nope. That's a day two problem. Trump is the day one problem. If he's committed high crimes and misdemeanors an effective legislative branch has a constitutional responsibility to deal with that. An analogy would be to accept Trump's assessment of Manafort as a "brave guy" and never to have tried and convicted him. Doesn't work that way. Manafort committed crimes and he's now a guilty man. The idea that he's good or brave --- irrelevant. The operative term is guilty.
@HapinOregon
Although his goals are similar, I don't think Pence would be as effective at Trump at attacking the foundations of Our Republic.
1
So the American system is still capable of protecting itself, however slow and clunky it may be. But it’s not yet a slam dunk. Neither Trump nor the GOP and the fatasatist base are likely to give up without a knock-down, drag ‘em down fight. At least hope has increased significantly.
1
That Trump paid off Stormy Daniels to shut her up before the election does not bother me. Like Bill Clinton's Monica story, it really has nothing to do with government per se. I say this as a staunch Democrat whose views about Republicans are not 'fit to print.'
What bothers me greatly is the influence of Russia and Putin on Trump and our elections. That should be our focus.
8
@Hope Madison - Our justice system isn't a popularity contest. If laws were broken people must be brought to justice.
2
@Hope Madison
Capone's bloodletting still stings, but at least they got him off the streets before he could do more harm as a diseased leader. How we get him out does not have to address why we both know he's got to go. I can go on forever about what he's done to organize crime.
Trump should have paid off his mistresses years ago. He's so cheap, it finally caught up with him. Then, I would only have felt badly for Melania and her son. But these guys are wise to what they did which is why they lied miles about it.
Where is the corruption held to account? With Republicans Collins and Hunter indicted for misuse of funds, Cabinet members dismissed, and the President's long history of using money cavalierly from one account to another, paying for hush payments from campaign funds and portraits from charitable contributions... Are we willing for our ethical and financial standards to be this far underwater?
5
Let's face it: a crook was elected to be President of the United States. He didn't become a crook while in office, as Nixon did, nor did he succumb to personal weaknesses of the libido and lied about it, as Clinton did. Trump was, is and will remain a crook, it is intrinsic to his character. His life progresses in an ever- mounting disreputable path, culminating in a stolen office of the presidency. It would be pure justice, (and yes, with great poetry too,) if it is the attainment of this Office that would bring such a dishonorable man down. If this were literature, one might be looking for the tragic character flaw, but here, all we have is a villain, he is no protagonist. There is no tragedy in the character of the man, just pure malignancy. The tragedy is to a country, our country.
16
Literature's beacon
William Shakespeare
Macbeth
A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.
1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg'd i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
..
3
@Joseph John Amato
After a few "real" witch trials proved the Church might have been burning innocents, they gave up their authority to punish anyone they wanted under such blasphemy. It took a lot of angry victims' families to publicize those atrocities.
Thank good for the printing press and public interest. And many thanks to each victim who survived to expose the current atrocity which we see before the Church, today. Justice if finally catching up to reality.
It took decades to stop witch burning, but just a twit to set the hysteria alight. There are no witches, just people who don't want to face up to having done bad things.
Trump's such a chaotic character it's hard to find him in Shakespeare's time. Mac was quite the ambitious fool, but he never let on in public like Trump. Henry VI?
1
Can someone explain to me how trump is able to have all these rallies at the taxpayers expense? What government business is being accomplished at them?
15
Our Constitution was written in 1787. Democracy was at that time a new and experimental system of government. It has mostly served us well. But I fear that it’s imperfections are being exploited now by unscrupulous and power hungry individuals. Preserving our precious democracy should be our priority now. That starts with electing a Democratic Congress this year and a
progressive Democrat president in 2020.
14
Since being elected Mr Trump has built a personality cult Regardless of his offenses the faithful are unshaken in their loyalty.
It is only right that the legal system carry its judicial role to provide a remedy for a president that refuses to acknowledge the errors of his actions.It is fitting that he who values loyalty so much is likely to be brought down by some who have been most loyal to him.
Ultimately character and truth matter . Verbal attacks on those seeking to find truth and remedy to falsehoods and self interest will ultimately fail.This country’s greatness is its constitution and the vision of its founders.
5
In all this news and speculation, yet some themes are largely ignored:
We have heard nothing in a while about earlier Russian interference. Over a year ago, we saw stories of clandestine back channels between the Trump campaign and Russia; a computer in Trump Tower in very frequent encrypted communication between Trump's team and a Russian bank; a Russian oligarch's plane showing up at many Trump rallies; comments about the Cambridge Analytica's ability to precisely target groups that were then hit with massive Russian hacker generated false information; ...
What we are seeing now is a sideshow: a few of Trump's infidelities and bribes and bullying. A bit of Manafort's basic sleaze and lawlessness. Taxi medallion fraud and sleaze.
The core of criminality, corruption and cooperation with an adversary to steal an election has been overlooked -- as have attacks by one political party on the ability to function as a democracy.
We have a so-called election coming. Hiding information by not holding trials, not filing new charges against miscreants, not publishing what is known seems to be officially encouraged by DoJ and the press. What is the point of a free press that only discusses sideshows?
This election will determine the future of this country and planet. I love my grandchildren, and do not understand why the Media is more interested in "views" than their country and grandchildren.
4
Trump failed to follow this one axiom: "Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer." In part Cohen turned on him because Trump left him out in the cold regardless of his undying loyalty." Everybody else in Trump's orbit initially got plum jobs in his administration[even though later most of them will be either fired, forced to retire, or outright indicted for criminal behavior]. Almost forgot...with friends like these who needs enemies.
2
The time has come for all broadcast networks and all cable news networks to simultaneously air, without commercials, "All the President's Men."
Our children need to learn and understand.
3
I wish the Timees would go back to the “green checks”. While I may not have agreed with most of them all the time, at least they were well-informed comments. The ignorance of facts and law demonstrated in most of the comments on this board today leave me astonished.
4
I'm glad to pay my taxes to remove bad witches from
ruining our democracy. Honesty is the best policy.
1
This latest evidence points to a some fundamental problems with our democracy.
1. Trump is wholly unfit to be president, and yet was elected under our rules. The electoral college, supposedly a backstop lest an unfit person by chosen by the voters, has failed. But enough voters were taken in by the con artist to put him in the White House. I wonder how the election would turn out if it was held today?
2. The Republican leadership in Congress is absolutely failing their role in our system of "checks and balances". If anything, the checks they've received from donors has them pressing their thumbs on the balance.
I'd bet heavily that at this point, a majority of Americans would remove Trump from office given the power to do so. And probably McConnell and Ryan with him. We need to amend the Constitution to make this possible. Ultimately, the government must answer to the people. Right now it isn't.
6
Is anyone really surprised? Trump only attracts the most crooked, shameless, opportunistic, corrupt and immoral around him because that's all he can relate to. Since he was a snotty, elitist son of slum lord he's gotten away with taking advantage of every loophole he can find. The system according to him is meant to be used. His 35 million plus core followers fully endorse it.
2
This shows that our political system has been compromised by big money and big rw media, now worsened by world wide social media.
As Paul Waldman writes in W. Post, "Trump proceeded to teach us how weak the safeguards against a corrupt demagogue becoming president really are.”
Now will even mediocre candidates look great to voters compared to Trump---further extending his poison?
One big factor----during Watergate there wasn’t the huge FOX News media monopoly---it didn’t start ‘til 1996. Fox was enabled to grow to super monopoly status after the GOP and Bill Clinton colluded to repeal our long standing anti monopoly laws for media. Those laws had helped protect our democracy. The repeal unleashed media concentration, leading to Fox News super influence across the country. Now it's the state media of the rw party holding our govt's 3 branches.
Continual ripple effects. Without the Fox News effect on voters, maybe Hillary would have won. Or Trump wouldn't even have been nominated.
Fox spread the ‘alternative facts’ political virus through the land, redefining what is left/center/right, while they put the main media on the defensive. Even our liberal columnists pull their punches too much, so they can stay influential, not sidelined as too ‘left wing’ in our warped spectrum.
Trumpites Giuliani, Conway, Dershowitz, etc, flood our media with their absurd warped ‘truth’. They’re swamp denizens, rising to the top, which our system has also enabled.
Trump promised voters he would hire the best and brightest people to be part of his team. Who knew that his team was actually a chain gang?
2
The phrase "weak character" doesn't do justice to the venal, greedy, lawless, arrogant behavior Americans have been treated to courtesy of Cohen and Manaforte, not to mention Trump himself. Do we need convictions to call out criminal behavior? Perhaps. But now we have some, in the case of Manaforte at least. There are more to come. For my money Mr. Mueller is a genius, because he is using the very systems that Trump and his lackeys so disdain to snare them in their own crimes. He will go down in history as the hero of this woebegone time.
2
Yes, Trump supporters will point to a tax cut, conservative judges, and rollback on pesky regulations that keep our air and water clean for future generations. They will attempt to deflect with what aboutisms from Hillary to everyone else. They will contort themselves in knots to support someone they know deep down is corrupt and surrounded himself with criminally corrupt men. But, I ask this simple question; Wouldn't Trump supporters be out for Obama's skin and blood if his former campaign chief and personal lawyer were indicted and criminally charged with bank fraud and tax evasion? The people you hire is reflection of oneself. Trump and his loyalists should be concerned about Cohen for he is willing to take a plea deal to spill the dirt on his former boss, Donald J. Trump. If what he alleges to be true and if he has tapes with Donald Trump voice on it with him directing Cohen to suppress Stormy Daniels info then its game over. Folks, let this be a lesson or a teachable moment. Don't let your blind support and loyalty for a deeply flawed man blind to you to the fact that he is a fraud, charlatan, and that you got played. Trump at this point doesn't care about you, the base or anyone else for he is trying to save his own skin. Call a spade a spade. Trump showed who he was from day one. He was willing to lie, deceive, and attack anyone who wasn't onboard the Trump's Train Derailment of America.
8
The bankruptcy of the Republi"con" party is near complete, but the moronic American voters will keep giving them chance after chance, what does that say about the honesty and character of us? When you study American history, most of the scandals surrounding the federal government, i.e. teapot dome, the U.S. Grant administration, Watergate, Iran contra have been about money and power. If our leaders were looking at the communist parties of the world with that record the Republi"cons" would be screaming about the venality of left wing parties but they have nothing to say when it's thir own.
1
I lost my job, my car broke down today, and my wife left me. But when I heard on the news today that Cohen and Manafort are going to jail, I broke out with a smile. For the Lord does answer one's prayers. My next prayer is: Lock Him Up!, Dear Lord.
10
"Woe be to you Conservatives and Republicans, HYPOCRITES ALL!"
For the 128,647th time the modern GOP has been shown up as the self-serving duplicitous hypocrites they truly are. Power for power's sake alone, and nothing, nor anyone else matters.
The fact that that Trump and his entire Administration is riddled with criminal felons means nothing to them. The law, this county, the welfare of it's citizens, it's all meaningless to them, as long as their insatiable thirst for power continues to be sated.
The current GOP is a treasonous traitor to this country, it's citizens, and everything we are supposed to represent. And the vast majority, by their abetting of the master criminal in the White House should be either impeached, in jail or both.
THE GOP ARE TRAITORS ONE AND ALL.
6
And may the Force continue to be with Mr. Mueller. The stench in this White House, Congress and their enablers is overpowering.
6
This administration,his friends, family and the felons he surrounds himself with will go down...in history. Lets hope the environment, our open & welcoming culture and the constitution survive their terrible crimes.
2
This is really what "fake news" is: news about fakes. Keep it coming.
2
Treason begins with a small "t" and grows from there. Trump and Treason are now so intertwined that even the Constitution
cannot define him.
Its a witch hunt. And they're catching witches!
2
How is the castng gong for the move about ths Trump debacle? Alec Baldwin will have to play down just a little of his extemes. Will Sam Waterson be Mueller? I think Ray Ramono could do Cohen and his old co-star Brad Garret for Manafort because he can play the heavy Mafioso type. Will Giselle play Melania?
1
Whether or not Trump can be indicted or impeached, he is a criminal. Our president is a criminal. His aides, congressional supporters and lawyers are out to protect their jobs. His followers will not accept their that fears, hatred or racism allowed them to support a serial liar and con artist. That long-standing saying that “we are nation of laws not men” is at risk of becoming another fanciful statement. Are we the great nation we like say we are or a really big banana republic.
4
He Tweets that the grifter and thief Manafort is, "a brave man", but, he publically denigrates the service of Senator John McCain an American combat hero and a widely respected member of the Senate.
He is not fit to be president. He is a disgrace.
4
Make America Gate
Don’t forger Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) and his wife, indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury Tuesday for allegedly using $250K of campaign funds for personal use + filed false campaign finance reports with FEC.
The 48-page indictment avish spending from 2009 to 2016, including family vacations to Italy and Hawaii, home utilities, school tuition for their children, video games and even dental work.
Family dental bills: charitable contribution to “Smiles for Life,”
Tickets for “Riverdance” Diego Civic Theatre became “San Diego Civic Center for Republican Women Federated/Fundraising,” Clothing purchases at golf club: falsely reported as golf "balls for the wounded warriors."
SeaWorld tickets: “educational tour.”
5
"...reminding us that he hires only the best people."
Strike that. As of today the new official Trump defense will be: "It is well established that all my close associates are crooks, liars and cheats. Why would you choose to believe any of them? Big mistake. No collusion. Witch hunt."
1
The editors of this newspaper are living in a fantasy world. After 15 months with unlimited resources and using brutal tactics Mueller has convicted Paul Manaford of crimes that took place long before the 2016 election. Wasn't Mueller supposed to be investigating collusion with Russia? Likewise for Cohen. How did supposed collusion with Russia lead to a porn star and a playmate? And since when did indictments of people who will never face trial mean success? Isn't that like getting a soccer trophy just for showing up?
21
@Eric
Read Rod Rosenstein’s memos outlining the permitted scope of Mueller’s investigatory powers. Mueller is well within the limits outlined in the memos. The special counsel raided Cohen’s office as part of the collusion investigation and handed off what he found to the US Attorney of New York. That led to Cohen’s guilty plea for a violation of campaign-finance laws which Cohen maintains he committed under Trump’s direction. Cohen may well divulge damaging information on the Trump campaign to Mueller in exchange for credit at sentencing. Clear now?
Trump supporters are living in a fantasy world if they don’t think their guy is in serious legal jeopardy.
5
@Eric According to Business Insider -
In appointing Mueller, however, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave him broad authority not only to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated" with Trump's campaign, but also to examine "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."
3
@Eric
What did oral sex have to do with a land deal in Arkansas? Two felonies have been uncovered that are linked to the president. The investigation is continuing and several people have already been charged. How many indictments came out of Whitewater? 0
2
I'm waiting to see the final report of Mueller's investigation, not just to see what crimes Trump, his family, his campaign and his administration is involved, but also how many Republicans in Congress will also be implicated.
3
As patently awful as this administration is, the fact that these people are in power is a symptom, not a cause, of what is deeply wrong with our country. Early termination of DJT's presidency, whether by impeachment or forced resignation, will only fuel the fire that inflames his base and move us that much farther from the goal of restoring a modicum of civic health. While I fully support Mueller's effort to drain Trump's personal swamp, what the rest of us Patriotic Americans desperately need is to concentrate our attention on articulating a positive, pragmatic vision for our collective future. And then we need to get out there and vote, vote, vote!
3
Republican Congresspersons and Republican Senators respond to their billionaire bosses; not to voters, not to the Country, not to ideology and not to common sense. They are bought and paid for. Period.
7
The evidence is clear that we have a president who is a crook without ethics. At the same time, the GOP stands by as if this were normal.
I, for one, will never vote for a Republican as long as the Senate and the House fail in their Constitutional duties to the country.
2
The only one who is laughing about all the chaos in Washingon is Vladimir Putin. It is just what he wanted. A squabbling and paralyzed Congress, confusion in the electorate, disbelief from our traditional allies. With the result a weakened nation. I am not surprised. President Trump cannot lie his way out of this one. With all these things going on, who will even notice the hacking of the midterm election.
3
The only problem I have with your statement, is “paralyzed Congress.” It’s not paralyze, it just refuses to do its duty.
1
One has to wonder how Trump's supporters rationalize his incessant denials of what we now know is adjudicated truth. He has not delivered the vast majority of them tax cut benefits that are measurable. He has not improved their access or cost of healthcare, he has not improved out failing infrastructure, he has visited on them the unfavorable and immediate consequences of his clumsy trade war with every country, he has not secured a path to peace in North Korea, he has not defeated ISIS or achieved detente with Iran and he colluded with Putin at the Helsinki press conference if for no other reason, but there are many more, that he acquiesced to Putin's bold demands to interrogate a former US diplomat in Russia.
What he has done is undermine the rule of law as he has violated his oath of office repeatedly. He has alienated out longtime allies. Yes, he is the disrupter that his followers want, but they will come to realize that he played them the way he has spent his entire life conning people all for his personal benefit.
3
@Andrew
If he can disrupt the bureaucracy in Washington that exists mainly to enrich the lucky few that are a part of it he will have accomplished a great deal.
@It isn't working - Are you really ignorant of the fact that Trump and his cronies have been enriching themselves at our expense?
The national and world jury waits and watches the Republicans
in Congress. What their verdict will be is entirely up to the republican party. It is or must be clear by this time that inaction on their part will be the equivalent to a guilty plea. It's stunning these people are willing to commit political suicide for a man who, if he was a democrat, they would eagerly destroy.
2
Might explain the stunned look of horror on Trump's face when he realized he'd beaten Hillary. It wasn't a look of, "Oh, no, what do I do now?" It was the look of someone wondering if they could hold all the lies together long enough to last four years.
Apparently not.
Oh dear, poor Donny. Bad day at the office?
Not half as bad as you've caused millions of people across this country and others.
9
Outside of politics, if you got to know someone in your ordinary life who habitually associated with with ethically (if not legally) questionable individuals, and constantly lashed out at everyone and blamed the world for all his problems, what would you think? Would you think "Gee, this guy is innocent, and everyone's out to get him." Or would you say, "He seems like a sociopath who can't accept the consequences of his own actions and take responsibility for them."
Everyone reading this would think the latter. But according to polls, greater than a third of Americans think the former about President Trump. If you're in that group, I'd really like to know why.
2
Trump's day of reckoning cannot arrive soon enough. Yesterday was too late, and still we wait.
November seems a lifetime away and the 2020 a generation.
Nixon at least had enough shame to resign. Trump has never felt any emotion except self-adoration his entire life. He has lusted after many, loved none. This is true at this very moment.
Our republic is on shaky ground and more than half of the men and women in Washington sent there by voters to uphold one/third of our nation's government have holed up in their warrens or have their heads where the sun don't shine.
Yesterday was but a brief ray of healing sunlight. The cloud cover has already closed the break.
2
In a strange way, Trump might ultimately succeed in draining the swamp by exposing the deep corruption of the GOP. This corrupt party continues to reveal their lack of ethics and morals every day. Every time a bomb drops, party leadership remains silent. They continue to show their true character, which was truly exposed when they chose Trump to lead their rotting party. They thrive on greed and not much else. They clearly do not care about democracy and the rule of law. The party’s over, we might hope, but we’ll all have to endure many more heinous acts before it’s truly over.
1
U.S. President is a figure who is model for learning for childrens not only in the U.S., but around the world. Decency, truthfulness, empathy etc is learned by childrens and adults from most visible person, the POTUS.
Present president has single handedly destroyed all positives .
We have been told lie or falsehood is as good as truth and decency. What a shame.
We need to right our ship or we are doomed.
Perhaps Trump (and by extension, we) might have been better off had he been held accountable years ago for one of his many past transgressions. Instead he developed a sense of impunity and privilege -- a personal exceptionalism that he confuses with superiority, righteousness and greatness -- that has only encouraged him to continue down the same path, gambling with higher and higher stakes. Well, now the chickens are finally coming home to roost. Let's all sit back and enjoy the show as he goes down in flames.
What part of "Trump directed him to do it" don't they understand?
4
@Mike T What part of that is an actual crime?
1
@It isn't working
Exceeding limits, both individual and corporate. He should have paid these women off years ago. Then it's just breaking marriage vows and risking his wife STDs.
There is an extraordinary parallel to Watergate that does not seem to have been noticed. President Nixon's downfall began when he failed to prevent the tapes from being turned over to the prosecutor. President Trump's downfall may have begun when he failed to prevent the files seized from Michael Cohen from being turned over to to the prosecutor.
4
This a scary time for our country. Like a cornered wild animal, I fear that Mr. Trump will bring on an International crisis which could be disastrous given his free hand to do what ever he wants to do. His treatment Sec. Brennen is a case in point but only to show his current depths of his attitudes. He may not care what he does since the only element of his apparent concern seems to be himself. It seems to me that the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution is failing us given the imbalance shown now. The legislative part seems to have given up its role as a key to making the separation of powers actually work. There are many minds which will need to change for our system get back on a balanced status and to survive and prosper.
9
I hope that when the Democratic candidates for Congressional and even state and local offices face their respective crowds of supporters, we hear, instead of "lock him up," I'm hoping for something a bit more fitting, given the way things are going to play, in the same of Cohen's guilty plea; and the eight convictions against Manafort; "He's going down! Trump's going down!"
What goes around, comes around.
1
The implications of failing to pursue an investigation, impeachment and prosecution of Trump for the crimes it already appears quite likely he committed are enormous. Clinton was impeached for alleged perjury about an illicit affair with a White House staffer. It appears that Trump at least violated campaign finance laws in an effort to win the presidency in 2016. He paid off (at least) two women to keep them quiet about affairs. Failing to impeach Trump for this conduct, which is at least as bad, if not worse, than what Clinton was alleged to have done would indicate a broken system, where the Republican Congress has plainly abandoned its role at the moment of greatest challenge.
12
While this confirms what everybody suspected all along, don't believe for one second that it will convince one GOP donor, enriched by this Congress's enormous tax giveaway, to change their vote or close their checkbook. As long as this administration continues to line the pockets of the wealthy and appoint partisan, right-wing judges, you'll hear no complaints. In their world, the ends justify the means.
14
If Trump has done nothing wrong, the fact that Manafort didn't "break" should be irrelevant, a non-sequitur.
Reading about Manafort's next trial, I got to thinking. Could one of the Trump indictments include failing to register as a foreign agent?
One more thought. The argument has been made that a sitting president cannot be indicted. That same argument has been refuted. But it doesn't seem to be "settled law," as Kavanaugh might put it. If Mueller were to indict Trump, might this not forestall any further Trump nominations for any post requiring Senate approval?
5
Very surprising that Manafort was only convicted on ONE count of not reporting overseas accounts when he had as many as 31 reported. The jury REALLY took it easy on him.
6
Like Bill Clinton before him, Trump will probably get a slap on the wrist. Nobody is supposed to be 'above the law' but it seems like Presidents play by a different set of rules. This reality is hard for some people to grasp...
1
Now that Mueller ha obtained a guilty plea from Michael Cohen on criminal violations of the federal campaign finance laws, it behooves him, in fairness, to review the legal action filed by the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center before the FEC against the Hillary for America campaign organization and the Democratic National Committee on October 25, 2017 alleging serious campaign finance law violations around these two entities transferring campaign funds to their attorney Marc E. Elias and his firm Perkins Cole which were designated as legal fees when in fact the funds were used to pay Fusion to do opposition research on Donald Trump which resulted in the Steele dossier. Misreporting to the FEC how these funds were used violates FEC laws. Are not indictments appropriate here as well?
3
@bigbill, you mean, "But her emails?" Right now, with Trump, our nation faces a far graver threat than violation of campaign finance law. Your attempt at ingenuous distraction is neither seemly nor effective.
2
if the legal action has been filed then is not justice being done?
Here is the root problem: Trump's cult DOESN'T CARE. As Trump famously said - he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and they would still support him. What this reveals about a significant segment of the American electorate is pretty astounding and shameful. But I guess when you have been taken in by a con man, instead of admitting you were taken, you try to justify it and just double down on your support. Trump's base will never reject him even if it is shown with iron clad certainty that he committed a crime. Chew on that for a while.
17
So far we "know" that Trump paid money to 2 women to be quiet about sexual favors for which they had been paid previously. To me this sounds like a response to blackmail. On my Richter scale this measures 2.0 - 2.9, tsk,tsk.
5
@Bruce Mack Campaign money was used. Try again. Campaign laws were broken with Trump's approval.
When do impeachment hearings begin? As soon as we, the people:
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
4
These types of prosecutions and convictions should have been happening all along. Those white Wall Street thugs who stole trillions belonging to the middle class and gave it to themselves and then got bailed out with taxpayer dollars only to give themselves massive bonuses with it should have been prosecuted, convicted and sent to jail along with Cohen and Manafort, and hopefully Trump, his family, and his hangers-on.
8
Republican lawmakers believe that their voters are too ignorant, immoral, and indecent to care.
I suspect that they are correct.
10
Can you imagine how Republicans and some Democrats in Congress would react if any of the Presidents Crooks happened during President Obama tenure? Talk about white privilege.
9
And Let's not forget the over-zealous Darrell Issa and his Wife who were lucky enough to have their campaign finance indictments data dumped - er - unsealed on the same day as all this breaking headline news!
Lucky Republicans.
6
It's interesting that Trump uses the word "rat" to describe both John Dean and now Michael Cohen. It's pure gangland talk. Loyalty to Boss Nixon or Boss Trump comes before everything else.
7
A direct consequence of the amazingly awesome culture of lawyering in this country. We have more than 10 times the lawyers we need. Of course, we keep parroting the nonsense that it is one of the most highly paid professions in this country. I think we should restate it to say "one of the most highly effective parasites" in this country.
For a country that believes its own lies about capitalism and individual merit over societal good, I am not at all surprised. I am only surprised that only of a few of these are found and reported on.
Parasites, the lot of them. The whole profession. The few good ones are not enough to remove the stench of evil from the whole profession as it is practiced here.
Excellent writing. You have put together the facts in a concise and cohesive explanatory fashion. This should make it impossible for those with common sense to miss all the implications and actualities. Unfortunately, there still seem to be a lot of people who refuse to admit to seeing the truth. Even worse, there are still way too many in congress who refuse to do their jobs, and are happy to allow all the criminal and harmful (to USA) activity to continue. Makes me wonder how many of them are also guilty of criminal behaviors themselves. I keep thinking that the President and his foreign government cronies have either brainwashed or blackmailed them all.
10
How does the NYT know Trump campaign leaders were “unwittingly” in contact with Russian operatives? Maybe those would be the exceptions?
The breadth of various conspiracies boggles the mind. Mueller and the fourth estate are putting together various pieces of the puzzle.
It seems increasingly likely scores knew exactly what team they were playing for (and it wasn’t just anti-Hillary). The GRU-Gates-Manafort rewriting of the GOP platform regarding Ukraine and Russia, was carried out in plain sight. Even Russia’s ambassador stopped by ... in Cincinnati! This isn’t even the most important example of Russian-GOP linked malfeasance.
8
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
Trump's dishonesty,criminality, and amorality were always there in plain sight, for anyone who cared to look. Sadly, 30 to 40% of the electorate still choose not to see the obvious. What will it take?
20
Paul Drake writes, "Trump's dishonesty,criminality, and amorality were always there in plain sight, for anyone who cared to look. Sadly, 30 to 40% of the electorate still choose not to see the obvious. What will it take?"
Earth to Paul...Earth to Paul...those 30 to 40% you are so sad about for not seeing what crook Trump was? News flash, they did see it. They didn't consider it a defect...Nooooo. They considered it a feature. The only thing they are upset about is Trump's crimes being revealed. They all knew he was committing crimes...they were really hoping the rest of us couldn't prove it.
Time to wake up and smell the coffee, Paul...and
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
1
@Paul Drake Rapture?
In your list of entities the President is working to discredit the integrity of, let's not forget the legitimate Journalists of the nation. Thank you for your service, folks.
22
After all this time waiting for the other shoe to drop--finally all of Mueller's hard work is starting to pay off. Other crooks will start to fall as well, hopefully forcing the GOP crooks in Congress to impeach DT, or risk having their own crimes outed in a court of law. Mueller is, especially under these circumstances, a true American hero. Bravo Mr. Mueller!!
11
Just as troubling is watching the Republicans and Fox News dismiss crimes as not REAL crimes, but "only" violations of campaign finance laws or "process crimes". These are crimes punishable as felonies. When Lindsay Graham starts to poo poo laws he voted for with five year max terms, you wonder whether anybody in charge actually values the law because it is law.
But worst of all is to see the people who think that the convictions don't count because they aren't related to "Russian collusion", implying that there's something unfair about Manafort and Cohen being prosecuted for something that a more politically oriented Justice Department would have let go. Such people really believe that prosecutions should be politically motivated, if not by partisan politics than by identity politics, where white collar white criminals get a slap on the wrist while immigrant children get imprisoned and blacks on foot get shot.
19
@Yeah "When Lindsay Graham starts to poo poo laws he voted for with five year max terms, you wonder whether anybody in charge actually values the law because it is law."
Umm, no. I'm not wondering at all. Republicans do not value the laws except as a means to punish the opposition. As for themselves, they spit on the law, on the constitution, on the truth, on democracy, and on the United States of America.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
1
Our Catholics and evangelicals believe still he is a good man. They need to come out and demand Trump be fired . I would like to see jail time and how much money Trump is getting daily from Russia in an off shore account. Show us your bank account now. The GOP with all this collapsing around them must not be allowed to vote for a Supreme Court justice . The religious organizations can't tell their children Trump is a honorable man now if they still do they are hypocrites.
5
@D.j.j.k. I disagree. I don't think they believe Trump is without fault or ever did. I believe they decided to choose the "lesser of two evils," and thought Trump was less evil than Clinton. I agree that was incorrect, but people make mistakes.
2
@John
Over 350million more voted for Hillary and she in our eyes was not evil. The GOP and Trump are evil in the highest level so how you can keep saying she fits that label shows you are out of touch and the majority was right this time. Hillary is for saving our planet from coal and pollution your hero could care less about our planet.
I'd be kissing up to Mike Pence if I were Trump. I'd say, you remember President Ford?
3
@terry brady - Pence is probably guilty and is busy looking out for himself.
"Only a complete fantasist — that is, only President Trump and his cult — could continue to claim that this investigation of foreign subversion"
This statement is unfortunately incredibly true. Go to Breitbart and once you are able to even find the story, read the "comments". I fear for this country when I realize these are my countrymen.
8
@Bill young, This affirms Putin's divide and conquer propaganda campaign is succeeding. There's no denying that he is the greatest intelligence agent ever.
Worried that President pardons all these people and fires Mueller. What recourse as a nation to do then have?
2
At this point there should be hundreds or even thousands protesting daily outside the White House, all carrying "LOCK HIM UP!" signs.
6
Trump, a racist, amoral and ignorant Crime Boss is the face of the Republican Party. Those that defend Trump in light of his obvious involvement in multiple crimes including violation of federal election laws have no shame, no respect for the Constitution, and no respect for the American people.
7
yet their ambition and greed knows no bounds.
"Under oath" misrepresents the gravity entirely and sets up a false "he said/he said" situation.
The SDNY have evidence to support Cohen's plea, this is a critical thing to understand.
Therefore it is "he said" vs evidence. Note one of these words does not have quotes.
1
A few honorable people tried to work for Trump out of a sense of duty to the country. They didn't last long.
I could almost feel sorry for Christopher Buskirk today. What an awful week to have to carry the banner of Trump's true believers in the newspaper of record! Today he's trying to claim that the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal payoffs were private matters no different from Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, and that just as in 1998, voters will be more disgusted with the prurient investigation of his behavior than with him.
Trouble is, paying off people with damaging information on a candidate is a gross violation of campaign finance law, and Michael Cohen knows that, which is why he pled guilty. And although Cohen may be a sleaze, he is also an attorney who understands the significance of what you say under oath. He may be a habitual liar, but when he said that he paid off the women at the direction of a "candidate for federal office," he knew that he could do hard time if it wasn't true. As for what Manafort may know, Buskirk isn't even going there.
5
Its amusing how the WH can say that they lie as if it somehow makes the President seem helpless to the people he surrounds himself with. You think the Donald has clean hands. Give me a break.
7
In another column in this paper Christopher Buskirk dismisses all the current drama in Washington: "When we’re not focused on the gory details of illicit but consensual sex between adults, we’re obsessing over gossipy West Wing intrigue."
I agree that the focus on sex is silly. But, still I wonder how it is that a conservative editor sees it as silly now, while the current Supreme Court nominee was pushing to ask Clinton sexually graphic questions with the sole intent of publically humiliating him.
Now, it seems improper to focus on sex between adults.
And Mr. Buskirk is wrong that "voyeuristic focus on petty personal corruption is a harmful distraction."
There is nothing petty nor personal about these crimes.
The crimes involve working with our enemies to subvert an election, the free election that is the foundation of our nation.
We have a president now who has surrounded himself with people who are pleading guilty to charges that they committed crimes, and Trump's association with these crimes is under investigation. Cohen has implicated Trump. While Mr. Buskirk and many other Trump supporters may be bored by all of this, it is clear that All the President's Crooks are committing terrible crimes against the nation. Only fools will ignore this.
If we are to survive as a democracy we must all pay close attention to what is happening in Washington.
8
"Only the best people" come to work for the administration. Apparently the best people don't like to pay taxes like the rest of us who support the operation of the country. The collection of grifters and con artists who make up this administration (cabinet positions, White House Staff, etc.) do have one main thing in common. They try their best to emulate the behavior of their esteemed leader. The problem is they do not have the bully pulpit to hide behind like he does.....but that is not going to work much longer. The footsteps you hear Mr. President are growing closer and louder by the day.
4
Yes, I am already picturing Trump in a prison jump suit. But, he has done so MUCH damage to this country that, unfortunately, it's going to take a long time to undo it, if we ever can. Hopefully, we, the American public, will remember this horrible episode in our history and NOT repeat it. Of course, we have to get rid of Trump, so please VOTE in November.
8
@Spunkie
Trump will eventually either be voted out or impeached. I also worry if we will ever completely return to place where ethics and the law mean something to be valued.
1
And against the back drop of yesterday's "perp walk," we have the eerie specter of Mr. Trump in West Virginia last night, where his minions are still chanting "Lock her up!" I heard a pundit, whose name I can't recall, aptly point out that irony is lost on these people.
6
It's no surprise that Cohen and Manafort are guilty, nor that Trump is further implicated because Trump and his cabal ARE guilty.
What I want to know is: When will the Republicans finally uphold their sworn duty to protect and defend the United States of America? The longer they remain silent, the stronger the case is made that they too are involved in high crimes and misdemeanors.
November can't come too soon!
16
Seeing Trump's reaction to the Manafort verdict, does anyone still believe Trump is an unwitting dupe?
It's obvious that Trump has come unglued, and is unaware of how much he sounds like a Mafia thug these days, especially when he tweeted his respect for Manafort because he "didn't break." What do you suppose Trump means? Possibly that Manafort could have ratted on him, but didn't?
8
The ultimate crook is Trump. His election is totally illegitimate, unfair, and dishonest. He needs to be indicted and impeached and his entire administration should be removed from office. A special newv election needs to be held or the true winner of the popular vote Hillary Clinton should be offered the office! Anything else is disgraceful!
10
Only after comparing Robert Mueller to Kenneth Starr there is a sudden revelation that you are them and they are you…
"Only a complete fantasist — that is, only President Trump and his cult — could continue to claim that this investigation of foreign subversion of an American election, which has already yielded dozens of other indictments and several guilty pleas, is a “hoax” or “scam” or “rigged witch hunt.”"
Really? For all of the indictments mentioned in the piece, there's nothing about Trump colluding with Russia, and yet this paper keeps acting like its a done deal. What's the evidence?
Its strange how many editorials and articles are suggesting that Cohen's guilty plea and Manafort's conviction are evidence of collusion with Russia.
3
@D. Cassidy: Yes, it is evidence of trump colluding with Russia. There is lots of evidence that is plain to see. Of course, one can still choose to not see it as you have.
So far six members of trump's campaign have plead guilty or been convicted of serious felonies. That trump hired Manafort to be his campaign chairman is strong evidence of Russian collusion itself! trump hired Manafort exactly because Manafort has extensive ties to Russian mobsters and Russian mob money. These are the same Russian mobsters, and the same Russian mob money, that have been financing trump projects around the world since US and New York banks stopped dealing with trump because of his "Bankruptcy Strategies". And who owns and operates the Russian mob? Why that would be Vlad Putin.
So YES! there is much evidence of trumps collusion (maybe switch to the word conspiracy) with Russia, with mobsters, with Putin. But all this was true before Cohen confessed, and Manafort was convicted.
5
Trump and his Republican senatorial and congressional abettors have their August surprise with the Crooks and Liars edition of the Republican Party. Mr. Mueller's investigation is bearing fruit with numerous indictments, a mountain of evidence, guilty pleas or convictions. To be continued in other trials. No collusion is not a criminal defense strategy.
For his convention speech, Trump looked at Nixon's 1968 speech according to Manafort. As has been pointed out before, there were parallels. Trump said, "“I have a message for all of you: The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon—and I mean very soon—come to an end.” Nixon said, "“When the nation with the greatest tradition of the rule of law is plagued by unprecedented lawlessness…" Certainly these two presidents know crimes and criminals.
Trump evoked Al Capone last week in his defense of Manafort, now convicted. Trump's attorney before Michael Cohen was Roy Cohn who also was the attorney for mobsters like John Gotti (the Teflon Don). In part through Cohn, Trump himself knew mobsters like Salerno and Castellano in his casino days and Russian mobsters in his Florida real estate days.
Ironies are abounding now. That SNL Chicago skit on Kellyanne Conway has even more resonance.
Trump has a sword of Damocles hanging over his comb-over after less than two years in office.
Vote all the bums out. Drain the swamp. November 6, 2018.
6
Another article about what all this means, it is said that Mueller acknowledged a sitting President cannot be indicted. And we know Republicans will never impeach him. So.
.we are stuck with a criminal in the White House for 2 more years?
Elect a clown, expect a circus! I'll go make popcorn...
2
While celebrating the latest developments in the Mueller investigations, the NYT editors should remember that the approval rating of journalists remains below that of Trump. Given the choice between a Trump impeachment and the forced reeducation of the NYT editorial board in Guantanamo bay, most would voters would opt for the later.
3
@Robert - Most voters? Please cite the proof of this assertion.
btw, Trumpists don't constitute most voters.
NYT - I love your incredible reporting over the last 2 years. Keep holding them accountable and while I'm certain your reporters are exhausted from this seemingly never ending circus, the wheels are turning and we can see the waves of justice finally being served to this most corrupt and contemptible administration.
You've pointed the spotlight into their closets and the skeletons are finally having their day in the sun. "Only the best witches!"
4
I don’t think this country has the to convict Trump, and he knows it. His fallen cronies are nothing but expendable has-been’s. Collateral damage in his warped war on life..
Now that our Fake POTUS has been implicated in a felony, his SCOTUS appointee Gorsuch should resign, and Kavanaugh should withdraw himself from consideration. Do they really want to be known as 'justices' who were selected by a criminal and illegitimate POTUS?
6
Witch hunt, indeed. Happy Halloween, Mr. President, we are just starting to fill your bag with candy.
3
What I like about Michael Cohen is, he tells it like it is and he says what I'm thinking.
3
In a variation of our 'fox in the hen house' we could shout:
"Drain the swamps, Crooked Don, Lock him up!"
1
The biggest CROOK and LIAR is sitting in the Oval Office.
The Republicans are complicit because they have not found their spines to speak up and tell the truth.
Truth is truth and unfortunately we are seeing lies and more lies from this Whitehouse and Republican cohorts!
November 6th will be a day of reckoning. Will truth prevail or will we fall further into the abyss of more and more lies?!
3
Where is the GOP, where is Ryan? Trump has been accused of directing his lawyer to break the law, which Cohen under oath has admitted he did. Trump has told many lies to cover the whole thing up. Can anybody imagine what Ryan and pals would of done if this was President Obama or Hillary!! All I can say is LOCK HIM UP!!!!
5
Each and every incumbent Republican running for office, up and down the ballot, needs to be voted out of office for their silent acquiescence of the traitor president.
VOTE, please, in November
6
@MB No, I'm voting for them.
1
Hey, evangelicals who so strongly support Trump... Your support for Trump is looking a lot like your prior support foe Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker. Your Faustian bargain has placed your hypocricy on full and glaring diplay, and will likely reduce the appeal of christianity more broadly because your message will ring hollow to many prospective converts. Congratulations.
14
The draining of the swamp has begun!
1
Two more witches, bagged up in one afternoon.
Buckle up.
I have a feeling this is going to get very, very ugly.
4
There will be a lot of anger and despair on these message boards, when all of this amounts to nothing, Trump is not impeached (or if impeached like Bill Clinton is not removed), and is re-elected in 2020. Republicans attempted a coup in 1998, and failed. Democrats are attempting a coup now, and will also fail. Indeed, Republican persecution of Bill Clinton delivered the popular vote to Al Gore in 2000, and Democratic assaults on Trump now will motivate his base now, avoiding a Blue 'wave' and ensuring his re-election.
2
The most important weakness in our presidential election is the electoral college. The electoral college was the only way a candidate like Trump could get elected.
It is of paramount importance that the college rule be modified to avoid another debacle like we are experiencing can happen again!
4
@Michael kittle
The electoral college was a fake law to help the crooked and unpopular GOP get elected . We know this GOP won't end this piece of trash law it will take a mid term wave of Democrats . They better do that the first day they are in.
@D.j.j.k.
The electoral college is Constitutional. I believe it was in place before the GOP existed. Changing the Constitution requires 2/3 of states to vote for it.
And btw, the Catholic vote (which seems to concern you so much) was about evenly split between Clinton and Trump, according to HuffPost.
1
Il will be interesting when all the President’s kids are facing federal charges and when at last our brazingly lying and cheating leader is deposed and perjures himself - which is unavoidable. Some are chiming in on impeachment but Im joining the chorus of treason, not just to prosecute Trump but all accomplices of his crimes including Huckabee Sanders, Pence, McConnell and all dodgy and greedy members of Congress placing their jobs over the people and the plantet.
6
JFK, Teddy and Bill Clinton. And those are the ones we know about.
Trump IS a low life, and I won’t vote for him. I never liked him. But for gods’ sake, be consistent in your thinking.
Make a political case and get him voted out in 20. The rest of this is not the way to go.
2
This is good. We need more refreshers on who has been convicted and their ties to Trump. NYT, you have a lot of power, and we need a cohesive narrative like this repeated over and over. Otherwise we're going to keep drowning in things like the latest drama re: Trump tweets.
5
Let's remember the Access Hollywood tape. Let's remember the sordid affair with Stormy Daniels and other hushed-up affairs. Let's remember the disgraceful accusations hurled at a Gold Star family. Let's remember his outrageous accusations of wire-tapping by the Obama administration. Let's remember his "darkest hour" inaugural address. Let's remember the countless times his press secretary has had to reinterpret his own statements, just so they are not so embarrassingly illogical, contradictory or riddled with grammatical errors. Let's remember his constant attacks on responsible journalism. Let's remember his constant belittling of elected officials and his own cabinet members. Let's remember the over 4,000 lies he has told the American public. Let's remember his inability to staff his administration with competent, qualified individuals and hold them to the highest standards of ethics and accountability. Let's remember his misguided beliefs about trade, immigration and climate change that will cause lasting damage to our prosperity as a nation. Let's remember his disgraceful and embarrassing embrace of bigots and despots. Let's remember his inhumane separation of families at the border and the irreparable harm he has done to those children. Let's remember Mike Flynn, Rick Gates, George Papadopolous, Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen.
Why is this man still in office?
18
How is paying someone off to keep quiet about a consensual sexual relationship a crime? Criminalizing sex, typical of "progressive" values.
2
When you pay them off to influence an election, it’s a campaign contribution in kind. That’s really not difficult to understand.
10
Because it broke campaign finance laws. Taking things out of context, typical "conservative" values.
8
@Mary B
The hillary campaign paid lots of people to influence the election. Fusion GPS for example. In all the hillary campaign spent over $.5 Billion in an attempt to influence the election.
1
How many crooks does the Congress need before it acts?
3
These indictments clearly show how weak the government's hand in prosecuting high-level white collar crime is with a man like Trump and his family and henchmen achieving so much in power and money.
2
Everybody knows that Trump is at the helm of a vast scandal involving also a foreign enemy. What else is required to send this super crook to jail with the rest of his gang ( silent Republicans included)?
4
Thanks for the recap. It would also be nice to get a list of the congress members who have come up against the law recently. I can't keep track of them.
4
Cohen and Manafort are corrupt cronies of Trump. The dumb notion that the Russians have been trying to help these people to avoid prosecution is just silly over self congratulatory hyperbole. Its been known forever that Trump has corrupt friends. It seems to be a matter of time before these corrupt friends are tied directly to illegal activities of Trump.
1
The cynic in me has a very dim view of our future. If Trump isn't thrown out of office by 2020 he will run again and win. The Democrats will run with a candidate like Hillary, who is happy with the status quo and incremental changes. The only reason she won the popular vote was because so many of us voted for her simply as a protest against Trump. The Democratic Party is just as much in love with the rich and giant corporations as the Republicans. I have no hope that this country will get better any time soon.
1
An excellent overview . . . very helpful, in fact, because the number of charges is so great.
This is all out in public, available for all Americans to see and that pointedly includes the Republicans in Congress. What are you waiting for, boys? Why are you so cowardly?
6
Forget this unholy abomination, Trump.
Congress, our separate but equal section of government, has failed the people. These are the elected officials who are supposed to check the actions of a unhinged administration which is a clear and present danger to the welfare of the U.S of America. They are expected to promote their political preferences under normal circumstances--until an administration attacks the very institutions that form the foundation of this nation. Then, we the people, have a right to demand bipartisan cooperation in obstructing actions that threaten the very essence of our democracy.
We always expected partisan government promoted by the party in power, but we also understood that such partisanship would be ignored when we are under threat, collectively.
The blatant refusal by the GOP majority to stand up to a president who is an obvious danger to America, is criminal. A bunch of political hacks anxious to keep their position and perks regardless of cost to the nation.
To paraphrase FDR: this is a congress that will live in infamy--as long as American history is recorded.
6
I said it the morning after the election, these guys were such amateurs that they thought that they wouldn't have all of their past dredged out for all to see once they were holders of the WH. Even so, I'm still surprised at how surprised they are that their very-easy-to-see, seedy criminal past behavior is being prosecuted. They are that amateur. Meanwhile, the GOP is still not stepping up for what is best for the country. In fact, they are busily retrograding all of the progression made in alternative fuels, environmental protection, commercial regulation, taxation, healthcare, worker's rights and more. Vile and evil. Independents, moderates and millenials, please vote and vote smartly. You are not going to get 100% of what you want but, done and done smartly, you will get candidates that focus on advancing our country and our world. Anything is better than Executive and Legislative officials that spend all of their time spinning their illegal past and present activity.
5
This editorial certainly serves as a counterpoint to Chris Buskirk's very narrow viewpoint that I found in my inbox this morning. He made it sound like the only thing coming out of the Cohen plea is the tawdry Trump tale of the two women. Please spare us morning emails whose only purpose seems to be to illustrate The Times' "fairness".
In a time of such great evil, that I believe will have dangerous repercussions not only for me, but for my grandchildren, "fairness" ceases to be an option.
May impeachment and conviction or resignation come soon!
9
The most refreshing aspect of the Manafort verdict is that Americans, regardless of political party or ideology, will not tolerate tax evasion - which hurts the country and, eventually, them. Steve Bannon has said that the roots of the “Trump revolution” were in the bank bailout of 2008, perceived as unjust enrichment by a few at the expense of the country and the rest of us - the same as tax evasion.
The intolerance of the American public for tax evasion is something Individual #1 should bear in mind when considering issuing any pardons.
1
@Dee: I hope you're right. But if Americans hated tax evaders trump could never even gotten the nomination. I think republicans LOVE successful tax evaders. They want to evade their taxes as well.
1
Trump the consummate liar calling Cohen a liar; how ironic is that?
I registered Democrat as a teenager after Watergate. It seemed right at the time and even more so with this Administration.
4
Who's ready for a rousing round of JAIL TO THE CHIEF?
9
In November we will Remember!!
5
Welcome to Trump World, where all news is fake, truth is not truth, and down is up.
5
Can he pardon them all? Save us some money on court
fees, and such.
But make them wear a special button proclaiming their
very special status...even while on the floor in congress or in their various Cabinet Secretary offices. So many.
2
On behalf of the honest majority and the United States of America, thank you Mr. Mueller, well done.
6
Just a question for all those "deeply religious" people who have found a kindred political leader in Donald Trump. What is it that you tell you children now about Mr. Trump's hiring of "fixers" and tax cheats with foreign employers? How do you tell them that people like Robert Mueller with a lifetime record of service to our nation is running a dishonest "witch hunt" based on lies and deception while mommy and daddy's favorite politician calls for his political enemies to be "locked up"? In short, how to you teach them real values?
9
@Michael Kelly Actually Michael, it's quite simple. The cults that call themselves "deeply religious" simply tell their children that god works in mysterious ways. They can use that "wonderful" bit of nonsense to justify anything. ANYTHING AT ALL.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
1
I’m saddened that even people who support the Mueller investigation fall into the trap of referring to it as if it’s sole purpose is to investigate collusion.
Here is the original letter appointing Mueller as special counsel:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3726408-Rosenstein-letter-appoin...
Please take careful note of this statement from the letter:
"The Special Counsel is authorized to investigate "any matters that arose or MAY ARISE directly from the investigation."
If you are concerned about justice being done, please – every time you see this misunderstanding of the scope of the investigation, every time you hear someone expressing this misunderstanding, tell them of the full scope of the investigation.
www.remember-to-breathe.org
8
@don salmon: You are 100% correct! Yet there are many who, I think, intentionally fail to understand the law. It does require a bit of sophisticated thinking which is not really a republican trait.
3
It is becoming clear who deserves the next Nobel Peace Prize:
Special Counsel, Former Director, United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr Robert S Mueller III.
5
Is there a more beautiful word in the English language than impeachment?
3
@Plennie Wingo - Yes, incarceration.
Truth IS Truth, always. Whether the cowardly and yes treasonous GOP listens or not. Throw them all out in November.
10
I'm a small "i" independent. I've given up on both parties. They are not acting in the best interest of the country, nor is the New York Times. This is not a balanced report, it's a one-sided skewering of our President by what's called the Main Stream Media. Unfortunately, it is very hard to find true reporting anymore; it's all biases to one side of the other. It's ludicrous to think that a two-party system will work if both sides take extreme views. NYT, where is the opposing view to this "opinion"? This is the "Editorial Board's" writings? Just adds fuel to my opinion that in majority, the media is biased, mostly against the President and serve no societal purpose other than to further divide this country. It's sad to see the NYT and others in the media be so biased, they don't serve the basic function of "news" with facts to be judged by the readers. By supporting extreme views, all of these organizations are hurting the country with extreme views that a large number of people believe is news, when it's simply politics and greed showing it's face to the detriment of our wonderful country.
2
@FireStarter: I'm an Independent as well, and I share your skepticism of our two party system. Both parties have been bought out by corporate interests.
However I disagree with your assessment of this NYT Opinion. The opposition will appear via letters to the editor and in the general comments. Additionally the NY Times allows and prints dissenting editorial opinions - please keep reading.
There is only one party that has sold out to the russian mob and to Putin: the Party of Trump. That would be the republican party.
4
I greatly admire the New York Times and the Wash.Post for the relentless and thorough reporting they have done for more than a year on these issues.
Maybe we will have fewer witches on the loose by Halloween.
6
Is paying hush money to women who are basically extorting you as serious a crime as knowingly committing perjury?
2
@It isn't working - Give Trump some time, he'll perjure himself.
btw you forgot to mention obstruction of justice and treason.
@It isn't working writes, "Is paying hush money to women who are basically extorting you as serious a crime as knowingly committing perjury?"
No...it's a more serious crime. The women weren't extorting anyone. Believe it or not, women actually have free speech rights! I know...you're shocked. And the hush money used was not properly identified under campaign finance laws, so it broke those laws.
So, what do I think is more serious...breaking campaign laws to win an election under false premises, or lying about an affair while in office? Now...that's an easy choice. Trump should be impeached and convicted and removed from office...and led straight to prison. No pardons.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
1
@rumpleSS
Can you point to the actual campaign laws that were broken?
Bottom line; the president is a crook and needs to either be impeached, indicted or resign. Nixon still had 25% of approval on the day he resigned. There will always be a part of our electorate who are fine with a crook and a traitor as president as long as they personally get something from that crook. Ignore these people; they are as depraved and dishonest as Trump is. What matters is the law and protecting our democracy. Trump needs to go. If Congress doesn't start impeachment proceedings they are going to have to face the wrath of this country come November.
7
Michael Cohen was the Republican National Committee's deputy finance chairman.
And another deputy? Elliott Broidy.
Oh, and Steve Wynn was the RNC's finance committee chairman until he resigned.
The GOP uses only "the Best people" too.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/20/politics/cohen-resigns-from-rnc/index.html
6
Still pales in comparison to Hillaries’ crimes. So we have the lesser of two. Any responses please tell me how you leave the state department 300 million richer. These affairs cost Trump money.
2
Willful ignorance is reprehensible.
7
@MiguelM: Total hogwash - yet kinda funny!
Only a Russian hacker would mention Hillary in this situation. Crimes? Do you remember how hard Trey Gowdy and committee investigated her? Do remember how much of your tax dollars Trey Gowdy spent trying to get something - anything - on Hillary? Maybe you were stuck in Russia at the time? But I remember. He came up with absolutely nothing. What evidence do you have that Gowdy didn't have? You could help him out by sending it along, maybe?
2
Now that Trump has been mortally wounded, we need to focus our wrath on President-in-Waiting Mike Pence. It won't take long to impeach and convict Trump after the Blue Wave washes America clean in November, but Pence will still be President for a short while - which will be way too long for us to suffer a white evangelical nativist. The wonderful energy that was harnessed to rid America of the Traitor-in-Chief must be redirected to minimize the damage Pence will inflict on us. With our collective wisdom and energy, in 2020 we will finally be able to reconstitute America with the vision of 21st Century Americans, not the vision of Americans of the Dark Ages.
4
Justice is coming and Robert Mueller is bringing it. Good enough for me.
4
I think that the question about what did the president know and when did he know it is about to be answered. I'm sorry that Trump is president because no president should be doing what he is doing to this country at this point. Having watched Watergate unfold in the period following Nixon's re-election I had hoped that we would never see a repeat of it during my life. We are but it's worse because we have a man and a party that are enabling each other and a sizable population that supports them. Then there are the continual statements that this is a witch hunt, fake news, and other wild accusations, all of which obscure the fact that Trump, his cronies, and the GOP knew about some or most of this.
The Greedy Obstructionist Paranoiacs Party has managed to prove that they are not the party of Lincoln, not the party of small business, and definitely not interested in family values, integrity, honesty, or cooperation.
And let's not forget the Kochs, the Adelsons, the Scaifes, the Waltons, and others whose interests lie with these crooks and charlatans of politics. They don't believe in welfare for the average American or a poor person but they will do everything in their power to ensure that they get their share of welfare.
It's going to be an interesting fall people.
13
I am reminded of the epiphany I had when Los Angeles burned after the jury verdicts for the Rodney King beating. I suddenly realized that we normally enjoyed relative peace and safety solely because the overwhelming majority of people agreed to obey the laws, not because the police had any chance of compelling them to do so.
With these new cases I suddenly realize that there is a huge cohort of so-called white collar criminals in our midst at all times. These people are not a small fringe. They will be particularly thick on the ground wherever money is made by shuffling money, such as London, New York and Frankfurt, but they are everywhere. Nobody bothered to look for them. If a serious effort were made to search them out, the courts would be backlogged with their cases.
Focusing too much on Trump--presumably just another overlooked white collar criminal--distracts us from the fundamental truth. We really need to think about this.
4
@Flaminia
Crooked Donald Trump is more than just another white collar criminal. He rode a wave of corruption, propaganda, and collusion with a hostile foreign power into the Presidency of the United States. He has his finger on the nuclear button. If we want to live, we do need to focus on him first, or there may be no tomorrows for any of us.
The White House is chaotic and confused. It would be a good time for an adversary nation to start something since the government is in no way prepared to deal with any national emergency. It's time for Congress to do something. Our national security would appear to be vastly compromised because of Trump.
6
It's going to get much much worse for Trump , and his Russian and GOP co-conspirators.
Think how low the bar has become for the behavior of Trump. For months we have been told "he did not break any laws and everything he did and does is legal". Now the bar has been lowered to "Trump has not been indicted".
What astounds me is that the GOP thinks it will actually avoid the stench of their complicity. I think they have woefully misjudged the public, and history.
10
Impeachment or resignation and indictments loom ahead for trump.
I cannot wait for the movie of this sad episode of US history to tie all the threads of trump's criminality together.
"All the President's Con-Men."
7
I worry that this might not be enough to bring down Trump, incredible as that might seem. His cult is millions strong, divorced from reality, fueled by rage and racism, and heavily armed. Beware the power of a mob with no ability to accept the truth. And I see no reason to think this Congress will now step up to the plate and fulfill their duties to the country: the Republicans will stand firm as their agenda is enacted, and the silence of the Democrats, Senator Schumer in particular, is ominous.
2
This is like watching a Mafia family go down. There are no good people in Donald Trump's circle, because the entire enterprise is criminal. So every character, including the witnesses, are shady. Yet the head of the crime family, Trump, claims that they are innocent, or if someone turns on him, that they alone are responsible for the crimes. Furthermore, he had no idea, NO IDEA, that everyone around him was a criminal. It is frightening that the head of the crime family can also pardon his capos, fire the investigators and pick a judge. This is where we are America!
13
What lies.
Cohen has not implicated Trump in any crimes, as paying off people in NDAs is neither a crime nor a campaign finance violation. And he did it to “influence the election”. Duh. That’s not a crime either.
1
@Cjmesq0 - The courts seem to differ. Campaign finance violations are a crime.
3
Weird, since the prosecutors, defense, defendant and judge all say it is a crime.
4
I couldn't believe it when readers pointed out that Fox was desperately trying to deflect from the Manafort and Cohen news, but sure enough, this is their lead headline:
MONSTER DOWN THE ROAD
A young woman was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant. A horror. But what about the pregnant mother of two who was murdered, along with her children, by her white American husband, who when caught accused her of killing the little girls? It's gotta be in there somewhere ….
8
It's amusing -- in a sad way -- that the left becomes incensed when speaking about Mitch McConnell saying his job was to make Obama a one term president. Yet, since Trump was elected, the mission of the left and it's various mouthpieces -- led by the NY Times -- have worked diligently to make sure Trump is forced out of office before his 1st term ends.
Ain't gonna happen. Trump will leave office in Jan 2025.
Maybe, but the real question is from the leadership of what country.
1
@Ralphie
So it's a conspiracy of the left, and Trump is not surrounded by convicted felons, has not issued lies on matters at the heart of democracy (eg about Russia conspiring to help him get elected as our President) every day? Just curious--what would it actually take for you to change your mind about him? Would shooting somebody on 5th Ave in broad daylight do it, or would that, as Trump himself has said, not be enough for true cultists like yourself?
4
@Ralphie
McConnell's reason were purely political. Trump proved during the campaign he was unfit for Office and has, on a daily, hourly basis, proved that assessment to be so very, very true.
Apples and oranges.
3
Mueller has identified, charged, tried, and gotten convictions on Trump's two topmost henchmen. (God bless him!)
The question arises is how many lesser crooks in this administration were a party to all these charges. What about Roger Stone? What about Gates? What about all the little guys that were Manafort's and Cohen's go-fers? Seems to be they're probably complicit. Was Pence in on some or all of this?
In the end, there will be only Trump, wailing like a stuck pig that this was all a "witch hunt." Moreover, if the congress changes hands in November, Trump will no longer have a majority of scared little politicians providing him with a protective shell.
4
Trump's campaign chair worked for Mobutu Sese Seko? Mobutu Sese Seko? Really? Now I've heard everything. Time to remove Trump from office. I'm calling my Senators today.
12
This continues to be a complete joke.
Trump thinks he can stand there, every day, and change what the "truth" is. He thinks he's a king and should be allowed to act like one. One day, something is good. The next day, it's bad.
Does he really think we believe him?
And every time he says "no collusion" the guiltier he looks.
7
Even Diogenes couldn’t find an honest man in this swamp of an administration.
8
No, Mr. Trump, it's a warlock hunt. "Lock him up."
1
"Book 'em Danno!" I just can't seem to wipw this smile off my face. Could the nightmare be almost over?
Now, speaking of witches, they were burned them at the stake. Could it be a trump steak this time?!
For a man who wanted to drain the swamp, from where I am standing it looks like he instead decided to go all in and purchase the bayou.
Support your real local wetlands, folks, not whatever Mr. Trump calls this nonsense.
1
Dershowitz then declared that the violation of election laws is no big deal, and "regarded as kind of jaywalking in the realm of things about elections. Every administration violates the election laws, every candidate violates the election laws when they run for president, usually they pay a fine or something like that. Here, they're trying to elevate this to an impeachable offense or a felony against the president." Sure, it was a "negative day," Dershowitz admitted, but "we're a long way from tolling the bells for this administration."
Is the above true and if so this needs to be reported and assessed. Seems to me we MUST change our process of campaign financing!
7
We've missed Trump's (parroted by the press) most pervasive misogynist smear in all of this. It is most definitely not a "WITCH HUNT". It is a WARLOCK hunt...!
3
Rudy says guilty does not mean guilty
4
This is beyond the pale. We have a president who lies, lies, lies and lies some more. He is the epicenter of a criminal operation, and he prances around at rallies to shore his sagging ego. He denigrates our intelligence agencies and listens to Fox News. Congress?
10
Funny, the headline on the FOX News website today is about an illegal immigrant arrested for murdering a jogger. The Trump supporters truly live in a bubble of their own creation. A funhouse mirror of fake news. As Trump might say, “SAD.”
12
@Phil Dunkle
"The status of suspect Cristhian Bahena Rivera has come under scrutiny after President Trump directly blamed immigration laws for the alleged murder. But Yarrabee Farms, which is owned by Craig Lang, a prominent member of the Republican Party in Iowa, said in a statement: “This individual has worked at our farms for four years, was vetted through the government’s E-Verify system, and was an employee in good standing.” E-Verify is an online system run by the government for employers to check the eligibility of its workers. It’s unclear how Rivera could have passed the system—he’s an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a detainer warrant was issued for him Tuesday."
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mollie-tibbetts-murder-suspect-cristhian-b...
1
This is a crime that permeates the Republican Party. They had to know. Any sentient being reading the NYTimes and Washington Post has know for a long time. What went on in Trump meeting at RNC HQ, etc. These people ain’t stupid, but they are criminal. Where was Mike Pence in this enterprise? A question rarely spoken. When Trump goes Pence needs to go with him—adoring smile and all.
Also where is the legal suit by the DNC against Trump and the RNC? What is the price for conspiracy and treason to steal an election and destroy American democracy?
7
I’m as anti-Trump as the next guy but this is no victory. I was actually embarrassed to see the NYT front page screaming that “Cohen admits Trump told him to payoff the porn star”. Who cares??
Yes it’s technically illegal but no one believes these porn star stories would have affected the election. Other than that it’s between Trump and his wife.
As for Manafort, no one is suggesting Trump could have known about Manafort’s crimes.
Mueller better have something very convincing on Trump and Russia before Trump’s “witch hunt” claims start to look reasonable.
@Max
No offense. But if you were as "anti-Trump" as you claim to be -- you would care.
Birds of a feather. All of them.
5
Roy Cohn, 'Fat' Tony Salerno, Joe Weichselbaum, Felix Sater, Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen....what do these men share? They are all felons with direct contact with Don the Con. Please tell me how anyone can now believe the grifter-in-chief has not, for decades, engaged in a variety of criminal enterprises.
He degrades the office of the Presidency with each day he holds office.
Congress, grow a spine and begin the process of eliminating this stain on our Republic.
6
If Mueller's investigation is a witch hunt, then he's right on time 'cause this is the "witching hour" for con men and artists. Mueller must be a pretty good Witcher.
1
Tell your kids again what a "good man" is.
They may be a little confused.
299
@G.M.
Even a child can tell the difference. the only ones who may be confused are those from bad environs nut I don't think so these guys are far enough removed from them and where they live they can see it for what it is.
@G.M.In the circles where Trump has spent his professional life, "good man" means one who obeys the code of omerta rather than inform on his thoroughly criminal colleagues and bosses.
@G.M. I just came home to a college-bound freshman saying "I am in a very bad mood because I listened to the POTUS." To which I said, "Yes dear, he's not good."
"Mom, the Indictments."
"Yes dear, it's why I was so upset for his being elected. I knew he was a bad person, surrounding himself with bad people."
(Gruff mumbling followed on his part. I was calm, because what's the use in getting upset? I can't be upset anymore. I am glad for the legal system to be working.)
If the House goes blue, the Democrats will have the option to pursue impeachment charges against Trump.
If they do so but fail to get the 2/3 Senate majority needed to convict, Trump walks away emboldened and the next chance to unseat him would be in 2020.
If the House stays Red, Trump is home free and stays in office until at least 2020.
All this talk of impeachment assumes a probability of success that is being heavily overstated. Unless there's a 100% chance of a Senate conviction, the Democrats have to wait until 2020 to regain the WH, absent some revelation of game-changing info on Trump in the interim.
1
@Mike McD
You're right. But we don't yet know how low this will go. It's quite possible that Republicans in the Senate will eventually conclude they've gotten all they can out of Trump (because they won't be able to enact anything into law) and he has become an albatross around their necks. Then, they will suddenly discover their moral indignation, make impassioned speeches, and vote to impeach and kick him out of the White House.
Then they--and we--would be dealing with President Pence. Unless Pence (chosen for the vice presidency by Manafort) can be shown to be implicated at exactly the same time as Trump.
Wealth can corrupt past the limits of our imaginations. Most GOP congressmen truly do not care about any of Trump's problems as long as they get their wealthy backers more tax breaks. It is disgusting. The only way for the House GOP to keep any small amount of dignity is to begin impeachment proceedings.
4
This is much ado about nothing if Mueller can't get Trump in front of a federal grand jury. That is where the rubber meets the road. Not in second-hand prosecutions, no matter how successful they may be. Republicans in Congress will not impeach Donald Trump. They've made a deal with the devil: tolerate the worst president in American history in exchange for tax cuts for the rich, weakening environmental and financial regulations, packing the judiciary with ultra-conservative judges and of course, two SCOTUS picks, thus far. We will be living with this massacre of sensible government for the next few generations.
4
These events mark the beginning of the end for the Trump presidency, and our national (and international) nightmare.
Congressional Republicans can no longer spin Trump's behavior. He's been accused, under oath by his personal attorney, of conspiring to commit a crime. Full stop.
And there's certainly more to come.
3
Waiting for Trump to say (1) that none of this has anything to do with him, and (2) it's all part of his plan for draining the swamp.
1
It's deeply distressing that our president and his lawyer and campaign manager and cabinet members and staff have behaved like the mafia, but what is even more significant in all this is the 33% who still admire Trump. Why?
5
@Dee, because the Democrats are perceived to be the party of #Abolish ICE, open borders, high taxes, and regulations that strangle business growth and thus a family's ability to get ahead.
And then they look at Clinton's record with Ken Star, and how Charlie Trie wasn't much of an anchor, and they realize that Trump - flawed as he is - at least has THEIR safety in mind.
I mean seriously, this isn't rocket science. While we're all reliving the Clinton 90's over here with reversed roles, they'e looking at Mollie Tibbits and thinking that the Democrats want to sacrifice their daughters on the altar of open borders.
Donald Trump is a dangerous guy and we should be afraid. He has 2 goals with every move...self-aggrandizement or self-preservation. He is ignorant and unwilling to listen to those with more knowledge and NEVER takes personal responsibility. This is all recorded in various books and articles about him and verified through his behavior as president. Don't be surprised if he makes a move that brings the country into a war. Don't be surprised if he fires Rod Rosenstein as a first step to firing Mueller. Don't be surprised when chaos continues. This is a scary time.
3
My major curiosity will be how Trump goes about pardoning Cohen, a man he described as a liar and a low-life.
Of course, consistency is not one of Trump's main strengths so I guess I wouldn't be too surprised if he pardoned him and said what a wonderful guy he was.
2
It’s time for leaders in the Democratic Party to state without reservation that Trump should be impeached. If they don’t then like the Republicans they’re also complicit.
4
Hubert Nash,
The Democrats are the minority party.
This is all on the Republicans. They know how the Democrats feel about the misdeeds of this president.
The GOP has been complicit in these misdeeds by consistently ignoring them.
I'm always suspicious of commenters who attack the Democrats when Trump does something wrong.
3
Numerous families, including my own, have developed severely strained relationships because this President has been allowed to lie and behave repulsively repeatedly with no consequences. His "handlers" have not only been ineffective: they have colluded in keeping from the public the truly horrible deeds of this man who fooled a significant (but not a majority) of the public into voting for him. He may never get what he truly deserves--spending the rest of his life in jail--but I hope his fall is not alone and that he takes a large swath of Republican politicians with him.
6
I used to think it was only that scoundrel, Trump, who was abusing and corrupting the presidency, but I am starting to come to the sorry conclusion that the real cancer here is the GOP. This party no longer represents what were once known as the Republicans or Conservatives. This political party, in its latest transformation, has lost not only all integrity, but intellectual substance and moral balance. It is a party that is only interested in money and power, and self-preservation. Perhaps cancer is too kind a word. How about the Ebola Virus.
8
Bill Clinton did not lie under oath, although the Republicans have accused him of lying during the Paula Jones deposition so many times that even some Democrats are convinced. During the Jones deposition Clinton was asked whether his attorney lied when he said in a court hearing, "There is no sex" between Mr. Clinton and Ms. Lewinsky. Clinton response was, "It depends upon your definition of the word 'is' is". Republicans have somehow convinced the world that Clinton was arguing for a strained definition of "is" when the facts contradict them.
As you suggest, one of the strangest thing about Trump is his delusion that he's getting the best people. In fact he gravitates to openly defective personalities and substandard operators, possibly because he welcomes the flaws, the rich potential for bullying. No doubt sending these two guys up the river will have some cathartic value, but impeachment is still unlikely and Mike Pence is already working Iowa for 2020.
2
Editorial Board - What a wonderful article and so well written. Captivating, informative with a pinch of good 'ol NYT sarcasm. Keep up the good work and from a readers perspective please keep throwing in witty barbs to add levity to such a horrible time in US history.
We need the laughs. PLEASE!
1
Remember when the Republicans claimed that President Obama must have been born elsewhere and come from nowhere because he was scandal free? What a sad contrast!
12
There is no way we can express our gratitude and admiration for the many men and women who have pursued justice in the FBI for the past two years. Their investigation of the Russia influence into the election started while Barack Obama was still president.
Watching Trump, it has been difficult to be patient. But the dedicated, law-abiding members of the FBI and especially of the Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller kept working. I wish there were a way to honor him and his team equal to the value they have provided to our democracy. Thank you, thank you, thank you. May you go down in history as the leader and his team who saved American democracy and law.
But remember, this is just the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end. The Big Fish remains at large with the nuclear codes, under extreme duress, our greatest national security risk, swimming in his own slough of crooks. We are entering the most dangerous phase of this investigation - when Donald Trump is cornered and confronted with his many laws and crimes.
4
What the NYT does not point out is yesterday, Cohen testified, under oath, that he committed the crimes in violation of campaign finance laws “at the direction and order of the federal candidate FOR PURPOSES OF INFLUENCING” the 2016 presidential election.
Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator in the commission of a felony crime for purposes of influencing the election. Trump won electoral college by a mere 70,000 votes across 3 states. He lost the popular vote by over 3 million, not including third party votes.
Cohen’s sworn allocution in SDNY in support of his pleas of guilty to having feloniously manipulated the 2016 election at Trump’s direction point directly to impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanors” by Trump entirely apart from Russiagate and Obstructiongate.
Cohen’s guilty pleas by Trump’s personal fixer directly implicate the very legitimacy of his election as president. This is hardly the time to hold hearings on confirming a lifetime Justice. It’s the time to hold hearings on the election and whether Trump stole it.
We need a Congress who will take these allegations seriously. An illegitimate president should not be making judicial appointments, foreign policy decisions, or controlling our nuclear triad.
Please vote.
17
So once these Mueller cases move up the chain, won't they reach a court headed by one of Trump's thousands of judicial appointments (soon to include SCOTUS)? Right now, the judiciary is the only branch not owned by the Trump Republicans, but that situation is changing under our very feet. State courts may ultimately be our only hope, but that likely won't happen in time for 2020.
Please, please, please, vote Democrat in November!!
3
Remember when the head of CBS said a Trump win would be bad for the country but good for the media? Well he sure got that one right - in spades. The media loves Trump. They have made bundles more than if pedantic, but qualified, Clinton (or Sanders) had won.
And therein lies the problem. Since Kennedy presidential candidates have had to be telegenic. I doubt Truman or Roosevelt would have made it today. Or even Lincoln.
4
@Bob in NM...Johnson and Nixon were telegenic? Carter and the Bushes? Irregardless, Trump has been a money machine for The Times, W*P*, CNN, SNL, Hollyweed, ABC, NBC, CBS.....Trump has made, saved and jump-started careers for legions of NEVER TRUMPERS has been, never weres and wannabes. Imagine what Pres. Pence is going to do to the bottom line of the Left? Who will pay to read The Idiotorial Board and the Op-Ed crew when Trump is behind bars? Karma. Ouch.
@Bob in NM: It takes a wise person just a few minutes to see through this black hole of insecurities. After that, he's a bore and a boor.
Don't get too smug about the Presidents club, Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton know how all that all works. Won't bore you with the long list.
Republicans impeach Bill Clinton for having a marital affair.
Republicans do absolutely nothing Don regarding his inner circle, conceptually, his "wife." Absolutely nothing.
Shameless and disgusting hypocrites, the lot of them.
On that note, do we need any further comparison to see what a decent and upstanding family man President Obama is?
Why do you not acknowledge that, at least, Republicans? Why does the philandering groper who misspells his own wife's name get your starry-eyed admiration, but not the guy married once and still to the same woman and grins from ear to ear whenever she walks in?
Godspeed, Mueller.
10
Is it time to say: Lock...Him...Up ?
4
Trump's band of greedy, dishonest, cheating lawbreakers.....are these really the people who the religious folk of rural America look up to? Shame.
5
Trump supporters complain that people are out to get Trump. Looks like they are....even his own lawyer.
5
Let the slow motion train wreck keep rolling.
1
Go Mueller!
7
Michael Cohen promised to take a bullet for Donald Trump.
Instead he put a bullet in him. Trump got exactly what he deserves.
So well written, NYT. Trump is sinking deeper and deeper yet he continues to follow this autocratic-style playbook. How stupid does he think we are? He's cried "wolf” -- oops, "witch hunt" so often, that he'll need a golden crane (to match his luxurious lifestyle) to pull him out of the deep swamp!! "Failing NYT" & "fake media", please continue seek the truth for us!
1
Oh...so I see. When Trump said 'drain the swamp', he meant 'drain it from around the country into the White House'. Perhaps he was hoping to create ecological preservation for all non-White House regions?? Well then...well-played!
unqualified ,in over his head, not very bright, not respect for the rule of law etc.if he had not won the election with all this on the table i'd think no way he can escape from this mess. vote 2018
Forty-five years ago, America stood appalled and awed at the apparent removal of a president from office. Just one year earlier, Richard Nixon cemented his presidency with an electoral victory over George McGovern in 1972 that had Nixon’s lawyers mulling over a two-term limit revocation.
I recall the hard-cover edition of All The President’s Men; the rogue’s gallery of all of the men who enabled and obfuscated and lied on the name of Richard Nixon’s Watergate—all of them in glossy black and white pictures, all wearing suits and ties, looking for all the world as if the world was theirs—and their president’s—to command. Greed for gold was not their crime. Never did Eros command anything like a cameo appearance.
The 45th president, these 45 years later, will never run out of portraits for his rogue’s gallery. Unlike Nixon’s, these men are liars and thieves and pimps. And, unlike Nixon’s White House, there are women involved in this national disgrace. They have committed no crime against the books. Rather, they are guilty of the liar’s oily craft: deception and misdirection and defiant harpies in the service of a man whom they well knew a stranger to every goodness that is truth, no matter how inconvenient.
And, it appears, Robert Mueller’s work, patient as a spider’s, spins its thread and waits. The flies are plentiful and careless. The spider’s prey comes to it.
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@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
Your searing comment today stands above your many enjoyable ones. In four brief paragraphs, you contrasted aspects of the Nixon and Trump presidencies and surrounding characters in all their ingloriousness. I reread it twice and will return to it. Truth exists and can be beautifully told. Thanks Soxared.
6
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
Beautiful
2
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
But aren't you aware that Sarah Huckabee Sanders knows for a fact, because she's got a Jesus Hot Line, that Trump is doing God's Work?
Over my close to 70 years I have seen the good and bad that president's may achieve based on the people he (or she) surrounds themselves with.
Johnson had his war cabinet, many who would later disagree with him. How many went to jail?
Nixon had his plumbers, persons he hope would insure he was reelected. Persons who would make him larger than life. Many went to jail.
Ford, Reagan, the Bush dynasty, Clinton and Obama all surrounded themselves with war hawks, with learned economists (well, there may be disagreement with Reagan and his voodoo economics, Iran-contra), believed in the country.
The along came a real estate developer, a hack, an owner of a fake university, owner of a bankrupt airline, failed casinos, perpetrator of tax fraud, to name a few of his attributes.
He surrounded, still surrounds himself, with persons who are somewhat shady, who, well for better analysis, are just like him-corrupt, a con artist, grifter. And many of those have either been fired, bailed or are being "perp walked" to jail.
This person, Trump, has the audacity to question the motives of a learned and respected prosecutor which is laughable given his past antics.
Hopefully he will take the easy way out as Nixon did. I'll not hold my breath, however.
450
@Dan He hired only the best people. The best and most incompetent crooks and liars. We elected him out of desperation because our political leaders, including Republicans and establishment Democrats have been selling our country to the highest bidder for decades and the saviors whom we elected, including President Obama, have decided that the rich should inherit this land and rule it.
We should thank Donald Trump and his merry band of grifters. They have given us the opportunity to decide if we are still a democratic republic or just another fascist banana republic. The ball is in our court.
1
@Andrew Zuckerman
We have the ball but we need quarterbacks and linemen and Wr's and Rb's etc to get the job done. That is the role Mueller at all are partly playing. We still need folks to step up like FDR did.
We got El Trumpo because we have let the GOP destroy our government by the people and create a government by the corporations for the last 45 years.
@Dan
You forgot his USFL football team, the New Jersey Generals. While it wasn't his fault the league failed, as long as Trump's failures and acts of fraud have been piled on, let's add this one, too; for good measure.
There certainly are a lot of crooks in the world. There are all the president's men. There are online scammers and hackers. There are the petty thieves.
But there are also so many more of us who live quietly doing our jobs, keeping our nose the grindstone, who follow the rules, or at least, for some, mostly follow the rules. We work. We pay taxes. We don't steal from our families or neighbors, or even our enemies.
So my question are we all fundamentally crooked like Cohen, Manafort, or Trump and it is just fear of getting caught and found out that keeps our crookedness in check or are some people inherently crooked and others honest?
Is it just a lack of fear, which makes people like Trump, Cohen, and Manafort "winners"? Is it fear or some internal character or morality that prevents the rest of us from being predators who only see the rest of the world as our victims.
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@Marie No, as a retired public servant for over 30 years, I can say that most people who go into public service do it to make the world a better place, even in a small way. Most of us give up making more money than we would in the private sector because we believe in giving back. We are careful in our ethics because we know it is taxpayer money. There are more Robert Muellers in state and federal service than there are Donald Trumps.
10
@Marie
Thanks, @Marie. I’ve wondered many of the same things. I’ve looked around at all, or at least some of the “winners” and wondered if I’ve misunderstood winning all this time.
1
@JaneF. I agree. More good apples than bad in this world.
Is this the end of the beginning? The beginning of the end? No matter. The Baby King is unfit for office. Even the radical, broken GOP must see that trump should be impeached. His election was a fraud. Committing felonies to aid one's chances for election renders his selection by the Electoral College a grave error. No nominee may be placed on the Supreme Court under such unprecedented circumstances.
3
If Trump is successfully impeached, or indicted and convicted of various crimes, I’m having a big party and you’re all invited.
3
@Alex
NY doesn't need the traffic. How about a military parade in Washington instead?
Anyone else now want to see Trump’s “beautiful “ tax returns more than ever? Just asking....
4
Great work on keeping track of all this criminality and keeping it fresh in our minds. Thank you. This is an important job.
1
These revelations are certainly not startling; they were, in fact, expected. Unfortunately, there is not a chance that this milquestoast Congress will impeach Trump.
Remember the saying "Birds of a feather, flock together".
Trump hangs with crooks because he is one.
There is not a shred of doubt in my mind that Trump is equally guilty of tax evasion, tax fraud and bank fraud.
And for all those saying but no collusion, no collusion. I could give a flip if they never find any collusion of a criminal level. There is no question they would have been happy to receive dirt on Hillary if the Russians had given it to them.
If you get stopped for not wearing a seatbelt and they find illegal drugs they aren't going to ignore the drugs. If you were being investigated for bank fraud and they uncover a homicide, they aren't going to ignore the homicide.
If investigators are looking for collusion they aren't going to ignore fraud or other crimes when they find them. Congress needs to step up and do their job...provide oversight and checks to our crooked president.
1
And thanks to Mitch McConnell, an unindicted co-conspirator is empowered to appoint 2 US Supreme Court justices. For life.
13
Where oh where is that clean, white haired, attractive, silver tongued Republican of impeccable reputation and national recognition and of course with access to lots of money to stand tall and take on the weakened, clownish and mean spirited man sitting in the oval office? If only for history and the reputation of the Nation this Republican leader can stop the train wreck that is certainly coming if Trump is left unchecked by Congress.
Any Democrat that rises to the occasion will be seen as too partisan to win over the necessary number of Republicans which will be needed to impeach and convict and remove this foul man and his coterie of criminals from the highest office in the land. Even if the Democrats win the House and the Senate, they will need 66 Senators to convict and that is not possible without 15 or more Republicans.
It is going to take the extraordinary courage and skill of a nationally known Republican to lead the way to an end of the national nightmare that began November 8, 2016.
1
The GOP does not care. They want to break the new deal. After that they will impeach him. We are all worse off for allowing these despicable people to get as far as they have. Trump should have been impeached by now and Pence should be forced to resign, not because he participated in Trump’s treason but because he would not be in office but for Trump’s treason.
Trump? Lock him up.
8
Reality TV couldn't have come up with a better plot.
1
Trump prides himself on being different from his predecessors. Not following accepted norms of presidential behavior is his brand. Why then should Robert Mueller adhere to Justice Department guidelines that suggest that a sitting president can not be inducted? Trump has committed a serious crime according to his former personal lawyer. An indictment for campaign finance violations and conspiracy to defraud the United States should be forthcoming. There is no reason to wait until Trump is out of office. In fact, there is an urgent national security need to remove him from office as soon as possible to prevent further damage to our republic. The challenge to our way of life will not end with Trump’s removal. He has spawned hundreds of Trump wannabe candidates who have slithered out from under the rocks where they have been hiding. They are out in the open now so that they can spew the same racist nonsense like their hero
1
The problem is not proving Trump is a crook...or a liar, or a despicable coward...or ignorant..or a threat to republican democracy. The problem is getting his cult to care. It's the old adage about faith" "If you believe, no explanation is necessary. If you do not, no explanation is possible." The hatred of his base for the washed, the educated, the silly people who put rationality above rhetoric is only increased when their hero is threatened.
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@Dan Shiells
The problem is getting non-voting people to care enough to get out and vote. They are the majority.
As a taxpayer, I cannot abide any tax evader who lives like a king and a President who describes such a crook as a "good man." In normal times, a normal president would be praising the federal law women and men who brought these criminals to justice. Nothing normal here.
7
First candidate to refuse to show his taxes and guess what - . Every one around him is a crook and they are all implicating him as well. Maybe the whole tax thing is really important. Ya think?
6
"One of them, Mr. Trump’s own lawyer, has now implicated him in a crime."
Actually he has implicated the President in several crimes. Stormy and Mc Dougal have at least one crime associated with them each.
2
What might be the reason that Cohen didn't explicitly mention the name of the president or presidential campaign in his "mea culpa?" Might it be that he's "taking the bullet," as he once said he'd do?
Opps Trumps reality show might just have ran up against Real. Going to be interesting if probably dangerous. What my what will today's Republican Leadership be left with; "Congressional Leadership pass a resolution that Trump ONLY CONSPIRED, ONLY CONSPIRED!!!
Trump to America "I am not a crook ANYMORE. NOT A CROOK ANYMORE!"
You would think he would want to prove he is innocence. Maybe sue those jurors.
So far Mr. Mueller has done everything in his power to avoid putting anyone from this WH before a grand jury.
We expect him to put Cohen and Manafort in front of a grand jury but from all his previous acts he tends to talk to them in his office. I don't see this pattern changing. Why should he? The media praises him while he protects the most corrupt man to ever be elected.
It doesn't matter. None of this matters. Fourty million Fox viewers think this is a witch hunt, a deep state conspiracy. That will never change.
What matters is if you vote. Will you bother?
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@A.big.ruse
Thank you for describing the inherent problem with news outlets that choose sides. Because the liberal and conservative press tell the story with an ideology slant, neither side is trusted.
1
Seems there's witches round every corner, behind every bit of shrubbery now in Washington, DC, all trailing a path to the White House. Will #45 pardon? Will Manafort appeal? To be continued. Thank you, MR. Mueller!
Trump is Rollo Thomasi - the guy that keeps getting away with it. Until he doesn’t.
First Office Murdoch, Captain Smith, Sir there are reports of icebergs ahead;
Captain Smith, "Full Speed Ahead"
If the Russian probe is literally a witch hunt, the Witch has been identified--the meanest crook named David Dennison in a NDA signed on or about October 27, 2016. Not only DD coordinated but also directed Cohen to silence Stormy Daniels/Stephanie Clifford by the sum of 130,000 and an unenforceable NDA to influence the 2016 election. It is a crime. Sadly, the White House propaganda machine, including Giuliani, still attempts to cover up and protect Trump by lies after lies. It will wage a new information war to discredit Cohen and every one involved in the Russian probe. But it will be in vain. Trump's credibility has reached minus degree, as cold as the temperatures in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Dakota in the Winter.
When the Congress will break its silence on this impeachable crime?
1
While our allies using our intelligence and weapons are blowing up Yemen's children the Left is still chasing old stories from Trump's time in the sleazy casino world. Manafort worked for Trump for 49 days not months and Manafort was convicted of stuff way before he even met Trump. Sadly Muellar took Rosenteins guideline to the max trying to justify his multi million dollar effort in supposed search for Trump/Putin election mischief.
@Larry, be patient. Things will become clearer for you soon enough.
3
Wow - hard to believe that this Northern Virginia jury is all part of the Deep State.
4
Bravo. Trump and the thugs that he associated himself have been running a criminal enterprise... it's long past time to hold them accountable. Lock 'em all up.
5
What's Trump going to do as a distraction? Revoke God's security clearance?
3
I woke up this morning for the first time in my seven decades to learn that my President is an unindicted co-conspirator regarding federal crimes committed to secure his election and most members of his party do not appear to be outraged.
Is this real?
7
“For a witch hunt, Mr. Mueller’s investigation has already bagged a remarkable number of witches. Only the best witches, you might say.”
Today is a top-ten schadenfreude day.
2
There is an old English expression, there is no smoke without fire. Mr Trump must have been aware of what was going on.
It will take time to lock up the President's crooks. It took time to lock up President Nixon's Watergate Co-Conspiritors, The American people need to buckle themselves in for a bumpy ride of a few years till Donald Trump's "best people" swamp is drained.
1
The air smells Watergate now ?
Thanks to FBI and their vital mission to this nation.
Only a complete fantasist — that is, only President Trump and his cult — could continue to claim that this investigation of foreign subversion of an American election, which has already yielded dozens of other indictments and several guilty pleas, is a “hoax” or “scam” or “rigged witch hunt.”
Except of course none of those guilty pleas or findings of the court have anything to do with foreign subversion of an American election. I understand the Board is just whipping up the base here but "Cult" is pushing "deplorable" step further please don't go down that stupid road.
1
Who ever thought Richard Nixon would NOT be the most devious and corrupt President in U.S. History?
The Republicans.....how low will they go??
3
Finally! Truth is actually Truth!
1
Evil is usually followed by its loyal accomplice Incompetence - we trust the Constitution of the United States of America to take care of the rest.
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"Only the best people."
1
Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.
The whole of the Republican Party should be feeling pretty itchy right about now.
3
With all due respect to Robert Mueller I have to say that from his perspective this whole thing must amount to shooting fish in a barrel. What we have here, in this ring of minions, grifters, liars and thieves are what must be some of the stupidest people on the planet from his point of view.
They sit, within their social/political circles, at pinnacles of power yet their hubris, their blatant and wide-reaching greed and avarice, makes them reach for more. They made little attempt to truly hide all that they were doing. They conducted themselves as if nobody would ever notice. Smart criminals, those actively engage in the nefarious are conscious of that which they do, even in "good fella's" style, and never, ever, do that.
But I suppose this is the way all cockroaches feel when the rock under which they've been living is suddenly whisked away and they stand revealed in the full light of day. For onlookers it's a sobering moment. It can be a cleansing moment, too. So let me ask all readers here; are you feeling clean yet?
John~
American Net'Zen
1
Teens hang with other teens, gang members with other gang members, old guys with other old guys, etc. Trump hangs with Micheal Cohen and Paul Manafort.
1
When the history of this criminal presidency is written and we know what we don't yet know, we will learn that we've been living through the most dangerous time this country has experienced since the Civil War.
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@Bronwyn
Or since the Cuban missile crisis, where we were a hair's breadth away from thermonuclear war. Intelligent decisions and effective diplomacy by a competent President ended the crisis.
Today, a man with no competence, no judgement, and no restraint has his finger on the nuclear button. Terrifying.
My hope is this sordid affair will make Americans understand the danger of an executive branch that "tends toward the monarchy" as Patrick Henry warned about the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson called the convention a collection of demigods, and many federalists like Hamilton refused to believe the Bill of Rights was necessary until Jefferson and others said they'd refuse to support our modern republican government without the rights. Republicans have become the demigods Jefferson warned about who tend toward the monarchy as Henry knew could happen.
3
The sad truth is that it is all so predictable. The president's proclivity to dishonesty was apparent throughout the campaign to anyone who could read a newspaper. And yet in spite of this the American people elected him as their president.
As Thomas Jefferson once said; the government you elect is the government you deserve.
The question that follows is whether any lesson has been learned? It's good television though because the drama unfolding is far better than anything on Netflix. You really can't figure out how this one will end.
2
It should be noted that all of Mr Mueller's victories thus far relate to the catchall mandate that "authorized him to investigate any other crimes that arose in the course of his work."
2
@ERP, yes, but be patient. That will change.
I wish it weren't so, but this will not affect Trump in any way. His "cult" , as they are so rightly called here, will continue in their delusion that Trump is their can-do-no-wrong, be-all, end-all guy and everyone else is simply out to get him. The Republicans will continue to deflect and cover, as Lindsay Graham proved yesterday with his statement that "there have yet to be any charges or convictions of colluding with the Russian government by any member of the Trump campaign in the 2016 election". Imagine the Republicans' reaction if it were Bill Clinton or Barack Obama whose lawyer pleaded guilty to the charges, while admitting that they had told him to pay off a porn star and a playboy model, with whom they had affairs, for the "principal purpose of influencing the election." Or if it were Hillary's campaign chief who was convicted of tax fraud with the very likelihood of Hillary pardoning him in the not too distant future. The Republicans would be out there shouting from the rooftops and promising all kinds of investigations by all kinds of special prosecutors with every other word on their lips being "impeachment". They would talk of nothing else. Instead the Democrats, true to form, give a milk-toast response and go back to their desks. This will go nowhere until the Republicans put their country first and/or the Democrats step up and fight. And I don't see either one of those things happening anytime soon.
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@Naomi I prefer the Democrats' civilized response to all this over Republican hypocrisy. I suspect the Democrats will fight once they control the House. But I hope their investigations will be focused on actual misdeeds, and will not be initiated for the purpose of grandstanding and exerting political power.
@EMiller - There's civilized discourse, and then there's just being a doormat.
While I don't suggest they follow the Republican playbook of blatant and unrestrained hypocrisy, the Democrats need to stop being doormats. And the time to fight is today, not just that mythical point in the hazy future when they control the House. If they wait for that, it'll never happen. For God's sake, look at what's happening in real time. If they're not going to fight now, when are they going to do it?
@Naomi
It’s not collusion that will be the down fall for Trump, but rather tax evasion, bank fraud & other financial irregularities. The same charges that caught Manafort & Al Capone.
1
We all knew that Trump was a depraved and ignorant lout,
what wonderful irony to have the guy who would “take a bullet” for him out him as a criminal as well!
5
If your wife has a newly born child, is it not okay to then have your need for sexual gratification dealt with efficiently because, after all, you are just a business man who has needs? Right? And who would be better for this service than a porn actress? She would know best about your need. Trust the experts! But then you wind up running for President because you hate the guy from Kenya, which is okay too, and you just forgot about the actress and your need years ago. So you ask your lawyer to pay her a fair wage to keep her story to herself so you can win the election and be better than the guy from Kenya as a person by getting many more votes than Crooked Hillary. And you did. There's no collusion and your guy goes to prison for paying the actress. Jeez. But look, you are the President and you go to play golf by traveling in a 747 at government expense and that's all that counts in the end. You're still the big winner and the others are losers. Lock them up!
9
How long will intake to unravel the web of corruption and crimes of this administration? Do we as a nation have the patience or the stomach for it to be completed. More important do we have the ability to focus on the overwhelming issues of climate change, equal justice, voter rights, international relations, etc. while we have to deal with the mess Trump created. An involved, educated citizen is our only hope. I suspect, like my Labrador retriever, that we are too easily distracted to survive as a nation that is just and dependable. We will continue to elect one con man after another
3
None of this even matters. Trump’s supporters are still obsessing over Hillary’s emails. Trump could murder someone in broad daylight and they would still forgive him and return to their email mantra.
2
90% of the Republican Party voted for and still supports a lying web troll and his attack on the government, which they all loudly declare is "the enemy," since Reagan. "The government" that they declare the "enemy" is Our Republic "established" under the Constitution by We the People*.
Why don't the Democrats ever say that? The Constitution says 'Tax' and 'Regulate.' Why can't the Democrats ever say that? Why can't the Democrats use the words 'Justice' and 'Tranquility" against the demands for "law and order," which are often imposed for profit instead of Justice or Tranquility?
Trump may or may not be a stooge of Russian intelligence
(Notice we always give Trump a higher standard of guilt than he gives any of his political enemies.), but he acts like he is a Russian stooge every day, even in Helsinky, and is using the "Russia Thing" cough "No Collusion No Collusion to attack the rule of law every day. He attacks everyone from his own Attorney General (who is likely in on it) to the Republican, highly respected, 12 year Director of the FBI, Robert Mueller. Why is he attacking an investigation into Russian interference?
*Here's a serious question. Why would We the People agree to borrow from bankers and pay them interest (at the same time we are bailing them out with Trillions of Dollars), instead of taxing the bankers at the same rate as workers? Why would a sovereign People with control of the Law and with the power to print the money ever pay interest to bankers?
2
While we are all overjoyed the rule of law seems to be clawing its way to the surface in Washington, DC, let us not forget that we are now an oligarchy (thanks to Citizens United) and fully 40% of our population has been brainwashed by right wing media into an alternative reality.
Trump himself has said he could commit murder in broad daylight and he would not be held accountable by his base or the GOP congress, and he is absolutely correct. The country is now being run by an amoral organized crime family called the GOP, and Trump will NOT be called to account unless the silent 60% VOTE in Nov!
3
Unless or until there is more evidence of criminal activity, these outcomes are merely fodder for the liberal base. It was a mistake to impeach Bill Clinton, although he committed perjury and was disbarred. It would be a mistake to impeach Trump for paying hush money. Why? The case is not strong enough and more importantly, just like Clinton, it involves sex, that universal weakness of human beings. It may change with the midterms but the current make-up of Congress would be unlikely to impeach on this evidence. But it is gossip for the liberal base, nothing more or less.
1
@dudley Thompson. No Dudley this is not just gossip. This payment happened just before the election. It was silenced to help get Trump elected. Trump's "win" was only by the slimmist of margins. This affected our election and we haven't even got to the bottom of the Russian collusion (I mean meddling) yet. He is an illegitimate president. This guy is going down. Trump has conned his whole life. He can't con out of this one. He's implicated!
@Scott
It is not enough to get the House to pass the articles of impeachment or for the Senate to convict. Implicated does not mean convicted in the Senate. I want to see him gone but this is not enough. We need a "smoking gun." I hope we get it but we don't have it now. Remember the Republicans control Congress. Maybe that will change in January. So all of this is "much ado about nothing."
Just based on what's been pretty much the rule of thumb in response to bad news for this "president", I predict: zero GOP congressmen and senators changing their minds about the fitness of this "president"; zero members of the MAGA cult changing their minds about the fitness of this "president". That the stubbornness of the GOP and the Trump Cult only becomes stiffer in the face of news like this is testimony to the damage to the moral backbone of many Americans like this, and to the damage that Trump himself has already wrought on the country. The rule of law has been under attack the second this "president" rode the escalator down from his aerie to declare his candidacy.
8
The swamp is indeed being drained – by Robert Mueller.
But keep the cork in the champagne bottle. The swamp which has oozed its way out across America is vast, putrid and disease-ridden.
Trump did not create the swamp, it created him. He came along at a time when America was ripe for a thug dictator. He came along at a time when the right wing was capitalizing on the anger, intellectual laziness and lack of education of masses middle Americans.
He came along at a time when the saturation of cable/radio talk shows and social media stood ready and able to give coast-to-coast voice to right-wing crackpots and foreign subversives who convinced the mob there were simple solutions to complex problems.
He came along at a time when the "party of Lincoln" had dropped all pretense of of being the "party of Lincoln" and instead began to implement a consolidation of power by lying its way into governors mansions, state houses, judgeships and the U.S. Congress.
Even if Trump is tossed out of office and sent to prison, in 21st Century America, there are plenty more nascent thugs ready to emerge from the ooze.
2
Trump has survived the most unimaginable scandals. It is not merely Fox News that assists him in weathering his horrific acts, but also an active and continued torrent of misinformation being churned out by Russia and China to protect Trump.
The Midterm elections are a HUGE crisis. They are in the process of being thrown for Trump Russian style.
As usual, polling companies are being hacked. The Russians and Chinese continue to have easy access to our voting machines and voter registers. Voting tallies are being altered.
Florida is lost to the Democrat, Bill Nelson. The level of hacking in Florida, we have found, is unprecedented.
The question is, WHAT WILL THE DEMOCRATS AND THE PRESS DO, to get the Russians out of our voting machines and electoral system? They are the lifeblood for this era of corruption in our country. What can be done to stop them?
5
@ThoughtfulAttorney
The Trump crew does not have to do much. At the Union shop where I work this entire thing is met with shrugs and that "all politicians do it..." The big issue is the one they see every day in their kids schools and at the supermarket.....a mass of new migrants who are just more potential labor scabs.......until the Democrats stop with this open borders and abolish ICE nonsense I predict they will continue to lose. The average American thinks all politicians are corrupt and Trump is the only one to stand up and take on the immigration migrant lawyer industry. And I am a person of color. You can't have open borders and a robust social safety net unless the democrats are willing to abolish the military budget and even then it won't be enough. And where I work the Russian thing is a joke. Nobody is going to get elected on the Russian thing.
1
This investigation was supposed to be about Russian Collusion. The Times purports that this isnt a witch hunt because of guilty pleas and indictments that all have nothing to do whatsoever about Russian collusion. If they think that the public is going to take to their side, when the Times cites the Flynn guilty plea as all part of "Trumps criminal behavior, of whom the FBI agents directly involved didnt believe Flynn even lied, then the Times and its readers are in for yet another major disappointment. And really, they are yet again fishing for the lowest of low information voters. Anyone paying attention knows darn well none of these cases would ever garnered a scintilla of attention had it not been for their association with Trump.
Yeah, its still a witch hunt.
1
For those of us who never had any doubt about just how crooked and nefarious Donald Trump and any of his associates are, this is nothing more than sweet retribution and a clear path to the same conclusion the Muller investigation will ultimately come to.
And it wasn't by accident that Michael Cohen started singing like a canary and had tapes as proof when he was finally hauled in, right then and there it was evident that he had the goods on the malfeasance of this president.
As for the conviction of Mr. Manafort, there was so much evidence of his greed and corruption, that even a room full of Republicans would have to find him guilty.
When all is said and done, it's not looking too good for Mr. Trump at the moment.
Let the tweeting begin.
5
How much time did Al Gore have to serve for soliciting and receiving illegal campaign contributions from Chinese sources?
None?
Same crime...Same sort of punishment...
Unless, of course, there is a double standard in operation.
And what did Hillary Clinton get for all of the contributions to the Clinton Foundation when she was Secretary of State?
None?
Of course it was none. Double standard in play again?
I like what Dershawitz had to say: It's like being charged with jaywalking, given its seriousness in the panoply of political crimes.
3
Cohen is more dangerous for trump. Manafort (and people like him) are a danger to the US. Manifort would sell out his country for a suit.
Next question - how do we - the people of the United States - get back the money they stole from us.
3
The truth will reveal itself but it appears that this last "election" was a total fraud, what should be done? There was much Russian interference and collusion from the "trump campaign" itself. The bigger question is how long the Republicans will circle their wagons around this farce.
Finally, I am vehemently opposed to the impeachment of trump that replaces him with "pence", that is a total non-starter. A viable solution must be found.
4
The biggest witch is yet to come and his indictment cannot come soon enough. This man has done profound damage to our country that will take years to recover from...
5
Poor Donald, Paul and Michael are all victims of themselves and their victimhood continues to blossom faster.
Trump's place in presidential history isn't looking too good. Certainly, he will need a large presidential library, on some special site yet to be determined, for all those "documents".
1
During the election, Donald Trump repeatedly said that he would hire only the best. Well, now we have an understanding about whom he thinks is best. Of course, he could have been lying, and he doesn't really think he hired the best; but surely the president of the United States wouldn't lie to us.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
3
Since Congress is now officially part of the Trump/Putin obstruction of justice, the only way to bring down the Trump presidency is to bring down the Trump Corporation. By using the RICO laws, Mueller can deprive the corporation of its illegal revenue and laundered lending. Without the corporation, Trump has no sustainable presidency, no Bedminster, no Mar a Lago, no hush money. A best case scenario would be a Blue Wave election, producing a Congress that would impeach Trump before he is able to pardon every member of his Crime Family, including himself. The indictments of Trump himself must be held in abeyance until he resigns. Congress must make it clear that any pardons from Pence will lead to his impeachment.
1
Okay, someone tell me again why Trump won't simply pardon all these criminals? Only two days ago I read in the NY Times that impeachment looked improbable, even after the midterm election. What will actually come of all this?
Convictions of Trump’s “best people” won’t change many of the minds of the supporters of his cult. As long as he tells them that the truth is only what comes out of his mouth and tweets, they will rationalize his corruption as “fake news” or part of the deep state conspiracy. Now that his two earliest supporters from congress, Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins, have been indicted he will have two less members of the Republican Peanut Gallery to echo his incoherent diatribes. I’ve lost track of all these “best people” including Price and Pruitt. Please publish an up to date scorecard.
4
Trump's "best people" are going down like ninepins, a rogue's gallery of criminals never before seen in any White House. By now it must be obvious to all that this reality show president is as crooked as the people around him. He should never have been elected, probably wouldn't have been without Russian help and payoffs to his paramours, and needs to be removed before he does further damage to our democracy, our national security, our economy, our environment and our image abroad. When will his Republican enablers shake off their torpor and do what they know needs to be done?
6
The hypocrisy and double standard of the NYT knows no bounds.
Like most Americans,I am not happy with our President’s behavior. But, let’s remember when the shoe was on the other political foot.
This crimes Mr. Trump is alleged to have committed are about sex and the subsequent coverup. Bill Clinton, darling of the Democrats, did the same thing. Mr. Trump likely had affairs with consenting adults, and allegedly tried to cover them up. Mr Clinton had affairs with many adults, notably including a 21 year old woman who was his employee; he was credibly accused (but not convicted) of rape. As part of the cover-up Mr. Clinton committed perjury. Mr. Clinton was impeached, but not convicted by the Senate; he lost his law license. He was not criminally prosecuted.
Hillary Clinton fully supported her husband, and was complicit in the cover-up. She explicitly promised that if elected in 2016 she would give Bill a major role in her government.
The penalty for crimes by a sitting president is impeachment, which is a political, not a legal process. If the Democrats win control of the House, Mr. Trump may be impeached, but he will not be convicted by the required 2/3’s vote of the Senate.
Mr. Trump likely has the Constitutional right to pardon himself from criminal prosecution. His real punishment must come at the ballot box. The Times is right to publish what happened, but at the same we need to let Mr. Trump carry out the job he was elected to: his duties as our President.
2
@Alex
If Trump carried out his duties as our president none of this would be happening. Trump plays golf, cyberbullies real or perceived enemies, poses for photo ops with dictators and endlessly campaigns at rallies where he brags about being the most successful president ever. He does not listen to or read his daily intelligence briefings, he knows nothing about foreign trade or nuclear disarmament, he has only a realtor's rudimentary knowledge of economics and he likes to pal around with Russians. In short, he is a disgrace. And he probably wishes right now that he could shoot on Fifth Avenue the fixer who once promised to take a bullet for him.
2
"A guy whose campaign chair, deputy campaign manager, personal attorney, and first national security advisor all await sentencing seems like a fine person to fill one of the nine seats on the nation's highest court" - Greg Green on Twitter
6
How embarrassing for die hard Trump supporters to have been bamboozled in this fashion. They supported the man. He was their savior. At least he said so....He said so so many times he got a chunk of people believing it. What a mess.
3
Still not feeling confident enough to do a happy dance. The mention of pardons burst the bubble and still have a pit in my stomach knowing if this was a Democrat they would be screaming impeachment at the top of their lungs and grabbing the keys to the once dignified building faster than you can say “and justice for all”.
1
There can be only one response to all this: Lock her up!
3
Trump should be singing Bob Mueller‘s praises. He’s finally found someone to drain the swamp!
1
Excellent article.
Thank You to The New York Times
Editorial Board
5
On January 20, 2017 at 12:00 pm I wrote to my Senator, Richard Burr to Impeach Donald Trump. I have written to him
several times since with the same advice. He has responded
to me that the Senate cannot Impeach the President. On
August 21, 2018, I again wrote to my Senator, Richard Burr to Impeach the criminal known as Donald Trump. He has yet to respond. I am doing what every responsible but somewhat powerless citizen of the Untied States should be doing. If
every decent citizen did this, then perhaps the horribly awful
and corrupt Trump Presidency would come to an end.
2
Already the right wing defense of the president as unindicted coconspirator is this: we knew who trump was when we voted for him.
Yep, folks you elected a crook a con-man, so you get what paid for.
Question is, will America really swallow that?
6
"Let that sink in: Mr. Trump’s own lawyer has now accused him, under oath, of committing a felony." Nice try. Attach a legal description to the "felony" which is based on heresay.
2
Now show us the tax returns. Cohen's admission is only the tip of the iceberg. You can't hire snakes without getting a few rats too. To the GOP, if you choose to remain silent now, your party is history.
5
So long as Republicans get what they want they won't care if the president is a pathological liar, a grifter, con artist, hypocrite, or a crook. And they are getting exactly what they want. Even the so-called white exurbanites are likely to be unmoved by the fact that this is an explicit criminal enterprise because of their perceived economic advantages. Republicans will assure them that there is no real threat to their wealth and privilege. The religious fanatics are about to get Kavanaugh, the corporate interests are having a deregulation bonanza at the cost of all decency, and the bigots cheer. Joseph McCarthy was at 34% popularity _after_ he was censured. The Republicans pathology is explicit and if Democrats fail to take the House Trump will use that power to punish everyone in his way because he knows that its _his_ party now. Everything hinges on November because this is just another news cycle, no matter the headlines.
7
Corrupt to the core! Policy discussion aside, we first need a president who is truthful. No one could be more corrupt or swampy than the current White House. They are rotten to the core. And the GOP is spineless. They will sell the country just to be re-elected. And Trump will discredit the constitution and bring down America to its knees just to same himself and keep his ego alive and kicking. What a sorry state of affairs. A sad day for America. Hoping for it to be a rude awakening for many who are just so drunk with Trump Love!
7
At last! Trump won’t be able to “fake news” his way out of this chain of events. If his base doesn’t begin to crumble now, it never will. The fanatics who drank the Koolaid are essentially co-conspirators in bringing an even bigger swamp to D.C.
3
The ball is now in the court of Congress. May each member ponder the words of Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Bring the evil of the Trump presidency to an end.
1
The Emperor’s new clothes.....does the as named , “candidate for federal office” , get a custom fit orange suit or black and white horizontal pinstripes ? And perhaps a new federal address. Sounds like he may also have plenty of friends to keep him company.
It’s time...the merely obvious should suffice...the absurdly obvious should not be necessary ...time for a change.
2
After yesterday's two verdicts with one directly implicating Trump, two journalists from NYT, not from WP this time, should pen a book and some director in Hollywood should roll out the camera filming the second part of "All the President's men" with the new title "All the President's Crooks" like your editorial says.
The similarity between Nixon's troubles with the law, is so akin to our current illegitimate president Trump's troubles which are becoming deadlier everyday that it is impossible not to think that Trump did not read the above book or didn't see the famous movie starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman and is not following the same script play by play.
Although it is true that Trump didn't send five burglars in the D.N.C. headquarters like Nixon sent at the Watergate hotel in 1971 to listen to what his opponent was planning for the presidential election in '72.
But Trump did something more sinister and treasonous by asking our country's enemy No. 1 Russia to penetrate into his opponent Hillary's computers to dig out all her campaign related emails.
The Russians did just that plus more and in coordination with Trump's crooks working in his campaign released them to Wikileaks to dehumanize his competitor.
With two convictions against his crooks if the Republicans don't run to the White House like they did on August 9th,1974 and ask Trump to resign right now like Nixon did, then they can surely kiss their behind for a Republican controlled House and Senate.
1
Justice is a torn and tattered see-saw. If evidence is placed on the teeter totter, it raises the person accused to the top. Yesterday, at a rally where just hours before Trump’s Cohen and Manafort were found guilty, the crowd was shouting “Lock her up” and Trump was saying that Paul was a good man. Slogans like “You shall know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free” are meaningless to Obsequious Sycophants like a typical Trump rally and most Republicans in Congress. But in the end, the see-saw is going to break and all the Presidents Men will crash and burn. That’s justice!!!!
1
We could probably make a big killing and get lots and lots of money for Uncle Sam's coffers if we went after every politician and businessman who cheated the tax man. Maybe we ought to make the investment.
3
To date, it has been drip...drip...drip. Yesterday worsened the "problem" with news on the fixer and the mercenary: the water droplets are bigger and more frequent, almost a stream. Soon the pipe will burst.
2
I still find it surprising that the Republican Congress still turns a blind eye to Trumps Administrations behavior. Maybe because many of them behave the same way.
As a Country we Americans need to too decide if we are going to re-establish our Republic as one that follows the rule of law, or de-evolve into a "tin pot dictatorship".
American values have been a guiding light to the world for the pass 100 years. As a country in areas of climate and social issues we move to correct our mistakes, not double down on bad policy because it is hard to do the right thing.
What Trump don't understand it is doing the hard things and correcting our mistakes that make us great.
1
What a day yesterday! Both Cohen and Manafort are now convicted felons due to detailed evidence that led to due process. It's incredible how truth and justice always win in the end. I'm proud to have witnessed justice yesterday.
6
The key issue is that of money-laundering, which is going to trial later. If this is proven, in particular that Cohen laundered money on behalf of Trump and his plastic family, it's truly Game Over no matter what his dumb minority thinks.
How Trump wishes he had avoided the spotlight, but his hubris wouldn't let him. He literally forced all his own skeletons out of the closet.
3
Can he just pardon anybody and then give them a job somewhere in return for their silence. That only works if those on trial believe he'll still be president.
I squirm at the sordid and venal antics of many of our British politicians. But then I consider the godawful stench emanating from Trump's White House and realise we're not as badly served as Americans. Every American of integrity must be feeling grubby today.
View discussion
3
Well, now we know that the man who claimed he always surrounded himself with the "best," considered Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Scott Pruitt, Omarosa and a wide assortment of crooks and grifters among the "best." He still considers Manafort a "good" man while he continues to discredit truly honorable men on a daily basis. Those who might not fit that category - Stephen Miller, Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon, Sarah Huckabee Sanders - are nevertheless busy dismantling our government and culture, under the leadership of Rebekah Mercer and her father, Robert, whose vast amounts of money keep them from the "grifter" class but not from doing dirty deeds. And they are doing so, while we pay attention to their puppet's tweets. And, at what point in our mottled history did Giuliani became the exemplar to go to for questions about the nature of truth? Giuliani couldn't even tell his wives the truth.
4
Whether your descendants arrived to America in 1776, or you came to the U.S. today, this is a vindication.
The Republican Party has been loathe to acknowledge reality with regard to their “leader”. After all, it’s six degrees of separation.
And only a matter of time before the spotlight will hone in on republican congressman and senators who have thus far behaved like mini-Trumps—they are in total denial.
Tick, tick, tick.
1
I am always suspicious on the political motivations behind these prosecutions. Richard Nixon was ousted because a bunch of Keystone Kops broke into the Democratic National Committe headquarters one time, stole nothing, disturbed nothing.
Bill Clinton was vigorously prosecuted for a private act.
Nixon was ousted because of the cover-up of the break-in and the various other activities that were undertaken to cover-up the cover-up. It's always the lie that gets you.
To Trump morals or just simple honesty are foreign concepts. He just doesn't get it. He has lived his life without these things and believes, like the protagonist in Goodfellas, that anyone with integrity is just a sucker.
2
This is a classic problem with nations.... an elected people's representative with enough legislative powers and poor morale usurping power and using state machinery at his will against all values of the society that elected hime / her.
It happened often in Asia, in Africa too often, in Europe in the past, and now USA is finding it difficult to expel a president not really fit to govern the nation.
Is this a weakness of democracy that despots alway exploit? Or, is such national behaviour the reason why we have Sheikhs still ruling, the likes of Assads still survive and Africa and some Asian states in too much in depth over human rights?
@MSH It is crucial for US public officials to understand that the rights and liberties of minorities are protected by limitations on the powers of majorities. This business of denying rights reserved by the people because they aren't listed in the Constitution has to stop.
Now, about those tax returns, Mr. President...
8
If you need further proof that the immigration issue has warped American politics, this is it. Why else would we elect someone who is such a blatant crook? To protect ourselves, of course!
1
DJT has received terrible advice from his lawyers from day one; he should never have run for political office, period. What were these people thinking? Chickens coming home to roost.
3
Democrats should make a deal with Trump right now. They will take impeachment of the table, if Trump pulls Cavenaugh from the Court, and stops deregulating everything under the sun.
5
I am waiting for the tweet that disparages the unknowns jurors as being HRC supporters.
6
I find it astonishing that Evangelicals accept being lied to, especially regarding infidelity with strippers. According to their beliefs this behavior should disqualify you from public office, yet the entire GOP and it’s propaganda wing on Fox is complicit. It’s time to choose between your religious convictions or your political party.
6
At what point is one of the adults in the GOP--if there are any remaining--going to stand up and say to Donald Trump, "Time to go home now"?
3
Remember the compilation of Sinclair broadcasters reading that script?
I think we're about ready for a composite image of all the Trump photo ops where he signed some meaningless document and surrounded himself with stooges and they all grinned and gave "two thumbs up."
That gesture of his, the impulse to take a "team" photo...OK, everybody smile!...showed how he is stuck in the 90s, stuck in the mindset of a game show host.
A great reality show over the next few weeks should be to sneak a bunch of GoPro cameras into the Oval Office, the residence and his various resorts ad document his descent into madness.
1
That Trump continues to laud,compliment and praise his former Campaign Manager is beyond ludicrous especially knowing the former Clients Manafort worked for before working for Trump.
Remember, Paul Manafort "enriched himself by working for some of the world’s most notorious thugs and autocrats, including Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Jonas Savimbi in Angola and Mobutu Sese Seko of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He helped elect the pro-Kremlin Viktor Yanukovych as president of Ukraine..."
...before helping elect Donald Trump as President of the United States of America.
Now we all know that Manafort only works for "The Best People" at being the worst examples of what a person can be. And that he made millions and profited from ensuring they could do the most damage and cause the most hurt to as many people as possible.
As if an Ostrich Suit and a Cobra Jacket weren't tainted enough already, buying them with money made for helping Despots get into or remain in power is beyond the pale.
Surely Manafort surpasses anyone and will go down as the King of the Swamp that was never drained but in size only gained, despite anything to the contrary Trump may claim.
3
I had always thought that draining the swamp meant getting rid of corrupt politicians already in Washington.
I never thought it meant, “I’m sending all my enablers to jail”.
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." [Winston Churchill]
4
I would like to ask Trump supporters what exactly did they think Trump was going to do when he promised he would drain the swamp. His administration is the swampiest one in history.
1
In a few years Michael Cohen may well be oddly remembered as a flawed hero. If anyone wants a chance for redemption, it’s his.
He can remind us that this is the land of opportunity. Good can conquer evil.
November 6th is the National Vote Out Republicans. Please vote. Our freedom and democracy depend on it!
7
Excuse me for not getting beyond “when WE elected him”.
The Electoral College, designed to be composed of the best we have to offer, was designed to step beyond party, block the crooks and demagogues who might trap the ill-educated, and choose the best candidate for the job.
Unfortunately for Presidents Gore and Hillary Clinton, our electors were party hacks.
And the winners of the popular vote went down in flames, Ms Clinton, victor by @3 million votes, forget the lousy turnout, those votes represent about 1% of the &300 million citizens- including those between the ages of 0 and 17 years, 11 months of age.
The Gore situation was in process, not result, worse. The Bush Florida campaign chair served as secretary of state and designed a ballot that would lead a lot of older Jews to vote for Gore AND the first Jew on a major party ballot, VP candidate Joe Lieberman, invalidating soma ballots. Overall election supervisor was Bush Jr.’s brother Jeb.
We knew Trump was a terribly dishonest man and the demagog our founders tried to stop.
Despite maybe some thought of doing the right thing and giving the presidency to the highly honored woman Vladimir Putin feared after tangling with her as Secretary of State, the ideologues and loyalists named Trump the winner.
At least now we have sworn testimony saying he is what we’ve always known him to be.
I hope, for the nation’s sake, and the world’s, voters will realize the severity of this crime, and ride the Blue Wave come November.
Teapot Dome redux. Remember in November.
5
Question: with today’s news bombshells, why can’t / shouldn’t Sen. Schumer basically say: Hey Mitch—here’s your comeuppance for Garland: we will not vote for Kavanaugh until the new Congress is seated. This move on our part is equally unacceptable as your Garland move: now we are even. Let’s fix this.....
1
“The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine”. Karma.
Or, for a different type of lesson, Icarus.
1
With all his best words Trump has hoodwinked people from all walks of life into believing he is not only the main attraction but the only hope for America, just like any two bit huckster carnival barker.
Come one, come all, step right up here...
and so they do, just as agog as children staring at the Contortionist while enjoying their all-day suckers.
1
He called John Dean a "rat": for revealing criminal activity in the highest office in the land: shows how strongly he empathizes
with Nixon.
1
It seems to me that Trump's "best and brightest" are nothing more than a pack of rapacious vultures who are anxious to devour what little of our democracy that remains after their fearless leader has slaughtered it for them.
3
This shouldn’t be any surprise, really. We’re not talking about a savvy, competent international cabal, here. These are the ‘business associates’ of an ignorant, C-list celebrity who’s made a career from filing Chapter 11.
For any prosecution team, this would be dream; like shooting chickens in a coop.
4
The Republicans stole a supreme court seat, then they stole an election.
5
Those of us who have lived abroad clearly understand and appreciate that what makes the USA the most prosperous place on earth are her strong Judiciary and system of laws.
The day that our corrupt president is allowed to destroy our Judiciary, that will be the day that we seize to be a great country.
Under no circumstances, should our corrupt president and all his crooks be allowed to succeed. Our freedom depends on it.
1
Ever wonder how the scores of other Manaforts out there are trying now to anticipate whether they might some day find themselve squirming under a searchlight like Mueller's.
Only the end of the beginning --- not the beginning of the end:
Yesterday's conviction of Cohen and Manafort certainly 'exposes' the crimes of Emperor Trump (as the most visible and overt Emperor) and begins to 'expose' the 'rougher-talking' neocon 'R' Vichy Party of this Disguised Global Capitalist Empire, which is only nominally HQed in, and merely 'posing' as, our former country (PKA) America.
However, the essential continuation and completion of our founding "Revolution Against Empire" [Justin du Rivage] in 1776 has not yet begun to end.
The actual beginning of the coming American people's peaceful Political/economic and social(ist) "Revolution Against Empire" will first have to fire a; loud, public, sustained, 'in the streets', but totally non-violent "Shout (not shot) around the world" in order to ignite that completion of our American "Revolution Against Empire".
However, the next hurdle to completing our American "Revolution Against Empire" by 2020 will require the 'exposure' of the 'smoother-lying' neoliberal-con 'D' Vichy Party of Empire hiding within this dual-party political facade of faux-democracy.
Thus, the coming "Revolution Against Empire" on earth is within the hands of 'we the American people' alone --- but has not yet fully begun until the complete 'exposure' and peaceful expunging and excising of this Disguised Global Capitalist Empire begins again here in America.
1
First republican congressman to endorse Trump: Chris Collins, indicted for committing insider trading, on the White House lawn no less, and resigns.
Second republican congressman to endorse Trump: Duncan Hunter. He and his Wife indicted today for felony campaign violations/fraud...they actually ripped off a charity for Vets.
Campaign ads writing themselves.
7
It's a very successful witch hunt, with 6 in the bag so far? Wonder which poor patriot will lose his security clearance in another attempt to distract the public?!
1
Next crimes to be revealed: Trump family tax evasion/fraud, embezzling and assorted financial crimes?
Don Jr, Ivanka and Jared are exposed as indictable.
They are probably begging Don Sr to resign.....or have been. A little too late now.
1
@EC Don Sr can't pardon them if he resigns.
Since trump stole all of his other slogans, is he now going to fire up his rallies with "I am not a Crook!"?
5
John Edwards still in prison? Oh..he was acquitted. so paying hush money for an affair was no crime?
1
Drain the swamp? Trump's turned the swamp into a cesspool. And it stinks. If this won't show Trump's "true believers" the fact that their would be "emperor" is parading au naturel, despite insisting he's wearing the best clothes money can buy, I don't know what will.
2
Trump is in denial. He can’t face the truth. The truth leads to an orange jumpsuit and no gilding in sight.
Curious as to whether a president can be impeached for "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed prior to taking the oath of office. According to news reports, Trump directed his personal attorney to pay hush money to two women during his campaign for the presidency. Can any constituional scholars shed some light on this?
Even for one minute if you forget about all the malfeasance, the endless flow of Russian money, the payoffs, the lying and all the rest of it, you wonder if any of these people EVER pay any taxes.
These Republican “patriots” risk everything to prevent paying their fair share even while the bloody country enacts their destructive agenda.
We who oppose these terrible policies must pay while they enjoy the benefits. What irony...
Mr. President show us your taxes.
6
‘Let that sink in: Mr. Trump’s own lawyer has now accused him, under oath, of committing a felony.’
More accurately yesterday on twitter:
@PreetBharara
Michael Cohen in a courtroom in SDNY, under oath, declared that the President directed him to commit a federal crime.
@PreetBharara
I am seldom stunned. But I am.
Now let that sink in.
5
Go to the Fox website to see how these criminal convictions affect the criminal in chief, and his acolytes. "Illegal Immigrant Accused of Murder" has been it's banner headline since yesterday. The convictions are sidebars.
Fox will "cover" these stories as lightly and as distantly as possible so as to be able to say, "...We reported this," while feeding Trump's rural white voting base the message that this all matters not a whit and let's help the great man complete his mission.
1
Stop embarrassing yourself by doing this voodoo magic. You are offending the intelligence of your readers. This is all nonsense. Manafort has been tried for things he committed in 2005, long before his association with Trump. His case has nothing to do with Trump, other than that he later became his campaign manager. Cohen's case also does not amount to anything against Trump. He paid on Trump's request to keep two women silent. This is not a crime. Mueller will have a hard time proving that these payments were illegal campaign contributions. This and a couple of ghost indictments is all that Mueller has after more than a year of investigation. This is not Trump's "worst hour." In fact, it will make no difference for Trump. People who hated him (like Soros) will continue to hate him. People who supported Trump will continue to support him. The economy is doing well. The liberals will fail to dislodge Trump.
@Gennady You forgot to chant "lock her up"!
12
Going forward, Republicans can't really claim moral superiority regarding anything. The smug, set-jaw countenance of outrage previously found on their collective heads is at once comical and, well, more comical.
4
Although Mr. Mueller's mandate refers to uncovering collusion by candidate Trump's team in the 2016 election, it is actually good for America that the team ultimately found evidence of criminal activity by Paul Manfort, and that Manafort was convicted of cheating the U.S. government of tax money. It is also good for America that the team rooted out the crimes of Michael Cohen.
Although Michael Cohen has given sworn testimony of candidate Trump's violation of election finance laws, I am unsure about Mr. Cohen's overall credibility: he has lied in the past; he has cheated the government out of tax money; and he has entered a plea agreement to save his own skin. To my knowledge, the American public (and probably The New York Times) are still uninformed about the hard evidence behind Mr. Cohen's allegations that candidate Trump was fully aware of and agreeable to breaking campaign finance laws when the payments were made to silence the sex scandals. Therefore, I revert back to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which will guarantee due process for all involved.
24
@Ann P Your comment assumes Mr. Mueller is interested in finding the truth. I don't see it that way. He doesn't use grand juries and without grand juries there can't be indictments.
Sure he's indicted people who will never see the inside of courtrooms but isn't that the same as Trump in that he wants the headlines without actually doing anything?
@Ann P "I am unsure about Mr. Cohen's overall credibility: he has lied in the past; he has cheated the government out of tax money; and he has entered a plea agreement to save his own skin."
Well that's the point - when your back is finally up against the wall that's all that's left, confess. Some take the fall and never "rat" on their boss but others, usually of the loud mouth thin skin type, do. This was under oath remember, not yelling from a street corner or bobbing on Fox News.
1
@Ann P One thing to remember is that if Mr. Cohen lied to the Judge yesterday then his plea agreement if voided and he is looking at more jail time and higher fines.
1
Asked his age yesterday in court, Cohen said, “In four days, I’ll be 52.”
That still leaves plenty of time for him to right himself with his family and make a fresh start.
Happy Birthday Mr. Cohen, and good luck.
You did good yesterday.
Keep it up.
3
Paul Ryan expressed muted outrage over the charges against Duncan Hunter (misuse of campaign funds) and yet not a word about Trump, Cohen and Manafort. And have we heard anything from Mitch McConnell on this? The silence is deafening. We need to get out and vote and give the majority back to the Democrats.
6
@susan . . . and give the majority back to the majority!
2
At this point, there seems to be a lot of trees obscuring the forest. Yes, President Trump is a pathological liar, who suffers from narcissistic personality disorder and surrounds himself with petty grifters and big-time scam artists, but that is just noise.
The real story is his “base”: the 40-odd percent of Americans who continue to support him without hesitation or embarrassment. How is that such a large number of people appear to be incapable of even the most basic critical thinking skills?
It is not reasonable to expect every American to be well versed in macroeconomics, international relations, trade negotiations, monetary policy, and sundry other arcana inherent in running the country. We should, however, expect everyone to be able to differentiate fact from fantasy when presented with overwhelming evidence.
We can argue whether and to what degree Russian meddling in the 2016 election contributed to the outcome; but, ultimately, the fault lies with the American people. Given his history of bankruptcies, misogyny, racism, duplicity, vulgarity and just plain boorishness, Donald Trump should never have been considered a viable candidate.
The question now becomes, What must we do to ensure that no future generation of Americans is so woefully ill-equipped to participate in our democracy?
4
Trump’s character has been quite clear for some time so there is no surprise at the increasing exposure of his criminal wheeling and dealing and that of his associates. What continues to amaze me is the die hard support for him. It is beyond ironic that a majority of these very same people claim a superior morality by virtue of their religious convictions and so fervently chanted, “Lock her up”. They have empowered him and thus they feel empowered. It is a strange devil’s bargain transacted by the holier than thou and one can only hope they will wake up to the fact that they were conned and used by someone whose demonstrated values are directly oppositional to the teachings of the religion they profess as a guiding principle.
"Drain the Swamp" !
This was a large part of Trump's campaign platform.
He would rant on and on about all of the corruption in Washington, and how he was going to fix it, "as only he could".
From Flynn to now Cohen, and many in between, we have need guilty pleas and felony convictions -
All, the most directly closest to Trump's campaign.
These are not one-time infractions against the law, they ALL have a very long history of criminal activity.
As Mueller's investigation gained momentum, Trump declared a strong red line - not to be crossed - which would have any intrusions to Trump, his family, and of course his business dealings.
Trump has good cause for this "now-passed" line, as he is not only one who surrounds himself with criminals, but just may be the biggest criminal of them all in regards to not just how he runs his businesses - but WHO he has conducted it with.
Recent convictions do not actually show Russian collusion, but I think we can all hopefully agree;
The noose is beginning to tighten around Trump's neck.
1
While having nothing to do with Mueller, don't forget Clinton and Hunter, the two recently indicted congressmen who were the first and second of Trumps supporters there.
Makes you think, he promised to drain the swamp, but maybe it's not happening the way he thought.
Finally, the evidence convicted both Cohen and Manafort. It will convict Donald Trump too. It is a great shame to our nation that the man chosen to represent us is a liar and lacks basic goodness.
After all these months of being flogged by this charade I was reminded of the history of Tammany Hall in the 1860's in New York. I am not from New York but am taken by the history of Gotham.
Thinking out loud for a moment...If only in today's political climate there existed a device as banal but as powerful as a daily political cartoon and by the same token if there existed ( we had the benefit of) a political cartoonist the likes of Thomas Nast.
Just as he ruined Boss Tweed ("T") so could he
bring down a President "T".
If only indeed....
1
If what is being ultimately sought is DT's impeachment, 'be careful what you ask for': Mike Pence? The prospect of Mr. Pence as president is nothing short of terrifying, at least for those who have done our required reading.
Trump is crazy as Caligula and just as dangerous. But what I fear most is that there are so many Americans who are just so shockingly stupid and gullible to continue supporting him. Ignorance on a staggering scale. It's truly alarming and a bad omen for our future as a nation.
3
It is truly difficult and sad to fathom what Conservatives have turned our country into. The depth of corruption and criminality within their political sphere is mind-blowing and on a scale never seen before in this country.
So Trump pardons everyone and the republican Congress squashes any attempt to impeach. The bad guys always win. Sad.
2
There are NO fantasists who actually believe Trump's lies. They simply, shamelessly, hypocritically don't care.
6
Ok I'll be the first to admit it
I had no idea that this particular Tuesday was going to be such a great day....
1
Mr. McConnell? Mr. Ryan?
Knock knock. Anybody home?
Oh yea, they are home alright.
Raising a glass to congratulate themselves on playing these
"executive" Trump fools like a well tuned fiddle. Tax cuts. Check. Judges. Check. Empower big business with less regulation. Check. Backlash? It is coming to Trump and friends but Mitch and Paul are not in the line of fire. You have to admit it. Well played politics.
But the little guy? Average Joe? Gained gun rights, abortion restrictions and the freedom to look down on minorities and an "acceptable" anger vent. But a better life? Nope - and does not care. They got to be on the "winning team" with the cool guys for a while.
1
How much money do you figure Trump has in offshore accounts?
Oh, but in Trump's world of Jabberwocky, avoiding paying taxes is a GOOD thing. Despite the fact that taxes pay the salaries of many of his supporters--police, fire fighters, military personal. So, don't you see, Manafort is a "good man" because he's "smart" like Trump, and didn't pay into a system that he intended to exploit for his own benefit for as long as possible.
These people may or may not be fascists, but they are most certainly Carpetbaggers and Grifters. Sorry, Trump supporters. When the smoke finally clears from this administration, your pockets will be empty, your social benefits plundered, and your jobs will be gone. And all you'll be left with are some baseball hats and t-shirts.
8
The Republican Congress had better step up to the bar right now, by protecting Mueller's investigation. Otherwise they are all complicit and maybe charged with conspiracy to stop the investigation.
That would be just desserts for all of them, especially Nunes.
3
My only wish for Americans tonight, is to really consider what this is doing to America`s standing in the world. If after all the lies, corruption, and crimes that are coming to light every day now; do you really believe this not doing huge and possibly permanent harm to how the international community views your country in light of how many Trump cronies keep proving what criminals they have proven to be. If this is the standard you hold your government to; in not demanding accountability for such pathetic behavior; what does that say about your society? Is the bar really that low in the U.S. these days?
Well, isn't that special. We have a crook and a criminal occupying the white house. More to the point, Trump is a witch. So, the witch hunt isn't really much of a hunt. He is exactly the scofflaw we all thought he was from the get go.
On the other hand, I have no doubt that the Trump base doesn't care what laws he's broken. The base has no respect for the rule of law. The Trump base has no respect for the constitution. The Trump base has no respect for the United States of America. The Trump base has no respect for democracy. The Trump base has no respect for truth.
So how will the Trump base respond to the latest revelations. They will laugh and dare the rest of the country to do something, anything about it. As far as they are concerned, the election "trumps" everything including the constitution.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
4
Every day is increasingly evident, the general malaise that reigns in the circles of the left, a percentage (unfortunately still very high), of people who do not want or perhaps do not know how to resign themselves to the advance of a right, which surely only brings benefits, either in social, economic or other terms. A left that still today, feeds on the obviousness, fed by television or media in general. Can the judges according to you be able to work outside certain currents of thought? I do not think so ... And this time too, it's the clear confirmation. Mr. Muller (who has been given unlimited power to try in every way to discredit and engage the President) had to investigate the Russian Gate, but having found nothing, and above all not being able to accuse the President of crimes such as collusion or obstruction to justice, has aimed at former porn stars and old tax crimes of other people, which have nothing to do with the initial theory of Russian interference in the presidential elections. I would like to remind you that "someone" certain things, made them during the presidential term ..... and, moreover, inside the White House. But of course, for the left, as always, the past has passed ... it does not matter anymore.
It's of utmost importance right now to prevent congress go forward with Kavanaugh nomination proceeding, not only trump implicated in crimes, but GOP congress has a lot to answer too, just consider this recent news: Chris Collins and Duncan Hunter his two staunch supporters charged with insider trading, Duncan Hunter and his wife indicte for misusing campaign funds several times, spending family vacations in Italy, Hawaii, paying school tuition, dental work, etc... and the latest news:
The publisher of a website that serves as a platform for white nationalism was a guest last weekend at the home of President Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow.
And all that is just one day news cycle...insanity!
6
Tax filings. Trump's.
It's time.
1
The only difference between Nixon Watergate and Trump Collusiongate is, main characters
Nixon: Master politician, villainous but he was educated and trained in Congress and vice presidency and finally president, in every historical fact, Nixon hold dear presidential institute dearly, which ended up even disgrace.
Trump: Master evasive lier, no respect what so ever to anything in federal government including white house, Talent for politician nil. An embodiment of moral collapse of life.
After yesterday , This Trump story seemingly reach Watergate fever, plot thickened, things get exciting in terms of political history.
However, Trumps 18 months presidiency is a sore loss for USA so far.
1
Trump seems to have used his money, power and privilege to get away with everything short of murder his whole life — lying, cheating vendors and contractors, discriminatory real estate practices, adultery, harassment, tax evasion and avoidance, fraud, draft dodging, more lying. Accountability and responsibility, apparently, are only for the little guy in his way of thinking. Here's hoping he doesn't get away with his latest wrongdoing —inviting and accepting the help of a foreign power to influence our country's sovereign election.
1
Let's hope that justice prevails. I for one m appalled that anyone could take millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions and only be civilly fined $300,000 by the federal election commission. Oh, wait, that was President Obama in 2008. Double standard, anyone?
1
Trump should no longer use any "Rashomon" argument of what is the objective truth now that his retainers have fallen on their swords.
Perhaps now the news media can finally drop its unfounded fears of talking about impeachment, how it could work, what needs to happen to make it work, etc.
1
National Security Adviser: Guilty
Foreign Policy Adviser: Guilty
Personal Attorney: Guilty
Deputy Campaign Chair: Guilty
Campaign Chair: Heading to prison?
The wheels of justice move slowly , but grind exceedingly fine.
8
Any reasonable person who had been paying any attention at all to Trump and his cronies over the last 3-4 decades knew that they were a gang of ignorant thieves, liars, bullies, bigots and misogynists. That so many Americans still believe - despite all the evidence - that Mr. Trump is the target of a witch hunt, deep state conspiracy and liberal enemies demonstrates how powerful the cult of personality can be. Our last bastion of protection - our system of laws and justice - hopefully will continue to stand firm.
3
@SDTrueman
Liberals arent reasonable people.
Trump has been in the public eye for decades. Never was he accused of being that litany of name calling you just cited, well, never until he won an election against eEmocrats.
Well done. But it's true, if you're vehemently pro-life or a racist, homophobe, anti-immigration, pro-wall or the like, you will continue to support Trump and co. no matter what, I think. People are one-issue voters. They've got a bee in their bonnet and that bee makes them ignore the forest fire around them.
Does anyone actually think Trump is running the nation’s fortunes, as Presidents are sworn to do?
He plays golf — a lot. He watches TV — a lot. He tweets — virtually nonstop. His Supreme Court nominees were given to him by outside, ultra-conservative, privately funded organizations. Has he done one thing to catalyze the economy other than claim credit for a rebound that started seven years before he took office. He’s let his agency heads trash regulations in housing, environmental, and consumer protection, and he guided through Congress a tax relief plan so shameful that no one, including Trump himself, dare mention it.
Lost in all the scandous headlines is the simple fact that Donald Trump, as measured by actions to benefit the most Americans, is an utter failure. Surrounded by crooks, charlatans and Russian hackers who he has done nothing to thwart.
You’d have to be out of your mind to support this nincoompoop and the Republican Party supplicants.
4
"Only the best people!"
I expect a deafening silence from our GOP Congress apologists for Trump today and Trump children and Kushner ducking their heads down saying "I don't know nothing."
Unfortunately, I have no hopes of ever hearing much of substance regarding the attempted (or is it actual?) subversion of our elections by an unfit man, his criminal cronies and a hostile foreign government. They will go to their graves along with Giuliani proclaiming themselves shocked by the final revelations and excusing themselves.....not of their rampant partisanship placing their power over the welfare of this nation......but their innocence (i.e. deliberate blindness and closing their eyes.)
Ed Board -- you guys are dreamers, and not the good kind.
First, Manafort is not a good guy, but what he was convicted of had nothing to do with Trump or his campaign. You can natter on about Trump's judgment in bringing Manafort on board, but remember Manafort escaped scrutiny from the feds re his business dealings for years. The only way Mueller obtained information is because he had a warrant and was able to find documents that implicated Manafort.
As for Cohen, what an icon of integrity he is. Six of the counts he was convicted of had nothing to do with Trump. The two payoffs to two women who were trying to extort money from Trump for having had consensual affairs with him years ago may have been with or without Trump's knowledge. But let's suppose he knew and approved. So? A violation of campaign laws perhaps, but we only have Cohen's untrustworthy word on that. It's like water boarding, can you trust the word of someone who is trying to get his sentence reduced?
My guess? If it weren't Trump involved, this would be a nothing burger. But the anti Trump fanatics will latch on to anything. Further, since Trump had a reputation as a womanizer, the news of two old affairs wouldn't have hurt him politically. If anything, if he knew he may have wanted to avoid Melania's wrath or save her some embarrassment. And if Trump actually paid the two women, then is there any limit on what a candidate can spend of their own money?
@Ralphie . Truly amazing! Denial on a scale I never thought possible. Forgiving the unforgiveable! Denying the undeniable! Keep enabling! I'm sure Trump will richly reward you!
3
To quote SNL, “What even matters anymore?!” The old GOP guard will dutifully wag their finger and tisk tisk, but will ultimately do nothing of substance once the headlines fade. And as Donald Trump so aptly put it, he could “stand in the middle of 5th Ave and shoot somebody and not lose a single vote.”
I’m fully convinced that if he did stand in the middle of 5th Ave and fully admitted to tax fraud, election fraud and Russian collusion he would not lose a single vote because his supporters only care that he delivers on his campaign promises and seemingly nothing else.
This country has fundementally lost its moral core.
1
For the first time since January 20, 2017 I feel that the cloud of lies and misdirection, and the trashing of our cherished Constitution, the rule of law, and the ethical fabric that binds Americans together may finally be lifting. “Truth IS Truth,” Mr. Guiliani.
I hope we all have learned our lesson.
Vote for competence
Vote for decency
Vote for experience
Vote for those willing to face and clean up this mess.
Don’t let your children grow up to be one of todays republicans. Choose a more honorable life.
And vote....never miss a vote.
7
How can Congress confirm a candidate for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court when that candidate has been nominated by a man whose own lawyer has stated that he made illegal payments for the purpose of influencing the election of that President ?
8
Tonight Michael Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, indicated that his client has direct knowledge that Trump had foreknowledge of the Russians' hacking of the DNC and encouraged it. If true, that means that Trump will be guilty of conspiring to defraud the United States by colluding with a hostile foreign power. There is really no more thorough description of treason. Trump will need to be impeached, then tried and sentenced. Given that Trump now knows the most sensitive secrets of this country, the risk of imprisoning him would be too great, knowing his propensity for crime. The risk could not be taken that he might divulge these critical state secrets. That would necessitate Trump suffer the ultimate sentence for treason, which is death. Sad.
4
Whatever finally happens to Trump in the end he himself will have deliberately provoked it.
Smashing him to smithereens will not get rid of the swamp that still infests the Senate and Congress. It is a much bigger mess than one weird man and his stupid passion for tweets.
2
It hurts us to have a corrupt leader but it hurts us more to come to grips with the fact that he, Trump, thinks that he can get away with it.
6
History will record Trump has the ultimate result of an intellectually bankrupt right-wing political party that couldn’t help but allow a corrupt demagogue to rise to its highest level of leadership. A cadre of republican politicians and media personalities has been steering the GOP ever deeper into the septic tank of tribal politics for over twenty years now. “President Donald J. Trump” is as much a Republican Party creation as it is a Donald Trump production. Republicans are now faced with a stark choice, follow Trump the rest of the way down into an inescapable black hole or finally move on. Only the second choice offers a path back to eventual respectability, while the first renders the GOP and its remaining supporters permanently obsolete.
4
trump thinks it's smart not to pay taxes, as he stated in one of the debates with Ms. Clinton, so he doesn't see that manafort did anything wrong. trump's supporters feel the same. They see trump and his felonious minions as clever for getting away with so much unlawful behavior for so long. They admire trump's chutzpah. They wish they were like trump: rich, powerful, married to a young beautiful spouse, treating people like dirt and not having to pay the consequences. They will never desert him.
3
For those wondering why people will stand by Trump: this man, though clearly a crook, represents a fight against a hypocritical yet unbeatable and inescapable march to victory of a liberal elite.
This presidency is so much more than a litmus test: it is the last (perverted) gasp of the America anyone born before 1998 knew. It is the chance to go down swinging against a movement that seeks to tear asunder the cultural tapestry that was forged winning the Cold War and replace it with new winners and losers.
That the soon to be victorious left will eat itself once in power is cold comfort to 60 million Trump loyalists.
If you thought we were divided in 2016, just wait until the impeachment proceedings...this nation will never recover.
1
Since Trump’s absurd supporters were chanting the now meaningless slogan “Lock Her Up” at a recent rally, it seems doubtful that these goofy eccentrics have learned anything about infusing accountability in the next election or two. They are without conscience and clueless about what needs to be done. If there are no plans for voters, particularly Republican voters to bring things back into line, then Russians and other hackers will indeed have a fun time with the easy-to-manipulate American electoral process.. Don’t know yet if there is a longer term trend of an out of control spending war in elections and growing dependency on non American citizens to be the deciding factor in propagandizing the electoral process. Republicans have become Android clones of foreign agents, and they think it is perfectly ok.
3
Thanks for a concise analysis of the so-called "witch hunt." This is why I read the "failing NY Times," despite its "enemy of the people" status. The people need more enemies like you.
5
Finally the swamp is being factually drained. It is looking as though the swamp is becoming an increasingly uncomfortable place to inhabit. It is heart warming to see that more and more of Trumps lackeys are refusing to take a dive for him. The criminal world is a truly heartless place to live. Trump deserves the worst, I hope he gets it.
3
there is a limit of the fake news. it is unfortunate that the US highest administration had been promoting this concept of fake news and media against Mr. Trump and it is closing-in against them. we a re a country of freedom, knowledge and right information but 40% of people supporting Mr. Trump are still in dark. will they ever wake up? They cannot wake up unless the senate and the congress help them to wake up with reality. The burden is on them (senate and congress). will they wake up? God knows. if not, may god help them for the sake of our future!
How did we get here?
After Watergate, one would think that the vox populi are smart enough to know a crook and his band of thieves when they see it. Apparently not.
History indeed repeats itself but in the committing of the same mistake people do not have long memories or they manage to convince themselves that this time is different.
This Faustian deal that the Republican party made has just started to come full circle. Yesterday was the first step in "paying the piper"...it will not be the last.
Mickey of Princeton, NJ is correct, though. The Democrats have a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
The next President has to be a stable, steady and healing example for the country---whether it be a Democrat or Republican.
Drain the Swamp? Not so much.
2
After a summer of unrelenting bad news from Washington, the Manafort verdict and Cohen's plea bargain give us some hope that our country's best values still might prevail. Trump is not as invincible as he wants to appear.
Republican politicians are up to their necks in complicity; a GOP House will never impeach and a GOP Senate will never convict. Mueller and the courts can do only so much. If we want to be rid of this vile, obscene presidency, the most important thing we can do is vote for every Democratic candidate on the ballot in November.
3
I have been an attorney for nearly 40 years. Watergate was a wake up and I was still an undergraduate. BUT. The shock has been the bashing of the FBI, Justice, and the intelligence community by the man child, the Republican acceptance of this, and his mob enraged base that are incapable of reason. Who pays for his rallies anyway, and the cost of AF1 and SS? The events today, Manafort and Cohen mean something to those of us who are not blinded by the Trump mesmerism. Our criminal justice system is working but man child will call it the deep state, which will be red meat for the base and terrifying to those that understand that the Justice system and Judicial system are working.
1
...and we still have never seen DJT's tax returns to know what exemptions exactly he might have claimed or taxes he might have evaded paying.
3
@mak
Don't you think that Mr. Mueller has seen them?
The GOP has failed America, and the result should be long-term exile. Now, if we can somehow wake the Republican Party supporters up from their long slumber...
It’s astounding that there are rational, seemingly intelligent humans still defending this con man.
So where are those beautiful and totally legal 1040s file by Mr. and Mrs. Trump? Shouldn't he instruct his attorneys to hand over those piles of legitimate documents to ease our pain ?
3
Michael Cohen has become the Tsunami we have been waiting for to finally bring down Donald Trump’s presidency and his conspirators.
Our Commander in Chief, in an act of desperation is trying to avoid the inevitable; preventing the American people from knowing the true finding of Special Counsel Mueller investigations revealing that Trump "colluded" with the help of Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia during the 2016 presidential elections.
The Republicans in control of Congress in order to keep their seats and to stay in power have been supporting President Trump and his Administration from the very beginning; ignoring the President's inability to govern; his lack of diplomacy and respect when dealing with foreign dignitaries; believing he can step over our Constitution; the rule of law and willfully lie to the American people or how he's overstepped his boundaries as President.
Michael Cohen will put the final nail in Donald Trump’s coffin.
1
Among Trump’s unconditional supporters there are people who no doubt work more than one job to keep food on the table, never take a family vacation, have no paid sick leave, can’t afford higher education for their children and are in permanent fear of being crushed by medical debt. That these people can cheer on a “bone idle” president who spends his time tweeting, watching TV, playing golf, and organizing rallies to feed his ego, and yet feel no resentment when comparing their lot with his, is incomprehensible to me. Living vicariously has a lot to answer for.
6
The wheels of justice may grind slowly, but it sure appears as if Mueller and team have done their homework! Trump can not call this FAKE NEWS now, and all his years of lying, crooked behavior, bad decisions and downright stupidity will be revealed and bring how and his team down. Hope reigns! IF Trump had an ounce of conscience he would resign and not put this country through the torment, but that is a pipe dream. his followers will cheer and Calle for the wrong person to be locked up, while promoting their own self interest. It's time for us all to unite and bring this man down. VOTE!
We'll find out later whether Mr. Trump illegally colluded with the Russians to affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, but we know now he illegally colluded with Mr. Cohen to do so.
3
Forget who mentioned it before the election, but they did say if Donnie won the election, he would be mired in lawsuits and corruption charges. (Perhaps the Atlantic) He seems to have an awful lot of criminal associates for an "honest businessman." Birds of a feather flock together, as my mother used to say.
As for 45's supporters, they have Stockholm syndrome at this point. To not identify with the man is to lose whatever face they have left in this sorry mess of an administration. Which is sad but there you have it. People think sensible gun control and healthcare for everyone is a foolish thing too.
However messy this all looks, at least it is starting to be cleaned up. Please continue to follow the money, Mr Mueller. I suspect it will lead directly to the White House doors.
2
You and your readers are getting a little ahead of yourselves.
The fact that Cohen agreed, for the purpose of getting a deal on all the charges levied against him, with the prosecutors that his paying hush money (blackmail?) to Stormy Daniels during the campaign was a violation of the campaign finance laws and stating that he did it at Trump's direction does not mean that he in fact violated those laws by making that payment or that Trump is implicated in a crime by directing him to do it. Cohen can not challenge the prosecutors assertions but Trump can and the assertions are clearly challengeable. For instance, if Cohen did it at Trump's direction, he surely expected to be reimbursed somehow by Trump, so how can it be said that he made an illegal contribution? And how pray tell can Trump be guilty of making an illegal contribution to his own campaign? There are no limits on what a candidate can contribute to his own campaign. And the notion that Trump can be impeached and ejected from the oval office for making an illegal contribution to his own campaign is a tad absurd.
But there is a hint of something in the indictment that may do Trump in. The prosecutors say that Cohen sought to be reimbursed from Trump's company rather than Trump himself. If that happened and Trump's company deducted the reimbursement from its taxable income to reduce Trump's taxable income, they may be able to get Trump on a tax evasion charge. So don't go away.
And none of this will make any difference in November. GOP voters are still in love with Trump, and Democrats still won't bother to vote. The economy is humming along despite Fox News lies to the contrary, so for Americans it's "What me worry". As the Russians dither with our election and the West goes down in smoke due to global warming, Americans aren't paying much attention to politicians that they know are corrupt anyway.
Let us not forget the Republican Congress, the enablers who have aided and abetted Trump. They are all co-conspirators. The American people can indict and convict them in November.
1
@Impedimentus there is no congress. there is no "aisle". the GOP has done nothing but pander to trump's tune, making fools of themselves in the process. mcconnell and ryan are jokes, and not the laughable kind. i want my country back.
1
Hopefully this will be the nails of the coffin. I hope he refuses to resign, and he is thrown out of office. I do not want a quick resignation because that would just allow Pence to continue on this path of destroying my country. Just tie him up with constant litigation, making him unable to focus on more destructive actions.
I support impeachment. While the legal process will play out, there should be plenty of evidence to support his removal according to the original intent of the impeachment process. He is exactly the person the Founders designed it for.
However, the last impeachment process was a political charade with Democrats choosing to protect a sitting president rather than set a moral precedent. Lying in office, inappropriate sexual relations, and sexual harassment were all in effect normalized by the Senate refusing to convict President Clinton. Many of the same defenders are now calling for Trump to be convicted. I will admit that Trump seems to have done more criminally, but the Democrats did let Bill Clinton walk despite his offenses. I imagine the Republicans would attempt to do the same.
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@SteveYou compare apples and oranges. Clinton lied under oath, no small crime, but he did not comport with the enemy, he did not mastermind a conspiracy to steal an election, he did not permit Russian operatives access to his campaign, and he did not serve as a stooge for a foreign dictator.
Perhaps Clinton's crime was worthy of impeachment, but impeachment is a political tool, not a criminal prosecution.
As such, there exists no GOP politician of dignity and patriotism that will lead this effort, and it will take a GOP politician to succeed. The Democrats did not believe that the Clinton impeachment was justified because it did not rise tot he level of criminality that demands removal. Trump's conduct appears to be heading in that direction.
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@Steve
Clinton's indiscretions didn't involve a foreign adversary that endangered the state....'YUGE' difference.
@Steve " I will admit that Trump seems to have done more criminally, but the Democrats did let Bill Clinton walk despite his offenses"
You are kidding I hope. Trump SEEMS to have done more than lie about sex? Let me count the ways.
Chris Buskirk in his commentary says that this won't change anything. Conversely, he says, most people will be fed up with this kind of stuff just like they were getting tired of the Clinton drama and the constant attacks on Obama. Only things that affect people personally will make a difference. Doesn't a President who is being accused of having commited a crime make a difference, and more so than e.g. re-negotiating NAFTA with Mexico which Buskirk claims to requre more attention?
It may well be that impeachment could be a wrong strategy but calling out the corrupt and criminal nature of the Trump Team including Trump himself is appropriate for the sanity of the US society and it could produce political wins in the mid terms and beyond.
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To use a trite sports phrase--the ball is in Congress's court. So far in this presidency the congressional GOP have refused to wield their oversight power--in fact they have supported and abetted Trump's every action and demand. Now, the criminality that about 60 percent of us have strongly suspected lies at the basis of the Trump campaign, eked-out election win, and administration is being unearthed and brought out for all of us to see. What Trump has so feared--that the illegitimacy of his election and administration would be unmasked--came upon him yesterday. There will be more unmasking of this illegitimacy and criminality in the days ahead. The question for me is--just how long will the Republicans stand steadfastly by him? These next few days should tell us all.
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@Meg - Do you need to wait a few more days? I don’t. You are being too kind!
For the last two years, every time I heard someone say "President Trump", there was still that little voice of protest inside of me saying, "no, that's got to be a joke, he can't possibly be President."
Now, for the first time since Trump announced his candidacy four years ago, I wake up to headlines that say yes, there is order, there is sanity, and there is rule of law. Real news, real truth.
I can't wait to get my country back.
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From Watergate to Swinger-gate! The swamps do get cleaned up .Patience and faith in truth will out.
@Michael B. I agree wholeheartedly. We should stop using the term President; call him unindicted co-conspirator Trump instead.
@Michael B.
No need to call him "President". We can all refer to him now as "individual 1".
Three presidents were impeached, or were about to.
1. Andrew Johnson - The weakest case of all. He was at war with Congress over how to handle the aftermath of the Civil War. Hardliners wanted to punish the south; he wanted a less draconian approach. He survived by one vote.
2. Richard NIxon - Watergate break in coverup, lying and obstruction of justice. He resigned, before he would be impeached. He would have certainly been thrown out of office.
3. Bill Clinton - For lying about an affair with a White House aide, and trying to cover it up. Like Andrew Johnson, this was political in nature. And like Andrew Johnson; survived.
Now comes Donald Trump. Combined, the three presidents impeached, do not come even close to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors". It would take paragraphs to list all the charges. Yesterday, alone, is enough for a successful impeachment; charges leveled by Cohen. Also, I will not be surprised that Cohen drops the Russia collusion bombshell, to reduce his sentence further.
The reaction of Congressional Republicans are just as despicable, as what Trump, and members of his campaign did. Their silence, as well as "standing by Trump", sends loud echos of corruption.
As for Kavanaugh, that should be put on indefinite hold. Especially, in light, of more and more scandal.
Now we wait for Trump's next move; hist own version of the "Saturday Night Massacre". That will be game, set, match and impeachment.
The republic is in one of its darkest days.
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It will be time for Paul Ryan and others who claim to be patriotic lovers of their country to step up and take action when the evidence for impeachment is delivered to the House. That is when the chips will truly be down, and those public servants will need to answer to their maker for the actions they take or fail to take at that time.
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