trump shouldn't be charged with a crime in the hush money case

Author: n8nrgim

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#1
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trump paid hush money to someone, a porn star, that he had sex with. his critics say that that was a move to influence his presidential campaign, so he should have used campaign funds. this seems like a technicality, something not worth pursuing. plus, i dont know the legal details, but using campaign money to pay a porn star doesn't sound legit. it looks illegal to use campaign funds for non election purposes... so basically trump could have been prosecuted no matter what he did, but the path they're arguing he should have done, looks way more preposterous. 

""The idea that a routine private settlement, unconnected to any campaign activity, is a criminal offense because the settlement should have been paid with official campaign funds is the most preposterous, ludicrous, idiotic, indefensible, fraudulent “legal theory” conceivable.
"Under this “theory,” candidates must use federal campaign funds for private, personal or corporate matters—an exact inversion of federal law. Indeed, DOJ prosecutes those who use campaign funds for expressly non-campaign purposes. Of course, the “theory” is all bogus pretext.
"No serious human believes that Manhattan DA’s office believes any of this. They understand this is a purely partisan exercise in vengefully prosecuting a political enemy precisely as is done is repressive third world nations, despotic regimes and marxist authoritarian states."

i can understand rand paul... this is a witch hunt, and if anyone should go to jail, it's the district attorney who brought this case. 

thoughts? 
#2
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@n8nrgim
In today's politics, accusations translate to more votes than exonerations.
#3
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The most pathetic and most obvious witch hunt of them all.

This shows that they fear Trump could be president again.
#4
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@n8nrgim
trump paid hush money to someone, a porn star, that he had sex with.
Allegedly...

i can understand rand paul... this is a witch hunt, and if anyone should go to jail, it's the district attorney who brought this case. 

thoughts? 
It's treason then *grabs lightsaber*

Seriously, I've been saying for a long time that there are so many laws and they are so vauge that they can always go after someone if they're willing to look stupid to sane people. From county regulation to campaign finance.

Using the law this way is no different from acting outside of the color of law (morally).

To do so to prevent a person from being reelected is a direct attack on democracy. The foundational premise of the social contract is already informal and poorly established. To add on top of that the overt inequitable use of that contract?

Nothing but violence is the appropriate response. I'm not saying violence is the most likely to succeed in restoring the republic, but certainly it is the appropriate response. Probably the best form of violence would be to use whatever small grip on government the right-tribe has and accelerate the weaponization of government faster than can be responded to.

What can absolutely not be allowed to happen is that they use institutional power (swamp monsters) to limit the range of tactics and policies of the right-tribe by vetoing candidates (even more than they already do).

Part of me hopes they do this. They already had the advantage by rigging the election system. By doing this their claim of believing in democracy would suffer a fatal blow. Such illegitimacy would help sway elements of the military towards the right-tribe when the civil war breaks out.
#5
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@n8nrgim
i dont know the legal details, but .... this is a witch hunt, and if anyone should go to jail, it's the district attorney who brought this case. 
  • I would encourage you to learn the legal details before coming to such grand conclusions.
  • The Federal Election Commision required Trump to report any expenditure by any campaign employee during campaign season spent to influence the election.  Some outside lawyers point out that the urgency and amount of the expenditure was directly linked to the proximity of voting day and therefore Trump was required to report that spending to the FEC whatever the specific payment circumstances.
    • The FEC also required Trump to report all expenditures  during the campaign over $100 that didn't influence the election.
    • Either way, Trump broke this law.  If the FEC wasn't deadlocked by Trump appointees, they would probably present him with a small fine for failing to report that payment.
    • Keep in mind that Trump's lawyer pled guilty to a campaign finance violation.
    • Since last fall, SDNY has custody of Trump.org accounting books- both the public book used for taxes and the outrageously different book that shows Trump.org actual income and receipts. 
      • The most likely charge is falsifying book-keeping to cover up an illegal activity, that illegal activity being the failure to report the expenditure to the FEC.  Not much of a crime but it is clear that Trump falsified the reason for his payments to Cohen in order to conceal that payment from the FEC.
      • Cooking the books by itself is usually a misdemeanor but becomes a felony if cooked to conceal a crime.
  • There's potentially other charges.  For example, Cohen hired men to physically threaten Daniels and her daughter in 2011.  If Cohen can show that intimidation was done at Trump's instruction and if the statute of limitations is extended (in NY, some statutes of limitations clocks only run when the accused is a permanent resident of the state), that's a pretty serious felony.
    • Let's remember Cohen used the same Delaware account to conceal $500,000 paid by relatives of Putin insider Viktor Vekselberg in the weeks immediately following the election.  Vekselberg also donated $250,000 to Trump's inaguration fund six months after the inaguration.  Although Mueller never connected these payments to anything Trump knew or did, no plausible explanation about why Putin's friends are dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into the accounts of Trump's friends just after the election has never been explained.  It's possible that Cohen has finally provided an explanation for these massive payouts.

#6
YouFound_Lxam
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They shouldn't because they didn't prosecute him within the 2-year maximum time. 
They are still going to try, but it won't work.

Also, Trump is probably guilty of this crime, given his attitude. 
#7
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In today's politics, accusations translate to more votes than exonerations.
Only for republicans 

#8
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@YouFound_Lxam
They shouldn't because they didn't prosecute him within the 2-year maximum time. 
They are still going to try, but it won't work.
No. He couldn’t be charged as President. Then a new DA wanted to do his own investigation. There is no 2 year statute of limitation 

#9
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@YouFound_Lxam
Trump is probably guilty of this crime, given his attitude. 
Trump is guilty of several crimes but because of idiot republican politicians and voters it has been difficult to hold him accountable.

#10
ILikePie5
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This worse than the Biden’s getting paid by the Chinese
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#11
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@oromagi
if trump used campaign money to pay the hush money, couldn't the government say that he used campaign funds for a non-election purpose? don't you think that that would have looked way more scandalous? that the government can get him no matter what he does, if they disagree with how to characterize it?

i realize that your point is that he was suppose to report it no matter the purpose, but i guess my only point in response is that that seems like a technicality and trivial. it's like going after bill clinton for lying about an affair and his personal life, except trump didn't even lie. 
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#12
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i also realize that trump's lawyer plead guilty, but i wonder about the context of that guilty plea... like, did he do it just to negotiate and avoid a witch hunt against him? 
#13
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@ADreamOfLiberty
Nothing but violence is the appropriate response. I'm not saying violence is the most likely to succeed in restoring the republic, but certainly it is the appropriate response. Probably the best form of violence would be to use whatever small grip on government the right-tribe has and accelerate the weaponization of government faster than can be responded to.
Dream of violence, not liberty. Your conflating the two. Typical Trumpeteer cultist. They could have used you on Jan 6th at the capital in D.C.

60 million Trumpeteer cult members, led by Trumpet who calls for protests, and we all know this code for violent protests by his 60 million cult followers.

End-date-for-humanity...?....

Trumpeteers vs the rest of humanity? I think were talking a  movie deal here for Trumpet. Title of movie is A Dream of Liberty.

Mel Gibson is definitely the lead for playing Trumpet...."The hiatus was largely due to being virtually shut out from Hollywood, an expulsion prompted by the infamous Malibu DUI arrest in 2006 during which he unleashed an anti-Semitic rant. That was followed by leaked tapes in 2010 where Gibson screamed racist remarks, including using the n-word, at his then-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of one of his nine children. She later alleged Gibson was physically abusive. Even before his fall from grace, Gibson had routinely been in trouble for homophobic comments."....



#14
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No. He couldn’t be charged as President. Then a new DA wanted to do his own investigation. There is no 2 year statute of limitation
In New York where the crime "allegedly" occurred there is a 2 year statute of limitation. Read a book.

This incident "allegedly" occurred 6 years ago, so it would pass the statute of limitation, and the offence would not be passed. 

Trump is guilty of several crimes but because of idiot republican politicians and voters it has been difficult to hold him accountable.
Saying "controversial" stuff is not a crime. 



#15
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One thing I am mad about Trump doing, is calling for all republican candidates to "speak out" against this issue.
One of these people he called out is Ron De Santis, the Governor of Florida. 

Trump has been repeatedly attacking Ron and attacking him very hard. So I think it is very hypocritical to ask for help after attacking him politically like that. 

But then again, Ron's response to Trump was not the best either. It wasn't a bad response, but I think in order to gain more popularity, I think it would have been politically more smart for Ron to speak out more against this issue, and make a bigger deal of it. 
Trump doesn't deserve it, but it would paint Ron in a better light, and make him infinitely more popular, and that would be smart if his goal is to run for President. 
#16
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Dream of violence, not liberty. Your conflating the two. Typical Trumpeteer cultist. They could have used you on Jan 6th at the capital in D.C.
I was there. It was clearly far too peaceful.

End-date-for-humanity...?....
Why don't you integrate over the dark matter )( geodesic to find out?
#17
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I was there. It was clearly far too peaceful.
No thanks to you we can presume. Jan 6th violence was sic-n-head persons.

Trumpet will be charged by grand jury is my guess. Hopefully he will go to jail for that and other crimes.  Hopefully those commit protest violence will also go to jail.

1} Depends on circumstances of evidence presented, 2} how it is presented and 3]what goes on in each jurors mind.

I think those are the only factors to consider. I dunno
#18
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@n8nrgim
What you have incorrect is Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels with his own money. Apparently he took the money from his retirement funds. Then Trump paid him back over time with a series of payments from the Trump Organization and reported those payments as “legal fees”

The purpose of these payments was ostensibly to aid his 2016 Presidential Campaign 

So, Trump illegally took a campaign contribution from Cohen by failing to disclose it to the FEC. 

Trump illegally classified the payment as a business expense to the IRS

These are the crimes Trump and Cohen committed. Cohen already did jail time for his crime. Trump was shielded from prosecution by virtue of his status as President. Now he must be accountable to the law.
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@YouFound_Lxam
In New York where the crime "allegedly" occurred there is a 2 year statute of limitation. Read a book.
Oh really? Which book says there is a 2 year statute of limitations? When did you read this book? When did you graduate Law School? 

Is the limit the same for all levels of crime? What are the charges against Trump? Do you think you know the laws better than the District Attorney of New York?

“Cohen and Daniels have each testified before the grand jury. Evidence bolstering Cohen’s testimony includes emails, texts and other documents gathered during a search of Cohen’s electronic devices, a source familiar with the investigation told USA TODAY”

“Trump could be charged with falsifying business records in combination with another criminal violation. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor, but it would become a felony if linked to a second crime”
#20
ILikePie5
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Cohen went to jail for perjury. What a credible witness
#21
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@ILikePie5
That was one of the charges. And the perjury was for  lying to Congress to protect Donald Trump. 

Why does Trump hire so many people who are convicted felons?
#22
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So when the government convicts a Mafia boss by flipping a lower level gangster, one who is a murderer even,  those convictions are not credible?

I thought conservatives were tough on crime
#23
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@n8nrgim
The context of the case is this:

1) All the DA has for evidence at the moment is the word of a convicted Felon.

2)  Trump claims if he is forced to go to court that he has the documents to prove the hush money came from his own funds.

This is the main reason why nothing has happened about this in 7 years.
#24
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So when the government convicts a Mafia boss by flipping a lower level gangster, one who is a murderer even,  those convictions are not credible
2 words. Corroborating evidence.
#25
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Oh really? Which book says there is a 2 year statute of limitations? When did you read this book? When did you graduate Law School? 

Is the limit the same for all levels of crime? What are the charges against Trump? Do you think you know the laws better than the District Attorney of New York?
The guy who is charging Trump works for the same guy, who let 50% of all prisoners free, and would rather search back years to find Trump guilty of a misdemeanor, rather than worry about the crime happening right now. 
But anyways:

For felony's, in New york, the statute of limitations is 5 years (which still wouldn't be long enough to charge Trump).
For misdemeanors, in New York, the statute of limitations is 2 years (which also wouldn't be long enough to charge Trump).
And finally, for petty offences in New York, the statute of limitations is 1 year (which also wouldn't be long enough to charge Trump).
"Most felony offenses have a five year statute of limitations period. Misdemeanor offenses have a two year statute of limitation period, while petty offenses generally have a one year statute of limitations."

“Trump could be charged with falsifying business records in combination with another criminal violation. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor, but it would become a felony if linked to a second crime”
Even if it was a felony, he wouldn't be charged. 
This is stretching it out far, and though Trump probably did falsify some documents, he wouldn't be charged, because again, the statute of limitations wouldn't allow it. 
#26
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@IwantRooseveltagain
That was one of the charges. And the perjury was for  lying to Congress to protect Donald Trump. 
Then he’s definitely not credible lol.

Why does Trump hire so many people who are convicted felons?
He was fine before he got fired 

So when the government convicts a Mafia boss by flipping a lower level gangster, one who is a murderer even,  those convictions are not credible?

I thought conservatives were tough on crime
That’s a false equivalency. Murder =/= Lying. If you’re relying on a person who has a history of perjury to tell you the truth about something, their testimony should be questioned.
#27
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Looks like Alvin Bragg hid 100s of pages of exculpatory information from the grand jury. Yikes
#28
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Why does Trump hire so many people who are convicted felons?
TDS, as continuously proven up till this second. Latest example this DA.
#29
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I've said this over and over again for the "orange man bad" people.  Another nothing burger coming from the media.  This is all political targeting and grasping at straws to try to nail someone that they are afraid of.  The media is portraying this to the brainless people out there that will look at this theater and think Donald Trump is a criminal and a threat to society.

He is no different than the Biden (Chinese endorsed) Crime family, the Clinton death family (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cLdwfbVCIg) and the Bush family elites pulling the strings for their own benefit.  The only difference here is that Trump is not a politician so he doesn't play by their rules.  That makes them mad.

It was stated in the very beginning that they were going to impeach Trump.  Remember "Impeach 45! Impeach 45!" just as he got into office?  Good ole Chuck Schumer said  "Let me tell you: You take on the intelligence community — they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you,”.  They had it out for him from the get go.

Hello?! McFly!  They are targeting this guy because he upset the apple cart.
#30
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@DavidAZ
Hey. 

Sleazy Orange Guy walks around with a target on his chest.

What the f**k do you expect.

LOL.