Laurence Tribe just tweeted about this "very helpful" article about DT and RICO laws.

[pnwmom]

Looks interesting.

Link to tweet

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/reports/2017/12/07/443833/donald-trump-criminal-conspiracy-law/

There is little in his resume to suggest that Mueller, a decorated military veteran and former FBI director, would approach his work as an open-ended fishing expedition designed to impose a political cost on the president. But it is important to note that Mueller’s written directive from Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who appointed the special counsel, establishes that Mueller is to investigate any links between Russia and the Trump campaign, and “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”4 In other words, the special counsel is duty-bound to investigate other serious crimes that may crop up in his investigation, including, but not limited to, money laundering, tax evasion, perjury, abuses at the Trump charities, or espionage. The Manafort-Gates indictments suggest that the Special Counsel investigation traverses a timeline that includes, but again, is not limited to, the campaign.

Given the complex and likely interlocking nature of the special counsel’s investigations into these multiple fronts, an obvious question arises: Does the alleged behavior of The Trump Organization amount to an ongoing criminal conspiracy and should it be pursued as such? That answer ultimately lies with prosecutors at the federal and state level, most notably Mueller; these prosecutors have access to evidence and legal expertise well beyond that of a lay person. That said, the media and appropriate congressional oversight committees should recognize that Trump and his circle not only engaged in what appears to be serial misconduct, but acted with coherent purpose in doing so. A close look at the record suggests that The Trump Organization arguably behaved a great deal like the organized crime syndicates, which have been targeted as criminal conspiracies in the past.

Thus far, Trump and his associates—with the exception of George Papadopoulos—deny any such criminal actions, and prosecutors have not indicated that any such charges are pending. However, it is important for the public to better understand what might constitute a potential ongoing criminal conspiracy in the eyes of prosecutors, and to better illuminate the specific conduct of the Trump campaign and The Trump Organization that have given rise to this conversation in the first place.

If prosecutors, including the special counsel, were to approach the alleged actions of the Trump campaign and The Trump Organization as a criminal conspiracy, such as through the use of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), it would give them a set of powerful tools, albeit tools that come with some substantial risks for the prosecution. A RICO case would likely not be a silver bullet to magically put an end to the Trump administration, but it might be an intriguing tool used in conjunction with state level investigations into the activities of Trump and his associates to uncover and punish any potential wrongdoing. Investigative reporters and congressional committees should specifically explore RICO predicate offenses linked to The Trump Organization; the question of whether a RICO case should be brought on its merits deserves to be raised.

[elleng]

1. Mueller is to investigate any links between Russia and the Trump campaign, and

"any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”

[oasis]

2. Explore any and every avenue that will put Trump's sorry ass in jail.

"Mother of Mercy, can this all end in RICO?"..... Apologies to Edward G.Robinson (Little Ceasar).

[calimary]

3. Well, for Al Capone it all ended in tax evasion.

[Mc Mike]

4. He should have been RICOed for D Rump University, alone. rec, nt.