Trump About to Be Hit With a Legal Tidal Wave

[sheshe2]

by Martin Longman
November 17, 2017

snip//

If you haven’t already, you should set aside some time to read about the blockbuster from NBC News and Reuters on the astounding criminality surrounding the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower project in Panama City. The people involved in selling those units from Trump have been accused and in several cases convicted of everything from pimping to working in the human slave trade to kidnapping to laundering money for South American drug kingpins. This, all in a project that Trump set aside to be Ivanka’s “baby”- her introduction to the real estate game. Many of these people were Russians and the same is true of their customers, who in most cases never occupied the properties they “bought” with their dirty money.

Imagine what someone with Robert Mueller’s resources can discover about Trump’s business practices.  He’s already taken the chairman of Trump’s campaign, Paul Manafort, down for money laundering dirty Russian money, and that’s just scratching the surface.

We don’t know what all has already been discovered, but we can rest assured that it’s unsavory and won’t stand the light of day.  A lot of people keep asking why the Trump folks haven’t been more cooperative and forthcoming. Why have they lied so frequently? Why don’t they get out in front of the story? Get it all out there, even if it’s politically damaging, so that they can be cleared of the central charge of cooperation with the Russians in their plans to disrupt and discredit our electoral system?


The most obvious answer is that they’re guilty as charged. But the other, more innocent explanation is that they’re, as Gerson puts it, “a group of people for whom truth, political honor, ethics and integrity mean nothing.” In other words, they’re collectively so divorced from normal standards of ethics and legality that they’re incapable of imagining how to behave in an innocent manner, even when they didn’t actually have the competence to pull off some grand conspiracy.

Read More: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/11/17/trump-about-to-be-hit-with-a-legal-tidal-wave/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+washingtonmonthly%2Frss+%28Political+Animal+at+Washington+Monthly%29

Great read. Lock them all up!

[malaise]

1. Jake Tapper right fugging

NOW

[sheshe2]

6. I only caught the tail end.

!!!

[BigmanPigman]

2. It will be on MSNBC in place of Rachel tonight.

Richard Engel is spending an hour covering it. I hope it isn't preempted by "breaking news" since it is Friday after all.

[sheshe2]

7. Thanks.

I will tune in when I get home!

[dawg day]

28. Rachel M is going to have an interview with Engel tonight, I hear.

LOL about Friday breaking news. Who's going to resign today?
Maybe this is the Friday breaking news.
Trump's business has seemed so marginal all along. I hope the criminality is discovered soon, and Trump Org goes the way of Enron== disappearing without a trace, but without much damage, as it's privately held by the creepo family.

[BigmanPigman]

31. I bet that the moron and his family

would end up like Kenneth Lay ( died before going to jail) and his wife (sold shares, made millions and was never convicted of anything). There is no justice sometimes.

[WyLoochka]

53. "goes the way of Enron disappearing without a trace

but without much damage, as it's privately held by the creepo family."

Great visual image of it all going down. I'll have sweet dreams tonight.

..I can't refer to him by his so called name either - have to use trumpo or creepo instead.

[Hortensis]

59. Thanks, Bigman. Have Engel taped but hadn't viewed yet.

It'll be scandal for Trump for licensing his name to this thing, but I"m guessing a whole hour means their involvement is a bit deeper...?

[BigmanPigman]

75. Richard showed that Ivanka is involved and

that the moron builds in countries that are known for laundering money and corruption. Also, it covers the Emoluments Clause and how GOP Congress isn't perusing this. I found the end interesting. Richard said that some people saw his special and wrote to him that he is being anti-tRump (Dem propaganda) and another wrote that as long as the 401Ks make profits he will support 45. Basically, he is and will be getting away with this through tiny loopholes in the constitution, etc. Meanwhile the rest of the world is laughing at us.

[The_jackalope]

3. This just might explain the Franken affair. SQUIRREL!!!!! nt

[Duppers]

12. That's exactly why.

Last edited Fri Nov 17, 2017, 06:37 PM - Edit history (1)

And the M$M bought it. Oh and sex sells.



Edited to add this just found:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029855716

[L. Coyote]

15. Roy Moore explains the Franken timing well enough, that and Trump's accusers.

Biut hey, they need distractions every friggin' day. Especially while stealing a TRILLION dollars PLUS a year from the Treasury.

[Duppers]

17. ++

[Hortensis]

61. Jackalope, $4 TRILLION stolen from SocSec and Medicare ALONE?

That's only the beginning, and the $1.5 TRILLION additional debt they felt they couldn't get away with cuts to cover is also only the beginning. They've hacked away at our national wellbeing like a hoard of machete-wielding zombies.

The moment they pass this thing, we are all legally on the hook, like a 10-year mortgage, to pay those trillions of taxpayer dollars to people like the Kochs. Money stolen from our national kitty.

Just maybe that's what Ms. Tweeden is distracting from?

[vlyons]

4. Haven't we DUers known for a long long time that Trump is dirty?

His whole family is steeped in filthy corruption, and all of it for the love of money. Trumps have been in the dirty laundry business going all the way back to Trump's grandfather, who ran whorehouses and invested the profits into real estate. Everything about the Trumps reeks of filthy corruption. I as a Buddhist, am supposed to see something good in everything and everyone. But by golly, I fail in that aspiration with the Trumps. That Trump removed the Obama ban on importing wild animal parts (ivory) was the latest outrage to disgust me.

The only thing "good" that I can see regarding Trumpville is the faint hope that Americans will also get fed up with the disgusting hypocracy and filthy corruption and yearn for a return to decency and personal honor and integrity in our politics. I yearn for it. Don't you?

[Toorich]

9. Impaled upon his own attack.

You acquire no bad karma by allowing an attacker to impale himself.
Trump and his circle are lying down on their own swords.

[Buns_of_Fire]

11. At this point, I'd settle for the return to good ol' garden-variety

dishonor and corruption -- like the good old days. Trump and his cronies have taken the "bad" in politics to formerly unimagined levels.

That man is giving "sleazy" a bad name.

[red dog 1]

24. Yes, I "yearn for a return to decency & personal honor & integrity in our politics" too!

And I "hope that Americans will also get fed up with the disgusting & filthy corruption" and vote the Repubs OUT of control of both houses of Congress next November, however, they may not be able to do so because of:

1) Voter Suppression Laws in GOP-controlled states
2) Vote tampering, especially in GOP-controlled states
3) GOP voter suppression programs like "Crosscheck" which keep Democrats off the voter rolls
4) BILLIONS of dollars that will be spent by the Mercers, the Koch brothers, and other right-wing multi-billionaires in negative ad campaigns against ALL Democrats seeking House & Senate seats next year.

Our only hope, imo, is that, for once, the Democratic Party will enter the mid-term elections as a truly "united" Democratic Party, with a massive 50-state voter registration program targeting new voters, (especially millennials), and leadership that reflects all "wings' of the party..progressives, centrists, center-rights, independents, ands even moderate Republicans.

(The Republicans can only steal elections that are close...Obama proved this in 2008 & 2012)

[SunSeeker]

5. K & R

[gratuitous]

8. If they don't know they're mind-bogglingly criminal, can they really be held accountable?

Be ready for the counter wave of "they didn't know it was wrong" excuses and denials. Look also for appeals to Ivanka's youth, her unfamiliarity with the ways of real estate and high finance, and the wily skullduggery of the Clintons that tricked the innocents into such nakedly illegal transactions.

And speaking of the Clintons, why don't we have another round of Whitewater investigations?

You just know it's all coming.

[malaise]

14. Local 10 Florida exposed the hypocrisy - said the Con wants Franken investigated

but he )the Con) hasn't been investigated yet.

Loved how Tapper went after the promised law suits. I hope one of those women sue him.

[xxqqqzme]

19. With that family's multiple shady schemes

you would think one of them would have studied the law. There should be at least one attorney in the bunch

[volstork]

34. Yeah, even the Corleones

had Tom Hagen.

[bdtrppr6]

52. they were grooming Barron

for that role. probably the smartest one of the bunch and he will be reviled and shunned due to no actions of his own.

[nocalflea]

58. Maybe that's wonderboy Jared's role.

"Jared Kushner graduated from
New York University in 2007 with dual JD/ MBA degrees. He interned at Manhattan District Attorney
Robert Morgenthau 's office, and at
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP "

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Kushner

[Ligyron]

63. So one would think he'd know better

[Alice11111]

74. Jared Kushner, Harvard law degree. Other lawyers:

Sessions
Mike Pence, who did the transition screening for Flynn, Manafort, Page and all of the others, but claims he knows nothing about their prior Russian, Turkey, Ukranian connections.
Christy, who also worked on the transition team

[gratuitous]

54. Precisely

We'll soon see if it works for the same as poor defendants as for wealthy defendants (even though we suspect we know what the answer is).

[ehrnst]

10. kicked and recced. (nt)

[lark]

13. Nope, not a thing is innocent with that cabal.

Evil through and through and loving it.

[marble falls]

16. Rachel Madow will be goooood tonight.

[FailureToCommunicate]

33. It WILL be good. But it will be Richard Engel in the same time slot, with this explosive story.

[marble falls]

35. She mentioned something last night about a scoop he was releasing tonight ....

As soon as the DVR gets about 20 minutes on it and I can FF commercials I'll be turning the show on.

[sheshe2]

39. Watching now!

[sandensea]

18. Good - but this should have ALREADY happened a year ago at least.

Before he could put his tiny paws all over the levers of government.

[KPN]

64. Yes. Big money overwhelmed our entire

governance system long ago. Corruption enabling corruption and ultimately outright theft of public goods. Layers of an onion deep and this is just the surface.

How was this allowed to happen? The GOP enabled, yes, but neo-liberalism blindly or intently played a role. Whichever -- neo-liberalism is/has been culpable.

[sandensea]

66. +1

Alas, short of an alien invasion I don't see a solution.

Restoring the Fairness Doctrine would certainly help though; right-wing media outlets make it too easy for them to trick the gullible into voting neo-liberals and their partners-in-crime, the far right, in.

[octoberlib]

20. Link to Narco-A - Lago

Great reporting. https://www.globalwitness.org/en-gb/campaigns/corruption-and-money-laundering/narco-a-lago-panama/#chapter-0/section-0

[sheshe2]

23. Woah!

Thank you for that link...Narco-A-Lago!

[tecelote]

21. You all know what I want for Christmas.

[SCVDem]

22. Lock them up?

Only after a "Trading Places " style takedown and humiliation.

Then send them to Supermax!

[red dog 1]

25. K&R

(See reply # 24)

[calimary]

26. As they said in the old Almond Joy commercials -

“Indescribably delicious!”

[sheshe2]

32. How sweet it is!

[greatauntoftriplets]

27. I fondly recall the good old days.

They were just last year, when no one sane ever accused Barack Obama of criminality.

K&R

[Me.]

29. It's About Time

Thes criminals, cheaters, thieves, and grifters were locked up. Too bad he had to become president for justice to prevail.

[volstork]

30. Human trafficking.

The trump “empire” is a front for human trafficking. THAT’s what the Russians have on trump, and that’s what has them all running scared.
It’s just a matter of time before the dam bursts...

[Honeycombe8]

36. Trump is probably insulated. He's not located down there, he didn't do things hands on.

He just collected money. But I guess they could get the people who did those things...maybe. If they're not citizens, could be hard. And I don't know if Mueller has that kind of funding. His goal is the administration.

[R B Garr]

37. K&R!!

Wow, this story is incredible! Can't wait for the round up. We are living in unprecedented times!

[sheshe2]

40. Not one day.

Not one has passed with out scandal. Fugging amazing.

[LiberalFighter]

38. Watching the Trump dirty money now.

[sheshe2]

41. Me too! nt

[getagrip_already]

42. queue the tweet storm...

in 3 hours... count on it.

He has to be on a royal tear right now.

[sheshe2]

45. here.......................

[USALiberal]

43. +1000

[flamingdem]

44. A connection to the Mexican drug cartels

is just gets more sleazy. Worse than an episode of Narcos.

[sheshe2]

49. such evil.

unfuckingbelievable.

[WinkyDink]

46. The Trumps and their peers live in the heart of darkness, where the law of the business jungle

prevails. The lingua franca comprises strength and the persuasive skills of a psychopath.

The ensuing mindset has in the past week led to Trump's simpering statement to China that he liked countries that took advantage of other countries and to his (now on-hold) allowance of killing endangered big game.

From a metaphorical lawless jungle to a too-real lawless jungle. Trump thinks he is the lion, but he is the slithering loathsome snake.

[VOX]

48. I want that fucker to become a laughingstock.

I realize that there’s nothing funny about 45 and his misadministration. I’m talking about mocking laughter. “In-your-face, asshole” laughter.

Then I want him banished to Siberia, where he can spend the rest of his days tweeting bromance notes to his beloved Vlad.

Can you imagine what Putin says about Trump when he’s not licking Vlad’s boots? He must think, “Trump is no doubt the stupidest American I’ve ever controlled, there’s simply no challenge to it.”

[sheshe2]

50. The entire world is laughing...

at Trump and sadly at the rest of us. America is going down in flames.

[murielm99]

51. I hope not literally.

Trump is so unstable, he could decide to take out the rest of the world with him if he is cornered.

Someone has to take the nuclear codes. Please.

[pat_k]

57. Reminds me of an old Patton Oswalt bit.

This was back in 1999. The bit started something like (I'm probably butchering a bit):

"I don't think Bush wants to be President. I think he wants to be the LAAAASST President. I think he could bring on the fucking biblical apocalypse..."

Just replace Bush with Trump.

A joke, yes, but...

Please, somebody, save us from this maniac! Invoke the 25th! Declare DT "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office." (And then do the same for Pence, who has already declared himself unfit. He is the embodiment of a violation of the separation of church and state.)

[VOX]

62. Isnt it astonishing how this psychos act is just swell with 33% of Americans?

(Sorry for the lack of punctuation in the subject line, I’m posting from my phone and that’s what occurs, with alarming regularly.)

I can just barely believe it myself. You’d think, if a person had one single functioning brain sell, he/she could see right through the ongoing display of phony mock outrage, profiteering by it all along.

Everything is a total mess. We have to hang on. There are no other viable options.

[Skittles]

55. this is someone who calls Hillary "CROOKED"

[pat_k]

56. Fingers crossed.

[DeminPennswoods]

60. Program was over-hyped

Yeah, the Trump property was a magnet for money launderers, but try as they did, Engel and crew really couldn't tie anything directly to Trump. The closest they could come was arguing that because the Trumps got regular licensing revenue from the hotel/condo, they were accepting laundered money. Even the US federal prosecutor and the convicted money-launderer they interviewed couldn't say the Trumps were doing anything illegal.

The program mostly just showed how the Trumps walk the fine line between legal and illegal and keep themselves pretty much willfully ignorant of who buys/sells the units they build and license.

[justiceischeap]

73. I agree with this assessment...however

one thing that sticks with me is tRump all but begging Mueller to look at his personal finances by proclaiming that Mueller better NOT look at his personal finances. In tRumpland that means there’s something shady there.

[DeminPennswoods]

76. I think these licensed properties probably

would be tough cases to prove money-laundering just because there's too much room for plausible deniability. Mueller et al are going to have to look at real estate Trump actually owns or owned like Trump Tower in NYC and the estate in FL Trump bought, then sold for about 100% profit to a Russian who never lived there and subsequently tore the whole building down. Manafort, Michael Cohen and Felix Sater are probably the keys to any money-laundering charges.

[Enoki33]

65. The important fact that emerged was that the dotard organization

targeted countries with a reputation for corruption and money laundering. Most of those countries also had virulent kleptocrats ruling them. All of them in one form or another magnetized Russian and SA drug and stolen money. To the dotard organization it was their ideal business model climate in which to either get directly involved, or picking off the outside profits. Interesting to see if dotard will arrange the release from jail back to his palatial estate his friend, the ex president of Panama, who was instrumental in helping get that project into reality. I suspect dotard looks at him and fears he is seeing a reflection of himself.

[niyad]

67. gitmo would be a nice destination--or abu ghraib

[sheshe2]

68. Either one works for me!

[niyad]

69. with showers installed by kbr

Last edited Sat Nov 18, 2017, 02:29 PM - Edit history (1)

[sheshe2]

71. Nice touch!

[7962]

72. Well, he's worth billions and billions, so legal fees shouldn't be a problem! Right Donald?

And I have always thought that this was the reason trump never wanted to release his tax returns; he doesn't make nearly what he tells people he makes

[Gothmog]

77. Mueller has put together a great legal team

This has been to watch

[sheshe2]

78. I can't wait until he delivers!