So Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to a list of crimes. For him and his family, the key crimes are bank fraud and tax evasion. For the media, the key crimes are campaign finance related. Cohen pleaded guilty to being involved with the one woman being paid off by the National Enquirer for it to acquire the rights to her story. The second plea is that he arranged the payment to Stormy Daniels to keep quiet. Both are said to be done at the direction of Donald Trump in order to influence the election.
There are a few important points to keep in mind when considering the impact of this guilty plea.
1. This is no more than Cohen agreeing to throw the President under the bus in order to get a better deal for himself. It is not a decision by a court after a trial at which the facts were presented. It has no binding effect of any sort on anyone other than Cohen himself.
2. There seems to be no actual campaign finance violations despite Cohen agreeing to say that there is. The money at issue here is not campaign funds. Trump repaid Cohen for the cash he fronted, and since this was done at Trump's direction, that was always the plan. That means that at most Trump used his own cash to pay off these women. That's not campaign funds. It's not covered by the campaign finance law. It may be sleazy, but it's perfectly legal.
3. The deal for the plea is a set up by the Democrats. Cohen's lawyer is Lanny Davis, a long time Clinton ally and fixer. Clearly, Davis had no problem pushing a deal that points to Trump, whether or not it is true.
4. Without a doubt, the fact that the President used Cohen as an attorney for so many years speaks poorly of him. Cohen is a low life. Aside from the campaign finance stuff that isn't a real violation, though, none of the bad stuff Cohen did has any involvement with Trump at all.
We will now surely get at least a week or two and perhaps more of the media/Democrats screaming about impeachment and the like. It was BS before, and it remains BS now. There's no other way to put it. Nevertheless, we are surely going to get a multi-week serving of this garbage.
There are a few important points to keep in mind when considering the impact of this guilty plea.
1. This is no more than Cohen agreeing to throw the President under the bus in order to get a better deal for himself. It is not a decision by a court after a trial at which the facts were presented. It has no binding effect of any sort on anyone other than Cohen himself.
2. There seems to be no actual campaign finance violations despite Cohen agreeing to say that there is. The money at issue here is not campaign funds. Trump repaid Cohen for the cash he fronted, and since this was done at Trump's direction, that was always the plan. That means that at most Trump used his own cash to pay off these women. That's not campaign funds. It's not covered by the campaign finance law. It may be sleazy, but it's perfectly legal.
3. The deal for the plea is a set up by the Democrats. Cohen's lawyer is Lanny Davis, a long time Clinton ally and fixer. Clearly, Davis had no problem pushing a deal that points to Trump, whether or not it is true.
4. Without a doubt, the fact that the President used Cohen as an attorney for so many years speaks poorly of him. Cohen is a low life. Aside from the campaign finance stuff that isn't a real violation, though, none of the bad stuff Cohen did has any involvement with Trump at all.
We will now surely get at least a week or two and perhaps more of the media/Democrats screaming about impeachment and the like. It was BS before, and it remains BS now. There's no other way to put it. Nevertheless, we are surely going to get a multi-week serving of this garbage.
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