Why Cohen turned on Trump

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Michael Cohen, who did his best to smear Donald Trump last week, may well have been doing so in revenge. Last summer it was revealed that Cohen was under investigation for tax fraud.



Federal authorities are analyzing whether Cohen failed to report all of the income from his taxi-medallion business, which included “hundreds of thousands of dollars received in cash and other payments over the last five years,” according to the Journal.

Investigators are also probing whether any bank employees improperly extended loans to Cohen without adequate documentation, and whether Cohen made false statements or misrepresentations on loan applications.

In particular, federal investigators are looking closely at Mr. Cohen’s relationship with Sterling National Bank—which provided financing for Mr. Cohen’s taxi-medallion business—including whether Mr. Cohen inflated the value of any of his assets as collateral for loans, according to people familiar with the matter.

Convictions for federal tax- and bank-fraud may carry potentially significant prison sentences, which could put additional pressure on Mr. Cohen to cooperate with prosecutors if he is charged with those crimes, according to former federal prosecutors. –WSJ

The key here is that Cohen wasn’t acting alone. Cohen’s wife Laura was involved:

While Michael Cohen once described himself as Trump’s “fixer,” Cohen has persued his own ventures – including real estate, taxi medallions and personal loans.

As of April 2018, Mr. Cohen owned 22 medallions in Chicago, and either he or his wife, Laura, controlled 32 medallions in New York City, some of which were also owned at least partly by family members and others, according to public records.

As recently as 2014, taxi medallions were considered a rock-solid investment. The medallions, issued by a city agency and required for running a taxi, are bought and sold on a secondary market. Some licenses for taxi medallions in New York sold for an average $1.25 million per medallion in 2013 and 2014, according to bankruptcy filings.

But in recent years, their value has plummeted amid competition from ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft. In a filing for a federal bankruptcy case in June 2017, Mr. Freidman said the estimated value of each medallion had dropped to approximately $200,000 to $225,000. –WSJ

Cohen claimed to stand by Trump for a long time- until Mueller did the Cohen what he had done to Michael Flynn.

Threaten the family. In this case, Mueller threatened to go after Cohen’s wife Laura

But a key Trump administration official, who inadvertently played a central role in Wednesday’s House hearing, has claimed there is another reason for Cohen’s betrayal—that his wife was being threatened with jail time unless he “turned on” Trump.

The assertion was made in a Facebook entry by Department of Housing and Urban Development official Lynne Patton in January. The post has taken on new relevance given Cohen’s testimony Wednesday.

That would be the same Lynne Patton that democrats berated as a “prop”. Patton explained:

“What many of you may not be aware of is the fact that I can personally confirm that the ONLY reason Michael Cohen ‘turned on’ the President of the United States is because Mueller threatened to throw his wife in jail for up to 30 years. Period,” Patton posted on Jan. 18.

“She is the co-guarantor of a $20M personal loan that Mueller discovered Michael secured back in 2015 by falsely inflating the value of his taxi medallions—effectively making her part & parcel to the federal charge of ‘Making False Statements to a Financial Institution,’ to which Cohen ultimately plead guilty,” she continued, adding that was also the reason a “longtime taxi medallion partner” was granted immunity.

Despite Patton’s suggestion that Mueller had jurisdiction over the loan issues, it was the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York that investigated and brought charges against Cohen related to bank fraud and personal business dealings. Mueller only charged Cohen with one count of making false statements to Congress, to which he pleaded guilty.

Indeed. However, the raids on Cohen’s properties were directed by one person- Mueller:

Less than two weeks after Cohen’s home, office and hotel was raided by federal prosecutors at the behest of special counsel Robert Mueller, the former Trump attorney pledged his personal residence “through a $9 million mortgage on his apartment at Trump Park Avenue” – as collateral against millions of dollars in loans from Sterling National Bank which were taken out by he and his wife in 2014 against their taxi business.

This all makes perfect sense now, especially in light of some recent revelations. Cohen’s lawyers met with Trump’s lawyers seeking a pardon shortly after Mueller’s raids.

An attorney representing Michael Cohen broached the idea of a pardon for the longtime Trump associate during a conversation last year with lawyers for the president, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The news outlet reported that Stephen Ryan allegedly discussed the possibility of a pardon with President Trump‘s attorneys Jay Sekulow, Rudy Giuliani and Joanna Hendon. The conversations reportedly took place in the weeks after the FBI raided Cohen’s home, hotel room and office while the group reviewed seized files that may have qualified for attorney-client privilege.

Ryan hinted that Cohen would consider cooperating with prosecutors if he did not receive a pardon, according to The Wall Street Journal.

It was only after Trump’s lawyers turned down the request that Cohen turned on Trump. Then we learned that Cohen wasn’t stopping there. He, er, conspired with Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings and they discussed his testimony at the coming hearing:

President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen said Wednesday that he and his legal team spoke with top Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings and Adam Schiff before his testimony in front of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

In a testy exchange between Cohen and Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., the president’s former lawyer said that his legal team has spoken to members of the Democratic Party ahead of Wednesday’s hearing on Capitol Hill.

“We’ve spoken to the party,” Cohen said, adding that he has also spoken with Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, “and his people” but added that he only consulted with his lawyers to prepare for the hearing. Cummings is chairman of the House oversight committee that held Wednesday’s hearing.

Cohen has been sentenced to three years in prison but look for early release. That will be your signal that the fix was in- that Schiff and Cummings will ask for leniency.

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I can remember that during the IRS scandal investigations, NO ONE was held accountable and those responsible were allowed to retire with their full benefits rather than be fired. Obviously, there was a fear that if anyone got punished for carrying out the President’s plans, they might drop dime on Obama and spoil the whole caper.

So, why would Trump not try to give Cohen absolution? Well, because Cohen’s problems are Cohen’s problems and they don’t have anything to do with Trump’s business or the campaign.

Hillary would have simply had him killed.

Cohans a weasel and sold out to the highest bidder. He couldnt get a promise of pardon (witness tampering and obstruction trap for the Prez) didnt want 70 years in prison. So now he is being fed every dog whistle in the dem playbook by a Clinton lawyer, none that can be proven true.
Calling as a witness the Trump campaign manager for his 2020 run Brad Parscale, tying him up so he cant do his job isnt purely political opposition research and election tampering?

Trump is a normal citizen in a sea of rapacious monsters in D.C. I can’t believe he has survived this long.

@Deplorable Me:

Hillary would have simply had him killed.

And you would have had carnal congress with his corpse (since we’re apparently just typing any crazy shit that cones to mind).

@kitt:

none that can be proven true

What about the things for which he brought documentation?

@Michael: His dem dog whistle, trumps a racist, hearsay testimony. Saying he could tell exactly what to do by Trumps body language, trying to get off on his actions that Don never ordered/requested him to do? If this were a trial there would have been legal objections testimony stricken from the record, as an attorney he knows that.
Such a lack of ethics his law license was revoked.

@Michael:

And you would have had carnal congress with his corpse (since we’re apparently just typing any crazy shit that cones to mind).

At least you finally got your mind off the erections of those posting here. Congratulate your therapist for me for the progress he’s made.

What about the things for which he brought documentation?

You mean his big Publisher’s Clearing House check? Is it some sort of revelation that Trump paid his attorney? How many criminals do you know that pay for crimes with checks? Boy, you silly-ass liberals are definitely DESPERATE.

The only thing Cohen left out was that he saw Kavanaugh raping Ford.

@Deplorable Me:

How many criminals do you know that pay for crimes with checks?

Jussie did! I wonder if it bounced.

@kitt: Maybe I should have specified “smart” criminals. Of course, Jussie assumed a free ride and no scrutiny.

Why is congress waiting for the Mueller report you can pre-order it on Amazon, the Washington Post seems to be able to get a copy for a publisher!
Before the intelligence people decide what is classified an needs to be redacted, WTF Should WaPo get to profit on what the American Taxpayer sweated for, or is it 750 pages of opinion tripe a bait and switch ? In that case I am sure Greg has his order in.

@kitt: Apparently Mueller and CNN have a pretty tight relationship.

@Deplorable Me: CNN is full of ex-CIA spooks Bush guys make perfect sense.

@realDonaldTrump@realDonaldTrump

Bad lawyer and fraudster Michael Cohen said under sworn testimony that he never asked for a Pardon. His lawyers totally contradicted him. He lied! Additionally, he directly asked me for a pardon. I said NO. He lied again! He also badly wanted to work at the White House. He lied!

8:04 AM – 8 Mar 2019

So why did you pay this bad lawyer and fraudster Big Bucks to handle your most sensitive personal and business matters for over ten years, Donald? Was he not doing good work for you, or are you stupid? Or maybe these are not mutually exclusive possibilities.

@Greg: Cohen’s illegal activities were never reported to Trump. Why did Obama and Hillary sign off on selling our uranium to a company they KNEW was controlled by Russians? That’s a little bit more critical to the nation than you crybabies trying to force Trump out of office just because Hillary was rejected by the country.

“Upon successful completion of our advanced M.A.G.A. indoctrination course, students will have developed the ability to pull the wool over their own eyes, unassisted.”

@Greg: Yeah, like what happened in the Smollett case, right? And that Covington event. Those MAGA guys are ALWAYS causing trouble, huh?

The liars are liberals.

March 8, 2019 — Devin Nunes: Mueller’s team is ‘part of the collusion’

Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, charged Friday that special counsel Robert Mueller is the real source of collusion that people should be focused on.

Nunes should be investigated. He’s part of the corruption.

@Greg: Is that the Democrat agenda now? Anyone that says something that the Democrats find dangerous to their agenda they should “investigate” (on the taxpayer nickel) and ruin with legal costs? Nunes has a perfect right to state his opinions especially when they have a foundation of truth. Mueller is working for a cabal that is attempting a coup.

Mueller was looking for Russian collusion. Anyone that has studied the issue KNOWS the entire Russian collusion narrative was a invention of Hillary’s campaign which was promoted as actual fact by deep state operatives within the leadership of the IC, DOJ and FBI. Unless Mueller is a total, complete fool (like most other liberals) he is pursuing an “investigation” he KNOWS is based on political fallacy. So, he IS promoting collusion because the pursuit of ALL these “investigations” serves the ends of our foreign adversaries.

@Deplorable Me, #19:

Nunes has a perfect right to state his opinions especially when they have a foundation of truth. Mueller is working for a cabal that is attempting a coup.

Any elected officials who have used their powers of office in an effort to obstruct justice need to be exposed. The republican in question was trotting off to the White House for secret consultations regarding the oversight investigation he was responsible for conducting. His memos and investigative findings appear to have been crafted as public relations tools for the White House.

The Trump administration is the effing “coup”. What they’re trying to overthrow isn’t a political party, but American democracy and the institutions that protect it. You know the nation is in serious trouble when a bumptious blowhard of a president waves around his hands and repeatedly proclaims to angry stadium crowds that the press and the justice system are the enemies of the people. This unAmerican b.s. needs to be eradicated in the courts, on the floor of Congress, and ultimately through the power of the nation’s ballot boxes—another Constitutional mechanism that they’re trying manipulate and discredit. What do you think all the horse manure about 3 million illegal aliens voting for Clinton was all about? It’s totally daft. 3 million illegal aliens voted for nobody. 3 million is a measure of how many more voters saw through Trump’s scam than did not.

A treasonous congressman: Conservative scholar implores Paul Ryan to expel Devin Nunes from House

@Greg: Pretty damn non specific on grounds, what exactly was done by Nunes that would warrant such action. Perhaps you can find legal grounds and post that.
Nunes was the one that originally was alerted by an insider at the White House there was highly seditious activities and went to witness the documentation held on White House computers, which can only be accessed at the White House.
Im for NUNES 2024!
You just lashing out because you didnt get any Russian/Trump evidence not even a shadow.
So anticipated, Hey Greg want some ice-cream, aww damn fresh out.

@Greg:

Any elected officials who have used their powers of office in an effort to obstruct justice need to be exposed.

Oh, R E A L L Y ?

So, like Comey and McCabe suppressing evidence, Lynch directing Comey call the Hillary investigation a “matter”, Strzok changing the wording of Comey’s predetermined exoneration of Hillary from “negligence” to “careless” and, just recently, Schiff and Cummings COACHING Cohen on what he should and shouldn’t say in his “testimony”? Unless you’ve changed your allegiance from Democrats and the left in the last hour, you SUPPORT obstruction of justice when it benefits Democrats.

The Trump administration is the effing “coup”

You’re delusional. If not truly delusional, if you think you can convince any person with an actual intellect of that fantasy, then you are deluding yourself. Trump was ELECTED. He holds LEGAL POWER. He is not running a coup on himself. Sheesh.

Obama was circumventing the Constitution, obstructing justice and ignoring laws on an industrial scale. Hillary would have taken that as a challenge to go even further. Trump is doing more to restore the rule of law and respect for the Constitution than anyone before. Trump actually reveres the law and Constitution whereas Obama hated it and Hillary viewed it all as an impediment to gathering more riches.

Is all this your attempt at sarcasm? It’s difficult to explain such absurdity any other way.

@kitt:

@Greg: Pretty damn non specific on grounds, what exactly was done by Nunes that would warrant such action.

Why, he has a voice and he expresses an opinion different from the deep state. So, crush him with the investigation weapon. That’s what liberals consider the legal system; their own private arsenal to use against anyone that opposes them. Liberals are losing their hold and they are becoming desperate. Dangerously desperate. That’s what the House investigations and HR 1 represent; dangerous desperation. The finale is approaching.

@Deplorable Me, #22:

You’re delusional. If not truly delusional, if you think you can convince any person with an actual intellect of that fantasy, then you are deluding yourself. Trump was ELECTED. He holds LEGAL POWER. He is not running a coup on himself. Sheesh.

Bring some people with actual intelligence in, and we’ll see.

Nixon was elected, in his case, by a popular vote majority as well as an electoral college majority. Like Trump, he proclaimed the press to be the enemy of the people when they began to critically examine what he was doing. Nixon held legal power until it was revealed how he was misusing it, at which point he resigned.

@Greg: And there was an actual crime committed for which the perpetrators were found and the cover up discovered. Here there has been NO CRIME but the left is LOOKING FOR A CRIME. They are looking for the purpose of trying to carry out a coup against the duly elected President of the United States. No crimes, no reasonable suspicion, only the desire for a coup because a bunch of whiny, sore loser crybabies lost an election.

Trump’s accusations of the media are well founded and documented. The media is working in concert with the Democrat party, again well founded and documented.

You’ve looked for Russian collusion since 2015. You know why you can’t find it? NONE EXISTS. However, the Democrat collusion and treason has been completely exposed.

@Deplorable Me: Notice nothing on Nunes, nothing on subject.

@kitt: Yeah, said something really stupid and is trying to run from it… with more stupid statements!

Oh… the DOJ “misplaced” the request letter.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/it-exists-doj-finds-letter-ordering-scrutiny-of-uranium-one-hillary-clinton/ar-BBUzHJZ?ocid=sf

NOW we’re investigating crimes instead of trying to intimidate people from representing citizens, as they did in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.

@Deplorable Me: The Dems are shocked to the core. They cant do that! The Democrat attack dogs cannot be reshaped to not see party when crimes are committed, its unheard of! What next, Their donors, organizations that suck up government money for unamerican activities OMG their form of democracy is under fire!
If they start looking at contracts going to Democrats relatives there will be a revolution!

@kitt: And then liberals argue that if Hillary had really done something wrong, why isn’t she in jail? Duh.

Here there has been NO CRIME but the left is LOOKING FOR A CRIME.

I suspect Trump has committed numerous crimes, before and after his election—far more than Richard Nixon ever did. I think it’s his nature. The fact that he makes no distinction between truth and lies should provide anyone with an obvious clue to his character. Like most people of the sort, he assumes everyone else lies whenever its convenient, and that those who don’t are fools. I think he’s utterly amoral.

@Greg: Thinking and feeling are not facts and evidence. It is not how our justice system works, nor how oversight works. It is how banana republics and Police states work. If that is your idea of how things should be please sell everything and move to one of these Greggie Utopias.
AOC has told people she is the boss, Someone needs to inform her she is a servant, not a queen to have her orders obeyed.
As you back baby killing, marxist , anti semetic psychos what you think or what you feel is not really important in polite society no matter what the church of MSM tells you.

@Greg:

I suspect Trump has committed numerous crimes, before and after his election

Well, you can suspect, imagine, fantasize, pretend all you want. It doesn’t make it true or worth spending millions of dollars trying to make it so.

What you need is evidence. Evidence like Hillary’s husband getting paid $500,000 for a half-hour “speech” in Russia, their “foundation” getting $145 million in “contributions from Russia and then Hillary signing off on the sale of US uranium to a company KNOWN to be controlled by Russians. THAT sort of stuff is what suspicions are made of, not just a bitter feeling after losing an election.

Or something like destroying 33,000 emails as soon as they were subpoenaed and them claiming they were just yoga emails. Or claiming 37 times in an FBI interview that you “can’t remember”.

@kitt: Greg would be perfectly happy with a police state as long as it isn’t directed at him. But, that’s how socialist regimes always get started.

Thinking and feeling are not facts and evidence.

We have yet to see the evidence. I think we will. In the meantime, I’ll trust my intuition about Donald Trump. There’s a long history of past behavior that tells me he shouldn’t be trusted with the power he’s been given. I trust neither his stated intentions nor his judgement.

@Greg: He has a long history of doing things you like to suspect, now, as being illegal. Had he done anything illegal it would be known because he is jealously investigated on a constant basis.

Can you admit that the activities of Hillary are suspicious?

@Greg: Thats not how it works, you do not continue to spy, investigate and dig til you find something in our vast legal code to prosecute. You must have a paragraph 1, you must not create evidence, force false confessions, bankrupt people with never ending prosecutions and zero evidence.

@kitt, #35:

If the GOP had vetted Trump before allowing him to become their candidate, none of this would have been necessary. They didn’t, so now it is. If you’re looking for somebody to blame, blame them. They didn’t bother to insist on seeing the man’s tax returns. They ignored lie after lie, and excused behavior that is totally unacceptable.

@Greg: Who vetted Barry? how does one get any security clearance after hanging out with communists and domestic terrorists?
Why are all traces of Barrys past sealed. STFU you moron.

@Greg:

If the GOP had vetted Trump before allowing him to become their candidate, none of this would have been necessary.

Well, HELL, Greg… all your investigations can’t find a damned thing after three years of investigations, how much vetting do you think would be sufficient? It turns out, it WASN’T necessary, just politically desirable by losers who cannot accept facts, truth and reality.

You saw his ax returns; two of them. Try as you might, you simply couldn’t find a single thing of interest.

How much did yo vett Obama? Oh, that’s right… he locked all his history away in vaults. A birth certificate couldn’t even be found (until Trump found it).

Now HILLARY… SHE was vetted and found to be an incompetent liar and criminal. Did that stop you from voting for her?