Tag: Cohen guilty plea

There’s Another Major Bombshell Buried in Michael Cohen’s Felony Charges

The following article by Cody Fenwick was posted on the AlterNet.org website August 22, 2018:

Much of the initial reporting on his guilty plea missed this mysterious detail.

Credit: Timothy A. Clar, AFP via Getty Images

Buried in the details of charges Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to on Tuesday is a mysterious claim — and potential bombshell — that went largely overlooked in the original reporting of his conviction.

Cohen’s admission that he violated campaign finance law at the direction of President Donald Trump — then just a candidate — by making hush money payments to silence women who said they had had affairs with Trump drew the most attention. Cohen made those payments and was eventually reimbursed — transactions that allegedly constitute crimes and were not properly reported.

But in addition to the payouts to the women, there was another large sum for which Cohen was later reimbursed, according to the court documents:

The $50,000 represented a claimed payment for “tech services,” which in fact related to work COHEN had solicited from a technology company during and in connection with the campaign.

View the complete article here.

In Trump’s right-wing media universe, it was a day like any other

The following article by Isaac Stanley-Becker was posted on the Washington Post website August 22, 2018:

Here’s a look at Fox News’s coverage of the day Paul Manafort was convicted, Michael Cohen plead guilty, and a missing Iowa college student was found. (Allie Caren/The Washington Post)

It’s Tuesday afternoon. Imagine, for a moment, that President Trump logs on to Twitter. News is breaking that could prove existential for his presidency. But his social media feed hardly records the magnitude of the developments.

Instead, a link from Sean Hannity of Fox News appears, announcing the intention of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, to enter a guilty plea but omitting the fact that Cohen’s admission implicates the president. A minute later, another link from Hannity comes through, this one about a former congressional IT staffer targeted by conspiracy theories cooked up by right-wing media and advanced by the president.

Trump’s carefully curated feed is a reflection of the ideological chasm that’s dividing the media and splintering society. Tuesday offered vivid evidence of the way in which right-wing media insulates Trump, and his most devoted supporters, from blunt assessments of his administration.

View complete article here.

DNC on Michael Cohen’s Guilty Plea For Hush Payments Involving Donald Trump’s Affairs

DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement in response to Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and a former deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, pleading guilty to multiple crimes:

“No one was closer to Donald Trump than Michael Cohen. As his longtime lawyer and ‘fixer,’ Cohen was at the center of Trump’s inner circle, and today he admitted to breaking the law at Trump’s direction in order to influence the 2016 presidential election. The seriousness of this development cannot be overstated. The culture of corruption that Donald Trump brings with him everywhere is a disgrace to the presidency and a threat to our democracy.”