Tag: Trump illegal activities

In new book, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen describes alleged episodes of racism and says president likes how Putin runs Russia

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President Trump’s longtime lawyer and personal fixer, Michael Cohen, alleges in a new book that Trump made “overt and covert attempts to get Russia to interfere in the 2016 election” and that the future commander in chief was also well aware of Cohen’s hush-money payoff to adult-film star Stormy Daniels during that campaign.

In the book, “Disloyal: A Memoir,” which was obtained by The Washington Post ahead of its Tuesday publication date, Cohen lays out an alarming portrait of the constellation of characters orbiting around Trump, likening the arrangement to the mafia and calling himself “one of Trump’s bad guys.” He describes the president, meanwhile, as “a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man.”

The memoir also describes episodes of Trump’s alleged racism and his “hatred and contempt” of his predecessor, Barack Obama, the nation’s only African American president. Continue reading.

How a Future President Can Hold the Trump Administration Accountable

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The Trump administration has engaged in a wide-ranging pattern of actions that violate laws, agency regulations, and ethical requirements, repeatedly putting its own interests before the public interest. Administration officials and their allies have lied to federal investigators,1 lied to Congress,2 and sought to obstruct federal investigations,3 among other illegal actions. These efforts constitute a direct and sustained attack on the rule of law that effectively creates two justice systems—one for the Trump administration and its allies and one for everyone else.

As part of its attack on the rule of law, the administration has worked to subvert the very institutions that might hold it accountable—including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ),4 inspectors general,5 and Congress6—to eliminate even the possibility of oversight.

Whenever the Trump administration ends, there may be good-faith concerns that addressing the administration’s misconduct will be too divisive, set a bad precedent, or lead to political pushback from the administration’s supporters. But the lesson from the past four years is clear: The absence of accountability is treated as license to escalate abuses of power. Continue reading.

Michael Cohen says he was ‘active and eager participant’ in ‘tax fraud’ in book

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In the 3,700-word foreword from his forthcoming memoir, “Disloyal,” Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer and “fixer” of President Donald Trump, describes his life working for his former client in terms of organized crime, comes clean about “screaming threats” on his client’s behalf and admits to being an “active and eager participant” in some of the most notorious and salacious episodes involving the future leader of the free world.

“From golden showers in a sex club in Vegas, to tax fraud, to deals with corrupt officials from the former Soviet Union, to catch and kill conspiracies to silence Trump’s clandestine lovers, I wasn’t just a witness to the president’s rise — I was an active and eager participant,” Cohen writes in the foreword, dated March 11, 2020, which he says he began penning on legal pads in the early morning hours at the white-collar Otisville Federal Prison located about an hour and a half drive from his former Manhattan high-rise apartment.

Cohen had earlier been furloughed from that prison amid concerns over the spread of COVID-19. However, he was soon remanded, apparently for writing this book. His book’s website directly quotes federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein: Continue reading.

Mueller Hits Trump Hard For Encouraging Wikileaks’ ‘Illegal Activities’

Special counsel Robert Mueller had harsh words about Trump’s exuberant praise of WikiLeaks, the organization that illegally released emails from the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign. During a Wednesday hearing with the House Intelligence Committee, Mueller called Trump’s actions “problematic.”

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) noted during the hearing that Mike Pompeo, when he was director of the CIA, had assessed WikiLeaks as “a hostile intelligence service.” Mueller agreed with that view.

Quigley then read numerous statements by Trump, who frequently praised the outlet during the 2016 campaign.

View the complete July 24 article by Dan Desai Martin on the National Memo website here.