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maewestside · 6 years

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“ABUSE OF LOYALTY”: Free Press Interview with White Collar Crime Expert Tracy Green… by heidi siegmund cuda, aka @maewestside

Play it like a podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKy-_kr310I&t=1850s

Click the link above to hear white collar crime expert Tracy Green explain the nuances of the Trump campaign investigation.

Green and I met cute on Twitter last spring. We were both investigating the Trump campaign FEC documents, with an eye on payments to its digital team. Green, a trial attorney, took the time to break down the prosecution tactics of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and why former Trump loyalists have been granted immunity.

Here are some of the highlights from our 40-minute interview, which took place just hours before Trump Organization’s CFO Allen Weisselberg was granted immunity (below, you’ll also find her detailed take on what that means for the Trump campaign). Green’s responses are in quotations:

"PAPER DOESN'T LIE": "Particularly in a high profile case, the prosecution can't risk making any mistakes. They need evidence and documents that no one can challenge in court. Whatever case they file, they want to make sure it's gonna be bulletproof."

"MOB" TACTICS: "Trump doesn't use email. He doesn't even like to use the mail. He likes to have things personally delivered. And he likes to have other people handle the communications. He doesn't appear to be texting. He delegates so it insulates him. When you come to try to make a white collar case...it makes it difficult because he's not leaving a paper trail."

ON COHEN AND PECKER: "Mueller's team wants to make sure they have all the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt with documentary proof. They offered immunity (to Pecker) so they have a completely separate line of communication that's separate from Cohen, who lied repeatedly to the public. The FEC is like the IRS, we all know only one percent of the population gets audited, but if you get audited, the microscope's on you. Everything they got out of Cohen, they got from a search warrant so they didn't really even need him. Maybe he can provide the color commentary."

ON ‘SILENT BOB’: "It's hard to be patient for a process where Mueller and his team aren't giving interviews and can't. And they can't assure everyone, 'Don't worry! We'll get our man.' They're supposed to be independent. Most white collar cases take three to four years to prosecute and 98 percent of all federal cases, resolve by plea and if they do go to trial, most of the time they win."

ON WHY MANAFORT DID NOT PLEA: "Just going in and cooperating and offering evidence, can create a few problems. If you're gonna cooperate, you have to lay out everything you've done. If you were there on the grassy knoll, you've got to say you were there. It can open up all kinds of other exposure. And if he doesn't have hardcore documents that would be valuable enough, he may not get enough of a downward sentence. So just flipping isn't enough, you have to show you can make a case. He wasn't like Cohen, who's been around Trump for years. Trump has a close circle and there's no indication he would have trusted Manafort with his deepest secrets. Manafort's next trial will hit a little closer to home, and the prosecution will play it very conservatively."

"ABUSE OF LOYALTY": "There's a criminal code of conduct. If you're doing something that's not legal and you get caught, you keep your mouth shut. But that's not how normal people operate. Normal people, would say, 'I did this, and I should have known. I'll just go in and tell people what happened.' They don't make up any lies. Trump has had a lot of litigation experience. They settle on the courthouse steps, but this is a whole different ballgame, and he had no idea. He's being held to a different standard now. It shows his own character issues."

IMPEACHMENT VS INDICTMENT: "These rules are there so things aren't political. And it is political. They need the votes and that's why no one is going to seek to impeach as long as the Republicans have a majority. Clinton knew when he had a number on his back. Does Trump have a number on his back? That's a political decision, and that should be separate from any criminal case. The general understanding is he won't be indicted and that doesn't mean he can't be prosecuted later. It's to avoid criminal prosecutions that would be politically motivated. It doesn't mean that people can’t feel Trump should be impeached because they don't feel he's fit. Keeping the pressure on and being demanding is important. Mueller's team knows this is a historic time. They want to bring integrity for the agents and they want to bring integrity to the Department of Justice."

ON ALLEN WEISSELBERG: “It is unclear whether Allen Weisselberg told prosecutors in interviews or produced records showing that Trump had knowledge of the payments in January 2017. I suspect that if Weisselberg had provided documentation to show Trump’s ‘actual knowledge’ when payments to Cohen were structured it would have been alleged in Cohen’s plea agreement. On the other hand, it was not alleged in the Cohen plea agreement that any of the two Trump Organization executives withheld this information from Trump or that the candidate did not know.

“So we see that the plea agreement indicates that Trump directed Cohen but doesn’t say that Trump directed Weisselberg or the other Trump Org executive to make the payment. Weisselberg could have stated in his interview that he assumed Trump knew based on his conversations with Cohen or others but that he didn’t have a specific discussion with Trump. I am assuming that Weisselberg didn’t have any documents proving Trump knowledge in or before January 2017. The prosecutors have been very careful to not allege anything that they cannot prove with documentary evidence. One issue that could arise is whether any of Trump’s lawyers or the sons asked Weisselberg about the facts after inauguration or when the McDougal story broke days after the election or when Stormy Daniels’ story broke. There could be imputed knowledge or even obstruction issues there depending on the facts.

“However, Weisselberg still appears to be at Trump Org so it would seem that he did not see the type of conflict that would make him leave the company. This will be a waiting game as the facts and documents come out. Weisselberg’s acts in structuring payments in January 2017 combined with Cohen’s plea representations, the Cohen-Trump tape in September 2016 as well as any Pecker statements that Trump knew by October 2016 of arrangements with Woman #1 and #2 will be strong evidence that Trump knew before the election of these payments.

“Normally, I would expect that Weisselberg’s attorney would have spoken to Trump’s personal attorneys by now. In addition, if there were a subpoena for records to Trump Org it would not surprise me if its attorney asked to speak to Weisselberg or Trump attorneys as part of a joint defense. The same could be true of Pecker’s or American Media’s attorneys who could speak to Trump’s attorneys or not. So Trump’s personal legal team may know what was said by Pecker and Weisselberg and whether there is documented evidence showing Trump’s knowledge or direction at the time of the agreements with the two women.

“Usually in a white collar case the joint defense is key to sharing information among lawyers. It appeared that Cohen was part of the joint defense and withdrew from it when he changed counsel a couple of months ago in or about June. By that time, American Media documents had already been requested and produced and Weisselberg had already been interviewed on the arrangements with the two women. So the Trump legal team may well have known by that time that Cohen was being investigated for campaign finance violations in addition to his other personal legal issues.

“If Cohen’s attorney did not give Trump’s legal team the warm and fuzzy feeling that he was going to fall on his sword and claim that Trump never knew and perpetuate that narrative, it may explain why Trump or the Trump campaign believes there was a conflict and stopped paying for some of Cohen’s legal bills from McDermott, Will & Emery.”

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Author Heidi Siegmund Cuda is a veteran investigative reporter, free press activist, filmmaker and mother. Below, Green and Cuda marching in a 2017 Fourth of July parade.

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toknowbeauty · 6 years

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🐈 #politicat 😨 #stablegenius 😞 #likereallysmart 😩 . The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. - Albert Einstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #catsagainsttrump #instacat #cat #orangecat #rescuecat #catsofinstagram #catlovers #yyccats #petsofinstagram #themischiefisstrongwiththisone #cats #unfittobepresident #onwardtogether #fireandfury #presidentbannon #teammueller #stillwithher

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donothingfortrump-blog · 7 years

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Trump be like.... #scheiderman #impeachtrump #trumpmemes #seinfeld #ImpeachNow #IllegitimatePresident #teammueller #nyag

#illegitimatepresident #scheiderman #trumpmemes #impeachnow #impeachtrump #nyag #teammueller #seinfeld

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aifementu-blog · 5 years

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Was looking for some good news to post and couldn’t find anything until this morning. The smell of indictments in the morning always makes that first cup of coffee taste better. #teammueller

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tyrras · 7 years

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Ty flips off Dump every day for 4 years #resist #MAGA #liddlebobcorker #racist #misogynist #bully #loudmouth #liar #liarinchief #takeaknee #standfortheanthem #fakepatriotism #gunviolence #dreamers #tuesdaythoughts #trumpisamoron #trumpisawhitesupremacist #russia #teammueller #hurry #please #boycottespn #dotard #fakenews #guncontrol #makeamericagreatagain #makeamericasaneagain #impeachtrump #impeachthenazi #nomorenazis #papertowels #somanyfuckingreasons

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urocktheworlddesign · 6 years

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stillwithhernothim · 6 years

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We obviously support #Democrats and the #DemocraticParty... but you know what we support FIRST and FOREMOST......? #AMERICA ! We support America, this amazing country of ours!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 So, that means we support a lifelong #Republican who’s PROTECTING America... #RobertMueller. This ain’t complicated! The media and political pundits and #fauxnews and the #republicanestablishment want to divide us... because they PROFIT OFF OF THAT... but we support ANY American, regardless of color or age or religion or POLITICAL AFFILIATION if they support and fight for Freedom and Truth and AMERICA. We’re not all that different in the end... Today, we’re more than usual #proudtobeanamerican and we salute #TeamMueller !! We’re takin back our country... today is only the beginning... #REGISTERTOVOTE ! Protect and save our #Democracy !!

#democrats #democraticparty #america #republican #robertmueller #fauxnews #republicanestablishment #proudtobeanamerican #teammueller #registertovote #democracy

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maewestside · 6 years

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THE LAST BEST HOPE… by heidi siegmund cuda, aka @maewestside

“We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.”

Those words spoken by President Abraham Lincoln haunt a nation. The President was directly referencing Emancipation, and his words, 156 years later, echo to the very survival of Democracy.

We are living in perilous times, not just in the United States, but throughout the world. Open your eyes wide and witness the actions of desperate despots.

In Venezuela, a drone attack at a military parade made a strongman look weak. In Russia, attacks on Western democracies are well-documented, from cyberwar to poisonings to militants showing up uninvited in Nato-backed countries. As journalists are murdered, the Russian people are rising up. Thousands protest nationwide against a pension-age increase, and new polls reveal a majority of Russians are tired of the hate-spewed toward the West. In other words, the strongmen are getting weaker. Among the Kremlin’s biggest errors? Aiding a Reality TV Star. As Russian journalist Masha Gesson notes, Trump is Putin’s apprentice and the apprentice’s Helsinki bootlicking was the biggest tell in this entire pitiful episode. The only reason Putin hasn’t been tried in his country for corruption is he made it impossible to do so. A move the apprentice is copping, as he tries to appoint his own judge to the Supreme Court.

These are not strongmen. These are oily charlatans hiding behind curtains of corruption. The apprentice emulates the mentor with disinformation, biker ops, revival pageantry, blizzards of lies, theatre craft, strongmen parades, distractions, all to hide the thieving. It’s not just the unaccounted spoils, it’s the spoiling of our nation’s dignity, our love for our neighbors. Trump’s daily desecrations of our beautiful melting pot is riling up the easily bamboozled, who more than anyone need hard truth and a gentle reminder they’ve been trolled. And trolls are serious business, cheaptricks by weak men whose only way to appear popular is to pay for it (for reference, read the Mueller indictments).

Look, the majority of people in this country are loving, good and kind.

When Lincoln addressed Congress in 1862, he asked one simple question: “Can we all do better?”

Of this, there is no doubt. Just ask each bigot caught on tape. It’s always the same mea culpa. They momentarily lost their damn minds, they bleat. As Simon Tisdall of the Guardian notes, some may suffer from “Putin Derangement Syndrome,” an affliction of the apprentice, where people believe a xenophobic war criminal is our bro.

This doesn’t have to be complicated.

“The way is plain,” said Lincoln in his concluding remarks. “Peaceful, generous, just… a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud.”

Let us earn the applause of nations once again by working together to defeat the weak “strongmen,” both in the court of law and in the court of public opinion. Thus restoring faith among civilized people, that great unswayed majority, that this too shall pass.

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Author Heidi Siegmund Cuda is a veteran investigative producer, filmmaker, mother and activist.

#lastbesthope #abrahamlincoln #trumprussia #teammueller #lawandorder #history #lincolnspeeches #election2016 #trumputin

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bnvupdates · 6 years

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No wonder Dolt45 is losing it. #TeamMueller subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents, including some related to Russia. Mueller isn't here for White House foolishness; this is a preemptive move because word is out Dolt45 wants to fire him, Jeff Sessions, and anyone who isn't a sworn loyalist. #MuellerTime

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maewestside · 6 years

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THE BIG SLEEP: A Timeline of Team Mueller’s Takedown of a Global Crime Syndicate, the Story So Far… by heidi siegmund cuda, aka @maewestside

I’ll never forget the first night I slept in after the coup of November 8, 2016: It was October 30, the day Paul Manafort and Rick Gates surrendered to the FBI, charged with a dozen felonies each. Three weeks earlier, George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his efforts to connect the Trump campaign with Moscow, but that wasn’t enough for me to feel safe. Cognitive thinkers need bold action, and the charges against Trump’s former campaign manager Manafort, including Conspiracy Against the United States, were the first glimpse of light on the horizon of hope. What follows is a brief setup and timeline to help summarize key events.

THE STAGE: A Presidential candidate, with deep financial ties to Russian oligarchs and a history of fraud, deception, lawsuits and ungrace, is bolstered by a Kremlin-linked propaganda machine, which began spreading distrust and disgust as early as 2014. The goal: to interfere with an American presidential campaign by spreading disinformation and pitting Americans against each other. By 2015, Kremlin-linked hackers, orchestrated by Russian military officers, had hoovered the DNC’s private servers, while beginning an all-out assault of propaganda in support of Trump. In early 2016, while Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen is emailing the Kremlin in an attempt to build a tower for his boss, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager falls prey to a phishing scheme. While campaign aides are courting Russian nationals, Trump taps Paul Manafort to run the RNC and ultimately, to be his campaign manager. While campaign aides and Trump Jr. are being offered “dirt” on Hillary Clinton from Russian nationals, Trump advertises a “major speech” he’ll be making on Clinton, while also encouraging Russia to hack her emails. This comes during the same period as Wikileaks and DCLeaks begin dumping thousands of hacked Democratic documents. More meetings with campaign aides and Russian nationals take place, while bots, and fake news populate social media, and mainstream media plays into the Kremlin’s hands by its 24/7 coverage of the DNC hack. By the summer of 2016, the FBI opens a counterintelligence investigation into the links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. On November 8, bolstered by the Kremlin’s successful hacking and propaganda efforts and State TV, Trump is elected President*. 2017 kicks off with the publishing of the Steele dossier; the Women’s March commanding the world stage; the resignation of National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn; the firing of FBI Director James Comey and more top cabinet members “forgetting” about meetings with Russian nationals. We finally arrive at May 17, 2017, the fateful day when former FBI Director Robert Mueller is appointed Special Counsel, leading the investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and other matters that “may arise.”

THE TIMELINE: Those still tuning into State TV may not be aware of just how much action has taken place since those heady first days of indictments, so please accept this humble timeline, the highlights of the story so far, of Team Mueller’s Takedown of an alleged Global Crime Syndicate:

OCT. 5, 2017: Entering into a plea agreement with Mueller, former campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos pleads guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian government

OCT. 30, 2017: Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and campaign aide Rick Gates surrender to the FBI and plead not guilty to all charges, which include conspiracy against the U.S., making false statements, money laundering, failing to disclose lobbying efforts on behalf of foreign entities

NOV. 30, 2017: Entering a plea deal with Mueller, General Flynn, who encouraged “Lock Her Up” chants along the campaign trail, pleads guilty to lying to the FBI about his post-election conversations with a Russian ambassador

FEB. 16, 2018: Team Mueller charge 13 Russians and three Russian organizations with conspiring to defraud and interfere with the 2016 United States presidential election; in a related case just four days earlier, Richard Pinedo, a California man who ran on online service that bought and sold bank account numbers to circumvent security of digital payments, pleads guilty

FEB. 18-24, 2018: A Dutch attorney Alex Van Der Zwaan is indicted for lying to the FBI about his interactions with Gates and Konstantin Kilimnik, a Ukranian associate of Manafort. (Later, he pleads guilty and serves a 30-day sentence.) Four days after the Van Der Zwaan indictment, a superceding indictment is filed against Manafort and Gates containing 32 charges related to financial fraud; the following day, Feb. 23, Gates pleads guilty and agrees to work with Mueller. On Feb. 24, Manafort is hit with new charges

APRIL 9, 2018: Offices of former Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen, are raided by the FBI

JUNE 8, 2018: Manafort is faced with an additional charge of obstruction and his business partner, Kilimnik is indicted on charges of obstruction and conspiracy to obstruct justice

JULY 13, 2018: Team Mueller indicts 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking the DNC, the DCCC and the Clinton campaign and disseminating private emails and documents

JUNE 15, 2018: Manafort is jailed after prosecutors claim witness tampering

JULY 15-16, 2018: In a parallel case by Justice Department national security prosecutors, an alleged Russian spy, Mariia Butina, is arrested and charged with operating as a secret agent for the Kremlin and working to infiltrate the NRA in an attempt to influence the Republican party and the U.S. government

JULY 16, 2018: In a joint press conference with Putin, Trump says he believes Putin’s denial of election interference

JULY 20, 2018: Update Kristin Davis, a former madam who spent time in prison and is linked to a prostitution ring that ensared Elliot Spitzer, and is a known close friend of Roger Stone, is subpoened by the Special Counsel. Two days earlier, Stone, a veteran political operative, longtime associate of Trump and self-proclaimed “dirty trickster,” says he is likely the unnamed individual who exchanged messages with Guccifer 2.0, a Twitter account run by Russian intelligence officers, as noted in Mueller’s hacking indictment a week earlier. Davis is the latest of multiple associates of Stone’s to be questioned or served with a subpoena in relation to the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election

JULY 23-24: Update A federal judge in Virginia grants five witnesses immunity to testify in Manafort criminal trial. They are: James Brennan, Donna Doogan, Conor O’Brien, Cindy Laporta and Dennis Raico; the bank that loaned Manafort $16 million, Chicago’s Federal Savings Bank, issued a statement that it is staying mum; both Reico and Brennan appear to have worked for the bank; the trial is postponed

JULY 25: Update House Republicans rattle their sabers, introducing an impeachment resolution against Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General who appointed Robert Mueller. They buckle a day later

JULY 26: Update Longtime Trump executive Allen Weisselberg is subpoenaed in Cohen probe; and the New York Times reports Mueller is investigating Trump’s tweets in relation to obstruction probe

AUG. 21-29: Update Manafort is found guilty on 8 counts in the first of two trials; Cohen flips and pleas in relation to hush money payments etal; Trump Org CFO Weisselberg and National Enquirer’s David Pecker are granted immunity in relation to the aforementioned payments; Roger Stone tells anyone who will listen it’s going to be his and Don Jr.’s time in the barrel next, largely in an overt attempt to raise money to help pay mounting legal costs; White House counsel Don McGahn, the man who stood in the way of Trump firing Mueller, is leaving his post, 11 days after it becomes public he spoke with the Special Counsel for 30 hours.

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Author Heidi Siegmund Cuda is an investigative producer, filmmaker and activist. She often updates this timeline.

#winning #winners #teammueller #robertmueller #robertswanmueller #trumprussia #indictments #timeline #socialjustice #activism #heidicuda #heidisiegmundcuda #maewestside #media #lawandorder #globalcrimesyndicate

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