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Impeachable Offenses?

~ Examining the Case for Removal of the 45th President of the United States

Impeachable Offenses?

Tag Archives: Trump Tower

Mueller Denies BuzzFeed Report

19 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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buzzfeed, Collusion, Congress, deny, dishonest, donald, Frank Bowman, impeachable, Impeachment, lie, lying, Michael Cohen, moscow, president, report, Robert Mueller, russia, Russian, slate, trump, Trump Tower

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office has issued a rare statement denying the veracity of the BuzzFeed article published yesterday. The article in question stated that Mueller’s office had a cache of documents which established that President Trump encouraged his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie about the extent of the Moscow Trump Tower negotiations. If that were true, the legal consequences would have been severe; Professor Frank Bowman provided an analysis which was published on Slate.com.

However, though BuzzFeed has dug in its heels, the rarity of such public statements from Mueller’s office and its direct nature seem to indicate that there is no truth to the story. That is to say, Mueller’s office does not have hard evidence of such directions exchanged between Trump and Cohen. There is some concern that this revelation will give the President new ammunition against the media; however, it should not be forgotten that the truth finder of most significance in this case is Robert Mueller. It should be heartening that he is staying the course.

UT5EXCA3QYI6TCATZOO6Y5Q6OM.jpgRichard Drew/AP

 

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The Moscow Project Looms

29 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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charge, cohen, Collusion, conspiracy to defraud, false statements, felix sater, fixer, guilty, house of representative, House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Impeachment, individual 1, individual 2, Lawyer, Michael, Moscow Project, Mueller, president, russia, Senate, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Special Counsel, trump, Trump Tower

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, pleaded guilty earlier today to a charge of “false statements,” for lying to Congress about the extent of his and President Trump’s involvement in plan to build a “Trump Tower” in Moscow, Russia. Cohen falsely represented, in a letter sent to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, that 1) “The ‘Moscow Project’ ended in January 2016 and was not discussed extensively with others in the Company;” 2) “Cohen never agreed to travel to Russia in connection with the Moscow Project and ‘never considered’ asking [President Trump] to travel for the project;” and 3) “Cohen did not recall any Russian government response or contact about the Moscow Project.” In fact Cohen communicated with Felix Sater, a real estate developer with Russian ties, about the project; told Sater he would travel to Russia; addressed Trump about the possibility of Trump traveling to Russia; and communicated directly with Russian officials about the project.

Obviously this looks bad for Trump. The evidence of these ongoing communications with Russian agents strengthen the case for collusion/conspiracy to defraud in that it helps to establish, at least, that Trump’s confidant and fixer had strong ties to Russia while Trump was campaigning for office, and goes a long way towards establishing that Trump had such ties as well. While that doesn’t get us all the way to conspiracy to defraud, it certainly helps to bring us closer. One email written by Sater in November 2015 about the project may be damning. It read in part: “our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it.”

e201bbe0-4806-4aef-a7f0-0a873d9738b7-AP_Trump_Lawyer_Party_Switch.jpgMary Altaffer, AP

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Bannon Switching Sides

04 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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bannon, Collusion, Conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the united states, populism, russian lawyer, treason, trump, Trump Tower, wolff

The world is abuzz today with talk of Steve Bannon’s comments in Michael Wolff’s new book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.” Most notably, Bannon, former Chief Strategist, claimed that the meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer in the Trump Tower was treasonous. The President fired back at Bannon, claiming that he had lost his mind, and had very little influence over the White House while he was involved.

It unclear how much weight to put on Bannon’s opinion as to whether or not the Russian lawyer meeting was “treasonous” — he is a journalist, not a lawyer; however his comments are significant for another reason. The exchange between Bannon and Trump represents a clear break in their relationship. Bannon connected with Trump’s populist base, and though Bannon was fired months ago, he has still had influence on the President’s decision-making. So, now that a break has finally and fully occured, one has to wonder whether Trump’s support will wane. As the President’s base continues to shrink, impeachment becomes more likely.

ct-donald-trump-steve-bannon-russia-20170217.jpgMario Tama / Getty Images

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The Collusion Case Grows Stronger

30 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by crosbysamuel in Articles, Uncategorized

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Chaika, Conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the united states, Kushner, Manafort, prosecutor general, Putin, russian collusion, russian lawyer, Trump Jr., Trump Tower

This article, from the New York Times, reports that evidence of collaboration between the Russian lawyer, Veselnitskaya, and high ranking Russian officials has surfaced. Ms. Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort last year at the Trump Tower, and the meeting was the subject of some scandal (more can be read about that here). However, Veselnitskaya has claimed to be an independent actor, which helped to undercut talks of collusion. That is until now.

Evidence shows Ms. Veselnitskaya may have been collaborating with Russian prosecutor general, Yuri Chaika. The talking points which Ms. Veselnitskaya brought to the meeting incorporate language from a memo Mr. Chaika had given to an American Congressman two months earlier, and there is evidence that Veselnitskaya had discussed her meeting with Chaika in the months proceeding it. Additionally, Veselnitskaya has a history of collaboration with Chaika.

If it can be established that Ms. Veselnitskaya was, in fact, an agent for the Russian government, then the allegations of Russian collusion will be strengthened. Though she did not meet with the President himself, she met with his family and advisors, and so the talk could be characterized as a meeting of agents.

veselnitskaya.jpgMartyanov — Getty Images

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Frank O. Bowman, III


Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law
University of Missouri School of Law

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