Putting the Cohen Guilty Plea into Context with the Wider Russia Probe Part 1

In order to fully understand the magnitude of today's news we need to go back to April 2018. On the 27th of April the Republican controlled House Intelligence Committee released it's final report on Russia's election interference. The report found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Trump himself quickly took to twitter demanding that the Mueller probe must be ended now.

What we didn't know then, that we know now is that Michael Cohen lied to this committee. Those lies were taken almost verbatim as evidence collusion did not occur between the Trump campaign and Russia. From one part of the report we have this bit of information:

Cohen thus attempted to reache out to members of the Russian governement in an attempt to make the project proceed, but apparently did not have any direct points of contact. ...

it does not appear Cohen ever received a response from anyone affliated with the Russian government.....

neither President Putin nor any element of the Russian government was actually directly involved in the project.

[1]

However, we found out today that these were all lies that the Republican House Committee bought hook line and sinker. According to the brief filed in courty yesterday Michael Cohen lied to the House committee in an attempt to cover up the relations between the Trump organization and Russia.

In truth and in fact, and as COHEN well knew, COHEN’s representations about the Moscow Project he made to SSCI and HPSCI were false and misleading. COHEN made the false statements to (1) minimize links between the Moscow Project and Individual 1(Donald Trump) and (2) give the false impression that the Moscow Project ended before “the Iowa caucus and . . . the very first primary,” in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations. COHEN attempted to conceal or minimize through his false statements the following facts:

• The Moscow Project was discussed multiple times within the Company and did not end in January 2016.
  COHEN agreed to travel to Russia in connection with the Moscow Project and took steps in contemplation of Individual 1’s (Donald Trump) possible travel to Russia
  
• COHEN did recall that in or around January 2016, COHEN received a response from the office of Russian Official 1, the Press Secretary for the
• President of Russia, and spoke to a member of that office about the Moscow Project
  

[2]

At the same time the Republican's released their report the Democrats on the House Intelligence committee released their own report which came to a much different conclusion. While relatively ignored when it was released, in light of recent news it is beginning to be taken more seriously. One of the pieces of evidence revealed in this document is an email between Andrey Kostin and Michael Cohen:

Kostin who is Putins top finance guy and CEO of 2nd largest bank in Russia is on board and has indicated he would finance Trump Moscow. This is major for us, not only the financing aspect by Kostins position in Russia, extremely powerful and respected. Now all we need is Putin on board and we are golden, meeting with Putin and top deputy is tentatively set for the 14th. See buddy I can not only get Ivanka to spin in Putin’s Kremlin office chair1 on 30 minutes notice, I can also get a full meeting. I will call you later today to discuss getting the LOI signed.

[3]

Another email sent from Sater to Cohen which acknowledged the receipt of a Letter of Intent to build Trump Tower Moscow signed by Donald Trump, Sater wrote:

Buddy our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin’s team to buy in on this

[3]

Both the Republicans and Democrats had access to these emails but only the Democrats mentioned them in their reports. The Republicans on the other hand simply bought the story Michael Cohen presented to them without any questions.

So, now we have a situation where some of the major findings in the House Intelligence report are beginning to crumble. Now I want to discuss VTB bank. In case you missed it from earlier, Andrey Kostin is the CEO of VTB Bank.

So, what is VTB Bank? It is a wholly Russian state owned bank and is Russia's second-largest banking group. Why is VTB important? Because at the time that Donald Trump signed the LOI to build Trump Tower Russia it was illegal for an American citizen to do business with VTB bank. [5][6] However, we have emails and a signed LOI that Trump intended to secure funding from this bank to build Trump Tower Moscow.[7]

Also, anyone who is familiar with the Steele Dossier will remember that one of Russia's tactics for getting control of Trump was through the offering of lucrative real estate deals to Donald Trump.[8]

.....to be continued

PS. I have no idea what the Ivanka spinning in Putin's chair means but I would love to know.

[1] House Intelligence Committee report on Russian Collusion
[2] Cohen admits to lying to Congress
[3] Minority Views on Russian Collusion
[4] Letter of Intent (LOI) to build Trump Tower Moscow
[5] Announcement of Additional Treasury Sanctions on Russian Financial Institutions and on a Defense Technology Entity
[6] Sectoral Sanctions Identifications; Kingpin Act Designations; Iran Designations Update; Ukraine-related Designation
[7] Trump Tower Moscow LOI
[8] Steele Dossier

So Cohen lied about a real estate deal that didn't happen. Unless Trump lied about it this is a non-issue.

Meuller is inventing crimes and the DOJ is ignoring others---there's the real issue.

a reply to: The GUT

Trump said over and over again that he had no ties to Russia. That would be lying.

I do agree all crimes should be treated equally.

a reply to: The GUT

Lying to the Department of Justice or congress will get you in trouble. Lying to the media will get you an atta-boy.

a reply to: carewemust

Lying to the Department of Justice or congress will get you in trouble. Lying to the media will get you an atta-boy.

And lying to the public will get you elected President. But you guys are OK with every lie he tells...

a reply to: BlackJackal

Nice thread.


I am thinking of putting you on my list of best ATS thread makers.

Up there with grambler and anti.

originally posted by: The GUT
So Cohen lied about a real estate deal that didn't happen. Unless Trump lied about it this is a non-issue.

Meuller is inventing crimes and the DOJ is ignoring others---there's the real issue.

For one Trump did lie about the Russia deal many many times. The very first time he admitted to having business deals in Russia was yesterday. So why would he lie if it was just a normal business deal? Probably because he was working directly with the Russian government on the deal and negotiating funding from a Russian state owned bank which was illegal for Americans to do business through. There is probably more, but that is all we in the public know about right now.

Secondly, if you look at this bit in a vacuum that’s one thing, but once you start adding all the other pieces(Trump Tower meeting, back channel to Moscow, Wikileaks connection to Stone, Manafort, etc) to the picture it really does look bad for Trump and company.

It’s ok, you can keep your head in the sand for a little bit longer and pretend Trump is clean. But, only a little bit longer.

originally posted by: scraedtosleep
a reply to: BlackJackal

Nice thread.


I am thinking of putting you on my list of best ATS thread makers.

Up there with grambler and anti.

I appreciate the compliment. Now that the Mueller investigation is hitting high gear, the dots are getting easier to connect.

Moving forward Trump is going to start acting even more eratic. I think he finally realizes that nothing he does will accomplish anything but to slow down the inevitable.

a reply to: BlackJackal

You will need therapy when nothing comes of this.

a reply to: The GUT

arent they all non issues to you?

a reply to: carewemust

Good thing for trump its not illegal to lie to the press huh?

a reply to: BlackJackal

Now that the Mueller investigation is hitting high gear

I believe it will take as long as it takes. But it is nice to think that all this will come to some kind of end soon.

I for one am going to accept WHATEVER the SC has to say.

originally posted by: whywhynot
a reply to: BlackJackal

You will need therapy when nothing comes of this.

LOL

I think the libs and the thrumpsters are going to need therapy when this is all over. lol

a reply to: BlackJackal

A liar is a liar is aliar.

And he is a liar.

Why should we trust him now more than before?

a reply to: BlackJackal

Are you seriously going to make a part 2?

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Who doesn't like a good sequel?

originally posted by: DupontDeux
a reply to: BlackJackal

A liar is a liar is aliar.

And he is a liar.

Why should we trust him now more than before?

LOL

Are we talking about Donald Trump or Michael Cohen?

a reply to: Sookiechacha

Good question.

originally posted by: headorheart
a reply to: The GUT

Trump said over and over again that he had no ties to Russia. That would be lying.

I do agree all crimes should be treated equally.

Why would that be lying ?
Because you said so ?

Lawyers, business partners , executives , etc. for Trump's company can continue BAU

I hope this doesnt mirror what happened during the Great Depression when it turns out to be nothing
Folks throwing themselves out the window....
I fear it may

a reply to: Gothmog

Imagine it was hillary then you will get it.