[anarchist23]

President Donald Trump and his allies were armed with a quick response to former campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s guilty verdict — it had nothing to do with Russian collusion, and nothing to do with Trump.

But Michael Cohen’s simultaneous bombshell guilty plea on Tuesday, in which he admitted paying hush money to women just before the 2016 election at Trump’s direction, pose a greater risk to the president.

“The verdict in the Manafort trial isn’t nearly as worrisome to me as the Cohen agreement and the Cohen statement,” said former Trump adviser Michael Caputo. “It’s probably the worst thing so far in this whole investigation stage of the presidency.”

One Republican lawyer close to the White House worried that Cohen — with his unique access to Trump’s history of business dealings and scandalous personal entanglements — could ultimately prove more damaging to Trump, and give Democrats fodder for impeachment if they take the House in November. “It’s the only excuse they’ll need,” the lawyer said. “And believe me, they won’t need much of an excuse.”

The sheer force of the two stories breaking within minutes of each other left an unavoidable impression that the walls are closing in on a president facing serious accusations of wrongdoing, leaving some to worry what Trump will do next.
One former administration official said there’s a “very high” likelihood that the president – who increasingly feels under attack from all sides – will do something erratic that could make an already bad situation worse.

The Manafort and Cohen news came after an already difficult week for the president, who was also grappling with a blockbuster story in The New York Times revealing that Trump’s White House counsel, Don McGahn, is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, fearing that he was being set up to take the fall for any acts of obstruction.

On Tuesday, a grand jury also indicted California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, one of Trump’s first two congressional endorsers, on charges of improperly using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses, including vacations and dental work. Earlier this month, Trump’s other earliest endorser, New York Republican Rep. Chris Collins, was charged with securities fraud. He’s pleaded not guilty.

Trump sought to minimize the impact of the negative news and cast the developments as irrelevant to his presidency, while also again questioning the web of investigations stemming from Mueller’s probe.

“This has nothing to do with Russian collusion,” Trump told reporters Tuesday on his way to an event in West Virginia. “This is a witch hunt, and it’s a disgrace.”

Tuesday’s blockbuster news made the impeachment threat more real than ever.
But nearly a dozen people close to the president, including current and former White House aides, acknowledged that Tuesday was one of the darkest days of Trump’s year and a half in office. And they worried that the revelations — even if they are unrelated to allegations of collusion with Russia — could lend new credence to the Mueller probe, even after the president’s allies spent months undercutting public faith in the investigation.

“There was political momentum building to wrap up the Mueller probe soon,” the former administration official said. “At the very least, in the short term, these two developments will pretty significantly bolster the office of the special counsel and people’s perceptions of it.”

The prospect of an impeachment attempt by Democrats has increasingly been on the mind of many in Trump’s inner circle, who have used the threat as a rallying call to rally Republican voters ahead of the midterms. Some close to the president have even argued that a partisan impeachment effort could be a good thing for Trump’s re-election prospects in 2020.

https://www.politico.eu/article/its-the-only-excuse-theyll-need-legal-blows-fuel-impeachment-fears-paul-manafort-michael-cohen/

[Victoribus Spolia]

@anarchist23,

If Democrats take the house they will successful impeach the president in the same manner as Bill Clinton was also technically impeached.

The impeachment process requires the house to issue impeachment and for the Senate to then try the president with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presiding. The Senate would have to, by majority, remove the president from office. Since the Democrats are unlikely to win the senate, it is unlikely that Trump would be removed from office.

Quick history lesson.

Two presidents in U.S. History were impeached: President Andrew Johnson and President Bill Clinton.

Both were acquitted by the Senate.

In the case of Bill Clinton, he has been regarded as one of the most popular presidents in U.S. history in spite of having been impeached.

So, if the Democrats take the House with a solid majority, they will impeach the president, but he will NOT be removed from office unless the Democrats take the Senate. This all assuming that 100% of Democrats would support his removal.

[Suntzu]

Yep, and the way things are going the Demokraps might not take the house in November.

[Istanbuller]

Impeaching an elected politician with fake accusations? I am betting on two party system to get broken.

This may also result with more anti-immigration and violent minded presidents to get elected in the future.

Democrats called Mitt Romney “radical religious fanatic and immigration hater”. They ended up with more dangerous one.

Would you prefer Mike Pence removing all LGBT rights?

[Heisenberg]

I doubt he'll get impeached. Millions of people look at this oafish, amoral grifter - a man who would likely skin his own mother alive if it benefited him in the short term - and see a Dear Leader who they must slavishly adore. This forum, where you might expect people to know better, is a prime example.

[Victoribus Spolia]

You think PoFo is a Trumpian paradise full of MAGA hats?

Maybe in the SJW thread.....but thats about it. I don't like to think that the likes of Albert and Maz and indicative of the PoFo mainstream (if there even is such a thing).

[Suntzu]

I doubt he'll get impeached. Millions of people look at this oafish, amoral grifter - a man who would likely skin his own mother alive if it benefited him in the short term - and see a Dear Leader who they must slavishly adore. This forum, where you might expect people to know better, is a prime example.

Yep, you are smarter than the rest of us. I know Hillary is not crooked.

[Heisenberg]

Yep, you are smarter than the rest of us. I know Hillary is not crooked.

Who said anything about Hillary Clinton? If you'd ever read anything I'd written on this forum you'd know I detest her.

I just don't see why this requires me to kiss the feet of Trump, who apart from being barely able to string a sentence together, is a transparent sociopath to whom lying comes as naturally as breathing.

[Rancid]

In short, no.

I think the only way it would be a yes is if they find evidence that Donald Trump directly worked with Russia to manipulate the election. However, his campaign did a good job of setting him up for a plausible deniability defense. Lots people around him will get arrested and sent to prison, but not him. That's how a well run mafia organization works.

Thus, no.

[Heisenberg]

However, his campaign did a good job of setting him up for a plausible deniability defense. Lots people around him will get arrested and sent to prison, but not him. That's how a well run mafia organization works.

This is what I don't understand: why are there so many people who are apparently ready and willing to go to jail (for long sentences, as well) for this guy?

[Victoribus Spolia]

Maybe he gives good head.



















































..........or he might not actually be guilty


....NAH!

[Ter]

This is what I don't understand: why are there so many people who are apparently ready and willing to go to jail (for long sentences, as well) for this guy?

My guess is that he is the first politician in living memory who is doing what he promised... saving American jobs and controlling immigration.
All the others fell very, very short on that. It is the revenge of the American proletariat.

[B0ycey]

I doubt Trump will get impeached. I suspect it would need to be a solid win for the Democrats in the house for any possibility of that happening. Executing an impeachment without cause but on resentment instead would start a tic-for-tat war if the roles are reversed in the future.

The only way I see Trump getting impeached any time soon is if Mueller digs up a big piece of dirt on Trump that he cannot lie out of. Fingers crossed.

[Victoribus Spolia]

My guess is that he is the first politician in living memory who is doing what he promised... saving American jobs and controlling immigration.
All the others fell very, very short on that. It is the revenge of the American proletariat.

For this reason, its going to take nothing less than Trump destroying the economy or getting us into an actual protracted overseas conflict for his supporters to abandon him.

[Rancid]

This is what I don't understand: why are there so many people who are apparently ready and willing to go to jail (for long sentences, as well) for this guy?

Maybe they didn't really realize what they were doing. It is well known that his campaign was shooting from the hip the whole way through.

@Ter and @Victoribus Spolia are totally right. Trump is actually doing what he promised, which is unheard of in American politics. For this reason, I do believe he will get re-elected.

[Heisenberg]

I suppose perception = reality in our postmodern age...

What promises has he kept? There was the "Muslim ban", which ended up being a brief and pointless stunt, and there was the tax cut that primarily cut taxes for the very wealthy. "The wall" is going nowhere, and certainly isn't being paid for by Mexico. His promise to stay out of Syria lasted about six months. Coal mining jobs are still declining.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why he won, but the idea that he's achieved anything concrete for "the American proletariat" is absurd.

[Victoribus Spolia]

I don't think its merely perception, several trackers online reveal he has kept or started progress on a ton of his campaign promises, not that he didn't break any or compromise on some, but the sheer amount that he has continued to stress and atleast attempt is pretty remarkable by political standards of the last 50 years.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/ ... 041117001/

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-mete ... se/?page=1

[B0ycey]

Don't you know @Heisenberg. Trump is a propaganda expert. His failings on visa control are passed on and blamed by say the judges who stopped them. The wall is downgraded but still being built - until the next President halts construction of course. Futile tariffs gives a false sense of 'America first' and the tax cuts are an illusion that they help out everyone. So you are right in reality. But in practice, every single policy according to his supporters are being executed according to his election campaign.

[Rancid]

Don't you know @Heisenberg. Trump is a propaganda expert. His failings on visa control are passed on and blamed by say the judges who stopped them. The wall is downgraded but still being built - until the next President halts construction of course. Futile tariffs gives a false sense of 'America first' and the tax cuts are an illusion that they help out everyone. So you are right in reality. But in practice, every single policy according to his supporters are being executed according to his election campaign.

His supporters are too dumb to know his policies are bad for them. However, he did make a serous attempt to keep all of his promises, failed or not. That's why he will get elected again. Obviously, that's a bad thing, but this is what will get him elected, doing the stupid shit stupid Americans want him to do.

[Ter]

Many of his policy decisions have been obstructed by partisan judges who were nominated by Democratic Presidents. Trump is now filling the vacancies with conservative judges.

With the Supreme Court the raisin on top of the cream pie.

So we might see the opposite happening next time ; a democratic President being hampered by conservative judges and a conservative SCOTUS.