1/ Michael Cohen "alleges that he was present, along with several others, when Trump was informed of the Russians' offer by [Don] Jr. Trump approved going ahead with the meeting with the Russians." This is felony conspiracy against the U.S.,18 U.S.C. 371 cnn.com/2018/07/26/pol…
2/ Caution: this is an early report. It will take a series of facts to establish the conspiracy, and Cohen obviously is not an ideal credible witness here. But here is how a prosecutor might build this case. Let's start with the conspiracy statute and the obstruction...
3/ Conspiracy against the U.S.: "If 2 or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the U.S., or to defraud the U.S., and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined...or imprisoned..." law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18…
4/ @RDEliason a year ago cited Hammerschmidt: conspiracy to defraud U.S. includes schemes “to interfere with or obstruct one of its lawful gov functions by deceit/craft/trickery, or at least by means that are dishonest.” No need for loss of money/property. sidebarsblog.com/collusion-russ…
5/ Mueller then brought 18 USC 371 charges against Manafort and Rick Gates last fall. Gates pleaded guilty to this charge, conspiracy against U.S. Their fraud was financial. Here the scheme is to defraud an election. Read the full @RDEliason post with other precedents.
6/ The criminal obstruction case against Trump was already strong. But if Trump knew and approved the Trump Tower meeting, it also strengthens that case immeasurably. Here is my explanation from June 2017: shugerblog.com/2017/06/07/obs…
7/ Last month, I explained how Trump's lawyers essentially conceded obstruction of justice (witness tampering) w/ Don Jr. and the JUNE 2016 TRUMP TOWER meeting itself. Cohen's testimony would only strengthen this already strong obstruction claim: slate.com/news-and-polit…
8/ Don Jr. already told Congress that he didn't tell his father or that he "didn't remember" telling his father about the Trump Tower meeting. He may be facing felony false statement charges anyway... bloomberg.com/news/videos/20…
9/ Rob Goldstone emailed Don Jr. on June 3: Russians offered to "provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father." cnn.com/interactive/20…
10/ Don Jr. replied: "If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer."
If Don Jr. told Trump the content of this email, would it be felony conspiracy? I don't think so - not yet at that stage. But Trump's next steps - blatant signals to Russia- could be conspiracy
If Don Jr. told Trump the content of this email, would it be felony conspiracy? I don't think so - not yet at that stage. But Trump's next steps - blatant signals to Russia- could be conspiracy
11/ Don’t trust this story yet. Why are Cohen and Lanny Davis taking this to the media rather than the feds? If feds already have the phone records that Jr called Dad, this claim adds only a little.What value does it have if uncorroborated otherwise? Not much. We will see. End.
