Will the crucial question be: did Cohen really pay Russian hackers, in Prague?

[muriel_volestrangler]

What the world needs now is proof beyond reasonable doubt of an activity by Trump to fix the election that about 20 Republican senators will have to acknowledge was so illegal and bad for the USA, or they get chucked out at their next election with it staining their resume so much that corporations won't touch them.

The most direct action the Trump campaign is accused of to fix the election is, I think, that they paid the Russian hackers via Cohen, in Prague. That's not "oh look, someone's offered us some hacked info", it's "here's money to give us the results of your crime", and it undoubtedly had the sole purpose of fixing the election (rather than the dual-use hush money to the women he cheated on his wife with, which I think Republicans would be only too eager was only to keep his marriage together, and might think they can fool Republican voters into agreeing with).

Earlier this year, it was said that Mueller had evidence Cohen did go to Prague at roughly the time the Steele dossier said. At the time, Cohen still denied it in public; but since then, he's been cooperating with Mueller. International deals like that would surely need an OK from higher up the food chain than Cohen - all the way up at Trump? Or would someone in between think they couldn't trust Trump to keep his mouth shut? Did the money come from the Trump Organization (easier to hide), in which case the CFO Allen Weisselberg, also cooperating, should know something about it, either at the time or not longer after?

[manor321]

1. There is no single, crucial question

There is widespread criminal activity from numerous players and a conspiracy to cover it up. It will be bad.

[wendyb]

2. Prague

The dossier has been 100% on the mark so far..

[grantcart]

3. Did the dossier allege that the payment was concluded or contact and discussed

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. That it had happened

To give you some idea of what proof of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia would look like, we can turn to the Steele dossier. It states that Michael Cohen took over management of the conspiracy from Paul Manafort, after he was fired as the Trump campaign manager. It also describes a trip Cohen allegedly took to Prague to coordinate activities with the Russians. Specifically, the dossier states that the meeting’s agenda included a discussion about cash payments to the hackers “who had worked in Europe under Kremlin direction against the Clinton campaign.” It goes on to say that, “on payments, Ivanov’s associate said that the operatives involved had been paid by both Trump’s team and the Kremlin.”

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/11/30/cohen-is-singing-about-a-lot-more-than-trump-tower-moscow/

[grantcart]

7. Wonder how they got the money out of him lol

Guessing they didn't use a Letter of Credit.

[Buckeyeblue]

4. Wouldn't the hacking have been part of the overall package?

45 ran for president with the sole intention of being able to pay back the Russians for all the money they gave him. To help get him elected, Russia engaged in all of the cyber hacking/manipulation. I would be surprised if money exchanged hands. But it's more than likely they agreed on who was going to do what. And maybe agreed on who would be the contacts, etc.

If they paid someone to do the hacking, it would be the golden bombshell. But I'm guessing it more complicated than that.

Also, interesting how the dossier continues to be proven right time after time...

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. No, I don't think he ran just to pay back their money

He wanted to be admired by the deplorables. He is a narcissist. He wanted revenge for being laughed at. He wanted power to do what he felt like. And see the excerpt in reply #5 - the dossier does claim the Trump team paid the hackers (as well as the Kremlin paying them).