If the Trump campaign was charged as a Racketeering Enterprise under RICO, Nancy Pelosi

[pnwmom]

would likely be moved to begin impeachment proceedings.

If Trump was named as the unindicted co-conspirator at the top of the Racketeering Enterprise, I suspect that's the kind of thing she would find "compelling and overwhelming."


https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/mueller-might-not-be-done-manafort-over-kilimnik-ties/584995/?fbclid=IwAR1ZaBnaYIrLCYTRNKorFf4wN-RqUV0QZxWLhXbdJTzpP03-KRAB5U_BCcY

Still, the content of the 2016 meeting was only revealed by accident due to a redaction error by Manafort’s lawyers, and the significance of the episode to Mueller’s main probe, while hinted at by Weissmann, has yet to be fully explained.

“It’s hard to imagine that something so explosive and central to the mission of his investigation wouldn’t be addressed either in charges against someone (Manafort or others) or in a report,” Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, wrote in an email. “And the fact that the special counsel hasn’t brought it out but it was only revealed inadvertently, reinforces the idea that [Mueller] is saving it for something else.”

That “something else” could be anything from a line in Mueller’s report to an entire conspiracy charge. “My money is on Mueller including the Manafort efforts as part of the ‘case’ alleging Trump campaign collaboration with the Russians,” Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor who specialized in organized crime, told me in an email. “The question then is, what is the best way to make that case? For myself, I believe a RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] indictment would be the appropriate vehicle to bring such a case: charge the campaign as the ‘racketeering enterprise’ and name Trump, Manafort and the rest of the gang as members of the enterprise … straight out of the mob prosecution playbook.”

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. New York State, like many other states, also has a RICO statute.

And if a state charges him, he can't interfere with them and he can't pardon anybody.

[empedocles]

2. In re 'impeachment'. The knowledgeable players, 'con and Dem, know and act as impeachment is

a political process. Imo, impeachment should start when maximum information and political momentum is well underway. Just a strong legal case by itself is good situation for trump.

[triron]

3. Geesh, so it takes RICO to start impeachment. WTF!

[pnwmom]

4. Or something on that level to get the Senate to convict.

Without a conviction we'd have accomplished nothing that we can't accomplish with committee hearings.

[triron]

8. The Nixon impeachment hearings started without any assurance of conviction.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. The Democrats controlled the Senate, making Nixon's conviction much more likely.

[pnwmom]

10. Mitch McConnell wasn't in charge of the Senate during the Nixon hearings.

McConnell who is not only a Republican, but is probably complicit, though the entanglement with the NRA.

[triron]

13. don't impeach a national security threat??

Then you're complicit.

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. Not likely and not recommended

There has been extensive discussions about this on Marcy Wheelr’s emptywheel blog by lawyers who have actually presented RICO cases.

It’s very complicated, and usually only used as a last resort, when you can’t prosecute any other way.

As much as Trump acts like a wannabe Godfather, I hope he can get nailed like any other garden variety criminal. I sure as hell hope a RICO prosecution isn’t Pelosi’s threshold for impeachment...

[pnwmom]

6. The Federal prosecutor who was quoted in the final paragraph has prosecuted RICO cases

and specializes in organized crime.

[2naSalit]

7. Sounded to me

yesterday, like NYS is thinking of indicting -45 at the state level, there is no nothing saying they can't. And he's so filthy in NY that I'll bet they are ready to go after the whole gang and none of them can do anything about it.

I suspect that the indictments have been distributed to states where pardons will not be forthcoming. At that point, the Administration, including the Pence wing and key Senators, could be removed in a timely fashion to get them all at once.

[Danascot]

11. 1) I'm hoping for the GOP to be declared a racketeering enterprise

and be put out of our misery.

2) Another insightful piece by Natasha Bertrand. She's only 26 years old. I'm such a slacker!

[triron]

12. knr