I can't be the only one here who never expected much on collusion but do think Trump's financial

[Quixote1818]

crimes are what is going to get him? Collusion was always going to be extremely hard to prove even though I think most of us know it was probably happening at some level. Really, none of what has occurred so far has surprised me at all and I still remain extremely optimistic things like money laundering, charity fraud, tax evasion etc. are going to nail Trump hard in the coming months.

[at140]

1. Nope, I have thought that since election night 2016...nt

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. yep

[RockRaven]

3. You are not the only one. nt

[Marie Marie]

4. Collusion might be hard to prove but I thought that

he flaunted obstruction of justice in plain sight. This is what has me baffled but then, what do I know?

[Jarqui]

5. I wasn't as certain

I've always felt conspiracy (collusion) and obstruction were going to be tougher to prove and against department policy to indict the President.

But the financial crimes are easier to prove when people like Cohen and his CFO Weisselberg are cooperating. Money leaves a paper trail. If they can't get him on fraud, they can probably get him on tax evasion or money laundering, etc. I raised the Al Capone example a couple of years ago.

Trump can't seem to comprehend or respect the rules or law so it seemed almost inevitable under such scrutiny that he would be vulnerable. I think his kids are vulnerable too.

Maybe that was Mueller's conclusion: nailing Trump on conspiracy or obstruction would be tough but getting him on financial crimes was like shooting fish in a barrel. So they cut their losses and called it a day.

[Blaukraut]

6. I always figured that money laundering would be Trump's undoing

As to collusion - it was probably never going to be established without the shadow of a doubt. Trump has been courting Russia for decades, but it was Mueller's task to prove that he also courted Russia in order to help him commit election fraud. THAT is where the Special Counsel investigation came to a dead end.

[happybird]

7. What sealed it for me was part of the Cohen testimony

Can't recall the specific dirty deed, maybe something with the Russia tower negotiations? Cohen described how Dump wouldn't say some things directly. He would talk around them, but in a way that you knew exactly what he wanted you to do.

I'm not worried, though. He's gonna get nailed on the financial crimes. It might not be till Jan 2020, after he's booted from the WH, but he'll go down.

[blm]

8. Decades of money-laundering and Ponzi style business practices.

[rampartc]

9. +1

[Andy823]

10. One thing people should understand

trump is a narcissist and one thing they do is get others to do the dirty work while the keep their hands clean. They make sure they can't be directly connected to things, even though they gave the orders, or made up the lies to tell. So I agree the collusion was going to be hard to pin on trump.

[happybird]

14. +1

[Codeine]

11. Those charges have some weight

but I don’t expect them to proceed very far until he has left office. Neither the Feds nor the State of New York are going to remove him from office. That’s our job as voters. Let’s do this shit.

[SHRED]

12. He's been doing that for decades

What's different now?

[Baltimike]

13. There was collusion done in plain sight. They don't get to gaslight that, or move the goal post. nt