Cohen changes his story. The shoe is falling.

[randome]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/cohen-shifts-into-damage-control

With The New York Times story about Michael Cohen and Felix Sater gaining more attention, Cohen has made an abrupt shift into damage control.

The Washington Post published a follow-up to the Times story about an hour ago. Most of it tracks with the Times reporting. But Cohen changed his story from what he'd told the Times. He told the Times that he received the 'peace plan' from Sater and the Ukrainian parliamentarian in a sealed envelope and delivered it to the White House. Now he claims that he received the envelope with the 'peace plan' but accepted it only as a courtesy and never did anything with it. The meeting, he now claims, lasted a mere 15 minutes.

{Snip}

The Times confirmed to the Post that it sticks by its story. “Mr. Cohen told The Times in no uncertain terms that he delivered the Ukraine proposal to Michael Flynn’s office at the White House. Mr. Sater told the Times that Mr. Cohen had told him the same thing,” Matt Purdy of the Times told the Post.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[BSdetect]

1. You don't get to re do the truth pal.

[wordpix]

55. not credible he has important document & just doesn't bother getting to WH

I haven't been following but the little I've read of this, Cohen's story makes no sense.

[sunonmars]

2. like ferrets in a sack, they are gonna trip each other up.

[randome]

3. That's my hope, too.

It seems like it's an extremely long line of players, all designed to present plausible deniability, but that might be their very downfall. Too many players to manage properly.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[Amaryllis]

48. Dominos.

[vlyons]

28. and then they are going to rat on each other

This amoral crew of criminals will snitch on each other for immunity and lesser charges. Just wait, some of the sycophantic underlings, who hitched onto the Trump wagon will snitch a pretty song. The more clever ones are already plotting to sell their story to publishers.

[workinclasszero]

37. Yup

[samnsara]

73. oh this is gonna get good...

...if they all dont die of 'heart attacks' first!

[anneboleyn]

65. I love that ferret image!

[lanlady]

4. It's all a win win WIN for one man - Putin

Wow, that is some deal that Trump's personal lawyer has concocted. Like any good lawyer, he is advancing his client's interests. And his client appears to be Vladimir Putin, for all intents and purposes:

--the deal would lift the economic sanctions on Russia
--would likely lead to the removal of the democratically-elected president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko
--install a probable Moscow-backed puppet regime (this Artemenko character)
--recognize the illegal Russian annexation of Crimea in the form of some sort of "leasing agreement"
--withdraw Russian troops from east Ukraine (but would do nothing about the Russian-backed separatists who have been installed at every level of government
--as far as I can tell, provides no provisions for Moscow to pay restitution to Ukraine for destroying east Ukraine's economy and infrastructure

What a deal, yes indeedy.

[randome]

6. Gorbachev was a MUCH greater leader than Putin could ever hope to be.

The planet lost an immense opportunity for greatness when he stepped down.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[Daemonaquila]

10. "stepped down" might be an exaggeration.

Is that what they call leaving office after being kidnapped in a failed coup?

[randome]

12. Which led to Yeltsin's rise and from that point on, all of Russia's potential was squandered.

Obama was right when he said Russia has no natural industries and should focus on innovation instead of trying to reconstitute another failing USSR. Putin learned nothing. Like Dolt45, he is likely incapable of seeing different points of view.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[erronis]

18. Oh, I believe that rUSSRia is concentrating on innovation

Just not the type of innovation that will be helpful to world harmony and peace.

The longing of the peasantry in Russia for the "good old days" of emperors, tzars, and tyrants is not dissimilar to the middle-americans whistling dixie and wishing for Leave It To Beaver.

Those were the days my friend, when men were men and dissenters were taken care of.

[Boomerproud]

45. You are so correct. Nationalism is rampant everywhere where people are told

that it used to be better and everyone who isn't like them is the enemy. Stupid and dangerous.

[WiffenPoof]

71. Well stated and on the mark... NT

[kag]

33. "Dolt45"

I hadn't heard that one yet.

[randome]

36. Not my creation but I use it so much, everyone thinks it is.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[LiberalLovinLug]

51. Dolt 45. As soon as I heard this I knew it was perfect

[trusty elf]

40. .....

[img][/img]

[randome]

43. His face ALREADY looks like it bore the brunt of a backfire!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[jmowreader]

64. I was thinking more of Trump Malt Liquor

Which would fit in with Trump's other lines of recreational drugs, like Trump Brand Wine, Trump Brand Vodka and Trump Brand Heroin.

[lanlady]

14. Respectfully, I think Gorbachev is besides the point

At issue here is Trump's personal lawyer working in the shadows to strike some kind of "deal" with Putin's criminal regime - one that would impose no hardship on Russia at all, on that contrary, Ukraine would pay the price for Russian aggression and Putin would get everything he wants and more.

[randome]

15. I agree, I was just in a wistful, 'what-if' mood.

When Dolt45's actual business dealings with Russia come to light -and I think this Sater/Cohen connection could do that- then we will see yet another impeachment of a Republican President.

If anyone in the GOP had any political sense at all (They don't. I mean, their rallying cry today is to take away health insurance from Americans. ), they would get on top of this now before it sweeps them all aside.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[lanlady]

24. I keep hoping for that tipping point

The one where Republicans finally acknowledge Trump's perfidy and begin to take steps to remove him from office. And, I want it to be so painful that the entire Trump clan and brand go down with him in flames!

I have this fantasy of Christopher Steele, the MI6 guy who authored the Trump-Moscow connection dossier, emerging from wherever he's been hiding these past several weeks with a certified, authenticated copy of the "pee pee tape" in hand...

[randome]

27. Real life is rarely as dramatic as we wish. HOWEVER...sometimes it is.

There are so many knives being juggled by this gaggle of traitors that it's only a matter of time before one of them is seriously injured. The more pressure we can bring to bear on them, the more likely they will lose focus. And when one juggler misses his/her mark, the others start doing the same, the entire performance falls apart.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[erronis]

16. Good analysis, lanlady. Ukraine is in a tough position as Putin's footstool.

And the current western powers (read Drump's foreign interests) aren't particularly keen to sail up the Black Sea.

[lanlady]

35. Between Putin and Trump, Ukraine will be screwed for sure

And Poroshenko is no more than a screw-worthy Trump University student to our so-called president.

[karynnj]

23. As this could be Trump's idea of a good deal, his calling Obama deals bad

Becomes a badge of honor for them. The Iran deal and the Paris Climate Accord involved a lot of hard work and are important Obama accomplishments.

[wordpix]

56. report today Pooty has dossier on Dump's psycho profile

Pooty is concerned about a few things.

[uponit7771]

5. There needs to be a recording on Cohen saying he delivered the envelope to the white house

[DK504]

21. I have to keep asking WHY was a personal lawyer

with no security clearance given a classifed document and walked aound with something so potenially compustable? Where the investigations into a private citizen acting as a delivery boy for governmental policies?

[lanlady]

29. My understanding is that this wasn't a government document

So not subject to classification. Seems it was something that Cohen drafted, a kind of proposal that he wanted to run by Flynn.

What truly amazes me, though, is that a proposal drafted by high-priced lawyer and handed to the (ex) National Security Advisor gets leaked to the press!

[Volaris]

30. Because even the interns in the WHCounselsOffice would have known this was shady as shit

And never have done it. Cohen is, and always has been, a bottom-feeder.

[anneboleyn]

67. Cohen was in the dossier and he rabidly denied any ties to Russia -- now look at what is leaking

I remember when this dead-eyed asshole (seriously he gives that Stephen Miller dick a run for his money) went on every show screaming that the dossier was fake and that he had no contacts with the Russians and that he'd never been to Prague (he even displayed his passport even though people pointed out that one traveling through EU countries doesn't get their passport stamped at every border). What a fucker.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Felix Sater is a piece of work with lots of connections to the Minority President

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028681465

Violent, mafia collaborator, fraudster, and more.

[randome]

8. Unfortunately, he also has ties to the CIA.

Here is Marshall's 2nd article about him.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/learning-eye-popping-details-about-mr-sater

During the time Sater was working for Bayrock and Trump he organized what was supposed to be Trump Tower Ft Lauderdale. The project was announced in 2004. People paid in lots of money but the whole thing went bust and Trump finally pulled out of the deal in 2009. Lots of people who'd bought units in the building lost everything. And they sued.

So far it's your typical Trump story of small investors screwed out of their money and winding up in court. But this time there was a key difference. Someone leaked documents to the plaintiffs detailing Sater's criminal record and his conviction for securities fraud. The investors argued, quite reasonably, that they never would have invested in Trump Tower Fort Lauderdale if they had known that the key executive organizing the project had been convicted of cheating investors out of $40 million. The federal government had prevented them from learning this information by keeping the securities fraud case secret. This sparked a highly complex and dramatic legal case in which the federal government used all the full force of its need to protect national security in defense of keeping Sater's crimes secret. For this part of the story, the plaintiffs efforts to loop the federal government into their suit against the organizers of the Florida building project, see this article from The Miami Herald.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[3_Limes]

25. Not necessarily a bad thing in terms of the current dicsussion.

If he were working w/ the CIA then they were probably keeping a close eye on him. Who he talked to, and what those conversations were about. And that data would have been recorded and archived. Those archives are obviously not easily accessible, but in the right circumstances that info could gain fairly wide distribution.

[randome]

31. Unless the CIA feels the need to protect other sources involved.

As apparently they tried to do during the suits against the Trump Tower debacle. On the other hand, Dolt45 has pretty much declared himself to be the enemy of the intelligence services so maybe they will act to protect themselves.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[Scarsdale]

9. tRump's kind of guy!!

Sater is what tRump would like to be, a thug, Mafia, corrupt. All the qualities tRump admires in a man. He only associates himself with the dregs.

[czarjak]

17. Putin is reportedly the world's richest individual....

Thus Trump's jealousy.

[Sunlei]

11. Then we had trump in calls to russia with no government records on the text of what was said.

That's a bunch of BS. They work for the American people, I demand they keep up with the public records.

That unrecorded call was when trumps mission was FAILING and slaughtering 20? woman, little kids and babies. Makes me have to imagine he bragged to putin about the mission and putin probably gave them advance notice seal6 was on the way.

Loose lips sink ships.

[librechik]

13. so which is the fake news, the first story or the second?

heh I think we all know the answer to that

[dchill]

19. And which fake news is the fake news...

The fake news or the fake news?

[Botany]

20. Treason

n/t

[Motley13]

22. one thing that stuck out in that article,

"that he aided the US in purchasing black market weapons in Russia and/or Central Asia "


Why would we be purchasing black mkt weapons from anyone?

[karynnj]

26. To prevent real bad guys buying them.

I know we bought up nuclear material and weapons under Nunn/Lugar and it's follow up, Obama/Lugar. It would not surprise me if there were other weapons we wanted to mop up in that troubled area.

Still the SEC actions should have ben public.

[csziggy]

46. "Former Mafia-linked figure describes association with Trump"

Real Estate Executive With Hand in Trump Projects Rose From Tangled Past
By CHARLES V. BAGLIDEC. 17, 2007

<SNIP>

Mr. Sater and Mr. Klotsman tried to cut a deal with the C.I.A., according to a book co-written by Mr. Lauria, “The Scorpion and the Frog: High Times and High Crimes.” In exchange for leniency, the book said, they offered to buy a dozen missiles that Osama bin Laden had placed on the black market. The deal later collapsed.

Mr. Lauria has since renounced his book, which also details the false stock brokerage scheme, calling it largely a work of fiction. He even tried unsuccessfully to block publication. However, his co-author, David S. Barry, said he documented all the stories in the book with records and other interviews.

Mr. Klotsman said that Mr. Sater did obtain information for the United States about another set of black-market missiles, and that those efforts “bought Felix his freedom” from prison.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/nyregion/17trump.html

There is MUCH more equally dubious about Mr. Sater (or Satter):

Former Mafia-linked figure describes association with Trump
By Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger May 17, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-mafia-linked-figure-describes-association-with-trump/2016/05/17/cec6c2c6-16d3-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html

Donald Trump And The Felon: Inside His Business Dealings With A Mob-Connected Hustler
Richard Behar
October 25, 2016

http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbehar/2016/10/03/donald-trump-and-the-felon-inside-his-business-dealings-with-a-mob-connected-hustler/#4e8679e1e02e

[Kablooie]

34. All this will get nothing but a shrug from Republicans.

Everyone gets so excited here over these scandals but I guarantee they will be ignored by Republicans. Their voters in rural counties glaze over when you talk about international intrigue and wealthy voters could care less so Republicans don't have to worry about it.

Realize that until a scandal hits rural America directly, disrupting their daily lives or Trumps agenda blocks the GOP agenda, he will remain.
Trump is essentially immune from impeachmenT.

[Saboburns]

38. Exactly

The Deplorable will never flee.

Never.

[Ligyron]

44. IDK,when the GOP destroys those rural voter's already limited choices in health care...

or say, everybody's social security and medicare and even medicaid which a not insignificant number of poor rural voters depend on?Who knows, maybe they'll get a clue.

[dalton99a]

41. +1

[Nitram]

39. Pass the popcorn.

[WomanWhoRoars]

42. I hope there are more shoes

I hope there are more shoes to drop - there seems to be little reaction to the shoes that have dropped.

[KewlKat]

60. with all the crimes these ba$tards have committed, I'm sure there are

plenty more to fall from the tree......

[we can do it]

47. Sez who.

[randome]

49. This is Josh Marshall's term but I think it's appropriate. He's written 4 stories so far.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-big-shoe-just-dropped
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/learning-eye-popping-details-about-mr-sater
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/cohen-shifts-into-damage-control
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/another-thought-about-felix-sater
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[we can do it]

61. Oh dear, you took that seriously.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/08/19/michael-cohen-brianna-keilar-says-who-all-of-them-moos-pkg-erin.cnn

[randome]

63. Comes from posting while pretending to work, I suppose.

[we can do it]

78. I can relate!

[SunSeeker]

50. Drip, drip, drip...

[LittleGirl]

52. Stop Looking for Heroes. Be one!

you're my favorite poster now. Thanks for that sig line!

[randome]

53. Aw, thanks.

You certainly made my day!
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[LittleGirl]

54. I've had the worst day

but that sig line really helped.

My 84 yr old Mother is in ICU in the states, I'm in Europe so I can't go see her. I'm a wreck but she's in good hands.

[randome]

57. My own mother is an unpleasant hoarder so I have a very different take on family.

But I have at least a glimmer of what you must be feeling. Good luck to you both.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[LittleGirl]

58. Thank you, & for sharing

My bff from middle school and I just had a 2 hr txt message conversation. Her Mother died last month about 3 weeks ago. They didn't have a relationship at all and it was very hard for my friend. She could never do anything right and it drove my friend nuts for 50 yrs. A hug to you too. She loves my Mother and is worried sick. She's about 5 hrs away from my Mother and can't go see her either. It's tough. My Mother is tough but she's wore down lately and I'm moving in two weeks so my energy is sapped from the stress of moving back to the states. So many moving parts and now this.

[KewlKat]

59. there should be a registry of traitor flynn's visitors...but i'm sure Banhim

shredded that by now.

LOCK THEM ALL UP!

[triron]

62. this is just ludicrous!

[anneboleyn]

66. Same Cohen who said dossier was fake b/c he had "never been in Prague?" That asshole?!

[greymattermom]

75. Listen carefully

He's probably been to a different town in the Czech Republic. Maybe just a few miles from Prague.

[Honeycombe8]

68. As Judge Judy says, if you tell the truth, you don't have to have a good memory. nt

[FailureToCommunicate]

72. Love it!

[Maru Kitteh]

69. Well, the plot continues to thicken . . .

[WiffenPoof]

70. Just finished watching Rachel's....

...story on this. Amazing... Simply amazing. You can't make this stuff up. I hope the whole house of cards falls down on Trump's head

The story is a little hard to follow. But well worth the brain energy.

[Botany]

74. It is so easy to confuse getting a letter and taking it to the White House or getting a .....

... letter and not taking it to the White House.

[ret5hd]

76. I know!!! Right???

Just the other day my wife asked if I went to pay the water bill. When I told her I took it to the White House she looked at me and said "Are you sure?" and when I thought some more I said "No, I meant I dropped it in the mailbox."

It's funny how stuff can get mixed up.

[Botany]

77. And it is not like going to and getting into the White House is such and easy thing too.

Cohen got the letter in Manhattan and then went to D.C. and the White House to give the
letter to Flynn but now he isn't sure if he did that or not?


"It's funny how stuff can get mixed up."

The dude is a lawyer and he wants us to buy that crap?

*******
The man is working for Putin.
From wiki

In late January 2017, Cohen met with Ukrainian opposition politician Andrey Artemenko and Felix Sater at the Loews Regency in Manhattan to discuss a plan to lift sanctions against Russia. The proposed plan would require that Russian forces withdraw from eastern Ukraine and that Ukraine hold a referendum on whether Crimea should be "leased" to Russia for 50 or 100 years. Cohen was given a written proposal in a sealed envelope that he delivered to then-National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn in early February.[12]

Personal life
Before joining the Trump Organization, he bought several homes in Trump buildings.[6] Cohen lives in New York City with his wife, who is of Ukrainian descent.