The orange pudding in danger

Good Timing, Rod! Yesterday Rosenstein gave a big speech on enforcement of Foreign Corrupt Practices

That’s amazing. A TPM Reader points out that just yesterday Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave a speech at a big conference on … guess what? … enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – the one President Trump, Michael Cohen, Felix Sater and the President’s criminal brood might have a problem with. It was the American Conference Institute’s 35th International Conference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Long and august title. This was just yesterday over in Maryland. Here’s the text of Rosenstein’s speech.

Here’s a noteworthy quote …

The rule of law is not simply about words written on paper. The culture of a society and the character of the people who enforce the law determine whether the rule of law endures.

One of the ways that we uphold the rule of law is to fight bribery and corruption. Until a few decades ago, paying bribes was viewed as a necessary part of doing business abroad. Some American companies were unapologetic about corrupt payments.

In 1976, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee revealed that hundreds of U.S. companies had bribed foreign officials, with payments that totaled hundreds of millions of dollars. The Committee concluded that there was a need for anti-bribery legislation. It reasoned that “[c]orporate bribery is bad business” and “fundamentally destructive” in a free market society. That was the basis for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

That face you make when you see your Ex-boyfriend with his new man...

Cohen believed Trump would pardon him, but then things changed

Cohen believed Trump would pardon him, but then things changed
By Pamela Brown, Gloria Borger and Evan Perez, CNN

Updated 8:07 PM ET, Fri November 30, 2018


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After a March 2018 visit to Mar-a-Lago, the President's private club in Florida, Cohen returned to New York believing that his former boss would protect him if he faced any charges for sticking to his story about the 2016 payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, according to one source with knowledge. Trump was also at Mar-a-Lago at the time of Cohen's visit.

Another source said that after the April 2018 FBI raid on Cohen's office and home, people close to the President assured Cohen that Trump would take care of him. And Cohen believed that meant that the President would offer him a pardon if he stayed on message. It is unclear who specifically reached out to Cohen.


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Following the raid on Cohen's home and office, Cohen's attorneys had a legal defense agreement with Trump and his attorneys. During this time, there was a steady flow of communication between the two sides, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

At first, publicly, Trump seemed very supportive of his former attorney. On the day of the raid, Trump said Cohen was "a good man" and that the investigation reached "a whole new level of unfairness." He unloaded on law enforcement, calling the raids "a disgraceful situation."


But in the days that followed the raid, one source says, things started heading south with the President.



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https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/30/politics/michael-cohen-pardon-expectation-donald-trump/index.html

Party celebrating Rudy Giuliani nixed because no one wants to go

Plans for a party celebrating the 25-year anniversary of Rudy Giuliani becoming the mayor of New York City are “fizzling out” because the 74-year-old politico is “too toxic,” according to a source who was invited.

Ideally, the fete was to have taken place at the New York Hilton hotel where Giuliani celebrated his election win in November 1993. Organizers were aiming for early January.

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According to that insider, Giuliani’s position as the embattled President’s personal lawyer has made him “too toxic” to be around right now.

“It’d be like a mafia wedding,” that source joked, referring to mob gatherings where investigators and media members show up to take an inventory of party-goers with close ties to the dubious guests of honor.



MORE:
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-news-rudy-giuliani-party-mayor-trump-20181129-story.html?fbclid=IwAR1-C6a4HMIvNg8oXX2gfQYPhPEdkrRSzcoK35kz_kzZQFi6BiRKXakWSCc

Wow G20 Pic

That look when Bob Mueller is taking up all the space in your head, rent free.

never forget

Putin and MBS greet each other with huge smiles and handshake in Buenos Aires

VIDEO:

https://twitter.com/Kevinliptakcnn/status/1068526102979653632

Don Lemon hysterically laughing at old clip of Manafort explaining Trump's Russian business ties

Video clip of the week:


I can’t stop laughing!


https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1068508080080601088