May 14, 2018

May 14, 2018: Revelations of a Porn Star, Aping Roy Cohn, Shit Through a Goose



"Corruption runs through Caesar Disgustus like shit through a goose"
                  ----from "The Quotations of Chairman Joe"

You realize where this is going,” Bannon continued. “This is all about money laundering. Mueller chose Weissman first and he is a money laundering guy. Their path to fucking Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr., and Jared Kushner...It's as plain as the hair on your face...it goes through Duetche Bank and all the Kushner shit. The Kushner shit is greasy. They're going to go right through that. They're going to roll those guys up an say play me or trade me.”
----Michael Wolff “Fire and Fury, Inside the Trump White House” (1)

Wolff could have added Michael Cohen to the list.

Cohen, “Personal Attorney” to Donald J. Trump was “closely aligned” with whom Wolff described as “the shadiest of the shady Trump-associated characters” Felix Sater. Sater, “a key follow-the-money link to Russia...'get ready for it—I know this may shock you, but wait for it'” continued Bannon, had major problems with the law before, “caught” in Bannon's words, “with a couple of guys in Boca running Russian money through a boiler room'. And, continues Wolff, “it turns out, 'Brother Sater' was prosecuted by 'wait'--Andrew Weissmann'”. (2) Weissmann headed the DOJ criminal Division and has been hired by Mueller to head up the financial investigations of our Ceasar Disgustus and his band of thieves.

Sater has had extensive treatment in many books about tRUMP, from Wolff's recent publication to David Kay Johnston's “The Making of Donald Trump”. Now, it is being revealed, that in the wake of his numerous bankruptcies and with money wholly unavailable from any reputable lender, Trump turned to the likes of Cohen, his new 'Fixer,' after the passing of Roy Cohn, to seek avenues of financing. This was not an entirely new avenue for Disgustus, Sater himself had connection with nefarious figures in the American and Russian mob. Now Cohen, emerging in the tRUMP world at precisely the time he needed bailing out, brought to the table his own troubling sources of funding.

You can't make this stuff up. Cohen, aping Disgustus' hero Roy Cohn, tried to play the tough guy seeking to intimidate by filing lawsuits whenever possible in order to keep inconvenient truths at bay. One such action, concerning a former porn star “Stormy Daniels”, involved Cohen filing a counter-suit suing the former “actress” for twenty million dollars claiming she had violated a 'confidentiality agreement' securing her silence about an alleged affair with Disgustus. This led, by degrees to counter-suit by the 'actress' seeking discovery over who paid the cover-up money—on hundred thirty thousand dollars. Cohen was immediately caught flat footed putting out several explanations, none of which bear scrutiny. Indeed the probe into his payments for the silence not only of Ms. Daniels but also a former “Playboy” centerfold have revealed much more of the nefarious undertakings of Mr. tRUMP's “Fixer”. Michael Avenatti, Ms. Daniel's attorney, has also—through legal discovery—revealed that Cohen had formed a “shell company” called “Essential Consultants”, which not only paid the porn star for her silence but solicited funds from the likes of AT&T, Novartis, Korean Aerospace, and several others. These firms paid Cohen millions of dollars—Novartis 1.2 million and AT&T 600,00 dollars when it was and remains unclear what 'expertise' Cohen could bring to either of these corporations. Perhaps all that money accomplished something, perhaps it prevented much worse from being visited upon the heads of these corporations, although that appears unlikely. Perhaps, and this is more plausible, it was a simple straightforward shakedown. Pay me or I will see to it that you won't get in the door.

The editors of “The New York Times”, commenting on the unraveling scandals, pointed out that
serious questions remain as to the services delivered for the money tendered. Serious questions remain if nothing was accomplished. In any case Cohen had not registered as a Lobbyist but was operating in the dark recesses of the American swamp, snorkeling in the cesspool of dirty money; an environment from which he came, and in which he finds his element.

Similarly, Cohen's arrival—also noted by “The Times”--suspiciously coinciding with the infusion of Russian money into the tRUMP enterprises also raises questions. That the tRUMPs were and are deep into hock to Russian oligarchs seems beyond question. Indeed “The Times” once again quoted Donald Jr's famous quip that '“The Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,' Donald Jr. said in 2008. 'We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia”'. (3)

From at least 1999, according to a recent Times report, Mr. Cohen had dealings with Russian mob figures and began finding business deals in, and with people from, Russia and the former Soviet Union. By 2007, Mr. Cohen was working for the Trump organization as a fixer and deal maker.

Even during the 2016 campaign, Mr. Cohen pursued plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow, coordinating with Felix Sater, a felon with ties to Russian mobsters who had worked on other deals with Mr. Trump.

After Mr. Trump's election, while the F.B.I. Was investigating whether his campaign helped Russian efforts to put Mr. Trump in the Oval Office, Mr. Cohen visited his boss in the White House. During that February 2017 visit, Mr.Cohen left for the National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, a plan to lift sanctions against Russia, which had been imposed for its attacks on Ukraine. These sanctions had squeezed the sorts of people Mr. Cohen dealt with. The plan was proposed by Mr. Sater and a Ukrainian politician with ties to Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman.” (4) Cohen has not registered as a Foreign Agent either.

Bannon, speaking with Michael Wolff in early 2017, was indeed prescient. The trail to impeachment does indeed involve bouncing down the money trail. “Follow the Money” Deep Throat advises Bob Woodward in the movie “All the President's Men”. By following the money, we will find the truth. And so as Bob Mueller works his way through the bowels of the Trump Organization, like shit through a goose, we await the gory entrails, the stench of which is sure to offend the nostrils. 

'an Br'er  Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Impeach and Imprison 
______________
  1. Wolf, Michael. “Fire and Fury, Inside the Trump White House”. Henry Holt and Company, New York, New York. 2108. Page 278 Emphasis mine.
  2. Ibid. Pg. 278
  3. Editorial “Mr. Trump's Shadowy Money Trail”, The New York Times. Thursday, May 10, 2018. Page A26
  4. Ibid.



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