Michael Cohen set up a Delaware shell (or front) company called Essential Consultants, LLC, through which he received very generous “donations” from some American companies like: $600,000 (for “actual work”) from AT&T (who wanted a merger with Time-Warner), $1.2 million from Novartis, pharma-giant (who wanted “insight on the president’s thinking on healthcare policy issues”), $150,000 (for “accounting advise”) from Korea Aerospace Industries,  who partnered with Lockheed Martin (a huge defense contract is pending), and a half million dollars from Columbus Nova, whose CEO is Andrew Intrater, who is “cousin Vinnie” to Victor Vekselberg, one of the richest Russian oligarchs; Columbus Nova is his U.S. affiliate.

All Russian oligarchs operate in cooperation with the Putin government; they live and enrich themselves at the pleasure and grace of Vladimir Putin!  “Robber barons of the former Soviet Union became insanely rich; Putin was a junior oligarch before coming fully into power” in the Kremlin. Victor Vekselberg and his cousin Andrew attended Trump’s Inauguration ceremony and met there with Michael Cohen.  Intrater donated $250,000 to the Trump Inauguration Fund, $35,000 to the Trump Victory Fund, and $29,600 to the Republican National Committee in June 2017.   Vikselberg was also present at the infamous 2015 dinner in Russia, which was attended by Putin, Michael Flynn, Jill Stein (and others).  Vekselberg was also present at a dinner with Jared and Ivanka Kushner.  There’s also the connection between Vekselberg and German Khan, Ukrainian-Russian billionaire (export and oil trade), who is the father-in-law of Alex van der Zwaan, Dutch ex-attorney, who is going to prison for perjury.  The above-named companies and characters were all questioned last fall by Special Counsel, Robert Mueller; no wonder search warrants were issued for Michael Cohen’s records.

Remember during Trump’s campaign, when he talked incessantly about “Pay for Play, it’s illegal”, and said, “Why would anyone plead the Fifth?  Only guilty people plead the Fifth!”  Steve Schmidt, my favorite ‘Recovering-Republican’ said, “Cohen is part of the cabal doing real damage to America, involved in unfathomable corruption.  This is fundamental corruption of our American political system!  Cohen is as mobbed-up as Morey, the wig-maker was from Goodfellas!   “Where was anybody — upon the moment of Donald Trump  assuming the awesome privilege and power of the presidency — to say ‘how can we make America better, safer?   How can we keep faith with our obligations?’  See how rancid the swamp really is!   Every one of them are Pigs at the Troughs, enriching themselves financially at our expense!”

Trish Forsyth Voss

Ex-Republicans and Recovering Republicans almost have to be feeling more angst than we Dems.  Forty-some House Republicans, so far, are planning on retiring later this year ahead of the impending blue tsunami.  There’s been an extremely high turnover-rate of White House staff, many having been fired and some forced to resign in disgrace.  Twenty-four Trump nominees have failed to be confirmed by the Senate, but the ones that have … Stocking the Swamp!  Scott Pruitt, EPA Chief, was grilled on Thursday by a Senate investigative committee on numerous ethic scandals, he has lied to them repeatedly; he needs to be fired.  The White House physician, Ronny Jackson, was a Trump-nominee for Secretary of Veterans Affairs; his nomination interview postponed due to allegations (from 23 current and former colleagues, many still in the military) of creating a hostile work environment, drunkenness on the job, handing out prescription drugs, including opioids, for which he reportedly earned the nickname: Candy-man.  Mr. Jackson withdrew his name for consideration on Thursday, but he deserves an investigation into these allegations and should be fired if ANY are proved true.

Mike Pompeo was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday as Secretary of State, leaving immediately to attend a NATO meeting.  President Trump, who should have presidential business to perform instead called into the TV show: Fox & Friends LIVE, going on a long, unhinged rant about the raid on Michael Cohen, admitting that Cohen represented him “on this crazy Stormy Daniels deal” and basically destroyed his defense on 2 fronts.  Lawyers for Cohen (and Trump) were trying to argue that materials seized in the raid should be protected by attorney-client privilege, but Trump said in the televised segment that “Cohen only handles a tiny, tiny fraction of my legal work”, those words only hours later finding their way into the court brief, working against them.

He ranted about corruption at the highest level of “his” justice department, said he’s been trying to stay away from managing it, “but at some point I won’t stay away from it”.  A Senate Judiciary committee took a bipartisan vote on a bill to protect the Special Counsel investigation; the bill might not make its way to the floor.

    The following quote from Republican strategist, Steve Schmidt’s website:  “Patriotism means to stand by the country.  It does not mean to stand by the President”, said Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States of America.  

Trish Forsyth Voss

Amid a Special Counsel investigation heating up … into Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign/Russian collusion and other related issues, Donald Trump continues to do and say so many questionable things.  We keep asking ourselves WHY?  Why was he so upset when Nikki Haley, US. Ambassador to the UN, announced further sanctions on Russia for their part in the chemical attacks, killing 40 Syrian people in Damascus?  The White House walked that announcement back.  Trump basically refused to enact the sanctions on Russia over election meddling, that Congress passed 98-2 back in summer 2017, but finally in March of this year announced ‘would be’ enacted, after Russian poisonings in the U.K.

He listens to advice from Sean Hannity over his Chief of Staff, John Kelly.  He is everyday rant-tweeting about James Comey, who said on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, “I’m like a breakup he can’t get over”.  He’s distraught over the FBI raid on his “fixer”, Michael Cohen’s property and materials.  He had CIA Director, Mike Pompeo, secretly meet over Easter weekend with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang to lay the groundwork for direct talks between Trump and Kim, “using intelligence rather than diplomatic channels to communicate”.  Pompeo is Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, and is anxiously awaiting confirmation as secretary.  Former Deputy Secretary of State, John J. Sullivan, became Acting Secretary on  4/1/18; he is the chief foreign affairs adviser/diplomatic officer, not Pompeo.  “Mr. Trump  said he would give his blessing to North and South Korea to discuss the end of the war, opening the door to a peace treaty that would replace the armistice that halted the Korean War in 1953.”  These are very complicated, long-standing diplomatic issues.

I’m really tired of all the Obama-bashing over the ‘ignored red-line’; Obama asked Congress to authorize potential use of force against Syria, and they declined to hold a vote, after McConnell, Boehner and Corker praised him for  “absolutely the right decision”.  Protests, rallies and polls demonstrated that the majority of citizens were not on board for extended involvement in Syria’s civil-war.  “Under the constitution, the responsibility for declaring war lies with Congress.”  Barack Obama did the right thing!  However, there was a covert CIA program, arming and training Syrian rebels to fight the Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian government under Bashar al-Assad.  Trump and Pompeo pulled the plug last summer on the CIA program supporting the rebels  — in order to improve relations with Russia.  To Russia With Love.

Trish Forsyth Voss

Adriana Cohen’s lament on the “unbalanced scales of justice” shows just how deluded some GOPpers are!  Robert Mueller is a life-long Republican, as is James Comey, whom Ms. Cohen has decreed to have committed perjury and obstruction of justice by “exonerating Hillary Clinton by overseeing a sham criminal investigation” into email-text-gate.  She slanders Andrew McCabe for supposedly “misleading authorities on multiple occasions”, but praises perjurer Attorney General Jeff Sessions for firing him!  Alex van der Zwaan was convicted of perjury, NOT for erasing an email, and was reportedly disbarred as President Bill Clinton was for perjuring himself.  She finishes with decrying that poor Michael Flynn has racked up “goliath legal bills and forced to sell his home”.  Wahh!  … the wages of being a Treasonist!  Ms. Cohen casts aspersions far and wide, stating these “villains”, the “elites” that have trashed our judicial system, are walking free while these poor Trump cohorts are being villainized  and hounded unmercifully.  It’s all meant to distract us from the real crimes and conspiracies to undermine our country and its democratic institutions … that will be brought to light soon by Special Counsel Mueller.  There are so many parallels between the current corrupt administration and the “law and order” administration of President Richard Nixon.  Approximately 46 persons were indicted and served prison sentences after Nixon was forced to resign in dishonor.  I’m betting double that number will be indicted when all is said and done, and Trump will be impeached and hopefully incarcerated … not for “collusion”, but for conspiracy against the United States … aka Treason, which is the #1 indictment against Paul Manafort.  For those who keep ranting “there’s no evidence of collusion” — the investigators have tons of evidence and are as busy as bees gathering more.   Mike Flynn and several others have already pled guilty, and are turning state’s evidence against their cohorts.  “Oh what tangled webs” … some weave!  Propagandists like Adriana Cohen, Byron York and all those at Fox and Friends are contributing to tearing apart our democracy by demeaning our FBI and sowing doubt in our justice system.  These “elites” of which Ms. Cohen speaks …. those getting away with all manner of crimes … these are LIES!   All those suffering from Hillary Derangement Syndrome, who believe any crazy accusation deplorables invent: Uranium One, child sex-trade, string of dead bodies in her wake … ABSURD and STUPID!  Donald Trump is one of the biggest elites of them all.  WAKE UP!