Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty To 8 Felonies

The 45th President's long-time personal attorney and adviser pleaded guilty yesterday to 8 felony charges, including tax evasion, fraudulent bank loans and two federal campaign finance violations. He was also, until the past two weeks, the Financial Co-chairman of the Republican National Committee.  He confessed the crimes under oath, in federal court, and stated that he willfully violated the two campaign finance laws at the direction of his employer, Donald J Trump, then a candidate for the United States Presidency.
   Today, the 45th President falsely claimed that the last two crimes mentioned are not crimes.  He took to Twitter to distance himself from his former friend, lawyer, and adviser: "If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!"  He also used following Tweets to argue that Cohen's campaign finance violations are "not a crime."
   The charges against Cohen in the tax evasion scheme were linked to his taxi medallion business, where Cohen failed to report more than $4 million in income, which resulted in the Internal Revenue Service not receiving more than $1.4 million in taxes.
   Michael Cohen also pleaded guilty to making false statements to banks in order to secure loans to purchase real estate - not listing $14 million of debt that he owed.
   But the big news was his implication of the President of the United States in a remarkable courtroom moment.  Cohen admitted that "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office," he kept information that would have harmed the candidate from becoming public during the 2016 election cycle.  -  These were "hush money" payments made to two women who had had extra-marital affairs with the candidate; one of $150,000 to McDougal, and one of $130,000 to Daniels.
   Appearing in court on Tuesday, Cohen said of the charge linked to McDougal that it was done "for the principal purpose of influencing the election."  Regarding the charge linked to Daniels, Cohen said the money "was later repaid to me by the candidate."
   Assistant US Attorney Andrea Griswold said prosecutors would have been prepared to present evidence during a trial that these were so-called "hush-money" payments.  "The proff on these counts at trial would establish that these payments were made in order to ensure that each recipient of the payments did not publicize their stories of alleged affairs with the candidate," she said.
   Michael Cohen faces up to 65 years in prison for his 8 offenses.

Bits and Pieces

There are 26 new foals playing on Assateague - well, actually, 25, since Bat Girl and her colt are at the Carnival Grounds on Chincoteague, keeping Randy company.  Randy herself looks much better, and Bay Girl is also doing well with all the grass and hay.  Bay Girl was looking pretty poor after she foaled Friday, so she and the baby were moved to an area where they can be looked after.  We've lost one foal so far this year - not quite sure why, but Lady and Prince's chestnut foal did not survive it's first 36 hours.  Since Randy aborted after her quicksand ordeal, and both Wild Island Orchid and Surf Queen died while pregnant (also from being trapped in quicksand), we'll have a few fewer foals that usual this July.  And, since we have only 26 on the ground now, it seems that the majority of the foals purchased at the Auction on 26 July will need to have the owners return in October for a fall pick-up, since the foals will be too young to wean from their moms.

   I had to laugh at three teen-aged boys.  On Sunday, the three of them (two aged 15, and one 16) stole a Jeep in Aurora and drove it up to Boulder to buy a cheap cell phone. They had contacted the owner, and the boys and the man met at the Bustop, the bar and stripper club on North Broadway.  The man passed the phone into the Jeep for the boys to look at; and the boys decided to drive away without paying for the phone.  The phone owner threw himself into the open window, and was hanging there by his waist.  The driver kept the Jeep going, and the third boy pulled a pistol out and placed the barrel on the phone owner's head.  The driver looked over at the gun, and was so distracted he ran the Jeep into a parked RTD bus.  The boys all jumped out of the car and ran away, having pushed the cell phone owner out of the window and onto the ground.  Police caught all of the boys and also found the phone and unlicensed gun.  The phone owner was treated at the hospital for cuts, scrapes and bruises, and released.

  I was so very happy to see that Don Blankenship lost his race in West Virginia.  Felons should NOT be allowed to run for office, period.

  And, of course, the idiot in the White House has decided to back out of the Iran Nuclear Treaty, just as he said he would during his campaign for President.  A lot of past Presidential advisers believe that this will be the first misstep that starts our country into a slippery slide into a full-out war in the Middle East again - just like Iraq...  That orange-painted anus is doing everything he can to completely annihilate all the good things that Obama and Clinton worked so hard for.  - I am still amazed at his dismantling of the EPA; especially since it was formed by Nixon.

  And, suddenly, all this information regarding unusually large payments made to Michael Cohen, the personal counsel (attorney) for the Chief Chimpanzee, is appearing on the scene.  Four $50,000 payments from AT&T; $500,000 from Columbus Nova, an investment firm with close to ties to Russian oligarch Victor Vekselberg (who is a close associate of Vladimir Putin); four payments of $99,980 each from Novartis Investments S.A.R. L., a part of Novartis pharmaceuticals; and a $150,000 payment from Korea Aerospace, all were paid to Essential Consultants, the shell company that Michael Cohen owns.  All in all, over $4,400,000.00 have been paid into, and out of Essential Consultants between September 2016 and April of 2018.  And, don't forget that Michael Cohen is one of the  Finance Chairmen for the Republican National Committee....  What exactly was all that money for?  Why did it get paid into a shell company?  Where did it go?  What was it spent on?  Something seems rotten in this information....