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For the record, as highlighted by AP news:
The Latest: Russia reached out to Trump campaign in 2015
AP — Dec 7, 2018
5:20 p.m.
Prosecutors say President Donald Trump’s former lawyer gave investigators information about attempts by Russians to reach Trump’s campaign.
The information was disclosed in a sentencing memo filed Friday by special counsel Robert Mueller in Michael Cohen’s case.
Court papers say Cohen described speaking to a Russian national who claimed to be a “trusted person” in the Russian Federation and proposed a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The person offered Trump’s campaign “political synergy” and “synergy on a government level.” The person wasn’t identified by name in the court documents.
More details on this Russian contact disclosure, from the Special Counsel’s document itself (pgs 5-6):
The defendant’s assistance has been useful in four significant respects.
First, the defendant provided information about his own contacts with Russian interests during the campaign and discussions with others in the course of making those contacts. For example, and as described above, the defendant provided a detailed account of his involvement and the involvement of others in the Moscow Project, and also corrected the record concerning his outreach to the Russian government during the week of the United Nations General Assembly. The defendant also provided information about attempts by other Russian nationals to reach the campaign.
For example, in or around November 2015, Cohen received the contact information for, and spoke with, a Russian national who claimed to be a “trusted person” in the Russian Federation who could offer the campaign “political synergy” and “synergy on a government level.”
The defendant recalled that this person repeatedly proposed a meeting between Individual 1 and the President of Russia. The person told Cohen that such a meeting could have a “phenomenal” impact “not only in political but in a business dimension as well,” referring to the Moscow Project, because there is “no bigger warranty in any project than consent of [the President of Russia].” Cohen, however, did not follow up on this invitation.[3]
Second, Cohen provided the SCO with useful information concerning certain discrete Russia-related matters core to its investigation that he obtained by virtue of his regular contact with Company executives during the campaign.
Third, Cohen provided relevant and useful information concerning his contacts with persons connected to the White House during the 2017–2018 time period.
Fourth, Cohen described the circumstances of preparing and circulating his response to the congressional inquiries, while continuing to accept responsibility for the false statements contained within it.
[Emphasis added]
Pundits are focusing on the harshness of the recommendation. Apparently Cohen is not going to go Scot-Free.
I thought I’d focus on the usefulness of Cohen’s now-public disclosures instead.
Hope folks find this helpful. Mueller apparently did.
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And from the prosecutors from New York’s Southern District filing today:
During the campaign, Cohen played a central role in two similar schemes to purchase the rights to stories—each from women who claimed to have had an affair with Individual-1 [Trump]—so as to suppress the stories and thereby prevent them from influencing the election. With respect to both payments, Cohen acted with the intent to influence the 2016 presidential election. Cohen coordinated his actions with one or more members of the campaign, including through meetings and phone calls, about the fact, nature, and timing of the payments. (PSR ¶ 51). In particular, and as Cohen himself has now admitted, with respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1.
[Emphasis added]
IOW Trump was in on, and in fact directed, the Campaign Finance Laws violations.
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