Forum: What Effect Will Michael Cohen's Plea Bargain Have?

Every Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question:What Effect Will Michael Cohen's Plea Bargain Have?

Rob Miller: This is pretty simple to understand. Mueller has Cohen cold for massive tax evasion, none of which had anything to do with the president. In exchange for leniency on those actual crimes, Cohen was prepared to say absolutely anything Mueller wanted.Mueller was even allowed to violate attorney-client privilege to set this up.

The plea bargain works for both Mueller and Cohen quite well, because now these allegations won't go to trial because there won't be one. It will be simply Cohen's word against the president, with the media of course trumpeting Cohen's nonsense and any other garbage Mueller twists his arm to make up...just more BS to float on the water and dirty it. and meanwhile, the Left can keep yelling 'impeachment! impeachment! just to keep it in the voter's minds until the midterms.

As for Lanny Davis, he should be disbarred for (a)not lodging motions protesting against the violation of attorney -client privilege (b) allowing his client to plead guilty to a non-existent crime and (c) damaging his cliet's chance for a pardon from Trump by deliberately telling the world Cohen won't accept one! No legitimate lawyer representing his client would ever be this derelict, but of course Lanny Davis is in this for Bill and Hill and isn't interested in actually representing Michael Cohen except as it suits Mueller. Davis is in this up to his neck.

To fully understand what a partisan jihad is going on here, consider this...Mueller's assignment from Assistant AG Rosenstein was to investigate Russian collusion that could have influenced the election.Mueller has never investigated Hillary Clinton and the DNC's collusion in commissioning Fusion GPS's bogus 'pee dossier' which was oppo research definitely designed to influence the election, now has he? Nope, it's all about Trump and certainly not about possible Russian collusion in the election.

Jeffrey Avalon Friedberg: The actual purpose of a plea bargain is to “lock in” or guarantee an outcome of the arrest and prosecution of an accused perpetrator. It saves either side from getting a worse result than might be expected, and either side profits in some way by the “bargain.”

The defendant gains a concession from the prosecutor. The prosecutor secures a guilty “plea” from the defendant.

However, the real, legal effect on President Donald H. Trump will be zero. Cohen must walk a tightrope. If he f*cks up again he faces a much more powerful enemy in Trump than Mueller.

All sorts of local color, media innuendo, and Chyron generated flash will fly, but, in the end, the only ones truly affected will be der Jude, und Herr Sonderstaatsanwalt.

Laura Rambeau Lee: Not one of us who voted for Trump believed he was of impeccable character. Nothing that has been revealed rises to the level of impeachable or illegal activity. Hey, at least he used his own money to pay off porn stars and bimbos, unlike Congress which had a slush fund of taxpayer money just for the purpose of paying off and silencing their accusers. Michael Cohen’s plea bargain will have no effect on President Trump, except for the non-stop media analysis and legal conjecture. The frenzy must continue, relentless and at all costs.

James Kirwin: Unfortunately more effect than it should have. Judging by the non-stop media coverage you would think Trump had been the Manchurian Candidate controlled by Putin and elected through Russian manipulation of the election.

Instead what I’ve had to remind myself is that the Russians spent a few hundred grand on Facebook and Trump paid off an accuser for ½ as much as #METOO Queen Asia Argento did – or rather Anthony Bourdain did on Argento’s behalf. Maybe Bourdain should have hired Cohen. Evidently that lawyer knows how to cut a deal.

I also have to remind myself that nothing Trump did with these women was in the Oval Office unlike the mess Bill Clinton left on an intern’s dress, and which he twisted the meaning of the simplest verb in the English language: Is.

Meanwhile Clinton’s wife operated a server hacked by everyone and received no punishment – unlike a sailor who took a picture of a submarine interior to brag to his family and received a court martial and prison sentence that took Trump’s pardon to fix.

After a year and a half and tens of millions of dollars, is this the best Mueller can do? I’d almost like to see Trump tweet, “Yeah I did it with a porn star. I apologized to my wife and paid her off with my own money, but hey, it was a porn star and not an intern – and not in the Oval Office.” So what? French President Francois Mitterand’s mistress walked behind his casket at his state funeral alongside his wife. Kissinger said “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac,” and Trump had its runner-up money. Is he an idiot for cheating on his (admittedly hot) wife? Sure – but as someone who doesn’t care about who he sleeps with and is concerned about the future of our country, I am more worried about jobs and the strength of America’s enemies abroad.

So far the Economy is doing the best since the Reagan era, and our enemies abroad are the weakest they’ve been since 9-11. I am pleased with both and credit Trump for their successes.

But the constant media frenzy conflating Stormy Daniels with Putin will likely continue. And it sucks.

Dave Schuler:An impeachable offense is anything the House thinks it is. A Congress with a Republican majority will never impeach an even notionally Republican president with an approval rating of 43% let alone try and remove. With as much fan-dancing as they've been doing for the last year and a half a Congress with a Democratic majority will find it difficult not to impeach and, possibly, remove. This despite that a President Pence is probably their worst nightmare.

I have no idea. I think that the Mueller investigation will continue until one of three things happens: something serious is uncovered (a prospect that becomes less likely with every passing day), Trump is no longer president, or Mueller is dismissed.

Don Surber: The effect is the Left has succeeded in ending lawyer-client privilege. There is nothing in civilized society that the Left would not destroy for an edge. Ruthless.

 Well, there it is!

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