Hey guys, in mobster lingo, a ‘rat’ is a witness who tells prosecutors real incriminating info. So perhaps you should pick a different word? Searches of lawyer’s offices are common enough that DOJ has a procedure for them. Here it yielded evidence of crimes he could be jailed for. You both should stop using the word 'rat' because it just may turn out to be the case.
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It's hard to know nothing about something when you're paying someone back for it.
In this case, the Trump people initially claimed their pursuit of Trump Tower Moscow ended in January 2016. Then Cohen, in court filings at the end of last month, indicated it continued well into the summer of 2016 and
he was planning trips to Russia for himself and Trump on either side of the Republican National Convention. Now Giuliani has openly volunteered that the deal continued all the way to around Election Day, as Trump constantly and lavishly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin on the campaign trail. Was Trump's eagerness to work with the Russians was confined to his private business dealings and his public statements or whether there was another dimension to the relationship.
It's difficult to have complete faith in Giuliani here. According to the answer that he gave, it would have covered all the way up to November of 2016. Said he had conversations with him about it. The president didn't hide this.
He didn't hide it? Well he certainly didn't advertise that he was pursuing a lucrative deal with a hostile foreign oligarchy while running for President of the United States. Why does Giuliani phrase it this way: "it would have covered all the way up to November"? This sounds like an answer crafted to maximize a legal defense, not offer the truth to the public. Maximizing the president's defense is Giuliani's job when corresponding with the special counsel, but his job here is to assuage any concern that Trump is acting in his own interests before those of the country.
These
conflicts of interest have popped up repeatedly and raise the question of whether Trump is fulfilling his oath of office. This is why presidents divest from their businesses upon taking power. Jimmy Carter had to give up his peanut farm, but Donald Trump has kept de facto control over a business with tentacles stretching all over the world. He put his sons in charge, and Tweedledee and Tweedledumb immediately admitted they'd be updating him regularly on the business. Those updates presumably include who is putting money in their pockets. All of this is the basis for multiple lawsuits alleging the president has violated the Constitution's Emoluments Clause, which the '
New York Times' dug into today.
There's a reason we call government officials "public servants." The idea is they've chosen to put their insatiable appetite for cash to one side for a while as they
serve the public. Pursuing private business deals, then lying constantly to the public about them, is not a traditional model for "service."
Before he was a Guy Who Gets Raucously Booed at Yankee Games, maybe Rudy Giuliani knew that.
