Large demographic shifts are reshaping America. How has your county changed? https://t.co/lFByVFEU1i
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) July 20, 2018
How Has Your County Changed?
62 thoughts on “How Has Your County Changed?”
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well, some counties for sure were changed by the efforts described by deputy ag ron as “foreign influence operations intended to harm the American political system”
more on the Rosenstein announcement from the ny times story Russia Campaign ‘Just One Tree in a Growing Forest,’ Rosenstein Says
[….]
The Justice Department report identified five types of foreign influence operations intended to harm the American political system, including attacks on voting infrastructure, theft and weaponization of data, secret assistance of politicians in damaging their opponents, the spreading of false information and propaganda, and unlawful lobbying efforts.
Nearly all of those efforts have been described in cases brought by Mr. Mueller and the Justice Department this year.
[….]
The report identified five categories of digital threats in addition to influence campaigns, including attacks on computer systems, data theft, cyberenabled fraud schemes, online harassment and extortion, and attacks on the nation’s critical infrastructure.
The report also detailed some of the work that the department was undertaking to protect the United States from these attacks.
As part of a new policy, the department will tell individuals, businesses and organizations when a foreign government tries to target the United States and its democratic institutions.
[….continues….]
In the 25 years I’ve been here the county has gotten somewhat more diverse – there do seem to be more Hispanic folks than in the 90s, but i really only notice it in restaurants and labor intensive service industry businesses – oh, and in Walmart where there’s a decent Hispanic foods selection. But what’s really changed is we are overrun by oil and gas guys from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana, etc. while local young adults and ex coal and glass workers have found unemployment and drugs-specifically heroin & meth. Oh, and they’ve become solidly Republican. Oh, and pot holes – we have many many more and bigger potholes than ever – not sure that has anything to do with demographic shifts, but you never know.
Oh boy, Jared speaks.
Jared speaks
vanity fair: “There’s Your Metaphor”: Michael Cohen, an Exploding Toilet, and a Year of Disappointment
[…]
Last fall, around the time when he was called to testify as part of the Congressional investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, Cohen got an offer to sell an apartment he owned for nearly two decades in Trump World Tower for about $3.3 million. In order to avoid taxes on the sale, he executed a 1031 exchange, in which the profit from the sale was re-invested into another, more expensive residential property. In November, Cohen went into contract on a 2,697 square-foot 19th floor Tribeca apartment for $6.7 million.
The building, still in development, was not close to being finished when he went into contract. This complicated his ability to secure financing from a bank, which would likely require a temporary certificate of occupancy. Since Cohen needed to comply with the 1031 exchange’s timing requirements, the developer—a longtime friend—offered a short-term $3.5 million mortgage, assuring him that the building would be complete and units would start closing in late winter or early spring of 2018.
Around the same time, Cohen found himself checking a rickety toilet in the marble-clad bathroom of the apartment he shared with his family in a different Trump building. As he fidgeted, the toilet exploded, expelling chunks of porcelain—and Cohen, himself—across the room, while errant pieces cracked nearby marble fixtures. The toilet had been recalled. The Cohens, alas, were unaware.
The renovations were only completed a few weeks before they left for a winter holiday trip to London. While they were gone, the so-called “bomb cyclone” descended on New York—a freak and devastating winter storm, which became doubly poignant for Cohen after an upstairs neighbor, according to a person familiar with the situation, accidentally left a window open. A pipe from the neighbor’s dishwasher froze and exploded. For days, while Cohen was across the Atlantic, water flooded into his apartment. The ceilings collapsed. The wood floors buckled. The walls were ruined. Most everything needed to be gutted and the family had to move out. They relocated to the Regency, a hotel a few hundred feet from their home. Insurance continues to foot the bill for his hotel stay. Then came the real natural disaster, Stormy Daniels.
[…continues…]
This area of DFW is very diverse. One of the zip codes near here is said to be the most diverse in the US. Not TX; in the US.
It used to be primarily Hispanic when I moved here. Signage was in Spanish and English at banks and stores.
Now, it is primarily Indian (two, stand-alone grocery stores within a 1/2 mile of me on either side and so many restaurants have popped up in the past five years & several tutoring businesses) but also large populations from Vietnam, Korea, China, the Philippines, Russia, and, Singapore. There is an Islamic Community Center a few blocks away, and a Korean Methodist church two miles away.
I work with folks from Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, and, Cambodia; others are first-generation Americans whose parents are from China.
In the past month, I’ve met new folks from Honduras, Peru, Korea, and, Russia.
It’s probably not what folks think of when they hear the word Texas. That Texas is probably farther out from any metro areas.
I think the entire country should watch the Mr. Rogers movie & have a potluck dinner/dance. As soon as the movie is out of theatres, I hope it will air on network TV often.
Per PEW Research link above (go to the interactive section to type in your county) I am now officially a minority in my Orange County FL hometown — non-white population shifted from 42% to 57% from 2000 to 2016. That is due to Puerto Rican immigration, which I celebrate because it has turned Orlando from a GOP stronghold to Democratic. Since 2016 that has, if anything, increased. We’re probably over 60% non-white these days.
That Cohen riff is hilarious. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Patd, when trump ‘won?’ KGC commented that every toilet in the US backed-up. The trump clog. All of our plumbing is messed-up.
My county is getting less white and older.
Suburban
Doña Ana County, New Mexico, is a suburban county with agrowing population. The nonwhite share of the population has increased 4 percentage points since 2000, and the share ages 65 and older has increased 3 percentage points.
Doña Ana County
U.S. average, 2016
2000
2016
Suburbancounties
All counties
Population
174,682
213,825
159,772
101,776
Nonwhite share of population
68%
72%
24%
23%
Share of population ages 65+
11%
14%
16%
18%
Share of 25- to 54-year-olds who are employed
67%
71%
75%
73%
The Russian accused of using sex, lies and guns to infiltrate US politics https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/politics/maria-butina-paul-erickson-russian-sex-lies-guns/index.html
Two references give shirttail connections to Jack (The Axe) Abramoff.
Yep, my county is 69% non-white now, but it’s probably been half a century since that was the majority if it ever was. I’ve been in the minority my entire time here, but it’s always been very diverse.
Article about parscale and his sponsor, eric trump. A tumble in Mr. Mueller’s barrel in their future. The last line of the article caught my eye —
Martinez also attributed the success of Parscale’s campaign to microtargeting with the aid of Facebook’s trove of data about its users including actions on other linked sites, and noted that it is also much cheaper to advertise to rural users than urban ones.
In his 60 Minutes interview Parscale denied using Cambridge’s strategy of psychographics, which target users based on their personalities.
The strategist, who said that he requested that workers from sites such as Facebook embedded with the campaign be Republicans, was also aided by Facebook in other ways.
Former Facebook worker Antonio Garcia Martinez wrote in WIRED last week that Facebook gave Trump cheaper rates for the same advertising space because his posts would be able to garner more comments and shares.
“Clinton was paying Manhattan prices for the square footage on your smartphone’s screen, while Trump was paying Detroit prices,” he wrote.
The photo courtesy of NYT — the May 10th secret meeting with russians. The first known time russians were in the oval office. US citizens were not allowed in trump secret meeting with his boss’s capos. It is obvious putie directed him to fire comey. A happier time.
“I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Mr. Trump said, according to the document, which was read to The New York Times by an American official. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”
Mr. Trump added, “I’m not under investigation.”
Watching Sagan right in the thick picking up points. Often times he looks like he is riding a mountain bike and not in the lead for green jersey in TdF.
I guess it’s really hard for Bernie supporters to come to grips with the fact that they were Russian pawns.
I overhead a question on the radio about why did SFB step in to the Fed rate setting. The talking head had no real answer and no one offered the real reason. He was told to get off the Treason Summit and inviting the KBG into the Kremlin West by diverting attention to some other normal part of running the country. Hannity or some other idiot probably said “attack the Fed, that will get the media talking about the next shiny object”. Sure enough, the media drags up SFB lying about former presidents politicizing the Fed, none had before him. Task complete, the traitor can go on making love sounds to his handler.
sturge, we are all putie’s pawns…he had his tuning fork up into the hinterlands of America. He got to me…aggravating to watch this junta takeover of our democracy over the years (and it is years). comey mentioned the ruskies were extremely noisy during the campaign, barely hiding like butina. Hiding in plain site…like the ruskies in the oval office. It was so obvious to me while my trump supporting sister fell for the nazi crap. bern’s people were given the moniker of pure vs. dishonest. Total bs. What a great set-up and we all fell for it.
BB, that deflection is what I call decoy news.
butina and kisylyak meeting (Guardian)
The woman charged with spying for Moscow in the US met previously with the former Russian ambassador to Washington whose contacts with Trump advisers have raised concerns among investigators.
Photographs of Maria Butina with Sergey Kislyak were among the files taken from Butina’s electronic devices by FBI agents, according to prosecutors. The date of the photographs was not specified.
Robert Driscoll, an attorney for Butina, tried to play down the significance of the meeting, which he said took place at “a movie screening hosted by a Russian cultural group in Washington”. He suggested Kislyak, whose US posting officially ended in August last year, had already stepped down as ambassador.
rolling stone:
The NRA Is Awfully Quiet About Maria Butina
Why won’t the NRA comment on the arrest of the gun rights activist and accused Russian agent?
[….]
The NRA contributed $30 million to help elect Donald Trump in 2016. The FBI has been investigating whether some or all of that cash may have been supplied by Russia. Rolling Stone reported in April that the Russian central banker Alexander Torshin, along with Butina, had deeper ties to the NRA than previously known. The NRA even flew a delegation to Moscow in 2015 to meet with Kremlin officials, including one freshly sanctioned by the Obama administration.
One member of that delegation, disgraced former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, filed an ethics report in February 2016 showing that $6,000 of his trip expenses were paid for by Butina’s group, The Right to Bear Arms. The recently departed NRA president, Pete Brownell, covered $14,000 of Clarke’s airfare and visa expenses. The details continue to trickle out.
And yet, the NRA hasn’t said one word either in Butina’s defense or to distance itself from her and Torshin, Butina’s alleged handler who has also been hit by U.S. sanctions. On Wednesday, a new court filing alleged that Butina was sexually involved with an American connected to the NRA, which media reports have identified as veteran Republican operative Paul Erickson. More importantly, the court memo alleged that Butina had been in contact with the Russian intelligence agency FSB, which replaced the more infamous KGB. As Rolling Stone reported in April, Torshin received a medal from the FSB in 2016.
[…]
Rolling Stone reached out to the NRA on Thursday, via phone and email, to request official comment on the Butina case — as well as the prior words of some of its employees.
As you may have guessed, the NRA has not responded to Rolling Stone’s request, nor has the organization commented to any other outlet as of this time. If and when we receive a comment, we will update this post.
When Putin lands in DC can Mueller arrest him?
repeating for emphasis a line from that rolling stone story re nra:
The NRA contributed $30 million to help elect Donald Trump in 2016. The FBI has been investigating whether some or all of that cash may have been supplied by Russia.
did the f.b.i. get to the data before the new ruling came about? just how coincidental was the timing?
Bloomberg the other day:
Many tax-exempt groups that participate in politics will no longer be required to disclose their donors to the Internal Revenue Service, the Treasury Department said.
The change means that so-called Section 501(c)4 groups, known as “social-welfare” organizations, no longer have to tell the IRS who gave them donations. The groups can be engaged in politics, so long as they don’t spend more than half of their money on campaign advertisements or activities to sway an election. Donors do not have to be disclosed to the public.
“Americans shouldn’t be required to send the IRS information that it doesn’t need to effectively enforce our tax laws, and the IRS simply does not need tax returns with donor names and addresses to do its job in this area,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement Monday.
Organizations still need to maintain the names and addresses of their donors and the IRS could request that information, according to guidance from the agency. Charities organized under section 501(c)3, donations to which are tax deductible, are still required to report their donors. Those groups are barred from spending money to influence elections.
Among the organizations with 501(c)4 status are the National Rifle Association, the Democratic Socialists of America, the AARP and Americans for Prosperity, the conservative group backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.
The shift “deprives the IRS of an important tool to make sure these nonprofits are complying with the laws,” said Larry Noble, a former general counsel with the Federal Election Commission. “It will also make it easier for large contributors to hide money that is being used to influence elections, including money given by foreign interests.”
[….continues….]
putie might arrest Mr. Mueller and declare martial law when he arrives.
vox:
#FreeMariaButina: Russia’s Foreign Ministry just launched a Twitter campaign for the accused spy
It’s even urging Twitter users to change their profile pictures to a portrait of Butina.
From the leg chair to the mooch to junior, kimbo joins the crime family leaving faux news (not really as the old crew from faux is in the WH already) to campaign with junior.
Guilfoyle will join Donald Trump Jr., who she is dating, on the campaign trail for the 2018 midterm elections, the people said. It’s not yet clear precisely when she plans on stepping down from her role at Fox News.
One of the people familiar with Guilfoyle’s plans said she would likely take a job at America First Policies, a non-profit organization that works to support President Trump’s agenda. The second source said that donors for the group had been actively trying to recruit her.
now here’s a fresh face to consider. Rachel last night with sally yates
MSNBC: Yates: Startling reality is president isn’t all in for our nation
twitterless roseanne still spews on youtube. (page six)
In a video posted to Barr’s YouTube page, a slightly disheveled Barr, 65, smokes a cigarette while talking to a producer about a previous video that was thoroughly edited.
After a loud groan, an agitated Barr lashes out at her interviewer when asked about her now-notorious tweet in which she claimed the former Barack Obama adviser was a creation of the Muslim Brotherhood and “Planet of the Apes.”
“I’m trying to talk about Iran! I’m trying to talk about Valerie Jarrett about the Iran deal,” Barr roars in the clip. “That’s what my tweet was about. I thought the bitch was white, goddammit. I thought the bitch was white. F–k!”
since the fed meddling by twit wasn’t glittery enough to hook the media, how bout dangling this in front of them
wapo: Trump suggests he’s ‘ready’ to impose tariffs on every Chinese import
I’ve said it before, Yates would make a good vp choice. dems need to pick a celebrity or have their potus candidate become one. Younger human’s attention span is the issue and they now outnumber older humans. If kardashians can get to the WH? Most young humans who were raised on reality tv will vote for a celeb. Not a stuffy politician. putie knew this.
White House Situation Room will be a handy spot for Putin to oversee the Republican midterm campaign.
Plus, putie can check the autumn harvest of his US troll farms.
BW – the day Obama kicked the Russian spies out of the country was the day you could watch the attacks on my website steadily drop from thousands to zero by nightfall. Although it looks like I am used for training purposes now, whenever I put something out about KGB-putie and his merry murderers they hit me a couple hours later, just to let me know they are still watching.
My one horse town has grown to a horse and a half. It’s still very much majority white… but there are some Hispanics from over the border (Massachusetts) that have bought houses here in the last few yrs. They are welcomed and it’s great to see tamales being sold at the farmer’s market.
Yes everyone was scammed by the Russians. Remember when Craig thought the Clinton camp had hacked Webb’s website… anyone want to take a guess who really did it. The difference is that some of us can admit it… and some of us can’t.
This is where SFB spent the nite:
· Attend the Salon Privé Concours d’Elegance at Blenheim Palace with the option of their Black Tie dinner (the Black Tie dinner is a £250 upcharge). A Concours d’Elégance in the truest sense, Salon Privé is the most luxurious of garden parties set against the backdrop of ‘Britain’s Greatest Palace’, Blenheim Palace. Presenting the finest collection of supercars, hypercars and classic cars, along with a luxury retail village and exquisite cuisine, it is a truly unique experience!
Not Webb’s site that got shut down RR, it was Trail Mix. Only clue we ever found was that hackers got in through Google Analytics, which I have not installed on here.
NYT reports Cohen taped Trump on call about Playboy model payoff.
oh goody, another sparkly ball to distract us from the Russian takeover
The evolution of the leader of the free world —
George Washington — ‘I cannot tell a lie.’
d.trump — ‘I cannot tell the truth.’
Sagan, again. The guy is without a doubt the heir to the Cavendish sprinter’s crown. And like BB says, don’t bet against the train – especially on flat stages.
Pogo – Sagan on the podium is great for the sport too. The next stages should be interesting for him. Will he keep up with the peloton?
Omg for the 100th time, Sagan can’t podium in Paris.
…he can do that, though.
“…dems need to pick a celebrity…”
BW, George Clooney, tom hanks or oprah?
yes, sally yates for veep and, if the above celebs can’t make it, amy klobuchar for potus. boring I know, but haven’t we had enough glitz & excitement?
Bink – that is how he will make up time on the downhill.
Klobuchar for prez?? You have entirely too much faith in humanity, patd.
**** it, I’ll vote for Alec Baldwin, if it’s between him and a treasonous, preening, faux-billionaire stooge.
Rudy’s take doesn’t quite do it…. unless they find belated report to the FEC that acknowledges the payment, this is a slam dunk campaign violation
ny times via msn:
President Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, secretly recorded a conversation with Mr. Trump two months before the presidential election in which they discussed payments to a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump, according to lawyers and others familiar with the recording.
The F.B.I. seized the recording this year during a raid on Mr. Cohen’s office. The Justice Department is investigating Mr. Cohen’s involvement in paying women to tamp down embarrassing news stories about Mr. Trump ahead of the 2016 election. Prosecutors want to know whether that violated federal campaign finance laws, and any conversation with Mr. Trump about those payments would be of keen interest to them.
The recording’s existence further draws Mr. Trump into questions about tactics he and his associates used to keep aspects of his personal and business life a secret. And it highlights the potential legal and political danger that Mr. Cohen represents to Mr. Trump. Once the keeper of many of Mr. Trump’s secrets, Mr. Cohen is now seen as increasingly willing to consider cooperating with prosecutors.
[…]
Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, confirmed in a telephone conversation on Friday that Mr. Trump had discussed the payments with Mr. Cohen on the tape but said the payment was ultimately never made. He said the recording was less than two minutes and demonstrated that the president had done nothing wrong.
The men discussed a payment from Mr. Trump to Ms. McDougal — separate from the Enquirer payment — to buy her story, Mr. Giuliani said. Such a payment would ensure that Ms. McDougal was silenced going forward. No payment was ever made, Mr. Giuliani said, adding that Mr. Trump had told Mr. Cohen that if he were to make a payment related to the woman, to write a check rather than send cash, so it could be properly documented.
Mr. Giuliani said there was no indication on the tape that Mr. Trump knew before the conversation about the payment from the Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., to Ms. McDougal.
“Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance,” Mr. Giuliani said.
[…]
David J. Pecker, the chairman of The Enquirer’s parent company, is a friend of Mr. Trump’s, and Ms. McDougal has accused Mr. Cohen of secretly taking part in the deal — an allegation that is now part of the F.B.I. investigation.
When The Wall Street Journal revealed the existence of the A.M.I. payment days before the election, Mr. Trump’s campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said, “We have no knowledge of any of this.” She said Ms. McDougal’s claim of an affair was “totally untrue.”
It is not clear how explicit Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen were in their recorded conversation. Any evidence showing that Mr. Trump knew about the financial arrangement would undercut the Trump campaign’s statements.
Because the tape showed Mr. Trump learning about the A.M.I. payment, it actually helps Mr. Trump, Mr. Giuliani argued.
“In the big scheme of things, it’s powerful exculpatory evidence,” he said.
The recording is potential evidence in the campaign finance investigation, but became tied up in a legal fight over what materials are protected by attorney-client privilege and thus off limits to prosecutors. It is not clear whether a federal judge has ruled on whether prosecutors can listen to the recording.
[…continues…]
Unscientific sampling in VA waiting room while Dad gets his skin cancer surgery. Outright hostility toward Trump over this Russia stuff, big change from the past, went from vocal support in early days to awkward silences when he’s mentioned on room TV, to this (no one spoke up for him). I’m thinking more veterans are deciding they didn’t serve so a traitor could run the country. Consensus among this group is he’ll just resign before long. I didn’t say anything, just listened.
On this day in history Nixon called the moon [insert joke here]
Craig, you were absolutely right in not uttering a word
so that wasn’t a payment to her they were talking about, but to his bff pecker’s org. [no pun intended] who in turn presumably said “nevermind your bud will take care of it” and then tucked it away for insurance down the road. always handy to have an ace in the hole so to speak.
excerpt from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-secret-recording-seized-by-fbi-trump-and-cohen-discuss-making-payments-for-story-of-former-model-who-alleged-affair-with-trump/2018/07/20/767476a8-8c34-11e8-85ae-511bc1146b0b_story.html?utm_term=.b74b23fb0d3f
[…]
In the September 2016 conversation, Cohen and Trump were discussing a plan by Cohen to attempt to purchase the rights to McDougal’s story from AMI for roughly $150,000, according to one person familiar with recording.
Trump can be heard urging Cohen to make sure he properly documents the agreement to buy the rights and urges him to use a check — rather than cash — to keep a record of the transaction, the person said.
It is unclear why Cohen and Trump sought to purchase the story from AMI and then did not complete the transaction.
[…continues…]
“Craig, you were absolutely right in not uttering a word” — Flatus
Yep, my rule with these Vet conversations is ‘only speak when spoken to’.
Going through today’s Journal, the editorial section has nothing good to say about Trump or his administration. But, the news section, front-page below the fold, details how ‘Blue-collar America is turning solidly Red’–October -will- be interesting. Also of interest, initial jobless claims last week continued their post 2008 plunge–down to about 13 for every 10,000 workers in the labor force.
I spent the majority of summers in Fresno County. Back in the mid 50s, everyone had a place to live, but they all met at the restaurants. It was strange. Here was the agricultural center with Oklahoma whites on one side of the railroad tracks, Blacks on the other, Hispanics to the South, Chinese to the North, Italian and Greeks in the foothills. It was a glorious mix of cultures who actually liked or least were polite to each other. As a result it was a first run movie theater town and restaurants of every possible culture. About the only “original” places left are the Basque place down by the railroad and the Golden Chinese in the Tower District. All my favorites such as the Greek and Soul Food and Italian have given way to the horrendous mass migration of too much population, suburban sprawl and fast food and chains. I last saw the destruction in the 1990s.
This is not an improvement.
Craig – echoing Flatus, good place not to talk too much politics. Although I spend a lot of time in the VA med center waiting rooms, I too tend to keep quiet. For the most part I want to listen to my fellow/sister veterans. In DC the vets did not mention voting for SFB during 2016. As 2017 started on the ‘Death of America’ speech from the Capitol Steps there was no one vocally supporting the goon. Something subtle has happened though, most waiting areas no longer have faux snooze on, but CNN. I do find it strange how many African-American men watch faux snooze.
For those who do not know, veterans can buy health care in the VA medical system. Not all are service connected disabled above fifty percent when all care except for dental is covered. There are many reasons for this, they may not work where health insurance is offered, or they prefer to be in an environment where veterans are. I do not know how the costs compare to separate health care payment plans. I am no longer familiar with civilian health care as I am covered because of service connected disabilities.
I wonder how many of those new jobs are at Amazon fulfillment centers (which are sprouting up everywhere), or, are delivery jobs now that everything from every company can be ordered online?
Premiums rise every year, pays rise most years, deductibles increase every year, and, benefits are increasingly not offered until you meet your deductible.
Fortunately, physical therapy was available for a copay for the years I needed it. Now, you basically need to have surgery (so you meet the deductible) before you can have pt for a copay that is double what it was three years ago.
I wonder if Melania will go missing, again, with the news of the Cohen/McDougal tape?
what’s rudy up to?
business insider:
[…]
Giuliani confirmed to The Times and CNN that Trump was recorded discussing buying the rights to a contract between McDougal and American Media Inc., which paid her $150,000 in August 2016 for exclusive publishing rights to her story. (As part of that contract, McDougal was barred from speaking publicly about her relationship with Trump.)
[….]
Giuliani added that Trump was recorded telling Cohen to write a check, rather than send cash, so that the payment would be properly documented. But a payment was never made, Giuliani said.
[…]
The revelation that Trump knew about McDougal’s allegations — and about the contract between McDougal and AMI — appears to directly contradict what the Trump campaign told The Journal.
“Nothing in that conversation” in the recording suggests Trump “had any knowledge of it in advance,” Giuliani told The Times of AMI’s payment to McDougal.
AMI, which publishes the National Enquirer and whose CEO is a friend of Trump’s, has a history of publishing stories favorable to the president.
“We never printed a word about Trump without his approval,” a former top editor at the company told The New Yorker earlier this year.
Cohen is the focus of a Manhattan US attorney’s office investigation into whether he committed bank or wire fraud or violated campaign-finance laws while working for Trump or leading up to the 2016 election. Federal investigators are probing whether Cohen’s payments to women with damaging stories about Trump violated campaign-finance laws.
[….continues…]
I would like to think that Melania would get the hell out of Dodge and sue the narcissist for enough money to have a comfortable and happy life. I cannot think that she’s emotionally deeply (to the end) in love with this guy. But – I lost some really nice girls to monsters when I was young – so who the hell knows.
with stuff like this making the dinner time news every day, it must make for interesting table talk with one’s children in gop “family values” homes.
nbc news:
The “Manhattan Madam” who boasted of providing prostitutes to New York’s rich and famous, including Gov. Eliot Spitzer, says someone in special counsel Robert Mueller’s office called her attorney Thursday to ask her to speak to investigators.
Kristin Davis, 41, said the Mueller representative asked if she would accept a subpoena or if the FBI would need to serve it to her. She said her lawyer called the representative back Friday to say she would accept it.
Davis said she doesn’t have any information about why she was contacted. Her attorney, Daniel Hochheiser, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Mueller’s office declined to comment.
“It’s very out-of-the blue for me, very upsetting,” Davis said. “For them to come to me for information on Russian collusion — I don’t have anything on that.”
However, Davis said, she has worked for former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone for many years, and she says she thinks four people who worked with Stone have already been subpoenaed.
“I’ve been with Roger since 2010 doing web design and writing position papers,” she said. Davis ran for governor of New York in 2010 and for New York City comptroller in 2013. “Since my campaign [for governor] I’ve worked for him.”
As the New York Times previously reported, Andrew Miller, a Stone associate who ran Davis’s campaigns in 2010 and 2013, was subpoenaed by Mueller.
Davis said she couldn’t have worked on Trump’s presidential campaign and has no information about it because she was in prison during much of that time.
[…continues….]
Rudy is off the rails, probably just talking off script, again, sending the WH scrambling.
Either that, or Mueller has the goods on Trumpsky & the Cohen tape is just another distraction.