Friends,
Happy Friday! If you are reading this at work, leave. If you are reading this in the library, shut your laptop (after reading this) and go meet up with some friends. You deserve it. And anyways we are millenials, we can’t be expected to work after 6 on a Friday.
**For older readers please disregard. You do not have the mental capacity to convince yourself that yes, it is ok to leave before your boss and that clearly exams are a social construct to limit interactive and innovative engagement with academic material.**
Jokes aside, let’s get started.
A lot has been going on but I’ll start where your never-trump aunt left off at Thanksgiving dinner: Russia, Trump, and every liberals knight in shining armour, Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Michael Cohen
Former Trump attorney, fixer, and personal errand boy Michael Cohen has pleaded guilty…. again.
He first plead guilty to arranging a $130,000 payment, at the direction of then candidate Trump, to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford (Stormy Daniels) months before the November election to bury her alleged affair (@christian conservatives) with then Trump. The sum, considered a campaign contribution, exceeded legal personal contribution limits set by the Federal Elections Commission. USA today provides a handy timeline if you’re interested (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/11/29/michael-cohen-timeline/2147748002/)
But wait… there’s more.
Cohen is now pleading guilty to lying to Congress about his role in and Trumps knowledge of plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Cohen previously testified that:
- The Trump Organization’s pursuit of the Moscow deal ended in January 2016 (lie)
- Trump’s involvement was limited (lie)
- He never agreed to travel to Russia to work on the deal (lie)
- He didn’t recall any response from Russian government officials (lie)
In fact, Cohen kept discussing the Moscow project for longer than he’d admitted and asked Trump about the possibility of traveling to Russia “in connection with the Moscow Project.”
Cohen even spoke with the personal assistant to Dmitri Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, according to Mueller.
Where did this start?
Felix Sater, a Russian immigrant and a former broker for the Trump Organization, pitched a real estate deal in Russia to Cohen in 2015. He then said the deal would help get Trump elected president. “Buddy our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it,” Sater wrote in an email to Cohen dated Nov. 3, 2015. He went on to say, “I will get all of Putin’s team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.” It’s unclear whether the project is the hotel or Trump’s presidential campaign.
Cohen and the Russian officials continued to talk about the deal throughout the Republican primary.
What does this mean? At the very least Trump has been lying through his teeth. Surprise surpise… He has consistently stated he has had no business in Russia nor has he ever been contacted about prospective business in Russia.
Lying aside, the real danger here is whether or not Trump was using his position throughout the Presidential campaign to enrich himself while undermining American security.
A key cog: during the convention (the same time Trump Tower Moscow was being discussed) Trump officials pressured the Republican party to soften its stance on Ukraine, a country that has consistently been abused by the Kremlin.
To put it in stark terms: It seems as though Trump was willing (and may still be willing) to kiss the ring of one of the world’s most dangerous dictators to score a quick buck…..
Read the Politico summary here: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/29/michael-cohen-robert-mueller-investigation-1028881
In other Russia news..
- Senator Flake (R-AZ) is holding his ground. He refuses to vote for any Trump judicial nominees until a bill to protect the Mueller investigation from Presidential interference is brought to the floor. More than 20 proposed justices are on hold. Senator McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, has yet to give in. Who will blink first? Stay tuned to find out.
- Trump cancelled his meeting (by tweet) with Putin at the G-20 amidst the Cohen news.
Also at the G-20 Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salam and Putin shared an enthusiastic bro hug, the type usually reserved for the reunification of two parties in a long-distance bromance but which also apparently applies to a friendly competition of who can murder the most journalists (and get away with it).
New NAFTA
The United States, Mexico and Canada signed NAFTA 2.0 or the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA) on Friday after 15 months of negotiation. And after all of that the agreement still has to be ratified by each country’s respective legislative bodies.
Lawmakers on all sides are taking aim at the document. Senate Democrats are concerned with a lack of stringent labor and environmental protections while Republicans don’t think the free trade deal is free tradey enough. Renegotiating trade deals has been a top priority for the Trump administration and has had support from Democrats aligned with organized labor. However, getting it through a newly hostile Democratic house will test Trump’s deal making abilities.
General Motors
President Trump is threatening to pull incentives from GM after the company announced it is closing five North American manufacturing plants and laying off some 14,000 workers. The decision is in line with GM’s pivot toward flexibility amidst a rapidly changing transportation industry.
But President Trump, who promised that manufacturing jobs would flow into the country at a historic rate, isn’t a fan of the new strategy. He took to twitter to chastise GM leadership and threatened to use the power of the federal government to punish the firm.
I wonder what Reagan would think of a Republican President using the government to punish private companies whose actions do not align with the stated goals of the government. Last time I checked Government dictating national interest to private corporations is more socialist than it is conservative.
Local Government Trolls
If you need a reminder that local government is the true nexis of impactful public policy look no further than a local neighborhood body in DC that passed an ordinance to change the name of the street than runs in front of the Saudi embassy to Jamal Khashoggi Way. Should the renaming pass through the DC city council and receive Congressional approval all mail to the embassy would be addressed 601 Jamal Khashoggi Way.
Reminder: Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist, was brutally murdered at the behest of Sadui Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salam (G-20 bro hug participant) sparking international outrage.
Ok, that’s it.
Have questions? Email me back!
-Crawford
The Lens 