WWTBAM Bored

... is proving to be an even bigger thorn in Trump's side than Robert Mueller. Stormy Daniels' attorney has excellent sources of information and, unlike Mueller, isn't shy about revealing what he's found out in public. The latest is the revelation that Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian "businessman" with close ties to Putin paid $500,000 after Trump's inauguration to the same shell corporation Michael Cohen used to pay off Stormy Daniels' first attorney, and that Novartis and AT&T also made payments to this company, Essential Consultants, which has no employees, no history, and no website (AT&T has confirmed it made a $200,000 payment, which it said was for legitimate consulting services, although what those might be is not clear). Novartis also confirmed its payment. A spokesman for Vekselberg's company confirmed the payment but denied it had anything to do with Vekselberg. Quote from AT&T: “Essential Consulting was one of several firms we engaged in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new administration. They did no legal or lobbying work for us, and the contract ended in December 2017.” Total payments to Essential Consulting were $4 million, although where this money went, only Michael Cohen and federal investigators know.

I doubt any of this is news to Mueller (he interviewed Vekselberg already), but Avenatti's story has so far been checked out and verified by various news sources.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pol ... 8bfa97e229

The CEO of AT&T today admitted that "There is no other way to say it — AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake." Officials at Novartis made similar statements.

No, paying Cohen wasn't the mistake or they wouldn't have done it. Getting caught was the mistake.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/ ... ion-583356

silverscreenselect wrote:The CEO of AT&T today admitted that "There is no other way to say it — AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake." Officials at Novartis made similar statements.

No, paying Cohen wasn't the mistake or they wouldn't have done it. Getting caught was the mistake.

Their mistake was thinking Cohen had useful insight into the new administration. They found out too late that he’s just an asshole. They didn’t need services that Cohen is good at like paying off bimbos.

One mystery has been resolved: How did Avenatti get his hands on all this dirt about fellow sleazy lawyer Cohen?

Missing Files Motivated the Leak of Michael Cohen’s Financial Records

Banks are required to report suspicious transactions to the Treasury Department. The leaker/whistleblower was concerned when the Treasury database had one report on Cohen (with the payments from AT&T and Novartis) but he couldn't find two earlier reports.

Those two reports detail more than three million dollars in additional transactions—triple the amount in the report released last week. Which individuals or corporations were involved remains a mystery.

Again, I'm sure Mueller has all the dirt, and he'll tell the world when he's good and ready.

I did my part to help the resistance. Tough work but somebody's got to do it.

Spoiler

$20 for the selfie plus a $5 tip. I told her it's for her legal bills, and to keep standing up against bullies.

In my day, you'd get a lot more for $20 than a selfie, and I never left a tip.

BackInTex wrote:Classy

Maybe not, but thrifty.

silverscreenselect wrote:

BackInTex wrote:Classy

Maybe not, but thrifty.

Gee, if you'da tipped you coulda closed the car door.