Anti-Trump Witness Buying
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Sinister pro-Hillary, anti-Trump long knives aim to delegitimize and oust DJT from office for the wrong reasons.
It’s more evidence of Washington’s corrupt state, too debauched to fix, rigged to serve powerful interests, a swamp too deep to drain, a cesspool of unaccountable criminality.
There’s plenty to hold Trump and his regime hardliners accountable for – high crimes never addressed.
They include endless wars of aggression, smashing nations to control them, threatening others, supporting Israel’s killing machine, selling weapons to Saudi Arabia and other despotic regimes to rape and destroy Yemen, as well as other countries, along with supporting the scourge of ISIS and other terrorists while pretending to oppose them.
No evidence suggests Trump’s team colluded with Russia to triumph over Hillary. Nothing proves Moscow meddled in the electoral process of America or any other countries – a US specialty, not the Kremlin’s.
No US presidents were ever removed from office for illicit sex and lying about it. Unrelated to affairs of state, it’s hard imagining it could ever happen.
GoFundMe calls itself “the best place (for individuals or groups) to fundraise.” It’s a US-based platform to raise money for any purpose.
It claims since 2010, 50 million donors contributed over $5 billion to over two million campaigns – the company profiting by raising money for others.
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen earlier claimed he was directed by DJT to make hush money payments to two of his paramours – believed to be porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
His attorney Lanny Davis, a longtime Clinton loyalist, used GoMeFund to raise money for Cohen’s defense.
The platform raised around $2 million for anti-Trump former FBI officials Andrew McCabe and Peter Strozok, as well as Stormy Daniels. Roger Stone raised funds to help DJT.
According to Law Professor Jonathan Turley, the campaigns for Cohen and others “amount to a raw form of buying witnesses. For many, GoFundMe has become a bazaar where one can put money down on the testimony most likely to hurt or help Trump.”
“People poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the accounts of McCabe and Strzok within the first 48 hours.”
Fundraising to pay legal or other expenses is legal. It crosses the line when done for unethical or illegal purposes.
Bearing false witness is a criminal offense – especially against an innocent person. Under oath in court, it’s perjury.
The American Bar Association’s Model Rule 1.2(d) “precludes lawyers from counseling or assisting in a client’s criminal or fraudulent conduct.”
Witness buying is a dubious practice. Rules limit compensation viewed as “contingent upon the witness’ testimony.”
Yet witness buying often occurs, at times both sides seeking testimonies strong enough to make a stronger case than the other side.
Under oath, Cohen said he made payments to the above mentioned women “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office (meaning DJT),” adding:
“I participated in this conduct, which on my part took place in Manhattan, for the principal purpose of influencing the (2016 presidential) election.”
Over the weekend, his lawyer Lanny Davis said he’s no longer confident that Cohen has information, suggesting Trump colluded with Russia to help defeat Hillary – undermining the prospect of his helping special counsel Mueller’s Russiagate witch-hunt probe.
Efforts by political candidates to get damning information about opponents, then using it for mudslinging are common campaign practices.
There’s nothing illegal about opponent research, then using what’s found to the advantage of one candidate over another.
Davis said “I regret my error” for previously saying Cohen has information about Trump team/Russia collusion.
After months of congressional and special counsel Mueller probes since early last year, no evidence suggests it.
None exists. Yet efforts to remove Trump from office for the wrong reasons persist – likely for the rest of his tenure.
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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
