1. Trump pulls out of Iran deal: The juxtaposition of Trump pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear agreement -- at the same time he is about to negotiate an agreement with North Korea to give up their nuclear program -- is just too neat by half not to jump to the conclusion that they are related, at least in Trump's mind. Trump has been relentless in denigrating any achievement by Obama -- and, where possible, actually destroying anything that he accomplished.
So he pulls out of the Iran deal, which has so far been doing exactly what it was designed to do, as certified on 11 successive reporting periods by the International Atomic Energy Agency that does inspections. And at the same time, Trump begins negotiations to forge a nuclear agreement with North Korea.
Let's give Trump some credit -- along with Kim Jong-un, and especially South Korea's Moon Jae-in. The latter two deserve most of the credit so far for bringing us to the table. At least Trump has not scuttled it. And now, with dreams of a Nobel Peace Prize dancing in his head -- maybe he really will follow through.
Back to the juxtaposition: Obama was given a Nobel Peach Prize -- not for the Iran deal; it came before that, and it was admittedly given to him as encouragement of what everyone believed would be his stance toward world peace. But, in Trump's mind, it's more primitive. "Obama got one; I want mine." Personally, I would not favor giving Trump a peace prize when he's just scuttled peace in another part of the world, even if he does make peace with North Korea.
2. Kim released three American citizens: As Trump was making his televised announcement about withdrawing from the Iran deal, Secretary of State Mike Pompao was on a plane to North Korea to meet with Kim Jong-un, reportedly to negotiate further the details of the summit meeting. The real purpose, as revealed the next morning, was that Kim had agreed to release the three American citizens being held in prison there. They are expected to land, along with Pompao, at Andrews Air Base about 2:00 am on Thursday; and Trump says he will be there to meet them.
Even in a moment that could deservedly be triumphant for him, however, Trump could not resist embellishing it with a lie involving Obama. He said that Obama had done nothing to get these three men released, and now he (Trump) has accomplished it. The TRUE FACT is that two of the three men were captured by the North Koreans only after Trump was president. And yet he blames Obama for doing nothing to gain their release.
3. Here's a question to ponder: What if Robert Mueller presents irrefutable evidence of real criminal behavior (pay to play, money laundering, collusion with Russians -- the circle is tightening) at the same time that Trump has just made a nuclear deal with North Korea. Talk about juxtaposition!! Will that insure him against impeachment?
4. Cohen in big trouble; maybe Trump too: Evidence is mounting -- lots of good journalistic reporting into Michael Cohen -- that may implicate Trump as well. It seems that the LLC company, Essential Consultants, LLC, that Cohen has said he set up to make the payment to Stormy Daniels, was actually a more general fund.
The following allegations all come from what appears to have been a leak of Michael Cohen's bank records; no source has yet been identified, but it appears to be authentic. According to this, a total of over four million dollars flowed in and out of that account from corporations having business before the Trump administration. For example, more than half a million came from investment firm Columbus Nova, a New York firm controlled by a Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, who has close ties to Vladimir Putin. By routing it through the New York firm, which I believe is managed by a relative of Vekselberg, it may not technically be considered to have come from a foreign national -- even though it's probably true that the money originated with Vekselberg himself.
Some of the following corporations have acknowledged their payments to the LLC and attempted to explain what they were paying for. AT&T made four monthly payments of $50,000 each. They say it was for consultation "to provide insights into the new administration" (AT&T's merger with Time Warner awaits approval by the Justice Department; however, it's also true the payments ended shortly after the FCC voted to end net neutrality). Another large amount, reportedly $1.2 million came from Novartis, an international pharmaceutical company, which has acknowledged that it had a one-year contract with Michael Cohen for consultation on healthcare policy matters. Novartis also said that, after Trump's election, Cohen contacted them offering access to the president through him.
So far, we have little evidence of where money from that account went. We know $130,000 went to Stormy Daniels; another payment was hush-money to the mistress of a friend of Trump's who was highly involved in fund-raising for the inauguration and for the RNC.
But all the rest? Who consulted, if at all? Cohen was not listed as a lobbyist; he was not known as a consultant of any kind. What he had was access to the president. It may not quite fill the definition of "pay to play," --- but it comes damn close.
And what about the Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin? What did he get for his contribution? We know he attended the inauguration and had a priority seat. We also know that on another trip to the U.S. in his private plane, he was stopped by border patrol, his digital devices were searched. And we also know that he has been interviewed by Mueller's team.
This is only the tip of the iceberg in the Cohen-Trump story.
And that's only some of what's on the front pages.
Ralph
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