US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2753

On October 17 2020 00:31 Mohdoo wrote:


Regardless of anything election related, his tax crimes should 1000000% put him in prison. People in positions of power need to be extra accountable. If the laws don't apply to Trump, we don't have laws.

On October 17 2020 01:17 Danglars wrote:

The real argument is closing loopholes. All this tax crime stuff is overblown. The IRS may decide that some of the donations and losses were not reflective of their true financial appraisal and assesses him more. Trump walks out of this fine. His reputation as big shot investor real estate guy suffers (but he’s had so many bankruptcies in the past that some of this is already built in).

On October 17 2020 01:21 Mohdoo wrote:


What do you mean by overblown? Do you mean he did or he did not commit crimes?

First, Trump is losing a lot of money, and he may lose more when some debt he’s guaranteed comes due. We’ve long known his “amazing businessman” façade was just that, but the report does add new details.

Second, he pays little or no taxes most years. This is supposed to shock us independently of the first layer, but it mostly just follows from it: People who don’t make money don’t pay taxes. Also, Trump has bragged about not paying taxes, so it’s not as if this is new information either.

Third, Trump sometimes tries to reduce his tax bills in borderline ways that may or may not be kosher. This isn’t really a surprise either, though of course if he’s actually flouting tax laws the IRS should call him on it. The biggest item here, a huge refund of past taxes he claimed when he later lost money, is the subject of an audit — though it’s an unremarkable feature of the tax code that businesspeople can “carry” losses from one year to reduce tax liability in another. (This avoids overtaxing businesses with more volatile revenue streams.)

Incidentally, the rules on loss-carrying have gone back and forth a lot recently. Obama’s stimulus law extended the “carryback” period, allowing Trump to attempt this at the time he did; the recent GOP tax bill eliminated the ability to carry losses backward in time for a refund of past taxes (while removing the 20-year limit on carrying losses forward); and then the CARES Act brought carrybacks back for the 2018–2020 tax years to inject some money into businesses during COVID.

On October 17 2020 00:40 Nevuk wrote:

All laws are abstract, made up theories. I'm not sure what your point is.


Edwards is a likable guy who also happens to be a lawyer. His chances at a jury trial were good, and even then he was only found not guilty on 1 of the four counts (the other 3 were mis-trials). I don't believe that Trump stands a reasonable chance at a jury trial, outside of blatant jury nullification. His chances are also quite shitty at jury trial since it'd be in NYC.
Realistically, he should only be tried by judges, as there's no way for him to have a fair trial by jury.

A more apt comparison would be Duncan Hunter, who declared he was going to fight it in court and then changed to plea guilty after the evidence wound being mountainous and the trial would have been in a location that loathed him.

This isn't the hatch act. There's an entire manual devoted to prosecuting these types of crimes at the DoJ. People have definitely been found guilty at trial for these crimes in the past.

https://www.justice.gov/criminal/file/1029066/download



The only reason Trump wasn't charged with this is that the DOJ has a policy that the president is immune from prosecution while in office. (Or alternatively, that the attorney general declined to prosecute). He's named in Cohen's indictment as "Individual One".

On October 17 2020 01:21 Mohdoo wrote:


What do you mean by overblown? Do you mean he did or he did not commit crimes?

On October 17 2020 01:43 Danglars wrote:

We won’t know for sure, but it’s more likely than not that he didn’t commit any crimes. He might owe just a little bit more money after audit. He pays it, he’s done.

(National Review)

He cuts the IRS another check for some valuations or creative use of tax law, and he’s walks free.

On October 17 2020 02:56 ShoCkeyy wrote:
It's not hard to search "list of crimes by donald j trump" and find the multitudes of pages listing his crimes with sources.

https://www.needtoimpeach.com/impeachable-offenses/

The Trump administration has rejected California’s request for disaster relief funds aimed at cleaning up the damage from six recent fires across the state, including Los Angeles County’s Bobcat fire, San Bernardino County’s El Dorado fire, and the Creek fire, one of the largest that continues to burn in Fresno and Madera counties.

The move could heighten tensions between California and the president over wildfires and has counties with COVID-impacted economies scrambling to figure out what to do without the aid. California saw record fires this year, fueled by several factors including climate change. Trump has repeatedly criticized California for its handling of fire policy, sometimes with misleading claims, and had rejected the role of rising temperatures as a factor.

More than 4 million acres burned in 2020, more than double the state’s previous record. The fires this year have burned an area larger than the state of Connecticut and killed 31 people. A major disaster declaration allows for cost-sharing for staffing, damage, cleanup and rebuilding between the state and federal government. It also activates federal programs led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The decision came to light when the administration denied a request from Gov. Gavin Newsom for a major presidential disaster declaration, said Brian Ferguson, deputy director of crisis communication and media relations for the governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

“The damage assessments conducted with state and local partners determined that the early September fires were not of such severity and magnitude to exceed the combined capabilities of the state, affected local governments, voluntary agencies and other responding federal agencies,” FEMA officials said in a statement.

The agency said it was already assisting the state in combating wildfires. “FEMA approved four Fire Management Assistance Grants in five counties for wildfires included in the state’s disaster request, allowing reimbursement to state, local governments and other eligible agencies for 75% of firefighting, evacuation and sheltering costs. These grants will deliver millions of dollars of assistance for emergency expenses and funds to help reduce the risks of future disasters. If the state identifies additional information to support the request, it may appeal the decision within 30 days.”

California is appealing the decision, Newsom tweeted Friday. The state and its local governments count on FEMA every year to help recover up to 75% of their staffing costs for sending firefighters into other jurisdictions — including onto federal land — to help fight wildfires for weeks at a time.

On October 17 2020 05:26 Shingi11 wrote:
So Trump is taking scorched earth quite literally with california. Good way to punish those infidels for not voting for him, let me burn. Imagine for a second if Obama did this to Texas, Republicans would have articles of impeachment within the hour.

On October 17 2020 05:50 Biff The Understudy wrote:

The level of spite and pettiness is just incredible. He is like a 4 year old. No matter the issue it's about him, being liked and being validated. There is literally nothing else in his universe. It's pathetic.

My opponent, GOP Sen. David Perdue of anti-Semitic attack ad infamy, just mocked Sen. Harris' name as "Kamala-mala-mala-whatever" at a Trump rally.

We are so much better than this.

On October 17 2020 08:59 Doodsmack wrote:
Hunter Biden's convicted-criminal business associates (Devon Archer and Bevan Cooney) are apparently releasing more emails to outlets such as Breitbart. This could get juicy. Granted it's all a bit bizarre but I'm betting the materials are legit.

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1317193598673223681

https://twitter.com/charliespiering/status/1317194591620206592

Giuliani also released a text in which Hunter said that "Pop" demands 50 percent of the salary of his family members, though it looks like Twitter has locked Giuliani's account.

On October 17 2020 08:59 Nevuk wrote:
A gop senator, David Perdue, Jon Ossoff's opponent in the GA senate race, just had a moment where he purposefully mispronounced Kamala Harris' name.
They've served together for years and it comes across as a pretty racist moment.

https://twitter.com/ryanobles/status/1317232938619109377

Ossof's statement :

Twitter link in spoiler. Didn't feel the need to have three tweets in one post. I think he's wrong, as we're clearly not better than this, but it's a nice sentiment.
+ Show Spoiler +



Are you still trying to pretend you're the same person? Come on, this unverified bullshit should stay on Brietbart where it belongs.

A New York tabloid’s puzzling account about how it acquired emails purportedly from Joe Biden’s son has raised some red flags. One of the biggest involves the source of the emails: Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani has traveled abroad looking for dirt on the Bidens, developing relationships with shadowy figures, including a Ukrainian lawmaker who U.S. officials have described as a Russian agent and part of a broader Russian effort to denigrate the Democratic presidential nominee.

Yet Giuliani says foreign sources didn’t provide the Hunter Biden emails. He says a laptop containing the emails and intimate photos was simply abandoned in a Delaware repair shop and the shop owner reached out to Giuliani’s lawyer.

That hasn’t stopped the FBI from investigating whether the emails are part of a foreign influence operation. The emails have surfaced as U.S. officials have been warning that Russia, which backed Trump’s 2016 campaign through hacking of Democratic emails and a covert social media campaign, is interfering again this year. The latest episode with Giuliani underscores the risk he poses to a White House that spent years confronted by a federal investigation into whether Trump associates had coordinated with Russia.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that intelligence agencies had warned the White House last year that Giuliani was the target of a Russian influence operation. The newspaper, citing four former officials, said that assessment was based on information including intercepted communications showing Giuliani had been in contact with people tied to Russian intelligence.

The newspaper said national security adviser Robert O’Brien had warned Trump that information Giuliani brought back from Ukraine should be considered contaminated by Russia, but that Trump brushed off the warning.
[...]
Giuliani did not respond Friday for a request for comment from The Associated Press. But in an interview Thursday with a SiriusXM show, he asserted that the laptop had been dropped off by Hunter Biden, and that the material was not hacked and the laptop was legally obtained. He said on Fox News on Friday that the information from the laptop was “authentic as hell.”

The FBI is investigating whether the emails are tied to a foreign influence operation, according to a person who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity to AP. The exact scope of what was being investigating was not clear.