More Bad News For Individual One...

[Lord Jim]

Trumpty has had some pretty awful weeks during his Presidency (My personal pick for Worst Week Ever is the week Robert Mueller was named Special Counsel; I think that is likely to hold up as the Worst Week until the week he's Impeached) but this past week is certainly up there in the Top Five...

His former campaign manager gets convicted on eight felony counts, (with many more potential convictions looming ahead; another trial starts Sept. 17th) his former lawyer and "fixer" starts singing, cops a plea to eight counts of his own and implicates him as a co-conspirator in a criminal conspiracy to illegally influence the 2016 election, and both his long time confidant and keeper of secrets David Pecker and Allen Weisselberg his company CFO and the guy who has for decades had all the info on his finances cut immunity deals...

I think that last bit about Weisselberg may ultimately prove to be the awfullest of all the awful things that happened to Il Boobce this week. (In truth though he actually started singing several weeks ago to give evidence against Cohen; which may explain Trump's ramp-up of the smears and vitriol against investigators over the same period. Strangely, Weisselberg is still employed by Trump. )


That should certainly be enough terribleness for anybody's hebdomas horribilis but there's also this:

Manhattan DA considers criminal charges against Trump Organization

The Manhattan district attorney's office has opened an investigation and is considering pursuing criminal charges against the Trump Organization, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News.

Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr.'s investigation comes in light of statements made by President Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, during his guilty plea proceeding in federal court this week.

In its preliminary stages, investigators are looking into whether the Trump Organization falsified business records of reimbursements payments to Cohen.[That's the starting point, but you know how these things can go once they get started...]No determination has made made at this time about whether criminal charges are merited.

The DA's consideration of pursuing charges against the Trump Organization was first reported by the New York Times.

The Trump Organization has no comment.

President Trump has sought advice from his lawyers about using his pardon power for his recently convicted campaign chairman Paul Manafort and others, the Washington Post reported. Fox News' Ainsley Earhardt, who interviewed Mr. Trump this week, said that he mentioned pardoning Manafort to her.

But in this case, should the state of New York pursue charges and secure any convictions involving the Trump Organization or its employees, President Trump would not be able to pardon them. He is able to pardon those convicted of federal offenses, and not state offenses.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/manhattan- ... anization/

ETA:

Oh lookie...

Individual One gets another Time Magazine cover to brag about:

[BoSoxGal]

Well, as for me . . . this past week is the best I’ve felt since November 8, 2016.

[Lord Jim]

The so-called President has wracked up a super tanker's worth of bad karma over the years...

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy....

[Lord Jim]

This was nice to see...

Even though the first attempt at reaching an agreement broke down, I was thinking Manafort would never be open to making a deal to sing; there can certainly be more negotiations. (In fact Mafort's lawyer hinted at that, after the verdict in the first trial):

Paul Manafort discussed plea deal to forestall second set of charges: report

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort reportedly tried to strike a plea deal with prosecutors last week ahead of his second trial, but failed to reach an agreement.

The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the discussions, reported Monday that the negotiations between Manafort’s defense team and prosecutors occurred during jury deliberations last week during his trial on bank and tax fraud charges. Those talks came to a halt after Special Counsel Robert Mueller brought up certain issues, the report said.

It was not clear what the issues entailed, or what was specifically being discussed regarding the plea deal itself, according to the Journal. The negations were reportedly centered around preventing a second trial that Manafort faces next month on similar charges.

The Journal reported that both Manafort and Mueller's team declined to comment for the report. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to an email from Fox News.

After four days of deliberations, Manafort was found guilty on eight counts of bank and tax fraud for hiding millions of dollars he earned from his political consulting in Ukraine. The jury was deadlocked on 10 other counts. A juror told Fox News that one lone holdout prevented a conviction of all 18 counts.

Manafort faces a second trial in Washington on charges that include conspiring against the United States, conspiring to launder money, failing to register as an agent of a foreign principal and providing false statements.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08 ... eport.html