Charles P Pierce: The president* needed money. The Russians oligarchs needed a laundromat.

[kpete]

It's not that Trump has no investment in Russia, but that Russia has investments in him:

A Reuters review has found that at least 63 individuals with Russian passports or addresses have bought at least $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida, according to public documents, interviews and corporate records.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, as Seinfeld might say.

Charlie Pierce considers the $10 million fine Trump paid "because his busted Atlantic City casino was found to have failed to follow anti-laundering standards," plus the money laundering ties USA Today presents, and offers this take:

Here's what I think. The president* needed money. The Russians oligarchs needed a laundromat. There is an obvious common interest here. That the Russians could gain more leverage over him than he had over them in this arrangement should be obvious. I think that he will always value his dreams of financial empire more than the national interest, and that he would do anything to keep those dreams alive, even demolish the institutions of free government along the way.

If Trump cannot shut down the Senate investigation, he will surely try to divert attention from it, either to avert prosecution, expose mixed loyalties, or forestall the mirror on the wall confessing he is not really the fairest. He is a con man who fancies himself a shark, but his eagerness to make deals that goose his insatiable ego make him an easy mark for the real sharks. It may turn out that while he thought he was playing his foreign investors, they were playing him.


http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2017/05/follow-money-laundering-by-bloggersrus.html
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a55048/trump-russia-finances/

[wryter2000]

1. I sincerely hope he's found guilty of money laundering

That's far less ambiguous than obstruction of justice or the many other things he's guilty of.

[Cha]

2. KICK

[Mr. Ected]

3. I think Trump was laundering money for the Russkies a long time before he ran for POTUS

It makes you wonder whose idea it was for him to run.

I think the criminal enterprise of Trumpco that preceded (and probably continues after) the presidency will be the cause of Trump's undoing...not his sex tapes, not his sexist comments, not his daily Twitter lies, not his decimation of the government, not his obstruction of justice, not even his campaign connections to Russian officials, oligarchs and hackers (though that too will be a dagger to his heart).

Nope. Trump has been a crook for a long, long time, and RICO is not his friend.

[2naSalit]

5. +1

However, for his Congressional accomplices, I suggest the Nuremberg Trails 2.0.

[PatSeg]

7. Yes

It would appear that this has been going on for a long time. Trump has always worked on the more shady side of the law. This would have looked a great opportunity for him and easier than running casinos.

[dalton99a]

4. Kick.

[CincyDem]

6. The FBI didn't get Capone for the flashy stuff..they got him on the boring stuff...but...

...they still got him.

I'm at the point where I don't care why he spends the rest of his life in a orange jump suit sharing a 10x10 with another con. I don't care why...just that he does.

[Bayard]

8. Call me paranoid

Maybe Rump ran for president because the Russians TOLD him too, and had the leverage to make him do it. They could install a puppet government, lift sanctions, and make Putin's dreams come true.

[Barack_America]

10. That's not paranoid. I think that's exactly what happened.

He's 100 percent a puppet, with Russians holding most of the strings, and GOP oligarchs holding what's left.

[bora13]

12. read malcolm nance

much of this is detailed in his latest book, "the plot to hack america"

[Barack_America]

9. And I'm sure the Russian investors get their money out, while the Americans....

...get screwed.

So he's basically also setting up pyramid schemes to funnel American wealth over to Russians.

Think about the Florida property Sater was involved in. That's exactly what happened there.

Trump is a traitor of the highest magnitude.

[LiberalArkie]

11. The problem is that he can be a traitor to the U.S. but as long as it was done for

business reasons and a profit was turned he is good to go.

[secondwind]

13. I wish he is jailed, but I doubt it.. the most that will happen is he resigns, etc. Pence can

be relied on to give his ass a Presidential pardon.

But this will remain forever a stain on his reputation, his BRAND that he cherishes above everything else, even his wife and young son. The BRAND may take a big hit... at least I hope so

[SunSeeker]

14. Of course. Russian moneylaundering is how he came back after his empire collapsed.

That stunning comeback led to his TV show, which led to his presidential rum.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. Basically.

Jr. spilled the beans as it is!

[kentuck]

16. Bingo!

Charlie has hit the nail on the head!