WAPO OP Ed: 3 Illegal Acts that helped 45 win potus [View all]

[lindysalsagal]

Last edited Fri Aug 24, 2018, 09:39 PM - Edit history (1)

This is a nice, succinct list of the illegal acts that put 45 in office: By Philip Bump National correspondent August 24 at 4:57 PM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/08/24/the-three-illegal-acts-that-may-have-helped-trump-win-the-presidency/?utm_term=.0bc150698d05

The three illegal acts that may have helped Trump win the presidency

The hush money. According to the government’s delineation of how the campaign finance violations occurred (an account Cohen attested was accurate and has been bolstered by reports that Pecker is cooperating with authorities), AMI and Pecker’s commitment to aid Trump in burying unfavorable stories began in August 2015. The first occasion on which that effort was realized (and is publicly known) was the payment to McDougal, which was made in early August 2016. The payment was made with a commitment by Cohen to repay the money, the subject of the recorded conversation between Trump and Cohen that was released last month. In early October, Pecker called that deal off.

The hackers. Last month, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III obtained an indictment against 12 Russians believed to work for the country’s Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU. It is this team that is believed to have accessed the Democratic National Committee’s network and to have hacked into the email account of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman. In June 2016, some of those files were passed to WikiLeaks, which released two sets of stolen documents, in July and October.

The trolls. In February, Mueller’s team obtained indictments against 13 Russians who worked for an organization called the Internet Research Agency. It was this team that allegedly created social media accounts meant to roil the discourse around the election. Several members of the organization visited the United States before the election. They also allegedly paid Americans to unwittingly make signs or impersonate Clinton at campaign events.