Trump: "President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!"

[Miles Archer]

Donald J. Trump
‏
Verified account

@realDonaldTrump

A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the Paul Manafort case. Witch Hunt!

6:34 AM - 22 Aug 2018

Link to tweet

Donald J. Trump
‏
Verified account

@realDonaldTrump

Michael Cohen plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime. President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!

6:37 AM - 22 Aug 2018

Link to tweet

[GusBob]

1. how do you plead guilty to something thats not a---

oh fuck it why bother?

[Goodheart]

2. That's the Fox spin this morning..

Cohen pleaded guilty to something that's not a crime! LMAO

Truth isn't truth, either.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. What A Brilliant Lawyer, Right?

A guilty plea for something that isn't a crime? By a lawyer? Who didn't which things were legal and which were illegal?

Only the best people.

[GusBob]

15. What did they say about him cheating on his wife with a pornst---

Oh, never mind

[peekaloo]

3. 8 for 18 are still big league numbers.

Sorry, Big House numbers.

[GoCubsGo]

4. What the hell is he talking about?

Let me guess. He pulled this out of his ass, like he does everything else?

[oberliner]

37. Obama 2008 campaign fined $375,000

President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign was fined $375,000 by the Federal Election Commission for campaign reporting violations — one of the largest fees ever levied against a presidential campaign, POLITICO has learned.

https://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/obama-2008-campaign-fined-375000-085784

[GoCubsGo]

43. Thanks!

[Jersey Devil]

5. A big league hitter going 8 for 18 would be batting .444, Hall of Fame numbers

Not bad for an old guy like Mueller, eh?

[jayschool2013]

8. Greatest ever

A batting average the likes of which the world has never seen. Fire and fury in the batter's box.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

6. Ummm....what?

What exactly could that be?

[oberliner]

40. It's a reference to this

Obama 2008 campaign fined $375,000

President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign was fined $375,000 by the Federal Election Commission for campaign reporting violations — one of the largest fees ever levied against a presidential campaign, POLITICO has learned.

https://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/obama-2008-campaign-fined-375000-085784

[jayschool2013]

7. Past tense is pleaded

Dumbshit motherfucker.

[rzemanfl]

12. Or pled, if one is old school. n/t

[Frustratedlady]

18. Thank you. Apparently, I'm old school and this drives me nuts. Also, lead and led.

[rzemanfl]

19. I am old school too, as well as just plain old.

"Pleaded guilty" has never seemed right to me, but I am in a dwindling minority.

[sinkingfeeling]

20. My god, I'm so old school I had no idea somebody changed the tenses of verbs!

[Timewas]

30. Me also

PLED..is it for this old fart

[John Fante]

35. Trump is no school, so he went with the incorrect version. He's dumb as shit.

I think "pled" sound 100x better than "pleaded".

[PatSeg]

29. In my mind "pled" sounds right

but apparently "pleaded" is correct grammar.

And while pled may be the preferred usage, Grammarist notes that pleaded is the standard form: Pleaded is the standard past-tense and past-participial form of the verb plea. Pled has always been considered incorrect by usage authorities, but it's so common that we have to accept it.

https://abovethelaw.com/2011/12/grammer-pole-of-the-weak-pleaded-v-pled/

Meanwhile, Trump is just plain wrong as usual.

[qazplm135]

36. pleaded is correct...

it is also asinine. Lead goes to led...adding a p in front of it shouldn't change the pattern.

[PatSeg]

41. The English language is often illogical

It must be a very hard to learn it as a second language, as every rule has numerous exceptions. So much of what we accept is not written in stone, however. Doing genealogy research, I've discovered more than one spelling of the same word often in the same letter or document. Apparently, years ago grammar was not as important as being understood and legible.

I was raised to believe that any variation from the rules of spelling, grammar, or punctuation was a sin against literacy. The rules seem to have relaxed a lot lately, but I still feel the presence of several English teachers hovering over my shoulder.

[kentuck]

9. Well, first of all, call him on the lie.

A candidate for office cannot pay hush money to porn stars to keep them quiet just weeks before the election. That goes for any candidate for any office, but most especially, for the Presidency of the United States.

It's time to call out the lies.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. BINGO

NCSteve
‏

@TCFKA_NCSteve
4m4 minutes ago
More
Because under the laws in question merely accepting contributions that you have to pay back because someone went over their limit isn't the same thing as ordering someone to make an illegal contribution like Trump did, you gormless, overexposed, aggressively ignorant mope

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Well Stated by NCSteve

In addition, the payback was to prevent the DONOR from being in trouble. They didn't solicit the overage. Nobody ever said they did. It got caught in an audit, the campaign notified the donor that they overshot their mark, and returned the money.

So, the campaign actually was never even in legal jeopardy. If they were informed and refused to give the money back, that might have changed the legality, but that is not what happened.

What a dolt.

[malaise]

13. So he's admitting to the campaign finance violation

Keep writing and talking asshole - Mueller is taking note.

[bdamomma]

22. I just was looking at this.

https://www.usnews.com/news/special-reports/the-worst-presidents/slideshows/the-10-worst-presidents?slide=13

don the con will be on this list at the top.

[malaise]

24. By a distance

[bdamomma]

25. but he got in

illegitimately. too. malaise

[malaise]

27. Yes

As I said from the clay after, the election was stolen. He was never legitimate.

[MrsCoffee]

16. Apples and oranges you orange fool.

Obama didn’t pay out hush money or misuse campaign funds. It was mostly fines for late 48 hour notices, late return of donations that exceeded legal limits and minor data errors like wrong dates. After the audit was released experts said that the infractions were minor given the scope of the campaign.

[procon]

17. Trump was going to hire only the best of the best.

Now he's got himself saddled with Cohen who is apparently so stupid that he plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime.

Good job, Trump, you sure can pick some winners.

[lsewpershad]

21. Clown can't

help himself ... fixated on Obama.

[bdamomma]

23. fixated?

how about obsessed with Obama.

[LBM20]

26. "Truth is not truth, and crimes are not crimes."

[unblock]

28. obama once drove 56 in a 55 so vehicular homicide isn't a crime!

[duforsure]

31. LOL!!!!

Everyone is laughing at you , still. LOL!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

32. Old Repug tactic -- use false equivalency.

Especially when you can use Obama.

[uponit7771]

33. ***RED HERRING*** Obama campaign was civil Red Don's is criminal because funds (not campaign funds)

... were used to pay off someone in order to influence an election.

The source of the funds isn't the issue, that funds were used with the intent to influence and election is.

That's my understanding

[brush]

34. It wasn't for paying off women to keep quiet of adulterous sex...

a month before an election, if it happened at all.

[oberliner]

42. It was for a series of missing 48-hour notices

Excerpt:

The major sticking point for the FEC appeared to be a series of missing 48-hour notices for nearly 1,300 contributions totaling more than $1.8 million — an issue that lawyers familiar with the commission’s work say the FEC takes seriously. The notices must be filed on contributions of $1,000 or more that are received within the 20-day window of Election Day.

More than half of those contributions were transferred from the Obama Victory Fund,a joint committee between the campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Sources said the fine resulting from the settlement agreement has been paid, with $230,000 coming from the Obama campaign’s coffers and the remainder from the DNC.

The document outlined other violations, such as erroneous contribution dates on some campaign reports. The Obama campaign was also late returning some contributions that exceeded the legal limit.

That's from the Politico article on the subject, posted above.

[brush]

44. Like I said, it wasn't for paying off women to hide adulterous sex...

while his wife was pregnant, right before the election.

What's that term we used to use around here?

Oh, it's coming to me....false equivalency.

[oberliner]

46. No argument here

[durablend]

38. OVER THERE!!! LOOK!!!!

SQUIRREL!!!

[brush]

47. More like Moose and Squirrel are on his trail.

[Vinca]

39. Getting the timing off for filing something isn't quite like hush money. What a twit.

[Major Nikon]

45. Jeez I forgot all about those times Obama paid sex workers to keep quiet