Laurence Tribe: "Trump's election law offenses were federal crimes committed when he was a private

[triron]

citizen"

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

1. Do it.

[Trust Buster]

2. Not true. Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payoff in Feb. 2017 when he was a sitting president.

The reimbursement was the crime. Disappointed in Tribe here.

[Claritie Pixie]

4. Disagree. Trump directed Cohen to make those payments - that's conspiracy.

The payments were made to influence the election during the campaign. Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator and SDNY has the goods to indict him.

[Trust Buster]

5. There has to be consideration given and received to qualify as a conspiracy.

[dsc]

6. I don't think that is correct

If me and a friend decide to murder someone for fun but get caught before we actually do so, we could be charged for conspiracy. Neither one of us would be gaining anything of value though.

[Trust Buster]

8. I don't understand this defense of Trump.

He reimbursed Cohen for committing a felony campaign violation in Feb. 2017. Mueller included that fact in the plea deal for a reason. That is a high crime and misdemeanor committed by a sitting president.

[Claritie Pixie]

7. If Cohen has a tape of Trump telling him to do it, that's good enough.

[Trust Buster]

9. No it is not. See my above response.

[Ponietz]

11. No, just an overt act by any of the co-conspirators

Consideration is important in contract law, not criminal law.

The final element of the crime of Conspiracy under Title 18, U.S.C. § 371 is the Overt Act. The Overt Act is some affirmative act done by one or more of the co- conspirators. The Overt Act, done in furtherance of the Agreement demonstrates that Agreement has advanced from merely talk to action. In other words, instead of simply talking about the crime, the conspirators have actually taken a step towards making it a reality. The Overt Act MUST come after the Agreement we have been talking about. Once the Overt Act occurs, the crime of Conspiracy is “complete” and can be charged under Title 18 U.S.C. § 371. It’s important to understand that the crime of Conspiracy does NOT merge with the substantive offense, so can be charged separately from the substantive offense.
[link:https://www.fletc.gov/audio/federal-conspiracy-law-mp3|

[H2O Man]

12. Nope.

That is simply not true. The expectation of a future "pay-off" is all that is required.

[Sanity Claws]

13. No

It sounds like you have confused contract requirements with a conspiracy. You don't need a valid contract in order to have a conspiracy.

[Trust Buster]

14. Nope. Proving intent is the hardest thing for prosecutors to do.

When Cohen sent $400,000+ phony invoices to Don the Con and Don the Con paid them, it proves intent to deceive.

[Ponietz]

3. Look at the dates averred in the Cohen Plea Agreement

Count 7 cites June, 2016 to October, 2016
Count 8 cites October 27, 2016

tRUmp, as an unindicted co-conspirator in those counts is on the hook for those dates. There are, certainly, many additional counts after he was sworn in.

[link:https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/21/politics/read-michael-cohen-plea-deal/index.html|