Note to Trump: The Mueller Probe Costs Roughly $0.00 – Not $40 Million

Using the same line of thinking used in your mag article it seems funding a boarder WALL should be a slam dunk too. We can just use seized illegal drug money to fund the wall. Mexicans will also therefore pay for it.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/330488-cruz-drug-lord-cash-can-fund-border-wall

 

Mueller is using assett forfiture, not restitiution. And YES, the government gets their money first especially the federal government. I know this first hand because a close friend of mine was found guilty of bank fraud and the government took EVERYTHING. His house was sold and the bank got NOTHING.

 

Then WHY didn’t any of these lawyers challenge it ?

Your trying to adjudicate something that, with all due respect Rod, your just wrong. The fact that they pleaded guilty, and accepted sentencing with challenging this means that they knew they couldn’t win on it. If the law was so clear cut on this, why didn’t any one of those who were found guilty or plead out challenge it ?

 

You forgot to think about your question before asking it. It would be totally illogical and make zero sense for an accused to plead guilty and then challenge the judge's acceptance of that plea. (There has been judges who questioned the guilty plea but no judge rejects it.) A person usually pleads guilty to something with the full concurrence of their lawyer in return for a deal by the prosecutor to not be so hard on other potential charges. Cohen pled guilt to the campaign finance thing and promised to really help Mueller to get easier treatment or sentencing for his real crimes. (As an aside, since the SDNY grouped the sentencing, it is unknown how much of his sentence, if any, was due to the campaign finance guilty plea.) Flynn pled guilty so Mueller wouldn't send his henchmen full speed after his son (the one alive, not the one killed in combat.)

As far as judges faulty rulings, many are challenged (appealed), many are not. It's the choice of making a costly appeal versus an assessment of success, which for first level appeals is not good. IIRC, Manafort filed for dismissal of his charges on one or two assertions of Mueller's illegal appointment and jurisdiction. (I know two were talked about, but I'm not sure if both went forward.) One was his illegal jurisdiction over what we have been discussing -- whether Rosenstein had the legal authority to let Mueller, an appointed Special Counsel under 28 US Code, 600, proceed. The other was the unconstitutionality under the appointments clause of Mueller's non-confirmation by the senate. Whether it was one or both, neither was granted by the judge, hence the choice to appeal or live with it. When a district court and the 11th appeals court made a faulty ruling on Trump's immigration travel ban, the administration successfully appealed that to the SCOTUS (but if course they were spending our money.)

One intellectually interesting case was when John Roberts unconstitutionally literally rewrote the PPACA (Obamacare). To that there is no appeal by anybody.

 

So your saying that defendents “choose” to not appeal, even when they “know” their convictions are illegal, because they cant afford it ? I’m pretty sure their are THOUSANDS of lawyers out there who would gladly do this pro-bono. And their are MANY Republican donors who will gladly pay his fees. That defense doesnt really hold water Rod.Manafort is worth millions. If he or his lawyer even thought they could challenge on those grounds they would, but we all know that they cant because it is legal. And that includes Muellers appointment.

 

You are so wrong

 

Maybe we should investigate everyone in congress and every one they associate with in any way shape or form. Could make a huge dent in the deficit with these Gestapo tactics.

 

I wonder who came up with the name Deep Throat?

 

I said the choice is to pay the cost weighed against the chances of a successful appeal. If the chances of winning appeal are, say, 5%, then one might choose not to appeal if it costs a million bucks even if one's wealth is 400 million. I would guess that Manafort and his lawyers estimated their appeal chance was less than 1% given the environment.

 

The WaPo ???

 

And he has found the Russian involvement in the elections which has led to many other things. If you’re investigating a man for robbery and you find out he killed someone do you just stop at the robbery?

 

For the record, by law, if an appointed Special Counsel is investigating a robbery and uncovers a murder committed by some other person from the robber, he cannot investigate or prosecute the murder without explicit authorization from the Attorney General. If the robber also did the murder the Special Counsel can most likely legally investigate/prosecute the murder along side the robbery.

 

oh, OK. You said it so it must be true.

 

Thats exactly right. That why he has turned many of these over to the SDNY.

 

So what your saying is that the SC is doing IS legal then

 

You're not wrong because I said you were...you just are because that's how the law works

 

Then show your proof

 

I'm still waiting on you to show me a proof of any payments to the Govt from Manafort.

but here is the law: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/21/853

Look to subsection (n)

 

This says that the court will gets their first, UNLESS, the "petitioner" can prove that they have "interest" that "renders the order of forfeiture invalid in whole or in part because the right, title, or interest was vested in the petitioner rather than the defendant or was superior to any right"[/QUOTE]

like the governments right to the forfeiture........

The burden of proof is on the petitioner......

 

like the governments right to the forfeiture........

The burden of proof is on the petitioner......[/QUOTE]
Correct they have to show they have an. Interested and if they do they get it

 

Well, he turned over one -- Cohen.

 

I did not say that it all -- well, it might be legal but inappropriate which the defense might let pass.

 

Manafort was not turned over to the SDNY.