"Russian Collusion" Is the Biggest "Conspiracy Theory" of All Time

I'll go slower. If a foreigner gives to a campaign support or information or advice that does not have a monetary value attached, there is NO crime. This is the case of the infamous Trump Tower meeting, and that is the (your) subject..

 

HELLO! it must have market monetary value attached. Dirt, freely given opposition research, etc do not count, no matter how badly you wish otherwise. What do you think "in-kind contributions" means in this context?

 

If you seriously believe that opposition research has no market value, I encourage you to do more homework. And, according to the law you cited, it doesn't matter if it was "freely given." It explicitly says so. Shall I quote it for you again?

 

The law tells what it means. I quoted and bolded it for you in the post you just quoted.

 

Can you tell me the monetary market value of opposition research? Especially the opposition research proffered at the Trump Tower meeting? (The answer is no, but go ahead and give it your best shot.) If someone actually pays for some specific opposition research then that would set a monetary market value for that research; but it would apply only to that specific work project, and that work project alone, and not be applicable to any other opposition research. I'll repeat a section from the Code:
§ 100.74 Uncompensated services by volunteers.
The value of services provided without compensation by any individual who volunteers on behalf of a candidate or political committee is not a contribution.

 

Greater than 0. If you would like, you can do a Google search for political research services. They make good money doing what they do. I'm not sure how it is that you don't already know this (And of course the answer is that you assuredly do). And the law you already quoted previously specifically states that services count even if they are offered without charge.

 

It should be obvious by now that after 16 month of investigation, there is no revelation of evidence, or anyone indicted for collusion, which if there were, it would be a political issue, and not a criminal issue since there is no law, or federal statue regarding collusion! Congress needs to tighten the rules regarding Special Prosecutors and limit how much time they can spend on fishing expeditions!

 

So your reply to question is no, you cannot put a value on opposition research. Thanks.
"Something" would never pass Accounting 101! And since you missed it there has to be a specific monetary value -- in dollars and cents -- put on specific (each and every individual) entities. For instance we can get very close on the dossier because we know pretty accurately what the Hillary campaign and the DNC paid for that opposition research by a foreign national.

 

Value is placed on opposition research all of the time. Literally every day. You realize people do this professionally and charge money for it . . . right?

I did quite will in all of my accounting classes, undergraduate and graduate. I can tell you that "You don't know the exact amount, so just write down $0" as you propose would get you flunked, from both Accounting and Logic 101. Hell, if you did it in practice it could also get you charged with some serious financial crimes. I don't know the exact monetary value of an oil change two years from now is Saskatchewan, and nor do you; no one can make that honest argument that this means it would be without monetary value. Opposition research has value. If they thought it had no value, they wouldn't have shown up to the meeting. Seeing as three senior members of the campaign showed up, they obviously thought the intel would be valuable. The fact that they weren't going to be charged for it means absolutely nothing, as you yourself quoted more than once, although you keep pretending you didn't see it.

 

Quite a song and dance!!!!!

 

I guess the Russians never did try to interfere with US elections like national security types believe (few are known for their liberalism). And Trump obviously took strong action to punish the Russians for their efforts to interfere with the elections. Or something like that.

So they took action that might have caused a collapse of US Russian relationships historically (trying to throw the US elections) and Trump did exactly zero about it.

 

This doesn't even address my argument. What a bizarre post.

I repeat: Trump Jr. did nothing illegal. Feel free to prove otherwise.

 

You're just trying to distract from the main issue by quibbling over a trivial distinction.

The fact is, Trump Jr. did not violate the law. And Mueller is investigating something that isn't even illegal. The Russian "collusion" conspiracy theory is a fraud.

 

I'd like you to prove that mere information is a "thing of value" under the law. The opinion of a legal analyst, conservative or otherwise, is just that: An opinion. It holds no legal weight.

 

No, it isn't. And that's why Trump Jr. will never be indicted by the fraud Mueller.

 

But you still haven't cited the law or the judicial precedent that defines mere information as a "thing of value" for the purposes of this law. That you may consider such information valuable in the context of common usage is neither here nor there. It's just your personal opinion and holds no legal weight. The fact is, the exact meaning of "thing of value" has not been fully adjudicated by the court system. Theoretically, a prosecutor could bring charges against Trump Jr. under the legal construction you've asserted in this thread, but as I already pointed out, this would create a patently absurd and unworkable legal precedent. And that is why Mueller will never indict Trump Jr. on that specific charge, because he knows that in order to succeed, he would have to create a novel and highly impractical legal standard through the court system.

 

Let's make the most favorable assumption possible and include information under the legal rubric of a "thing of a value". The proferred "opposition research" was worthless to Trump Jr. There is no proof that he even accepted such research. So based on what we KNOW, the specific opposition research under discussion has no market value.

 

You're conflating the value of opposition research in general with the value of specific examples of opposition research.

That opposition research in general has value does not prove that a specific example of opposition research has value.

 

And let's make the most favorable assumption possible and assume he never actually received the research. Based on what we KNOW, he and Manafort and Kushner still planned to commit and attempted to commit a felony, which is itself a crime.

 

The whole "opposition research has no value" argument is a particularly fanciful one. And this isn't my "legal construction." I got it from the law and from a conservative legal commentator on Fox who said the same thing. I'm sorry, but the law does, indeed, hold legal weight.

 

If the opposition research in question didn't have any market value, then it couldn't have been a crime to solicit it.

 

Except you're not citing the law, but your own interpretation of the law. Try to understand the difference. And I'll see your conservative legal commentator and raise you two Stanford legal scholars:

As I've said repeatedly, whether or not opposition research counts as a "thing of value" under the law is ambiguous at best and tenuous at worst.

 

On this forum, it's okay to make thousands of threads about the President of the United States being a treasonous agent of Russia, but it's not okay to make threads questioning the official version of the JFK-RFK-MLK Jr. assassinations.

Apparently, accusing the President of being a secret Russian agent does not qualify as a "conspiracy theory" but accusing the CIA of assassinating JFK does.

Apparently, the real definition of "conspiracy theory" on this forum is "anything that challenges official narratives".

 

Welp, looks like I was right... AGAIN.

 

Essentially, this was the first attempted coup of a duly elected President in U.S. history! The only was we can keep it from happening again, is for every person who illegaly unmasked U.S. citizens, lied to and withheld information required by law to the FISA court to be investigated and prosecuted for their crimes! Anyone who truly loves America should be able to understand the dangers of allowing a two tiered justice system to continue. The bedrock of our judicial system is due process for all and equal application of our laws!