Гордость

[tijd]

В честь наступающего Pride Month можно отпраздновать роль Рози О'Доннелл.

Пять лет назад О'Доннелл написала сочувствующее письмо сидящему в тюрьме Майклу Коэну. Тот ответил, попросил у нее прощения за зло, причененое во время его службы на Трампа, и попросил о возможности сделать это лично. Она приехала на свидание в тюрьму. Между ними завязался разговор, который перешел в необычную дружбу.

Ms. O’Donnell felt Mr. Cohen was paying the price for Mr. Trump’s sins. And Mr. Cohen, with his heavy Nassau County accent, reminded her of the boys she knew growing up in Commack, on Long Island. “He was every guy I went to high school with,” she said. (Mr. Cohen grew up in Lawrence, about 30 minutes from Commack.)
Mr. Cohen was sent to Otisville, 86 miles north of New York City, as part of a three-year sentence. Ms. O’Donnell found him. “I got his inmate number and I sent him a letter,” she said. It was six pages long.
In the letter, Ms. O’Donnell said she believed that Mr. Cohen had helped Mr. Trump wage his campaign to discredit her. Nevertheless, she said, she was grateful to him, and viewed his decision to turn on his boss as an act of heroism. She believed in redemption and wanted Mr. Cohen to know that she forgave him for everything that had transpired between her and Mr. Trump.
“When someone is in a relationship that unhealthy and breaks free, it’s a very lonely time,” she said on Monday, adding that she did not necessarily expect to hear back from Mr. Cohen. She also realized he might not be seeking her forgiveness.
But Inmate No. 86067-054 soon wrote back.
“He asked me to come visit him,” Ms. O’Donnell said. <...>
She thought she would be with Mr. Cohen for an hour. Instead, they spent more than six hours talking. He apologized to her for the role he played in Mr. Trump’s attacks, Ms. O’Donnell said.
They discussed the state of the republic, they discussed Mr. Trump, and they discussed being parents and growing up on Long Island. At one point, they held hands, she said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/style/michael-cohen-rosie-odonnell-friendship.html



Ныне Коэн сыграл историческую роль, выступив ключевым свидетелем в судебном деле, по которому к числу уголовых преступников присоединился его бывший начальник. Главная стратегия защиты заключалась в попытках дискредитировать Коэна, как свидетеля, но она в итоге провалилась.

В заключительном слове обвинения припоминались обстоятельства давления на Коэна со стороны самого могущественного человека планеты. Коэн не опозорил свою благородную фамилию и выстоял, выбрав свою семью и тюремный срок. Аналогичному давлению поддался Пол Манафорт, выбравший помилование в качестве благодарности за молчание.

Within days of the FBI raid, then-President Trump spoke on the phone with Cohen and told him: "Don't worry. I'm the President of the United States. There is nothing here. Everything is going to be okay. Stay tough. You are going to be okay."
And, as time went on, Cohen received messages from others who reached out to say, in substance, The Boss loves you and has your back. And Mr. Trump publicly supported Cohen, telegraphing to him the importance of staying on message. On April 21, 2018, less than two weeks after the raid, the Defendant posted the following Tweet. He talks about how the media -- it's a three-part Tweet. I won't read the whole thing. He talks about how "the media are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will flip." He refers to Michael Cohen as "Michael", and he says he's "a fine person, with a wonderful family who I have always liked and respected." And he adds in a very targeted way, "Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble. Sorry. I don't see Michael doing that." Cohen told you he interpreted this Tweet the way anyone would, as a way that Mr. Trump was communicating with him, without picking up the phone directly at this point, to send him the message: Stay in the fold. Don't flip. <...>
President Trump's strategy worked because even after he had fully reimbursed Cohen for the unlawful campaign contribution, Cohen continued to deny wrongdoing. For several months he continued to lie for the Defendant.
It's a little disingenuous for the Defense to argue that you shouldn't believe anything Cohen says about the Defendant because he previously denied paying Daniels at all or because he issued a misleading statement, claim that he paid her with his own personal funds. Those lies were told at the Defendant's direction and at his behest and for his benefit.
So, using them now to undermine Cohen, to undermine his credibility takes, again, chutzpah. It's blaming the messenger for the Defendant's own message.
Interestingly, though, Cohen decided he couldn't tow the party line anymore. The costs were just too great. And he decided, as I said earlier, his loyalty to his family was more important. And he did exactly what the Defendant had been so desperate to get him not to do; he flipped. <...>
These guilty pleas on August 21, 2018, those are the turning point. That was the moment Mr. Cohen finally came clean about what he had done with Donald Trump and why.
The Defendant was furious. His fixer had done the unthinkable.
And Trump immediately went on the attack, an attack that continues to this day.
The very next morning after Cohen pled guilty -- and the plea was widely reported -- the Defendant took to Twitter again.
"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen."
This is the day after he pled guilty.
Less than an hour later, another Tweet that's favorable about Paul Manafort. "Unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to break, make up stories in order to get a deal. Such respect for a brave man."
These tweets were not only designed to punish Cohen. They were designed to send a clear message to other potential witnesses: Cooperate, and you will face the wrath of Donald Trump.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/30/nyregion/trump-hush-money-trial-transcript-may-28.html



Ключевое решение, изменившее его судьбу, Коэн принял не в августе 2018, когда пошел на соглашение со следствием, а в июне 2016, когда в последний момент отменил свою поездку на Петербургский Экономический Форум, где ему предстояло лично встретиться с Путиным.

Из отчета комиссии Сената:

During the 2016 U.S. presidential election cycle, Donald °Trump and the Trump Organization pursued a business deal in Russia. Michael Cohen, then an executive vice president at the Trump Organization and personal attorney to Trump, primarily handled and advanced these efforts.
In September 2015, Trump authorized Cohen to pursue a deal in Russia through Felix Sater, a longtime business associate of Trump. By early November 2015, Trump and a Russia-based developer signed a Letter of Intent laying out the main terms of a licensing deal that promised to provide the Trump Organization millions of dollars upon the signing of a deal, and hundreds of millions of dollars if the project advanced to completion.
Cohen kept Trump updated on the progress of the deal. While these negotiations were ongoing, Trump made positive public comments about Putin in connection with his presidential campaign. Cohen and Sater sought to leverage Trump's comments, and subsequent comments about Trump by Putin, to advance the deal.
Sater told Cohen about high-level outreach to Russian businessmen and officials that Sater claimed to have undertaken related to the deal. While Sater almost certainly inflated some of these claims, the Committee found that Sater did, in fact, have significant senior-level ties to a number of Russian businessmen and former government officials, and was in a position, through intermediaries, to reach individuals close to Putin.
By the end of 2015, Cohen reached out to the Kremlin directly to solicit the Russian government's assistance. Cohen made contact in January 2016 with a Russian Presidential Administration aide to Dmitri Peskov, a senior Kremlin official and key advisor to Putin. Cohen discussed the project in detail and reported to Trump that he had done so. As a result of this direct outreach to the Russian Presidential Administration and Sater' s separate efforts to conduct outreach to individuals in Russia, the Committee found that senior Russian government officials (including, almost certainly, President Vladimir Putin) were aware of the deal by January 2016.
Cohen and Sater continued negotiations through the spring of 2016. <...>
By June 2016, Sater, through his contacts in Russia, had helped organize an invitation for Cohen to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). Cohen initially agreed to travel to Russia and forwarded passport information to Sater. However, on June 14, 2016, Cohen and Sater met in person in Trump Tower, and Cohen likely relayed that he would not be able to travel to Russia at that time.

https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/report_volume5.pdf



Более подробно:

In a June 9, 2016 text message, Sater relayed to Cohen that he was filling out paperwork for their "badges" for the conference and that Cohen should receive an email invite soon. Sater told Cohen that "Putin is there on the 17th very strong chance you will meet him as well." Sater later explained to the Committee that his offers to Cohen related to high-level meetings, including potentially with Putin, were real and attainable. Sater believed he could, in fact, obtain a very high level meeting for Cohen or Trump if either traveled to Russia.
On June 13, 2016, Sater forwarded Cohen a formal electronic invitation to SPIEF addressed to Cohen, along with login instructions to access information about the conference. Sater also forwarded a blank Russian visa application form to Cohen. Sater had separately reached out to a SPIEF official in charge of "official delegations" to request assistance to expedite his and Cohen's visas. In response, Sater was sent letters asking that he and Cohen be provided visas to attend SPIEF; Sater was told that obtaining the visas should only take one day. <...>
Sater recalled: "[Cohen] turned around and said: I can't go. At the last minute he said: I can't go; let's wait until after Cleveland."



Главная причина, по которой 14 июня 2016 Коэн спасовал и отменил поездку - в этот день появилось сообщение о том, что путинские хакеры взломали DNC.

Russian government hackers penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee and gained access to the entire database of opposition research on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to committee officials and security experts who responded to the breach.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-government-hackers-penetrated-dnc-stole-opposition-research-on-trump/2016/06/14/cf006cb4-316e-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html

По совпадению в тот же день в Конгрессе проходили слушания на тему “U.S. Policy Towards Putin’s Russia", с Натальей Весельницкой в первом ряду. Сузи Уайлс, муж которой пристроил на слушания Весельницкую, ныне работает старшим советников избирательной кампании Трампа-2024. Она развелась с мужем в 2017.

На следующий день, 15 июня 2016, Кевин Маккарти, будущий смещенный трампистами спикер, в разговоре с товарищами по партии, проронил фразу о том, что Путин платит Трампу.



Преступная схема с выплатой Святой Сторми за молчание возникла в результате скандала с видео "Access Hollywood". Скандал разгорелся в другой примечательный день, 7 октября 2016.

День рождения Путина примечателен началом слива в Викиликс взломанной хакерами ГРУ почты демократов, что предоставило главную тему избирательной кампании Трампа в последний месяц перед выборами. И сексуальный скандал, и сливы вытеснили из новостей беспрецедентное сообщение американской разведки и контрразведки о российской атаке на выборы.



Другим важным поступком Коэна стали его показания на слушаниях в Конгрессе 27 февраля 2019.

"I regret the day I said yes to Mr. Trump. I regret all the help and support I gave him along the way. I am ashamed of my own failings and publicly accepted responsibility for them by pleading guilty in the Southern District of New York. I am ashamed of my weakness and my misplaced loyalty of the things I did for Mr. Trump in an effort to protect and promote him. I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience. I am ashamed, because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist, he is a con man, and he is a cheat. <...>
It is painful to admit that I was motivated by ambition at times. It is even more painful to admit that many times I ignored my conscience and acted loyal to a man when I should not have. Sitting here today, it seems unbelievable that I was so mesmerized by Donald Trump that I was willing to do things for him that I knew were absolutely wrong. For that reason, I have come here to apologize to my family, to my government, and to the American people."



Глядя в глаза республиканским конгрессменам, Коэн сказал им, что если они будут слепо защищать Трампа, как это делал он, то в конце концов окажутся в том же месте. Наиболее рьяно на него нападал Марк Медоуз, конгрессмен из Северной Каролины, который позже занял месте руководителя администрации президента (Chief of Staff).

В расследовании обстоятельств пути-путча Медоуз пошел на сотрудничество со следствием и тем самым избежал федеральных обвинений. Однако многочисленные уголовные обвинения ему предъявлены в отдельных штатах (Джорджии и Аризоне), и по этим делам грозит реальный тюремный срок.

Предупреждение Коэна, которое тогда пропустили между ушей, было о том, что Трамп не допустит мирной передачи власти: "Indeed, given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, that there will never be a peaceful transition of power, and this is why I agreed to appear before you today."


Но новых кандидатов занять место Коэна и Медоуза пока что не убавилось.