Still no criminal ‘collusion,’ but there’s potential for more embarrassing revelations

Michael Cohen, a former lawyer for President Trump, pled guilty in Manhattan federal court this morning to making false statements to Congress regarding his involvement in efforts to build a Trump Tower complex in Moscow (the “Moscow project”).

As our Jack Crowe has noted, Cohen’s guilty plea is in connection with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and pertains to testimony Cohen gave to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Cohen pled guilty to a one-count criminal information.

In a nutshell, Cohen gave testimony to the committee that minimized the extent and duration of efforts made by the Trump organization on the Moscow project. In order to downplay Donald Trump’s connections to Russia, Cohen told the committee that the project had ended in January 2016 (i.e., before the Iowa caucuses), and that Trump’s personal involvement had been scant — limited to three conversations with Cohen.

In reality, Cohen now says efforts on the project continued well into 2016. Moreover, both Donald Trump and members of his family were extensively briefed on it. The efforts involved communications with Russian-government officials, as well as discussions of possible trips to Russia by Cohen and Trump, and possible meetings with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev.

For those who’ve been predicting an imminent end of the Mueller investigation, my sense is that this is not a “tying up the loose ends” guilty plea. There is a strategy here of proving collusion . . . even if Mueller cannot prove a collusion crime. (As we’ve frequently noted, collusion is a hopelessly vague term, referring to concerted activity that could be legal or illegal; it must be distinguished from conspiracy, which is an agreement to commit a crime — along with the activity in furtherance of that agreement.)

The collusion narrative held that Russia “hacked” the election and the Trump campaign was complicit. If that were true, it would be worthy of a prosecutor’s attention because hacking is a crime, so “collusion” in it could rise to a criminal conspiracy. But there is no evidence to support a “cyberespionage” conspiracy — there are just the sensational, unverified claims in the Steele dossier (a product of the Hillary Clinton campaign).

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/11/michael-cohen-guilty-plea-false-statements-trump-tower-meeting/

That would be hilarious if this was executed by Q team.

What are the odds her plane malfunctions?

Greek Ex-FM: Some Diplomats Issued Visas to Minors, Covered Up Organ Trafficking

In October Nikos Kotzias, Greece's former foreign minister, disclosed that some of the Greek diplomats were involved in a scheme to traffic in children' organs, calling those who were involved "traitors".

"Do you know what visas for unaccompanied children mean? It means organ trafficking," Kotzias stated in an interview to the Greek publication "Iefimerida" last week.

During an interview on November 20, Kotzias said that the probe into the organ trafficking offence continues and that diplomats, who issued visas for minors earlier, are already in jail….

Kotzias noted that for now there are 93 cases involving Foreign Ministry officials issuing visas to unaccompanied minors.

"The fact that I saved a few souls will make me sleep quietly when my life is over," the former FM added.

In October, after leaving the Cabinet, Kotzias appeared at an event hosted by the Greek political movement Pratto, where for the first time he mentioned the case of a 14-month-old baby who was issued a visa without parental consent. He alleged that that fact was covered up by Greek diplomats, and that the press hadn't written about it.

Later, speaking publicly during an event on the island of Crete on October 22, he provided some of the details, according to News 247, a Greek media outlet.

"We sent 93 cases to the Prosecutor, highly respected ambassadors went to jail, but the press did not write about them. Because the person who gives a visa in Constantinople [Istanbul] to an unaccompanied child is not just a criminal, he is traitor. A visa for a 14-month-old unaccompanied baby and they tried to cover it up for him", Kotzias said.

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201811301070275076-greek-fm-diplomats-issued-visas-minors-covering-up-organ-trafficking/?utm_source=https://t.co/7vbvvgRBbo&utm_medium=short_url&utm_content=kgGb&utm_campaign=URL_shortening

>>4084271

ur not that important, sorry, neither am I

She showed thigh!

>>4084416

>>4084430

she tried to get the indians off man… they want them focused, thigh is too mcuh

Marriott's Starwood database hacked, 500 million guests may be affected

(Reuters) - Marriott International said on Friday that hackers illegally accessed its Starwood Hotels brand's reservation database since 2014, potentially exposing personal information on about 500 million guests.

Shares of the company fell nearly 6 percent to about $115 in trading before the bell.

The company said for 327 million guests, personal information compromised could include passport details, phone numbers and email addresses. For some others, it could include credit card information.

The company said it learned about the breach after an internal security tool sent an alert on Sept. 8. On further investigation, the hotel chain learned data had been hacked long before.

The company, which bought Starwood in 2016, said it had reported the incident to law enforcement and had begun notifying regulatory authorities.

Marriott said it would send emails to affected guests, starting Friday.

"We are still investigating the situation so we don't have a list of specific hotels. What we do know is that it only impacted Starwood brands," Marriott spokesman Jeff Flaherty told Reuters.

Marriott said it was too early to estimate the financial impact of the breach and that it would not affect its long-term financial health. It also said it was working with its insurance carriers to assess the coverage.

Hotel groups have of late become a target of hackers, seeking to steal information such as credit card data.

Last year, both InterContinental Hotels Group Plc and Hyatt Hotels Corp were victims of cyber attacks.

Hyatt said it had discovered unauthorized access to payment card information at certain of its locations, affecting 41 properties in 11 countries.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil, Arjun Panchadar and John Benny in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/marriott-says-starwood-database-hacked-114922387–finance.html