General politics thread

There seem to be two headlines coming out of the Cohen filing. One says that he HAD CONTACT WITH A RUSSIAN AS FAR BACK AS 2015!!!!! The other is that he participated in a crime AT THE DIRECTION OF INDIVIDUAL-1!!!!! 

And then the SDNY throws in this:

“While many Americans who desired a particular outcome to the election knocked on doors, toiled at phone banks, or found any number of other legal ways to make their voices heard, Cohen sought to influence the election from the shadows,” the New York-based prosecutors wrote.

“Cohen deceived the voting public by hiding alleged facts that he believed would have had a substantial effect on the election,” they added.

www.politico.com/story/2018/12/07/michael-cohen-should-receive-a-substantial-prison-sentence-prosecutors-say-1052058

Holy shit people! Connect the dots. It's obvious that Cohen colluded with Russia, at the direction of Trump, to influence the election.

It's the collusion smoking gun we've been waiting for!

Except it's not. 

The 2015 contact was an unsolicited email from a Russian weightlifter, who is not involved in real estate development, or politics, and has no known ties to Putin, which was not followed up on. 

The "crime" involving Individual-1 was the payments to the porn star and the playboy model that we've know about for months. 

At best, it's a campaign finance violation. And, though the got Cohen to plead to it as part of his deal, it's silly to think that electoral considerations would be the only motivation for Trump to want to keep these women quiet. 

Good luck trying to bring a case against Trump for those payments. 

So, in conclusion, NO COLLUSION. 

It's a smear job, and a joke.