Once upon a time there was a report written by a team of lawyers supervised by Washington Wordsmith and Special Counsel for the U. S. Department of Justice, Robert S. Mueller III. Supervised is the more appropriate description of Mueller’s activity during the two years developing this chronicle. “The report is 448 pages long, contains about 200,000 words, and over 1,100 footnotes. About 11% of text is redacted.”1 When asked for specifics Mueller was often unable to answer reporter’s questions satisfactorily, thereby leading viewers to wonder if Mueller penned any of the massive missive personally.
The taxpayers are owed an explanation. MSNBC says the Justice Department estimated the cost of the investigation over the course of two years to be around $32,000,000!2 Could those $32,000,000 have possibly been spent to upgrade the inner-city community centers or improve the education programs in disadvantaged school districts? Great selfless idea. But it would seem closer to the truth if they just filled a rocket with $32,000,000 when this all started and then blasted it off to Mars. That would have saved Americans two years of listening to the whining, crying, and carrying on that our country was forced to endure every night. The release of this report ruined many reputations, lives, and families. In light of recent events, which will be explained, let’s take a look at four of the major layers.
MICHAEL FLYNN, 61
“Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak while Flynn was part of Trump’s transition team.”3 On June 24, 2020 charges against Michael Flynn were dismissed. “As far as Gen. Flynn, he’s a great hero, he’s a great gentleman,” Trump told Fox News on Thursday night. “What they’re doing to that man, they destroyed that man, but he’ll come back. He’s going to come back.”4 Does that sound like ‘cronyism’? Is the Pope Catholic?
PAUL MANAFORT, 71
“In March 2019 President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty of tax fraud and conspiracy and was sentenced by a federal judge to 47 months in federal prison. On May 12, 2020 he was released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement because of concerns over COVID-19. He was scheduled to be released from prison November 4, 2024.”5 Because Manafort is quietly following the rules of his home confinement he may never see the inside of a prison cell again. That man should explain to Michael Cohen how ‘cronyism’ works.
ROGER STONE, 67
Longtime Trump friend, Roger Stone, was slated to begin a 40-month prison sentence on Monday, July 13th. “Stone’s charges were for lying and witness tampering.”6 On Friday, President Trump came to Stone’s aid and commuted his sentence. Roger was faithful to Donald for over 30 years. Their relationship is a textbook example of ‘cronyism’. Representative Adam Schiff(D) said on ABC Sunday, “And the president through this commutation is basically saying, if you lie for me, if you cover up for me, if you have my back, then I will make sure that you get a get-out-of-jail-free card. Other Americans, different standards. Friends of the president’s, accomplices of this president, they get off scot-free.”7 Isn’t that what Trump has been referring to all along? Can anyone even count how many Attorneys General and Inspectors General Trump has rifled through these past three years? This isn’t like, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” This is more like, “If Daddy’s happy, everybody’s happy.” ‘Cronyism’ is the standard in Washington.
MICHAEL COHEN, 53
And then there is the younger and cockier Michael Cohen. One day before Roger Stone’s sentence was to be commuted, “Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s onetime lawyer and fixer, … who was released from prison in May on a medical furlough, was stunned when … federal marshals stepped in with handcuffs and took Mr. Cohen back into custody.”8 Granted, this could have been some absurd form of white-collar prisoner exchange; Cohen goes IN to prison while Stone remains OUT. “Mr. Cohen’s return to jail was the latest twist in a case whose dizzying ups and downs have prolonged the legal woes of a man who once said he would take a bullet for Mr. Trump. [Instead Cohen] turned on his former boss and implicated the president in federal crimes.”8 Thus breaking ‘cronyism’s’ Cardinal Un-Written Rule – You scratch/watch my back and I’ll scratch/watch yours. As soon as Robert Mueller tightened the screws on Cohen and he started singing about the illegal exchanges he made for the President, the jail doors opened up and swallowed him whole. After serving 12 months in prison Cohen was able to take advantage of the Covid-19 compassionate release program and in May 2020 began his home confinement. But Cohen couldn’t/wouldn’t follow the rules of this game and follow Paul Manafort’s example. He started singing again, this time about his soon to be released “tell all book” about the inside workings of Donald J. Trump. “No engagement of any kind with the media, including print, tv, film, books, or any other form of social media/news.”10 Suddenly the jail doors quietly opened again and down the rabbit hole Michael Cohen slid. Stranger things have happened. Look at poor Jeffrey Epstein. With the FBI there is no splitting hairs. Can you imagine Cohen’s legal fees? No wonder he is writing a book!
A book is de rigueur these days to raise capital, that and Go-Fund-Me. Maybe graduates should pay off their student loans by writing a book. Michael Cohen’s book will eventually be released, even the President can’t stop that. Look at John Bolton9 and Mary Trump10, currently on their Trump-Tell-All book tours.
Obviously, three of these Trump cronies are older, white guys, thus making Cohen look like a wet-behind-the-ears freshman who has yet to learn the ‘cronyism’ system. They are all elitists and entitled, in their own minds anyway. Money MAY also be involved… Note to self: fact-check money. The subject of ‘cronyism’, on the other hand, the fact checking has been done and the proof of ‘cronyism’, regarding President Donald J. Trump, stands as a well-known, and somewhat tolerated, fact.
REFERENCES
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mueller_Report Retrieved July 12, 2020 AND
“How to make music out of the Mueller report redactions”. The World. Public Radio International. April 19, 2019. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
4 https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/11/trump-flynn-campaign-353315
7 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-12-20-admiral-brett-giroir-md/story?id=71739520
8 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/nyregion/michael-cohen-arrested.html
9 https://www.denverpost.com/2020/04/17/michael-cohen-home-prison-sentence/
11 https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/17/politics/bolton-book-what-we-learned/index.html
12 https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/judge-lifts-restraining-order-mary-224650380.html