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The Trump Tower deal in Moscow

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I haven't said much in this blog about the whole Putin-as-puppeteer theory of the 2016 presidential election, and Mueller's investigation.

But the days are running short until the Mueller report will drop from the presses, and with Pelosi wielding the gavel, we're getting onto some fascinating terrain. Fascinating for the intellectual consumption of an old poli-sci major from the distinguished Marist College program.

The Hill recently listed "five things to know" about the Trump Tower Moscow project. For now I'll simply summarize that publication's discussion.

1) The timeline. Back when Michael Cohen was POTUS' personal lawyer, he testified that Trump's circle conducted discussions about such a project in late 2015, and that the idea had dissipated by the end of January 2016. That would suggest a real but somewhat limited overlap between those talks and the presidential campaigning.

More recently, as part of his new status as a cooperating witness, Cohen has said that the talks extended into June 2016. This paints a different picture altogether -- of a candidate who has secured a major party nomination for President still engaging in talks to get approval of Putin's government for such a project.

2) Felix Sater. Sater, a Russian-born businessman, was a major figure in Trump world through the years 2015-16 and an important go-between in re the Trump Tower project.

3) The key obstruction-of-justice question is...? Apparently, Sater communicated to the Trump family via Cohen, and Cohen himself didn't talk directly to the boss, but to Don. Jr instead. It is Cohen who Mueller has 'red handed' so to speak, for lying to Congress about this deal. So the key obstruction question is: what did the two Donalds know about those lies and Cohen's plans to tell them?

4) The Letter of Intent. Though Trump has said that he only discussed the matter of such a Tower "lightly," informally, the discussions had been serious enough to get to the stage of a Letter of Intent, that stipulated that property would include condos, a hotel, and both commercial and office space.  It was signed by Andrey Rozov, the CEO of a Russian development firm, as well as by Donald Trump [Sr].

5) Why it matters. In the big picture, the prospect of a Trump Tower could serve as a quid pro quo in a finding of collusion: The Russians may have been giving things of value to the Trumpets in return for Trumpeteer silence in their interference in the campaign.

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