Quote:Earlier in the day, Cohen had released the book's foreword, writing of his estranged former boss, "He wouldn't mind if I was dead."

In the foreword, dated in March, Cohen writes he's "certain that Trump knows he will face prison time if he leaves office," pointing to legal problems that continue to swirl around the president, including an apparent investigation into Trump Organization tax claims.

"Trump will never leave office peacefully," Cohen writes. "The types of scandals that have surfaced in recent months will only continue to emerge with greater and greater levels of treachery and deceit. If Trump wins another four years, these scandals will prove to only be the tip of the iceberg."

Quote:As with testimony he gave to Congress before heading to prison, Cohen writes in the book that Trump was interested in pursuing a hotel project in Moscow well into the 2016 presidential campaign despite denying ties to Russia.

"I know because I personally ran that deal and kept Trump and his children closely informed of all updates, even as the candidate blatantly lied to the American people," says Cohen.

Since becoming president, Cohen says, Trump has "become the worst version of himself."

The U.S. government dropped its effort to silence Cohen late last month after an agreement was reached between government lawyers and Cohen lawyer Danya Perry that lifted a ban on Cohen speaking publicly.

Quote:This sort of shortfall is unheard of: the H-1B visa system is usually maxed out. Perhaps America's bungled response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the ensuing travel restrictions, may have put off applicants. Or those selected could not file their petitions because their paperwork must specify the company they will work for in the US, and their specific role, and amid the economic uncertainty, those positions were scrapped, ending their H-1B journeys.

Or perhaps because President Trump threw the H-1B system into doubt late June by banning new visa holders from entering the country until the end of the year, plus or minus some caveats. Those selected in the first lottery were due to start work in the States from October, if their petitions were successful.

Quote:The sessions began with scenarios of what might happen on Election Day—a big Biden win, a narrow Biden win, a Trump win in the Electoral College coupled with a loss in the popular vote—and then played war games to ponder what might follow. The goal was not to make predictions, but rather to test scenarios and identify potential weak points in the system. The approach is common in the national-security world, but has not often before been applied to domestic politics.
...
The bad news is that there is a lot of mischief that can be done within the legal boundaries by a determined president, especially with the compliance of the attorney general and enough political allies in the state capitals.
...
And even in the scenarios in which Biden’s team eventually won—that is, secured possession of the White House at noon on Inauguration Day, 2021—Team Trump by then had thoroughly poisoned the political system.
It diverted public resources to Trump personally.
It preemptively pardoned Trump associates and family members, and tried to pardon Trump himself from criminal charges including money laundering and tax evasion.
It intentionally tried to cause long-term economic damage so as to prevent early economic recovery—and boost Republican chances in the 2022 elections.
It destroyed, hid, or privatized public records.
It tried to sabotage the census to favor Republican redistricting after 2020.
It refused to cooperate with the incoming administration during the transition period, in ways that aggravated both the pandemic response and economic recovery.
And it sowed pervasive mistrust in the integrity of U.S. elections in ways that would polarize and embitter U.S. politics long after 2020.

(08-16-2020, 08:41 AM)Dartz Wrote: That's a fairly empty article. It needed to be at least twice as long.

(08-16-2020, 12:36 PM)Dartz Wrote: On at least 2 scenarios, January 20th arrives with no clear winner in the White House,

(08-16-2020, 12:36 PM)Dartz Wrote: On at least 2 scenarios, January 20th arrives with no clear winner in the White House, and the question about what happens to the nuclear weapons, or what the military will do, up in the air.