woodguru

In the first place Trump should have opened his taxes to scrutiny. It is a fair expectation that a president should have nothing to hide there. Presidents have been showing tax records for many e******ns, and it prevents us from going through crap that could be determined before the e******n.

The FBI has infinitely better forensic resources than the IRS does. The point being that Trump has a long history of playing fast and loose with taxes, he is always trying to challenge and get special considerations, and is challenged by the IRS on a regular basis.

Putting himself in a position where his loose tax filings could or would be likely to be looked at by the FBI is about as dumb as it gets. I think he thought he would be able to declare that his personal finances were a red line where Mueller couldn't go. I guess he didn't get that the FBI had already been poring over his tax records.

In this country people needing top secret clearances and access to the most sensitive national intelligence cannot have ANY contacts with Russian criminals or spies. That's none, and it is not allowed for a reason, and it has to do with compromising secrets.

People on the right don't seem to get that looking at ties with Russians is about business deals, it's about money, it's about money laundering or loans from Russia, it's about the quid pro quo that takes place when people are being given lots of money and business deals. Putin wants sanctions lifted. Trump seems perfectly amenable to that when no past president has been. Trump or his kids, or staff cannot be involved with any business in any way shape or form that would or could be a reason Trump is okay with lifting sanctions.

I don't care what tax frauds, money laundering, loans, wh**ever comes out of this, he gets no free passes for the things that come out of this investigation. It's not like railroading a perfectly innocent man, that I would never support. But Trump is no better than anyone else when it comes to shady business deals.

If you stand for law and order you will support Trump answering to crimes, you will support Manafort, Flynn, and anyone else involved with Trump answering for their crimes. No pardons under premises it was made up.

glibona Loc: Nevada

Here's an idea...how about equal justice under the law and equal application of the law be applied for crimes of espionage, treason, etc. committed by the Left?
Yeah...that's the ticket...no one gets a free pass.

woodguru

You seem to equate left free passes with Trump getting free passes too, Trump is in the hotseat right now and it will depend on what the evidence against him is.

I love it, wouldn't have it any other way...and by the way, the GOP gave it several years of endless B******i and email server scandals. The best of the evidence they had was used to look at a case, and it was matched up against a dozen other similar cases looking at outcomes, and guess what? The DOJ has a precedent for punishment versus degree of negligence and that degree is never prosecuted with the death sentence the right seemed to want to see. Sorry, but there was no sufficient evidence.

Meanwhile we are staring at evidence of crimes by Trump staffers who have been indicted and plead guilty, we'll just have to see what we have on Trump, and yes, prosecuted accordingly. I see this going to impeachment and then many many other state level prosecutions if he happens to catch a pardon from the Pencester. That is if Pence isn't looking at some problems of his own wrapped up in this.

Gatsby

If the IRS audits have missed such fraud, should the director resign?

woodguru

The IRS doesn't have even a fraction of the resources the FBI does, the audits they do are surface level compared. The FBI resources are brought in when crimes are involved where the money trail and a more careful tax audit furthers that criminal investigation.

When you simply perpetrate IRS fraud and it gets caught in an audit you and your accountant simply say, oops, my bad and you pay the penalties and interest. When other crimes like money laundering triggers the corresponding tax audit because it's tied to those crimes being looked at the tax fraud becomes part of criminal charges. Hiding money laundering and also having to create corresponding fraudulent tax returns is a whole other ball game.

The games that can be played with the IRS are endless, the games come to a rude ending when the FBI gets involved.

I have a good friend who is a computer forensic accountant, he has both accounting and computer sciences degrees. He lives to crack complicated tax fraud schemes, but they are brought in when crimes are suspected (for reason).

woodguru

If the FBI catches something the IRS misses, what do you think should happen?

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

You're desperate.

glibona Loc: Nevada

Impressive.... thanks for the enlightenment re tax fraud..
Everyone seems to have a good friend in this field or that who they rely upon as experts..
However, fact remains equal justice and application under the law applies to all and its becoming more apparent this has not been the case with the Left's machinations in contravening our Constitutional procedures, our federal laws and discovery of flat out corruption and collusion within the highest levels of the FBI and DOJ.
We'll see where the Evidence of any tax fraud and "reason" for investigation if any, leads shall we?

1ProudAmerican

If liberals so evidence of more than 2 brain cells, should THEY be fair game???

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

What Russian investigation are you talking about? Mueller abandoned that almost from the get go.

I don't know what the hell you are thinking, bubba, You're wallowing around in the Twilight Zone.

Businesses and corporations do"deals", trade internationally, and even set up operations in foreign countries all over the world. What the hell do you think the World Trade Center was built for?

Moreover, members of an incoming administration's executive branch--Cabinet members, department heads, and so on--have every right to communicate with, meet with, and correspond with their foreign counterparts. The SecDef, for example, can establish lines of communication with the defense ministers of any country he chooses, the SecState's job is to do just that.

And what about US senators and reps? How many times have we seen them travel to foreign countries to interact with members of foreign parliaments and legislative bodies? Or, vice versa.

Here's a little known fact about Trump, one that might give you an inkling of why he is rather unique among American presidents. George Washington and Donald Trump are the only two presidents in our history who never held an elected office, appointment, or otherwise served in a government institution in any capacity and at any level before they were elected POTUS.

You babble on about "crimes" as if Trump has been tried, convicted and found guilty. You smoke out every damned unfounded, unproven charge against him that you can. Nothing like parroting the l*****t media hypocrisy and lies.

Mueller is one piss poor investigator (just look at his track record, it really sucks). After all this time, he has found no evidence of a crime. Nope he is purposely destroying the lives of decent Americans, sending them into bankruptcy, just looking for something he can get on Trump. He has ruined the lives of men who have served this nation honorably all their adult lives. And yet that sleazy snake has nothing.

Congressman DESTROYS Mueller’s Reputation in 48-Page report

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has a track record of ill repute, alleges a scathing 48-page report written by Texas Congressman Louis Gohmert.

The report, “Robert Mueller: Unmasked” is a brutal takedown of Mueller’s unsavory professional career and should leave no doubt that he is the last person who should be leading the investigation of the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory.

“Robert Mueller has a long and sordid history of illicitly targeting innocent people that is a stain upon the legacy of American jurisprudence,” Gohmert, a Republican, begins in his report. “He lacks the judgment and credibility to lead the prosecution of anyone.”

Based on his findings, the congressman believes that Mueller is someone who targets individuals for prosecution and will resort to any measure to bring them down.

And unlike some Republicans who tell the media that Mueller’s reputation is above reproach, Gohmert believes the exact opposite, saying Republicans who defend Mueller actually want Trump removed from office, or are ignorant of Mueller’s professional history.

The report starts with a detailed history of Mueller’s notorious handling of the Whitey Bulger case, a mobster whom the FBI protected.

Gohmert alleges that instead of going after Bulger, Mueller framed innocent people while leaking information to the media to disparage his targets.

"Anyone imprisoned has to have committed a specific crime for which they are found guilty," Gohmert writes. "Not in Mueller’s world. He has the reverse list of Santa Claus; and if you are on his list, you get punished even if you are framed."

"He never apologizes when the t***h is learned, no matter how wrong or potentially criminal or malicious the prosecution was. In his book, you deserve what you get even if you did not commit the crime for which he helped put you away."

Gohmert then proceeds to the case of Congressman Curt Weldon, who alleged the FBI had prior knowledge about 9/11 and could have prevented the attacks.

Mueller, then FBI Director, did not admit the FBI made errors or refute the accusations.

Instead, the FBI raided the home of Weldon’s daughter weeks before E******n Day.

With rumors abuzz that Weldon too was under investigation, the congressman lost re-e******n.

The raid destroyed Weldon’s political career … and nothing ever came of it.

"The early morning raid by Mueller’s FBI with all the media outside, obviously alerted by the FBI, had achieved its goal of colluding to abuse the federal justice system to silence Curt Weldon by ending his political career," Gohmert concludes.

"People say those kinds of things just don’t happen in America. They certainly seemed to when Mueller was in charge of the FBI and they certainly seem to while he is Special Counsel, as well."

The report speculates that Mueller was placed in charge of the Russian collusion investigation because he could be relied on to use “extra-legal actions” to take out the political enemies of the Deep State.

In addition, Gohmert notes that President Barack Obama "begged" Mueller to stay on as FBI Director for two more years than the 10-year term allowed by the law … a deal that Congress approved.

The congressman highlights many more troubling incidents concerning Mueller, including even more framing of political opponents and changing hiring practices at the FBI to create a bureaucracy packed with yes-men who could be more easily controlled.

Even Mueller’s acceptance of the Special Counsel position was unethical, Gohmert states, because he had numerous conflicts of interests, and even the appearance of a conflict of interest in such a position is disallowed by the law.

Gohmert notes that Mueller’s successor as FBI Director, James Comey, was a close friend and confidante of Mueller.

Comey, of course, was fired by President Trump.

And that’s not all.

Gohmert goes on to describe Mueller’s role with then-U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein in the investigation of Russia’s effort to obtain uranium from the United States.

“Rosenstein and Mueller’s failure to warn against or stop the sale reeks of its own form of collusion, cooperation, or capitulation in what some consider a treasonous sale,” Gohmert writes.

He further speculates that the Russian collusion investigation itself may be an attempt by Mueller and Rosenstein to protect themselves.

In addition, Gohmert describes how Mueller hired “extremely biased attorneys” who worked tirelessly to prevent President Trump from being elected to serve on the investigation.

The bottom line: Robert Mueller should never have been appointed Special Counsel, and has to go.

"If you want answers, and you CAN handle the t***h, join me in demanding those answers from ‘Special Counsel’ Robert Mueller, along with his resignation,” the report concludes. “If he were to resign, it could well be the only truly moral, ethical, and decent action Mueller has undertaken in this entire investigation."

Gohmert's report

pafret Loc: Northeast

The FBI's forensic resources are supposed to be used in investigating crime. Without any evidence of tax evasion how do you think these resources can legitimately be applied? Are you saying that the FBI is more capable of auditing tax reports than the IRS whose sole purpose is auditing Tax reports?

Trump's taxes are audited annually and his team of tax lawyers engage in arm wrestling with the IRS since the codes are so confusing that no one can say for certain what is correct in many cases. The IRS has been known to provisde letter rulings which give a particular taxpayer relief from some element of the tax code while simultaneously applying the same code to others. This is not illegal, it just means that one individual knew enough to challenge the IRS. The IRS is content to acknowledge that they were wrong but not to give relief to all parties. The letter ruling applies only to one return, for one year.

I stand for law and order, particularly that we are all innocent until proven guilty. You cannot even name the specific crime he is said to have committed but you want to hang him. I only hope you get the same justice when you fall afoul of the law. It becomes more apparent each day that the charges against Flynn, Manafort and the others is a pack of nonsense designed to force these people to make up lies about Trump to save their own skins

woodguru

First of all, "businesses and corporations" know that it is illegal to do business with criminals from foreign countries. You know, those under suspicion or investigation for crimes such as stealing, corruption, fraud? It isn't that hard to steer clear of that if you are paying attention. Ignorance is no defense, the due diligence is up to those investing in other countries or with people doing deals here.

Russia was under sanctions prior to, during the campaign and t***sition, and when Trump took office. No loans, or business deals to build a Trump Moscow were legal during these times, and working on a deal would mean Trump would have had to be assured sanctions would be lifted.

During the campaign and t***sition nobody on Trump's staff had any business communicating with Russians or any other foreign nations, Obama was president and there are laws concerning one president and restrictions on independent policies being discussed or negotiated. Telling Putin that sanctions would be lifted, don't worry about what Obama does would be a huge breach, patriots would be inclined to call it treason if we were at war, which the cyber attacks came close to being declared as acts of war.

You are dead wrong about deals being okay with Russia when deals were restricted under sanctions. It is a crime when the deals take on the nature of what many of Trump's staff were doing, and money laundering is never legal. I think we can rest assured there is money laundering going on with Trump associates and more than likely Trump too.

woodguru

People Trump put on his staff were already under investigation, hence the active investigations which open things up considerably. The FBI had Trump's taxes from early on, irregularities in the taxes give them places to look. The Russia investigation gave the FBI a scope from before the e******n that had t***sactions with Russian oligarchs and spies under watch. The deal Trump did where he bought a mansion for $45 million and sold it to a Russian billionaire criminal for $95 million was already on the FBI's radar. Flynn was under suspicion and scrutiny, the FBI reported this well before the inauguration, Trump had all kinds of warning about the things Flynn posed as a threat to national security.

The news has covered dozens of stories that they have corroborated with public records that are highly problematic. When something the president is too close to looks fishy it needs to be looked at and either debunked or substantiated. The FBI isn't floundering around looking for crimes, they are looking for evidence of things that look funny that have to be ferreted out one way or the other. They flat have the staffers who have been indicted and plead guilty, nothing made up, nothing needs to be fabricated. Surround yourself with stupid criminals, do business with criminals and bring them into your organization and it isn't going to go well when they go down.

Rather than go in early making a big assumption that Mueller is going to pressure them into making up things about Trump, it would make more sense to see if it actually looks like Trump was dirty too and perhaps they won't be making anything up, it will be well corroborated with other things that can't be fabricated, such as real estate sales contracts, buyers who are laundering money, and bank records that are what they are.

Trump did sleazy business as a business model, it it really surprising if it turns out he did some illegal deals? It's not to anyone catching the vast array of shady things he's done.

So you give him the benefit of the doubt, that's fine, just call a spade a spade when the evidence is rolled out. Others won't be giving him that doubt, but we will live with it if no evidence exists, I just think that is doubtful.

Oh, and evidence? Obstruction, Trump came right out and said he'd taken care of the Russian thing by firing Comey, he was bragging to the Russian ambassadors about just that on video. That evidence enough for you with a hundred other things including statements by people around Trump as to his intent?

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

If you limited your posts to the t***h, you'd have much shorter posts.

Comey was fired for dishonesty and incompetence. Perhaps for committing crimes as well.

But you knew that already.

pafret Loc: Northeast

As usual, a ton of distortion of facts liberally interlaced with outright lies. How much are you being paid for trolling?