Giuliani: Under constitution, Trump could shoot Comey and not be indicted

[FORD]

Giuliani: Under constitution, Trump could shoot Comey and not be indicted
John Wagner
The Washington Post
June 4, 2018


President Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani reportedly said Sunday that Trump could shoot former FBI director James B. Comey in the Oval Office and still not be indicted for it while still serving as president.

The HuffPost reported that Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, made the assertion on a day when he conducted a series of interviews in which he discussed the expansive powers granted to the president in the Constitution.

“In no case can he be subpoenaed or indicted,” Giuliani said, according to the HuffPost. “I don’t know how you can indict while he’s in office. No matter what it is.”

Giuliani said that impeachment would be the remedy for a president’s illegal behavior, offering as an example the hypothetical case of Trump shooting Comey rather than firing him, the HuffPost reported.

“If he shot James Comey, he’d be impeached the next day,” Giuliani was quoted as saying. “Impeach him, and then you can do whatever you want to do to him.”

Giuliani, who is representing Trump amid special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, also appeared on a pair of talk shows Sunday.

On both, Giuliani argued that the president probably has the sweeping constitutional authority to pardon even himself of federal crimes.

“He probably does,” Giuliani said, when asked on ABC’s “This Week” if Trump has the ability to pardon himself. “He has no intention of pardoning himself, but he probably — not to say he can’t.”

While arguing that the president has the theoretical ability to pardon himself, Giuliani and other Trump allies on Sunday nonetheless rejected the reality of such a brash move — in part because of the political backlash they said could lead to Trump’s impeachment.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” for instance, Giuliani framed the pardon question as purely hypothetical and politically implausible.

“It’s not going to happen. It’s a hypothetical point,” he told host Chuck Todd.

[Nitro Express]

America needs a Putin to drain the swamp. Cheeto Face might be the answer.

[Nickdfresh]

Putin would have to stop drowning in his own swamp - he's now mysteriously one of the world's richest men....

We might as well bring in Idi Amin to improve our human rights record...

[Seshmeister]

America needs a Putin to drain the swamp. Cheeto Face might be the answer.

WTF? Putin is literally the biggest swamp maker in history!!!

http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-putin-spends-his-mysterious-fortune-2017-6

No one knows Putin's exact net worth, but many speculate he's the wealthiest person on the planet — his $1 billion palace and $500 million yacht explain why

Vladimir Putin very well may be the richest man in the world.

But it's impossible to say for sure. According to the Kremlin, the Russian president earns around $133,000 a year and lives in a small apartment.

That description doesn't jive with most accounts of Putin's lifestyle. Former Russian government adviser Stanislav Belkovsky estimated his fortune is worth $70 billion. Hedge fund manager Bill Browder, a noted critic of Putin, claimed it was more like $200 billion. A fortune that enormous would propel him straight past Amazon founder and richest man in the world Jeff Bezos, who Forbes estimates has $125.6 to his name.

So why can't we pin down Putin's net worth with any certainty? The 2015 Panama Papers revealed that Putin may obscure and bolster his fortune through proxies.

We've put together a list of all the clues that indicate Putin is likely one of the richest people on the planet:

As President of Russia, Putin's official residence is the Moscow Kremlin. However, he spends most of his time at a suburban government residence outside of the city called Novo-Ogaryovo.





Official records published in 2016 by the Kremlin would have us believe that Putin has a very modest real estate portfolio. The report said he owned a small plot of land and an apartment with a garage. But over the years, Putin has been linked to other properties. The most controversial of which is the so-called "secret palace." This was reportedly built for Putin using illegal state funds.




This epic mansion reportedly cost $1 billion to build. It has a private theater and landing pad with room for three helicopters.







And the following year, opposition leader and Putin critic Boris Nemtsov produced a dossier claiming that Putin owned multiple private jets, helicopters, and yachts. Nemtsov alleged that, out of the 20 state residences Putin had access to, nine were built during his tenure as president.

The president was also accused of owning 58 different types of aircraft, including a Dassault Falcon, which seats 19.



One of his planes was said to have an $11 million cabin fitted out by jewelers and that toilet which cost close to $100,000. This plane has room for up to 186 passengers. Putin is accused of owning five of these.





The dossier claimed Putin has a collection of four yachts, each costing thousands of dollars to maintain. Rossiya, one of his yachts, was upgraded in 2005. It reportedly cost $1.2 billion to do. "The Graceful," another of his yachts, (shown below) reportedly sleeps 14 people and has six bedrooms.




Then there's Olympia. He was reportedly given this 57-meter luxury yacht, worth $35 million, as a gift from Chelsea football club owner and oligarch Roman Abramovich. According to a former head of a state shipping company in Russia, Putin runs the yacht using state money.


A $1 million Patek Phillippe going up for auction in July 2017 was also said to be owned by Putin. Accompanying documentation claimed he was the owner. The Kremlin denied these claims.



In 2007, ex-Kremlin official Stanislav Belkovsky claimed that Putin had a $40 billion fortune hidden away in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. At the time, that would have made him the fourth wealthiest person in the world, between business magnate Carlos Slim and late IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad.





At the time, Belkovsy said Putin secretly controlled 37% of the shares of Surgutneftegaz and 4.5% of Gazprom, two giant Russian oil companies. He also said he controlled "at least 75%" of Swiss oil trader Gunvor, the Guardian reported, but added, "I suspect there are some businesses I know nothing about." Gunvor has refuted these claims, however. "President Putin does not and never has had any ownership, beneficial or otherwise in Gunvor," a Gunvor spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider. "He is not a beneficiary of Gunvor or its activities."

Estimates of Putin's net worth have only risen over time. Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, believes that Putin has access to a secret fortune of $200 billion. Browder had invested in Russia in the 1990s, but ultimately came into conflict with Putin. After Browder's lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was jailed and brutally killed while investigation corruption, Browder advocated for the passage of the "Magnitsky Act" in 2012, leading to US sanctions against Russian oligarchs.

Putin's inner circle is actually the reason why no one can seem to pin down Putin's exact worth with any certainty. The Guardian reported that in 2010, "US diplomatic cables suggested Putin held his wealth via proxies," including his best friend Sergei Roldugin and banker Yuri Kovalchuk.

The repeated rebuttals have done nothing to dispel the scrutiny on Putin's alleged riches. “In a country where 20  million people can barely make ends meet, the luxurious life of the president is a brazen and cynical challenge to society from a high-handed potentate,” Nemstov wrote in one 2012 white paper. The politician, a longtime and vocal critic of Putin, was assassinated in 2015.

[Nitro Express]

WTF? Putin is literally the biggest swamp maker in history!!!

http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-putin-spends-his-mysterious-fortune-2017-6

No one knows Putin's exact net worth, but many speculate he's the wealthiest person on the planet — his $1 billion palace and $500 million yacht explain why

Vladimir Putin very well may be the richest man in the world.

But it's impossible to say for sure. According to the Kremlin, the Russian president earns around $133,000 a year and lives in a small apartment.

That description doesn't jive with most accounts of Putin's lifestyle. Former Russian government adviser Stanislav Belkovsky estimated his fortune is worth $70 billion. Hedge fund manager Bill Browder, a noted critic of Putin, claimed it was more like $200 billion. A fortune that enormous would propel him straight past Amazon founder and richest man in the world Jeff Bezos, who Forbes estimates has $125.6 to his name.

So why can't we pin down Putin's net worth with any certainty? The 2015 Panama Papers revealed that Putin may obscure and bolster his fortune through proxies.

We've put together a list of all the clues that indicate Putin is likely one of the richest people on the planet:

As President of Russia, Putin's official residence is the Moscow Kremlin. However, he spends most of his time at a suburban government residence outside of the city called Novo-Ogaryovo.





Official records published in 2016 by the Kremlin would have us believe that Putin has a very modest real estate portfolio. The report said he owned a small plot of land and an apartment with a garage. But over the years, Putin has been linked to other properties. The most controversial of which is the so-called "secret palace." This was reportedly built for Putin using illegal state funds.




This epic mansion reportedly cost $1 billion to build. It has a private theater and landing pad with room for three helicopters.







And the following year, opposition leader and Putin critic Boris Nemtsov produced a dossier claiming that Putin owned multiple private jets, helicopters, and yachts. Nemtsov alleged that, out of the 20 state residences Putin had access to, nine were built during his tenure as president.

The president was also accused of owning 58 different types of aircraft, including a Dassault Falcon, which seats 19.



One of his planes was said to have an $11 million cabin fitted out by jewelers and that toilet which cost close to $100,000. This plane has room for up to 186 passengers. Putin is accused of owning five of these.





The dossier claimed Putin has a collection of four yachts, each costing thousands of dollars to maintain. Rossiya, one of his yachts, was upgraded in 2005. It reportedly cost $1.2 billion to do. "The Graceful," another of his yachts, (shown below) reportedly sleeps 14 people and has six bedrooms.




Then there's Olympia. He was reportedly given this 57-meter luxury yacht, worth $35 million, as a gift from Chelsea football club owner and oligarch Roman Abramovich. According to a former head of a state shipping company in Russia, Putin runs the yacht using state money.


A $1 million Patek Phillippe going up for auction in July 2017 was also said to be owned by Putin. Accompanying documentation claimed he was the owner. The Kremlin denied these claims.



In 2007, ex-Kremlin official Stanislav Belkovsky claimed that Putin had a $40 billion fortune hidden away in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. At the time, that would have made him the fourth wealthiest person in the world, between business magnate Carlos Slim and late IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad.





At the time, Belkovsy said Putin secretly controlled 37% of the shares of Surgutneftegaz and 4.5% of Gazprom, two giant Russian oil companies. He also said he controlled "at least 75%" of Swiss oil trader Gunvor, the Guardian reported, but added, "I suspect there are some businesses I know nothing about." Gunvor has refuted these claims, however. "President Putin does not and never has had any ownership, beneficial or otherwise in Gunvor," a Gunvor spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider. "He is not a beneficiary of Gunvor or its activities."

Estimates of Putin's net worth have only risen over time. Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, believes that Putin has access to a secret fortune of $200 billion. Browder had invested in Russia in the 1990s, but ultimately came into conflict with Putin. After Browder's lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was jailed and brutally killed while investigation corruption, Browder advocated for the passage of the "Magnitsky Act" in 2012, leading to US sanctions against Russian oligarchs.

Putin's inner circle is actually the reason why no one can seem to pin down Putin's exact worth with any certainty. The Guardian reported that in 2010, "US diplomatic cables suggested Putin held his wealth via proxies," including his best friend Sergei Roldugin and banker Yuri Kovalchuk.

The repeated rebuttals have done nothing to dispel the scrutiny on Putin's alleged riches. “In a country where 20  million people can barely make ends meet, the luxurious life of the president is a brazen and cynical challenge to society from a high-handed potentate,” Nemstov wrote in one 2012 white paper. The politician, a longtime and vocal critic of Putin, was assassinated in 2015.

Don't worry Sesh. I was joking with my comment. I was being sarcastic.

[Nitro Express]

Putin is a Russian czar. That being said the Russian people have it better now than they ever did. Still better than Stalin or Ivan the Terrible. Russia has a pretty rough history. Been there in the 70's. The 90's and not too long ago. The best is now. Of course St. Petersburg and Moscow are the show pieces but even in Irkutsk things were looking better. Corruption? Plenty.

[Seshmeister]

Don't worry Sesh. I was joking with my comment. I was being sarcastic.

I'm glad you did so I looked it up.

I was under the impression he had skimmed a few billion and 'hid' it in his daughter's name, I had no idea he had taken so much so blatantly.

[Seshmeister]

Putin is a Russian czar. That being said the Russian people have it better now than they ever did. Still better than Stalin or Ivan the Terrible. Russia has a pretty rough history. Been there in the 70's. The 90's and not too long ago. The best is now. Of course St. Petersburg and Moscow are the show pieces but even in Irkutsk things were looking better. Corruption? Plenty.

Yeah this is the impression I get from friends who have been, Putin is popular because things were so fucked up before him.

Also of course imagine all your news media was like Fox news.

[Nitro Express]

That's pretty much it. My uncle was a Russian history professor and also fluent in the language and after detant he arranged a trip to the Soviet Union in 1975 and my parents went and of course I got dragged along. Unless you saw it you have no idea how stifling that system was. They were trying to make a good impression of course but you can't hid that level of oppression. Just trying to buy something took half the day if you could find anything to buy. Then we visited in the 90's during Yeltsin's reign. The country was in chaos. There was no law and order and it was scary. It almost made you miss the KGB. At least under communism you were safe unless the government had a problem with you. Under Putin the law and order was back and the falling apart infrastructure was starting to become repaired. We couldn't believe it was the same country. Putin probably was a better leader when he first came in but the power of office has corrupted him. He's president of a country with 11 times zones. It's not an easy country to govern and I think that fact is what tends to make the leaders of Russia rule with a bit of an iron fist. It's a very big and very diverse country which can get away from you real quick if you don't grab the bull by the horns. Of course the Saudi Arabians are similar in a way. The main export is oil. You can be overthrown if you aren't thuggish. So you live well on the top and keep a boot on the throats of any potential problems. That being said you have a lot more freedom in Russia than you do in Saudi Arabia. We bitch about Putin and frankly him and Russia seem to be used as a red herring to divert the public's attention from the domestic criminals here and in Europe. Never mind my theft, look at what Putin is up to! At the end of the day Vladamir Putin probably just wants to live the good life and he probably uses us as a red herring for all his bullshit.

[Nitro Express]

But I hear all this bitching about Putin and I just roll my eyes. I suppose people would rather have Zhironovsky run Russia. Most the countries on the planet are dictatorships. Hell, even in the west we are becoming fascists. Look at Brexit. The politicians are wiping their ass with the vote. No we are going to do what our corporate owners want not what the public votes for.

[FORD]

Zhironovsky has been around forever. He was the perennial fringe candidate against Yeltsin back in the 90s. Never got much of the vote even back then.

I'd call him the Russian Trump..... except the American Trump seems to have that territory claimed already.

[Seshmeister]

I suppose people would rather have Zhironovsky run Russia. Most the countries on the planet are dictatorships. Hell, even in the west we are becoming fascists. Look at Brexit. The politicians are wiping their ass with the vote. No we are going to do what our corporate owners want not what the public votes for.

I must have missed the bit where the UK threatened Russia, our armed forces are now the smallest they have been since the early 1800s.

I'm not sure what your Brexit comment means but bear in mind it was a 52-48 vote and that there were massive lies told by the Yes campaign. Also old people were predominantly voting yes and and people under 40 No. You can run the stats that by the time it happens enough of the old people will have died that if you only count the votes of those still living the No's win.

Brexit was voted for by an alliance of rich media moguls, uneducated people, anarchists but mainly it was the old people that won it. The correlation with Trump is the number of people voting against their own self interests because they don't understand the world in which they live and old people voting for a time when their dick still worked and they didn't hear so many foreign voices on the bus.

[Nitro Express]

Zhironovsky has been around forever. He was the perennial fringe candidate against Yeltsin back in the 90s. Never got much of the vote even back then.

I'd call him the Russian Trump..... except the American Trump seems to have that territory claimed already.

Yup. He's pretty entertaining to watch. Hate to say it but we live in the age of celebrity. Celebrities get more attention than politicians. Celebrity is one major reason Trump won. That's the way it is in our popular culture. I think you are going to see more people seeking office mimicking Trump and political parties trying to find their own celebrity to run. The Democrats are toying with running The Rock for president. I think you are going to see a shift from identity politics to my celebrity can beat your celebrity. That's where it's going.

[Nitro Express]

I must have missed the bit where the UK threatened Russia, our armed forces are now the smallest they have been since the early 1800s.

I'm not sure what your Brexit comment means but bear in mind it was a 52-48 vote and that there were massive lies told by the Yes campaign. Also old people were predominantly voting yes and and people under 40 No. You can run the stats that by the time it happens enough of the old people will have died that if you only count the votes of those still living the No's win.

Brexit was voted for by an alliance of rich media moguls, uneducated people, anarchists but mainly it was the old people that won it. The correlation with Trump is the number of people voting against their own self interests because they don't understand the world in which they live and old people voting for a time when their dick still worked and they didn't hear so many foreign voices on the bus.

I just heard the Brits voted for leaving the European Union and the politicians are doing everything they can to not allow that to happen. So it seems like democracy is failing because the voters aren't getting what they voted for. From the Russian perspective the EU usurped the power of the countries who are members of it. Meaning unelected officials in Belgium have more authority and power than the elected officials in the individual countries. Russia is very nationalist. There is great suspicion of the EU there so Zheinovsky is going to take a shot at May because she's pro EU. What's funny is in many ways the conservative right in the US and the nationalist Russians have a lot in common.

[Seshmeister]

I just heard the Brits voted for leaving the European Union and the politicians are doing everything they can to not allow that to happen. So it seems like democracy is failing because the voters aren't getting what they voted for.

It's not that the politicians are doing everything to prevent it happening, the problem is that no one thought it would happen and no one knows how to do it without wrecking our economy. As I said the people that voted for it were on the whole the least informed about what it would mean. There are also levels of Brexit ranging from pretending that the place that 60% of your trade is with doesn't exist and just backing out of the more federal aspects of membership at the other extreme. Given it was such a small majority reflecting the voters wishes would be to do the minimum. Personally I think it is vital that any deal that they make should go to a second vote but I don't think that's going to happen and the country has shot itself in the foot. I'm looking around for ways to get my family citizenship of another European country.