FBI raids Michael Cohen's office

[AmazonGrace]

Just because they're looking for witches doesn't mean they're not going to find any.

[fraurosena]

Every one of those involved in approving the raid is a Republican. Let that sink in.

Rod Rosenstein Personally Approved F.B.I. Raid on Trump Lawyer, Officials Say

Quote

Rod J. Rosenstein, the veteran Republican prosecutor handpicked by President Trump to serve as deputy attorney general, personally signed off on Monday’s F.B.I. decision to raid the office of Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s personal attorney and longtime confidant, three government officials said.

The early-morning searches enraged Mr. Trump, associates said, setting off an angry public tirade Monday evening that continued in private at the White House as the president fumed about whether he should fire Mr. Rosenstein. The episode has deeply unsettled White House aides, Justice Department officials and lawmakers from both parties, who believe the president may use it as a pretext to purge the team leading the investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 election.

Searching a lawyer’s files is among the most sensitive moves federal prosecutors can make as they pursue a criminal investigation. Mr. Rosenstein’s personal involvement in the decision signals that the evidence seen by law enforcement officials was significant enough to persuade the Justice Department’s second-in-command that such an aggressive move was necessary.

Mr. Trump’s advisers have spent the last 24 hours trying to convince the president not to make an impulsive decision that could put the president in more legal jeopardy and ignite a controversy that could consume his presidency, several people close to Mr. Trump said. The president began Tuesday morning with a pair of angry tweets, calling the raids “A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!” and venting that “attorney–client privilege is dead!”

Mr. Trump has long been mistrustful of Mr. Rosenstein, the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, who appointed the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and now oversees his investigation into Mr. Trump’s campaign and possible obstruction of justice by the president. In his remarks Monday night, the president lashed out at Mr. Rosenstein for having “signed a FISA warrant,” apparently a reference to the role Mr. Rosenstein played in authorizing the wiretap of a Trump associate in the Russia inquiry.

Mr. Trump considered firing Mr. Rosenstein last summer. Instead, he ordered Mr. Mueller to be fired, then backed down after the White House counsel refused to carry out the order, The New York Times reported in January. Mr. Trump is now again telling associates that he is frustrated with Mr. Rosenstein, according to one official familiar with the conversations.

While Mr. Rosenstein must sign off on all moves that Mr. Mueller makes, that is not necessarily the case for searches — like this one — that are carried out by other federal law enforcement offices. Justice Department regulations require prosecutors to consult with senior criminal prosecutors in Washington — but not necessarily the deputy attorney general — before conducting a search of a lawyer’s files.

The involvement of Mr. Rosenstein and top prosecutors in New York in the raid of Mr. Cohen’s office makes it harder for Mr. Trump to argue that his legal problems are the result of a witch hunt led by Mr. Mueller. In addition to Mr. Rosenstein, all of the top law enforcement officials involved in the raid are Republicans: Mr. Mueller, Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. Director, and Geoffrey Berman, the interim United States attorney in New York.

While Mr. Trump is focused for the moment on Mr. Rosenstein, many of the president’s advisers and allies are fearful that the president also intends to fire Mr. Mueller in an attempt to end the Russia investigation. Asked by reporters on Monday night whether he intends to do so, Mr. Trump said, “We’ll see what happens.”

“But I think it’s really a sad situation when you look at what happened,” the president added. “And many people have said you should fire him. Again, they found nothing and in finding nothing, that’s a big statement.”

The prospect that Mr. Trump might fire Mr. Mueller was met with fierce responses from Democrats and some Republicans, who warned that such a move would be disastrous for the White House.

Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday on Fox Business Network that “it would be suicide for the president to want to talk about firing Mueller.”

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the top Democrat in the House, on Monday called Mr. Trump’s attacks on Mr. Mueller and his team a “grave reminder of his utter contempt for the rule of law.”

The president has for months been harshly critical of Attorney General Jeff Sessions for having recused himself in the Russia investigation. Mr. Trump renewed that criticism Monday night, saying that “he made what I consider to be a very terrible mistake for the country, but you’ll figure that out.”

As the president’s attacks became more severe over the past months, top Justice Department officials quietly worried about what to do should Mr. Trump fire the special counsel or one of his top officials. They chose to band together in a public show of solidarity in late February, when Mr. Sessions dined with Mr. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who is overseeing Mr. Mueller, and Noel J. Francisco, the solicitor general who would oversee the Russia investigation should Mr. Rosenstein be fired.

 

[AmazonGrace]

Why is he recused?

[fraurosena]

15 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Why is he recused?

That's weird. In the NYT article Berman is named as being one of those approving the raid. I guess they got it wrong then. 

Just thinking out loud, but if Berman really is recused, could it be because he's an interim? 

[AmazonGrace]

If this ends up bringing Trump down, the  funny part is that if Trump had just told all the porn stars to publish and be damned he'd still be the evangelical poster boy and would have lost no voters.

[hoipolloi]

36 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Why is he recused?

Because he was a tRump appointee?

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

39 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

Because he was a tRump appointee?

I don't think so. Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray were also presiduncial appointees. 

[hoipolloi]

Another good one! 

 

[AmazonGrace]

I guess Christie has completely abandoned all hope of a White House sycophant job since he's been seen with  facts on TV. 

 

[fraurosena]

It's looking more and more like they are looking into exactly what Cohen was doing for the presiduncial candidate during the campaign.

Raid on Trump’s Lawyer Sought Records on ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape

Quote

The F.B.I. agents who raided the office and hotel of President Trump’s lawyer on Monday were seeking all records related to the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Mr. Trump was heard making vulgar comments about women, according to three people who have been briefed on the contents of a federal search warrant.

The search warrant also sought evidence of whether the lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, tried to suppress damaging information about Mr. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

It is not clear what role, if any, Mr. Cohen played regarding the tape, which was made public a month before the election. But the fact that the agents were seeking documents related to the tape reveals a new front in the investigation into Mr. Cohen that is being led by the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan.

The disclosure comes a day after it was revealed that the authorities also sought documents from Mr. Cohen related to payments made to two women who claim they had affairs with Mr. Trump, Karen McDougal and Stephanie Clifford, as well as information on the role of the publisher of The National Enquirer in silencing the women.

The new details from the warrant reveal that prosecutors are keenly interested in Mr. Cohen’s unofficial role in the Trump campaign. And they help explain why Mr. Trump was furious about the raid. People close to Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen regard the warrant as an attempt by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to pry into Mr. Trump’s personal life — using other prosecutors as his proxy.

Mr. Mueller’s spokesman declined to comment.

Stephen Ryan, a lawyer for Mr. Cohen, referred to his earlier description of the raid as “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” He has described it as an overreach by prosecutors into the privileged communications between Mr. Cohen and his client, Mr. Trump.

Mr. Cohen served as part fixer, part attack dog for Mr. Trump. He has acknowledged paying $130,000 to Ms. Clifford, a pornographic film actress known as Stormy Daniels, who said she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump. She signed a nondisclosure agreement, promising not to discuss the matter. Agents also sought documents related to deals with other women.

Federal prosecutors are investigating Mr. Cohen for possible bank fraud, but they are also scrutinizing whether these efforts amounted to improper campaign donations to Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump, who had been planning to make a decision this week about whether to sit down with the special counsel for an interview, has taken a more adversarial tone toward Mr. Mueller since the warrant was executed on Monday. Although he had said for months that he wanted to be questioned by Mr. Mueller, his stance has changed since Monday, and the prospect of him willingly being questioned is far less likely, according to two people briefed on the matter.

It seems at least one of the angles this particular investigation is looking at is illegal campaign donations.

Does anyone know what the consequences of making illegal campaign donations are? And more importantly, what the repercussions are of accepting illegal campaign donations?

[onekidanddone]

A line from Breaking Bad sticks out to me now:

You don't need a criminal lawyer, you need a criminal lawyer

[Howl]

In instances like the raid on Cohen's office, the FBI has something called a taint team.  The taint team reviews the materials taken and sets aside files that are not relevant to the scope of the search warrant.  This team does not interact with the team that reviews the relevant files, so the investigation is not tainted. 

HOWEVER, every time I read this I laugh to myself, because taint (for those unfamiliar with its other meaning) is slang for the, uh, perineum.   Because this is related to the Stormy Daniels issues, I find "taint team"  utterly and endlessly hilarious.  

No, no, don't bother.  I'll let myself out. 

Edited April 12, 2018 by Howl

[Cartmann99]

4 hours ago, Howl said:

HOWEVER, every time I read this I laugh to myself, because taint (for those unfamiliar with its other meaning) is slang for the, uh, perineum.   Because this is related to the Stormy Daniels issues, I find "taint team"  utterly and endlessly hilarious.  

No, no, don't bother.  I'll let myself out. 

It's not just you. Also, whenever the thread about the Facebook shenanigans pops up, the abbreviation used for Cambridge Analytica makes me snicker. 

[fraurosena]

2 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

It's not just you. Also, whenever the thread about the Facebook shenanigans pops up, the abbreviation used for Cambridge Analytica makes me snicker. 

I wouldn't be surprised if that's precisely what our clever @AmazonGrace was aiming for. 

[GreyhoundFan]

An update from the WaPo: "FBI raid sought Trump lawyer’s communications with bank that loaned him money against his taxi business"

Spoiler

A federal investigation into what role President Trump’s personal attorney played in facilitating payments to two women who alleged affairs with Trump is also examining the lawyer’s interactions with a bank that gave him loans against his taxi business.

When they raided the office of Trump lawyer Michael D. Cohen on Monday, FBI agents sought his communications with New York-based Sterling National Bank about taxi medallions owned by Cohen, according to a person familiar with the search warrant.

The request indicates that prosecutors may have interest in specific financial transactions that Cohen undertook while using his taxi business as collateral.

The request for records about Cohen’s communications with Sterling provides a fuller picture of the federal investigation into the longtime Trump confidant. The probe appears focused in part on Cohen’s efforts tamp down negative stories about the real estate mogul as he ran for president, according to people familiar with the work of investigators.

People with knowledge of the inquiry have told The Washington Post that Cohen is under investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations.

Cohen has held taxi interests as a side business even as he worked as a top lawyer for Trump for the last decade. Public records show he took out a business loan from Sterling in late 2014 for an unspecified amount using three taxi companies as collateral. Cohen also obtained a $1.98 million real estate loan with his in-laws from the bank in 2015, records show.

Andy MacMillan, a spokesman for Sterling, declined to comment on Cohen, saying customer information is confidential. He said the bank cooperates with all proper government requests for information or documents.

Cohen did not respond to requests for comment. His attorney, Stephen Ryan, declined to comment. Earlier this week, Ryan called the raids “inappropriate and unnecessary” and complained that investigators seized privileged records.

The effort by investigators to obtain documents related to the bank and Cohen’s taxi business is the latest detail to emerge about the raid of Cohen’s office and residences Monday, which enraged Trump.

During their search, federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York also sought information related to Cohen’s October 2016 payment of $130,000 to an adult-film star who claims she had an affair with Trump. Cohen has said he used a home equity line of credit to make the payment and that Trump was not aware of it.

The search warrant also included requests for information on Cohen’s communications with Trump about “potential sources of negative publicity” before the 2016 election, including an “Access Hollywood” tape that captured Trump making vulgar comments about women, The Post has reported.

The inquiry was opened by the Manhattan-based U.S. attorney’s office following a referral from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Though taxi medallions have declined dramatically in value with the proliferation of ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft, they remain valuable assets that allow holders to operate a taxi. The medallions are also often used by their holders as collateral for loans. Industry analysts say the New York City medallions reached a peak value of about $1.2 million apiece in 2014 but are currently worth about $300,000 each.

Cohen started in the cab business in the 1990s while working as a personal injury lawyer, years before he joined the Trump Organization.

In an interview with The Post last year, Cohen said his clients at the time included many taxi cab companies and that he learned one client was selling his taxi business.

“He asked me if I wanted to buy it. So I took a shot and I knew his partner, because I represented him as well. That’s how I got into the taxi business,” Cohen said.

Cohen left the taxi business a decade ago to work for Trump, but he has maintained ownership of a few dozen taxi medallions in New York and Chicago, according to Cohen and public records. He owns his medallions through a series of companies with colorful names such as Sir Michael Hacking Corporation and Lady Laura Hacking Corporation, apparently named for his wife, public records show.

When he was in the taxi business full-time, Cohen worked with Simon Garber, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union who also operated a fleet of cabs in Moscow. (Cohen said he never worked with Garber in Russia.)

Cohen said his New York fleet also included medallions he purchased from his wife’s parents.

By 2003, when Cohen made an unsuccessful New York City Council bid, he owned a fleet of 200 taxis, he told a voter’s guide at the time.

Cohen told The Post last year that he sold the management of the fleet to Garber around that time, but he retained ownership of some medallions. Their relationship soured during a bitter contractual dispute.

By then, Cohen was working as an attorney at the Trump Organization and collecting income on a small number of medallions. He contracted with Evgeny “Gene” Friedman, another immigrant from the former Soviet Union known as the “Taxi King” of New York, to manage his fleet, according to people with knowledge of the taxi industry.

Friedman has struggled financially as the value of taxi medallions has plummeted in recent years. He declared bankruptcy on some of his medallions in 2016 and last year was charged by the New York state attorney general with theft related to allegedly failing to pay $5 million in taxes, according to public records. Friedman has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial June 18.

Friedman’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment. Another Friedman attorney has denied that he committed wrongdoing.

Records held by the New York Department of Taxation and Finance show that Cohen’s medallion companies currently owe more than $55,000 in taxes.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Another tidbit: "Trump’s allies worry that federal investigators may have seized recordings made by his attorney"

Spoiler

President Trump’s personal attorney Michael D. Cohen sometimes taped conversations with associates, according to three people familiar with his practice, and allies of the president are worried that the recordings were seized by federal investigators in a raid of Cohen’s office and residences this week.

Cohen, who served for a decade as a lawyer at the Trump Organization and is a close confidant of Trump, was known to store the conversations using digital files and then replay them for colleagues, according to people who have interacted with him.

“We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes,” said one Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. “Now we are wondering, who did he tape? Did he store those someplace where they were actually seized? . . . Did they find his recordings?” 

Cohen did not respond to requests for comment. Stephen Ryan, an attorney for Cohen, declined to comment. A White House spokeswoman referred a request for comment to Cohen and his attorney.

On Monday, FBI agents seized Cohen’s computers and phones as they executed a search warrant that sought, among other records, all communications between the lawyer and Trump and campaign aides about “potential sources of negative publicity” in the lead-up to the 2016 election, The Washington Post reported.

Investigators were also looking for any records related to adult-film star Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both received payments after alleged affairs with Trump.

It is unknown whether Cohen taped conversations between himself and Trump. But two people familiar with Cohen’s practices said he recorded both business and political conversations. One associate said Trump knew of Cohen’s practice because the attorney would often play him recordings Cohen had made of his conversations with other top Trump advisers.

“It was his standard practice to do it,” this person said. 

Legal experts said Cohen’s taped conversations would be viewed by prosecutors as highly valuable.

“If you are looking for evidence, you can’t do any better than people talking on tape,” said Nick Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor.

Such recordings “would be considered a gold mine,” said Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University who specializes in legal ethics.

“The significance is 9.5 to 10 on a 10-point scale,” he added, noting that investigators know “that when people speak on the phone, they are not guarded. They don’t imagine that the conversation will surface.” 

Federal investigators would not automatically get access to any tapes that might have been seized in the raids. First, the recordings would be reviewed by a separate Justice Department team and possibly by a federal judge. The review is designed to protect lawyer-client privilege and to be sure that the conversations turned over are within the terms of the search warrant, legal experts said.

They noted that the privilege accorded to attorney-client communications does not apply if the conversation was conducted to further commission of a crime or fraud.

Cohen wanted his business calls on tape so he could use them later as leverage, one person said. He frequently noted that under New York law, only one party had to consent to the taping of a conversation, this person added.

During the 2016 race, Cohen — who did not have a formal role on the campaign — had a reputation among campaign staff as someone to avoid, in part because he was believed to be secretly taping conversations.

In one instance, Cohen played a recording of a conversation he had with someone else to a Trump campaign official to demonstrate that he was in a position to challenge that person’s veracity if necessary, an associate recalled.

Cohen indicated that he had something to use against the person he had taped, the associate said.

One outside Trump adviser said Cohen may have begun recording his conversations in an attempt to emulate his boss, who has long boasted — often with no evidence — about secretly taping private conversations. 

In May, for instance, a report appeared in the New York Times detailing fired FBI director James B. Comey’s account of a one-on-one dinner he had with the president, during which he said Trump asked him to pledge his loyalty to the president and he declined. Shortly after, Trump took to Twitter to cast doubt on Comey’s version of events, seeming to imply that he had secretly recorded their encounter.

“James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Trump wrote.

At the time, it was unclear whether Trump truly possessed tapes of his conversation with Comey or was simply trying to intimidate him. And ultimately, just over a month later, Trump cleared up the mystery by admitting in a duo of tweets that he had not, in fact, recorded Comey.

“With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea whether there are ‘tapes’ or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings,” he wrote. 

Tim O’Brien, a Trump biographer and executive editor of Bloomberg View, wrote a column in the wake of Trump’s taping claim saying that Comey likely had little reason to worry. In the piece, O’Brien recounted that Trump frequently made a similar boast to him.

“Back in the early 2000s, Trump used to tell me all the time that he was recording me when I covered him as reporter for the New York Times,” O’Brien wrote. “He also said the same thing when I was writing a biography of him, ‘Trump Nation.’ I never thought he was, but who could be sure?”

But after Trump sued him for libel shortly after his biography came out, O’Brien’s lawyers deposed Trump in December 2007 — during which Trump admitted he had not, in fact, clandestinely taped O’Brien. 

“I’m not equipped to tape-record,” Trump said in the deposition. “I may have said it once or twice to him just to — on the telephone, because everything I said to him he’d write incorrectly; so just to try and keep it honest.”

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

Ohhhh, there is so much there there! 

if you are innocent, and have nothing to hide, you wouldn't be asking them not to look. They are veritably shitting their pants with fear, so scared at what the FBI will find. 

[AmazonGrace]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-negotiated-1-6-million-settlement-for-top-republican-fundraiser-1523638726

Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Negotiated $1.6 Million Settlement for Top Republican Fundraiser

The 2017 deal was on behalf of Elliott Broidy, a businessman who faced allegations he impregnated a former Playboy model, and resembles one Mr. Cohen arranged with Stormy Daniels

Spoiler

 

resident Donald Trump’s personal lawyer negotiated a deal in late 2017 to pay $1.6 million to a former Playboy model who said she was impregnated by a top Republican fundraiser, according to people familiar with the matter.

Michael Cohen, whose office, home and hotel room were raided by federal agents this week, arranged the payments to the woman on behalf of Elliott Broidy, a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee with ties to Mr. Trump, the people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Broidy, a Los Angeles-based venture capitalist, works on the Republican committee with Mr. Cohen, who is also a national deputy finance chairman.

The deal, which hasn’t previously been reported, prohibits the Los Angeles woman from disclosing her alleged relationship with Mr. Broidy in exchange for $1.6 million to be paid to her over two years in quarterly installments, these people said. The first payment was due Dec. 1, according to one of the people.

“I acknowledge I had a consensual relationship with a Playboy Playmate,” Mr. Broidy said in a statement provided by a spokesman. “At the end of our relationship, this woman shared with me that she was pregnant. She alone decided that she did not want to continue with the pregnancy and I offered to help her financially during this difficult period.”

Mr. Cohen didn’t respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the woman’s lawyer, Keith Davidson, said he couldn’t confirm or deny the existence of the agreement.

The disclosure of the agreement puts additional attention on Mr. Cohen, 51 years old, a longtime lawyer and self-described fixer for Mr. Trump. Federal prosecutors are combing through documents they seized during the raids, looking for evidence of bank fraud, among other things, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Investigators are seeking records related to payments to two women who say they had sexual relationships with Mr. Trump, as well as files connected to Mr. Cohen’s taxi business, people familiar with the matter have said.

Mr. Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen Ryan, this week called the use of search warrants “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” President Trump called the raids a “disgrace” and a “witch hunt.”

Mr. Broidy, 60, and Mr. Cohen were appointed to the posts of RNC national deputy finance chairman in April 2017. Mr. Broidy was a vice chairman for the Trump campaign’s joint fund with the Republican Party during the 2016 presidential campaign, helping it raise more than $108 million. He gave more than $160,000 last year to the Republican National Committee, the Journal previously reported.

Since Mr. Trump’s inauguration, Mr. Broidy has often met with the president at the White House and at Mr. Trump’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, according to people familiar with the matter. He helped organize a fundraiser in Los Angeles last month that Mr. Trump attended, the people said.

The nondisclosure agreement involving Mr. Broidy resembles an October 2016 pact in which Mr. Cohen agreed to pay $130,000 to former adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford to prevent her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006, one of the people familiar with the matter said. The White House and Mr. Cohen have denied any encounter took place.

Ms. Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, is engaged in a legal battle with Messrs. Cohen and Trump over the validity of that contract.

 

Quote

The Broidy agreement uses the same pseudonyms for Mr. Broidy and the woman with whom he was allegedly involved—David Dennison and Peggy Peterson—as the earlier agreement used for Mr. Trump and Ms. Clifford, respectively, the person familiar with the matter said. Both agreements had separate side letters that listed the real names of the parties, this person said.

David Dennison is a busy man

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, AmazonGrace said:

Mr. Cohen didn’t respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the woman’s lawyer, Keith Davidson, said he couldn’t confirm or deny the existence of the agreement.

This guy previously represented Stormy and Karen McDougal, and now he's representing another Playboy model. 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/04/politics/stormy-daniels-karen-mcdougal-deals-keith-davidson-invs/index.html

 

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

3 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-negotiated-1-6-million-settlement-for-top-republican-fundraiser-1523638726

Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Negotiated $1.6 Million Settlement for Top Republican Fundraiser

The 2017 deal was on behalf of Elliott Broidy, a businessman who faced allegations he impregnated a former Playboy model, and resembles one Mr. Cohen arranged with Stormy Daniels

 

Broidy has stepped down.  "RNC deputy finance chair steps down after admitting Trump’s lawyer negotiated settlement between him and pregnant Playboy model"

Spoiler

A top GOP fundraiser and prominent backer of President Trump stepped down from his Republican National Committee post Friday after revelations that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen arranged a $1.6 million settlement with a former Playboy model the donor had impregnated.

Los Angeles-based investor Elliott Broidy, who has been a top fundraiser for Trump and the party, issued a statement Friday acknowledging that he “had a consensual relationship” with the woman, who got pregnant. He said he retained Cohen after the Trump lawyer told Broidy he had been contacted by the woman’s attorney.

“It is unfortunate that this personal matter between two consenting adults is the subject of national discussion just because of Michael Cohen’s involvement,” Broidy said in the statement.

In the wake of the revelation of the deal Friday afternoon, Broidy stepped down from his post as RNC deputy national finance chairman, according to two people familiar with the situation who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity. RNC officials did not immediately return calls for comment.

Federal prosecutors are investigating Cohen for possible bank fraud and campaign finance violations in connection to his efforts to tamp down damaging stories about Trump during the 2016 campaign, according to people familiar with the case.

Neither Cohen nor his lawyer immediately responded to requests for comment on the settlement, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Under terms of the deal negotiated by Cohen for Broidy, who is married, the woman with whom he had an affair is prohibited from talking about the relationship in exchange for payments to be made over a two-year period, according to a person familiar with the details. The deal also allowed the woman to keep the baby, determine paternity and seek child support if she chose to do so.

Cohen’s work on the Broidy settlement, struck in late 2017, came after he negotiated a deal in October 2016, agreeing to pay $130,000 to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who alleged that she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier.

Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented Daniels at the time, also represented the Playboy model with whom Broidy had an affair.

Davidson declined to comment on the settlement. “I can’t confirm or deny the existence of such matters,” he said. “But I’ve always acted in my clients’ best interests and appropriately in all situations.”

“Mr. Cohen reached out to me after being contacted by this woman’s attorney, Keith Davidson,” Broidy said in his statement. “Although I had not previously hired Mr. Cohen, I retained Mr. Cohen after he informed me about his prior relationship with Mr. Davidson.”

Friday’s revelation focuses more attention on Cohen, a longtime Trump confidant whose residences and office were raided by the FBI earlier this week.

Cohen and Broidy met during the 2016 campaign, when Broidy, a California native and major GOP donor, emerged as a key financial backer of the RNC. Until Friday, they both served as deputy national finance chairmen there. Last month, Broidy co-hosted a fundraiser for Trump’s reelection campaign in Los Angeles.

So far this cycle, Broidy and his wife have contributed $614,000 to Republican campaign committees and the RNC, records show.

In the first year of the Trump administration, Broidy was an outspoken advocate at the White House and on Capitol Hill on Middle East issues, particularly the need for action against Qatar, a rival power of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Broidy worked with George Nader, a Lebanese American businessman and power broker in the region who has been working directly in recent years for the UAE, according to people familiar with their relationship.

Nader has been cooperating with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.

In his statement, Broidy said he would “like to sincerely apologize to my wife and family for the hurt that I have caused.”

“I acknowledge I had a consensual relationship with a Playboy Playmate,” he said. “At the end of our relationship, this woman shared with me that she was pregnant. She alone decided that she did not want to continue with the pregnancy and I offered to help her financially during this difficult period. We have not spoken since that time.”

The Broidy deal reveals new details about the relationship between Davidson, a celebrity lawyer in Los Angeles, and Cohen, Trump’s hard-charging fixer in New York.

In October 2016, Davidson negotiated with Cohen the confidentiality agreement for Daniels. Cohen, Daniels and Davidson signed the agreement.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has sued to break the agreement, arguing that it is invalid because Trump failed to sign it. Cohen and Trump are seeking to force the matter out of court and into private arbitration, where proceedings are confidential.

Davidson and Cohen were also in communication about a third agreement involving former Playboy centerfold Karen McDougal.

McDougal, who says she had a 10-month affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007, sold the rights to her story to the parent company of the National Enquirer for $150,000 in August 2016. She has said she understood that American Media was buying her story not to publish it, but to bury it, in what has been called a “catch and kill” arrangement.

The day before she signed the contract, Davidson emailed Cohen and told him by phone that the deal was finalized, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

McDougal has sued to break free of her contract so she can speak freely, arguing that her story about Trump is “core political speech entitled to the highest protection under the law.” AMI has asked the judge to dismiss the case, arguing that the deal is protected under the First Amendment.

 

[fraurosena]

I found this little thread by Brad Heath about the judicial side of the Cohen raid to be quite informative. In it he translates the legal mumbo-jumbo into plainer and more understandable English.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Here's more info to go with @fraurosena's post about Cohen: "Criminal investigation into Trump lawyer’s business dealings began months ago"

Spoiler

NEW YORK — President Trump’s personal attorney Michael D. Cohen has been under criminal investigation for months by federal prosecutors who empaneled a grand jury to probe his business dealings beyond his law practice, according to a new court filing.

Prosecutors revealed the new details about the Cohen probe after his lawyer appeared in court Friday seeking to temporarily halt prosecutors from reviewing documents that FBI agents seized in a search earlier this week of Cohen’s office, home and hotel room.

The 22-page filing states that the recent searches are the result of a “months-long investigation into Cohen, and seek evidence of crimes, many of which have nothing to do with his work as an attorney, but rather relate to Cohen’s own business dealings.”

The government’s motion also reveals prosecutors searched a safe-deposit box used by Cohen – carrying out the searches in part because they feared evidence might be destroyed if they had simply served him with a subpoena. Officials redacted a section in the document explaining why they thought they could not trust Cohen to turn over records willingly.

The filing, signed by acting U.S. attorney Robert Khuzami, also says that while the current investigation was referred by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, the New York investigation “has proceeded independent” of Mueller’s work.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether any crimes were committed as part of an effort by Cohen to squelch damaging stories about Trump when he was a presidential candidate, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Among the material sought by investigators in the search were records related to payments made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, two women who allegedly had sexual liaisons with Trump years ago.

Prosecutors also say that the president’s own statement that he did not know Cohen paid Clifford may negate any claim of attorney-client privilege on that matter. Authorities also revealed that they have already searched a number of email accounts used by Cohen.

“The results of that review... indicate that Cohen is in fact performing little to no legal work, and that zero emails were exchanged with President Trump,” the filing states.

Todd Harrison, an attorney for Cohen, urged U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood to issue a temporary restraining order to let either Cohen’s lawyers or a court-appointed special master review the material seized by FBI agents.

The unusual, high-stakes court hearing Friday featured an appearance by an attorney representing Trump, Joanna Hendon. She argued that material obtained from Cohen had to be handled carefully because some could relate to a sitting president.

While Trump had the “utmost interest” in ensuring that the process of preserving attorney-client privilege was respected, so did the public — and anyone who has ever sought legal counsel, Hendon said.

Whatever the judge decided, Hendon noted, would have to “withstand scrutiny for all time.” Her client, the president “as the privilege-holder, has an acute interest in this issue.”

She added she worried about the “appearance of fairness,” given the stakes. “He is the president of the United States,” she emphasized at one point.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas McKay said the legal issues at stake were no different than other cases involving lawyers’ records.

Referring to Trump, McKay said: “His attorney-client privilege is no stronger than anyone else who seeks legal advice.”

Friday’s court hearing was marked by multiple private conversations between the lawyers and the judge. Wood said the court would reconvene in the afternoon to discuss how to release transcripts of those discussions that redacted the names of people described as “innocent individuals.”

Another lawyer also sought to make his case during the later hearing: Daniels’s attorney Michael Avenatti. When he introduced himself to the judge in order to ask to be heard, Wood seemed to indicate that she was already aware of his identity.

In an interview after the morning session, Avenatti said he wants to make sure “that the integrity of the documents, whatever was seized, is maintained.”

“We want to ensure the documents do not disappear or that there’s a control set that’s maintained regardless of who reviews the documents,” he added. Avenatti said he thinks that some of the documents obtained from the Cohen search relate to his client.

Stephen Ryan, an attorney for Cohen, said in a statement earlier this week that the searches of Cohen’s office and residences were unnecessary and the material seized is protected by the attorney-client privilege.

Searches of lawyers’ offices are rare but not unheard of, and prosecutors use what’s called a separate “taint team” to review the material and exclude any documents that are covered by the attorney-client privilege.

If they find material that does not involve legal advice between a lawyer and a client, or is exempted from the attorney-client privilege because it contains evidence of a crime, that material can be turned over to investigators.

Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and violations of campaign laws, according to people familiar with the matter.

In their search Monday, investigators also sought to obtain records relating to Cohen’s ownership of taxi medallions — high-value assets that are often used as collateral for loans, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

[fraurosena]

3 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Prosecutors also say that the president’s own statement that he did not know Cohen paid Clifford may negate any claim of attorney-client privilege on that matter. 

I laughed so hard at this. In fact, I'm still giggling right now. 

This tweet makes so much more sense now.