FBI raids Michael Cohen's office

[Cartmann99]

Does anyone remember when people were asking Cohen if he'd been to Prague, and he said no and tweeted a picture of the front of his passport as "proof" of his claim?

 

[fraurosena]

 

[fraurosena]

It's not a rumour anymore. The FBI has recordings.

Trump, Cohen spoke Friday as feds look into seized recordings, sources say

Quote

Sources tell ABC News President Donald Trump spoke Friday with his personal attorney Michael Cohen who, according to court documents, has been under criminal investigation for months, largely centered on his business dealings. Sources say Cohen still remains Trump's attorney.

Federal agents who raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel room this week seized recordings, sources familiar with the raid tell ABC News.

Sources say Cohen was known to record conversations with reporters so he could show them to Trump in order to deal with reporters on certain stories. Cohen was known to record other types of discussions and communications too, which sources say, could include communications with Trump. The contents or details of the recordings seized is not clear.

As ABC previously reported, agents were hunting for records tied to secret deals with alleged mistresses, media organizations and the 2016 presidential campaign, according to two sources who are familiar with the warrant and detailed its contents.

Cohen has not commented to ABC News about the criminal investigation.

The New York Times first reported the phone call between Trump and Cohen.

[from the above NYT article: Mr. Trump called Mr. Cohen on Friday to “check in,” according to two people briefed on the call. Depending on what else was discussed, the call could be problematic, as lawyers typically advise their clients against discussing investigations.]

Sources said, according to the warrant, investigators sought records related to Cohen’s interactions with adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had a one-night stand with Trump in 2006, and Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims they had a 10-month affair from 2006 to 2007. Both women said they had consensual relationships with Trump long before he was elected president. Trump has denied their accusations. Investigators also sought records related to Cohen’s interactions with Trump campaign officials during the 2016 election cycle, according to the sources. Sources told ABC News that investigators were also searching for records of any discussions Cohen held about the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape released in October 2016 in which Trump can be heard bragging to host Billy Bush in 2005 that "when you're a star" women let men "do anything," including "grab them by the p----."

The tape jolted the campaign and forced the Republican nominee to apologize in a publicly televised message from Trump Tower. Early Monday morning, FBI agents carried out a raid on the home, offices and hotel room of the president’s longtime personal counsel. Cohen told ABC News the operation was "respectful" and "courteous,” but the agents carted away documents and Cohen’s electronic devices. On Wednesday, Cohen told ABC News: “I just want my stuff back.”

As Cohen has been under criminal investigation for months, wouldn't it be rather delicious if his phones are tapped?

I am 'Picarding' at the thought of the FBI listening in to that conversation yesterday between Cohen and the presidunce, let alone at all the other conversations between them in the past couple of months.

[hoipolloi]

This video of Cohen from Friday is astounding.

He's yucking it up & smoking cigars with his Russian buddies in full view of the press & public  -- some absolute genius set it to the theme from The Sopranos --  

BTW, Cohen was doing this instead of showing up in Federal Court on Friday. The Judge was NOT pleased:

Quote

[Judge Kimba] Wood also ordered Cohen, who did not attend Friday’s hearings, to appear before her in person Monday at 2 p.m,. when she will hear arguments from his attorneys and the government about whether or not to grant a temporary restraining order Cohen sought late Thursday evening to prevent prosecutors from accessing documents, devices and other materials gathered by investigators.

 

[fraurosena]

If anyone is interested, here's a court filing in the Cohen case. In it the government states it's reasoning for opposing Cohen's motion for a temporary restraining order. 

It contains some legaleze, but is nevertheless quite understandable, and extremely informative on how things went down and why, and points out the ridiculousness of Cohen's counsels' request to do the screening of the documents (ostensibly for privilege but also for responsiveness) before handing over what they think is ok to give to the FBI.

(BTW, for those of you having trouble reading those tiny letters, I find using the documentcloud link instead of clicking on the image in the tweet works best for readability as documentcloud has a zoom function and the image doesn't)

Edited April 15, 2018 by fraurosena

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AnywhereButHere]

 

Spoiler

 

For a lighter look at this whole thing. Live from NY...! 

"What's my nickname?"

"Dead man Walking"

I love Robert DeNiro. 

Edited April 15, 2018 by AnywhereButHere

[onekidanddone]

I miss my dad so much right now.  He died in 2006 and was a political junkie and I inherited the bug from him. If he were alive today he would be making retching sounds every time Trump showed up on the tube. I can also hear him in my head as he would have giggled with glee over each bit if Muller news.

[Howl]

7 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

Thanks for this.  Turns out  a guy in the background smoking a cigar at the Cohen cigar/coffee klatch is Jerry Rotonda, the CFO of (dirty) Deutsche Bank. Muller subpoenaed records from Deutsche Bank and they are facing a hefty fine for money laundering. Really, can this get ANY BETTER?  Could be! Tomorrow is Monday!  Will Stormy attend the hearing? 

We're getting ready to watch the Comey interview. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Howl

[AmazonGrace]

TL;Dr Trump saying Trump should determine what can be used or not

[AmazonGrace]

You have the right to delete your Twitter

 

[AmazonGrace]

Question: if you're your own attorney, is everything you've ever said and done covered by the attorney client privilege?

[fraurosena]

7 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

TL;Dr Trump saying Trump should determine what can be used or not

This is just so stupid. It is the exact same argument used by Cohen's counsel, that was effectively refuted by the filing I posted in my earlier post above.

Are they thinking: if at first you don't succeed, let's try again, but now in the name of the presidunce, because that holds more clout?  Good grief.  It only goes to show that they are despairingly desperate. They have no valid arguments, so their only recourse is to enter the same argument, but from different people in an effort to stall the process. 

I also have questions about the legality of a president of the United States, in his official capacity, becoming an Intervenor in this particular action. An action that could very well have personal legal consequences for the person inhabiting that official position. In essence, isn't this abuse of power, when he's using his position as head of the government in an attempt to withhold evidence from the investigation? If so, this filing is doubly stupid, as it can (and probably will) be used by Mueller's investigation - and if not Mueller's, an investigation by Congress after the blue wave.

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

He may be a crook but it's not a bug, it's a feature.

[AmazonGrace]

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Howl]

Heard on TV this morning:  "Michael Cohen's records are the Rosetta Stone for Trump's finances." 

[fraurosena]

Here's the filing in which the three clients are named:

The biggest takeaway from this filing though? They really, really, really want a Special Master reviewing Cohen's info instead of a taint team. Why? Because a Special Master review can take a very, very long time, plus he/she can't take as long as they want for compiling their report. In the past it has taken years for a Special Master to finally submit their report (the previous filing I posted above contains an example).

Cohen (and the presidunce) are desperate to stall. I suppose they think it will all go away, if it takes long enough. Or maybe they think that they can cover their tracks in the meantime. Or both.

So let's all keep our fingers crossed the judge in this case will rule against a Special Master, and the taint team can start its review soon.

[fraurosena]

Wowsers. This letter is a response from the USAO-SDNY the the presiduncial letter @AmazonGrace posted earlier. It totally wipes the floor with every single argument the presidunce made. 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Cartmann99]

 I just heard the news that Cohen's third client is Sean Hannity! 

[AnywhereButHere]

I guess it's been somewhat proven that Cohen's not much of a lawyer, so I wonder what exactly was he "fixing" for Hannity?

Hmmmm.....

[Cartmann99]

3 minutes ago, AnywhereButHere said:

I guess it's been somewhat proven that Cohen's not much of a lawyer, so I wonder what exactly was he "fixing" for Hannity?

Hmmmm.....

Hannity makes millions every year, why in the hell is he hiring someone like Cohen?!? 

[TeddyBonkers]

I wondered why Sean Hannity was trending on Twitter!

[Howl]

Just keep in mind that Cohen is an extremely wealthy man in his own right (and owns at least one apartment building in NYC,  with fingers in numerous other real estate pies), and has several taxi medallions.  He may also have some investments in Ukraine bio diesel ventures, IIRC, although that could be another Ukraine connected wheeler dealer. 

Cohen's wife is from Ukraine, as is Cohen's brother's wife.