FBI raids Michael Cohen's office

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, Howl said:

I wish I could "like" this ten million times.  Mischa Cohen is having a not good, very bad month, and I don't see June, July or August being better. 

What gets me is that Mischa is a Cohen or Kohen meaning the Priestly class because this walking pile of crap has no class.  None at all.

[GreyhoundFan]

"The stench of Michael Cohen’s consulting business grows"

Spoiler

When it was revealed that a U.S. firm with ties to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg had paid Michael Cohen half a million dollars, the firm, Columbus Nova, assured the oligarch had nothing to do with it. “Columbus Nova is an investment management company solely owned and controlled by Americans,” the company assured. “Neither Viktor Vekselberg nor anyone else outside of Columbus Nova was involved in the decision to hire Cohen or provided funding for his engagement.”

We still have no proof that's not the case, but it just got more difficult to believe Vekselberg was a bystander. And it could complicate both Cohen's legal situation and the Russia investigation.

The New York Times and CNN both reported Friday that Vekselberg joined Columbus Nova head Andrew Intrater at a meeting with Cohen at Trump Tower on Jan. 9, 2017 — 11 days before Donald Trump was inaugurated.

Why is that significant? Well, it's actually the second known meeting among the three of them, with the (previously known) first one being on at Trump's inauguration on January 20. And Intrater told the Times there was also a third meeting after the inauguration.

The fact that the inauguration meeting included all three parties could perhaps be understood as a coincidence. Vekselberg, after all, is Intrater's cousin in addition to running an affiliated company, the Renova Group. And the inauguration is an event with many attendees and perhaps some impromptu introductions and meetings. That idea that Cohen may have met Vekselberg there without them forming a relationship and without Vekselberg being involved in Columbus Nova's hiring of Cohen is plausible.

But three meetings involving both Intrater and Vekselberg? That reduces the likelihood that this was just happenstance. The Times reported a couple of days ago that Vekselberg met with Cohen “multiple times.” Now we know the details of the first meeting and that there was a third — which may have even come after Columbus Nova hired Cohen (he was hired in late January, after the inauguration). That's a lot of meetings to have, in relatively proximity, with a third party who had nothing to do with the arrangement between Columbus Nova and Cohen.

Are we to believe Cohen's business relationship with Columbus Nova didn't come up at these meetings? Are we to believe Vekselberg somehow didn't know about it and didn't use it to push for influence over the Trump administration's Russia policy (which was the stated subject matter for the first meeting)? At the very least, having a Russian oligarch in these meetings at a time when the Trump campaign's Russia ties were at-issue would seem to be a bad decision just from a pure public relations perspective. And since then, Vekselberg has featured on a list of oligarchs who have been sanctioned by the Trump administration.

Intrater explained the situation to the Times this way: “Obviously, if I’d known in January 2017 that I was about to hire this high-profile guy who’d wind up in this big mess, I wouldn’t have introduced him to my biggest client, and wouldn’t have hired him at all.” (Side note: It's interesting that he refers to his cousin as his “client.")

This could ultimately amount to nothing, legally speaking — or we could keep learning more about this rather strangely constructed relationship. But it does seem to lend credence to the idea that Cohen was selling access — and that this access was being sold in a roundabout way to a Russian oligarch.

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

Jigsaw puzzles on steroids: 

 

[LeftCoastLurker]

3 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Jigsaw puzzles on steroids: 

 

I'd be happy to help...I love jigsaw puzzles!

[AmazonGrace]

Avenatti is alleging that Stormy's former lawyer revealed attorney client privileged information to Cohen and there is a tape about it. Also that  Cohen has at least one tape of Trump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LKdSraZA7M

[Howl]

On 5/30/2018 at 11:53 AM, AmazonGrace said:

Jigsaw puzzles on steroids: 

 

Yup, if only the US hadn't pulled out of the Iran nuclear treaty, there might be some now grown Iranians with the experience to piece those together!  By the way, Michael Avenatti recommends cross cut shredders only. 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Cartmann99]

Let's say Cohen is getting a discount and is only being charged $700 an hour. $700 an hour times 16 hours a day is $11,200 a day per lawyer, or $168,000 a day for 15 lawyers.

I know Cohen is supposed to be a millionaire, but even if the lawyers take weekends off, that's still $840,000 a week just for the lawyers. 

 

[AmazonGrace]

Signs that you're not hiring all the best people: your lawyer has 15 lawyers

[Howl]

Maybe RNC is picking up the bill, or *smirk* some Russians.  

re: recordings  

A clear view into his is soul, in a "seems like a nice guy" kinda way.   Until recently, Cohen probably got on the horn with these rants periodically, in his enforcer/consigliere persona; it seems blustery, rather than scary, though.  But now I'm thinking back to Stormy Daniels, who claimed she was threatened by a man as she was putting her kid into the car and it seems much more plausible. 

[GreyhoundFan]

8 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Let's say Cohen is getting a discount and is only being charged $700 an hour. $700 an hour times 16 hours a day is $11,200 a day per lawyer, or $168,000 a day for 15 lawyers.

I know Cohen is supposed to be a millionaire, but even if the lawyers take weekends off, that's still $840,000 a week just for the lawyers. 

 

There's a real simple way to avoid spending this money: don't participate in illegal activities. Of course, Cohen would laugh at that idea.

 

[Cartmann99]

9 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Signs that you're not hiring all the best people: your lawyer has 15 lawyers

Later today:

XYZ news has learned that the 15 lawyers representing President Trump's lawyer have obtained their own lawyers. Film at 11.

 

[onekidanddone]

Time for a re-post:

• A heard of cattle
• A pride of lions
• A school of fish
• A slick of lawyers
• A cluster fuck of republicans 

[Audrey2]

7 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Later today:

XYZ news has learned that the 15 lawyers representing President Trump's lawyer have obtained their own lawyers. Film at 11.

 

But unemployment is going down, boosted by the hiring of unemployed lawyers and paralegals by those connected to this administration. I remember reading a year or two ago about the difficulties lower tier law school graduates were having finding jobs. This administration's corruption is providing jobs for them.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Color me unsurprised: "Trump’s campaign to discredit Michael Cohen is already underway"

Spoiler

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III may have referred an investigation of Michael Cohen's business practices to federal prosecutors in New York two months ago, but Mueller is not done with President Trump's personal lawyer yet.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Mueller, investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race and possible coordination with Trump's campaign, continues to probe episodes involving Cohen. A witness who testified in front of Mueller's grand jury last week said many of the questions he faced were related to the president's fixer.

Ongoing scrutiny by Mueller means multiple pressure points for Cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for Trump. Cohen's loyalty is being tested.

ABC News was first to report Wednesday that Cohen will split from the legal team that has represented him in the business investigation, which focuses on possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations. Some legal observers have speculated that the move could signal that Cohen is preparing to turn on Trump and cooperate with Mueller, but The Post's Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger reported that Cohen has not indicated to associates whether he would be willing to cut a deal.

The president and his allies seem to be taking no chances. They have a ready-made, public-relations strategy to deploy if Cohen caves. In fact, they began rolling it out weeks ago.

Trump tweeted in April that “most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories.”

“I don't see Michael doing that,” Trump added, but the message to voters was clear: In the event that Cohen does trade dirt on the president for leniency, don't believe anything Cohen says.

The apparent plan is to discredit Cohen by arguing that whatever compromising information he might share about Trump is a lie, concocted to please Mueller's band of witch hunters and save his own skin.

Alan Dershowitz, a retired Harvard Law School professor who defends Trump on television and serves as an informal adviser, has sought to cast doubt on the reliability of Cohen's potential testimony. Here's part of his April op-ed in the Hill:

It is doubtful that Cohen would cooperate, even if he has anything on his client. But prosecutors often try to get lawyers to “sing” against their clients — to become “canaries” — in order to save their own feathers. Some flipped witnesses will tell prosecutors anything they want to hear in order to earn a “get out of jail free card.” They know that the “better” their story, the more leniency they will earn. So, in addition to singing, they “compose” by making up incriminating details.

I have seen this on many occasions.

Also in April, the National Enquirer took aim at Cohen's credibility by publishing a cover headline that read, “TRUMP FIXER'S SECRETS & LIES!”

Enquirer publisher David Pecker is a friend of Trump who has talked openly about trying to protect the president through his tabloid's coverage.

When CNN asked Cohen whether the Enquirer story was designed to send a message, Cohen replied, “What do you think?”

Though Trump has projected confidence that Cohen will remain loyal, the president and his backers are prepared to make the case that Cohen is a traitor and fabricator who will say anything to stay out of jail.

 

[Howl]

It just occurred to me a few minutes ago how totally phuqued Michael Cohen really is.  If if doesn't cooperate and get some kind of a deal, he'll spend a TON of time in prison.  If there's even a whiff of waffling on the Trump loyalty side of things, there is no pardon.  He's now embarrassed Trump, so there's not gonna be a pardon anyway.  

I really do fear that at some point  soon, when it becomes obvious how far Mueller has burrowed into Trump family finances, especially if Trump isn't appeased by a Nobel Peace Prize or something, he'll do the drastic thing and fire Mueller and Rosenstein and maybe Sessions and plant some sycophant like Judge Jeanine Pirro in there + other imbeciles.  He knows there will be no repercussions and he'll want to do it before the mid term elections.

[fraurosena]

2 hours ago, Howl said:

[...] he'll want to do it before the mid term elections.

Oh, I am convinced that the presidunce will do something drastic before the midterms. I can't predict what it will be, but I'm quite sure he'll find something he can use as a distraction to disrupt the elections in November. He knows full well that chances are a great big blue tsunami will hit him then, and when it does, that it will mean the end of his presiduncy. Plus, I'm willing to bet that more devastating news for the presidunce will come from the Mueller front round about then.

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

Flip alert:

No wonder Trumpy was keen on making some news today

In other news, Manafort is going to jail.

[formergothardite]

1 hour ago, AmazonGrace said:

No wonder Trumpy was keen on making some news today

Trump has to be worried. Cohen knows everything and almost certainly has proof of everything. Trump probably figures it is better to go out and tell the press that he wishes the American people were like the people of NK than to have the  focus be on how fucked he is.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Feds reassemble shredded docs, access encrypted messages from Michael Cohen raids"

Spoiler

Federal prosecutors in New York revealed on Friday that they had pieced back together shredded documents found during search-warrant raids in April targeting Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney.

Lawyers from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan also said they’d managed to download the contents of one old BlackBerry found in the raids, as well as messages from encrypted apps, including WhatsApp and Signal, found on newer phones.

“Approximately 731 pages of messages, including call logs,” were found on those apps and were turned over to Cohen’s lawyers on Friday to be reviewed for potentially privileged materials like attorney-client communications, as well as “highly personal” information, prosecutors said.

The disclosures came in updates submitted on Friday to U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood, who is overseeing a process to review objections that Cohen, Trump and the Trump Organization raised to the immediate examination of the Cohen by prosecutors investigating him.

The retired judge whom Wood appointed to manage that process, Barbara Jones, told the court on Friday that either Cohen or Trump or his companies had retreated from a few of their privilege claims. So far, just a tiny fraction of the material seized appears to be privileged and unlikely to be disclosed to prosecutors.

Of 639 “items” in 12,543 pages of paper records, Jones said, 13 items were deemed privileged or partially privileged, but she’s still considering how to treat one item.

A review of 291,770 items on two phones and an iPad resulted in Jones’ recommending that 148 items be considered privileged and/or partially privileged. Seven items were deemed highly personal, Jones said.

Jones also asked that a Friday deadline to complete the review be extended until June 25.

The judge said in an order Friday afternoon that she was still considering Jones’s proposal to extend that deadline. She gave parties to the case until Monday to lodge any objection to Jones’s recommendations.

Prosecutors also said in their report Friday that the FBI was “still in the process” of trying to extract data from another BlackBerry and couldn’t predict how much data might be on it.

Cohen’s home, office and hotel room were raided two months ago in connection with a federal investigation into potential wire fraud, as well as possible violations of campaign finance law related to a $130,000 payment Cohen arranged days before the election to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. She says the payment was “hush money” to keep quiet about a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

Methinks someone is going to need to start adding Xanax to Dumpy's Diet Cokes.