https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-cooperate-attorneys-leave-case/story?id=55861988

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen likely to cooperate as his attorneys leave case, sources say
By GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS Jun 13, 2018, 12:29 PM ET

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s longtime confidant and former personal attorney, is likely to cooperate with federal investigators, as his lawyers are expected to leave the case, sources said.

To date, Cohen has been represented by Stephen Ryan and Todd Harrison of the Washington and New York firm, McDermott, Will & Emery LLP, but a source representing this matter has disclosed to ABC News that they are not expected to represent him going forward.

No replacement counsel has been identified as of this time.

Cohen, who has been under criminal investigation for months, which is separate from the special counsel case, has been rushing to meet U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood’s Friday deadline to complete a privilege review of over 3.7 million documents seized in the April 9 raids of Cohen’s New York properties and law office.

Cohen, who is under federal investigation now with no legal representation, is likely to cooperate with federal prosecutors in Manhattan, sources said. This development, which is believed to be imminent, will likely hit the White House, family members, staffers and counsels hard.

Two sources who are familiar with a warrant in the case told ABC News in April that federal agents were hunting for records tied to Cohen’s personal business dealings and secret deals with alleged mistresses, media organizations and the 2016 presidential campaign.

Cohen’s attorney at the time of the raids released a terse statement shortly after the April raids arguing that the seized documents included “the unnecessary seizure of protected attorney-client communications between a lawyer and his clients.”

“These government tactics are also wrong because Mr. Cohen has cooperated completely with all government entities,” Stephen Ryan said.

Two days after the raids, Cohen told ABC News: “I just want my stuff back.”

President Trump also lashed out in a tweet, writing, “Attorney-client privilege is dead!”

He told reporters at the White House that the move against his longtime personal attorney, which he likened to a break-in, was a “disgraceful situation.”

“It’s an attack on our country in a true sense. It’s an attack on all we stand for,” the president said during a meeting with senior military leadership at the White House. “That is really now on a whole new level of unfairness.”

Cohen then went to federal court in Manhattan arguing that his attorneys should be given a first look at the materials seized in the raids for items potentially covered by attorney-client privilege before federal prosecutors could examine the haul.

Judge Wood subsequently appointed former federal judge Barbara Jones to act as a “special master” to conduct an impartial review of the materials and to referee any disputes between Cohen and the government.

Trump and the Trump Organization intervened in the case and were also granted access to review the materials for potentially privileged items.

Jones reported last week that of the first 300,000 items reviewed, she had determined that just 162 of them were covered by attorney-client privilege. She rejected three items that Cohen, Trump or the Trump organization had designated as privileged.

Judge Wood has given Cohen’s attorneys until Friday to complete the review of the remaining documents. Any remaining items to be reviewed would be turned over to a team of federal prosecutors unconnected to the case to complete the examination of the documents.


ABC News' James Hill, John Santucci, Katherine Faulders and Kyra Phillips contributed to this report.

Told a guy whose wife had died of cancer that he'll never fuck her again. Coehn needs to rat everyone out, and then live the rest of his life in witness protection.

https://www.salon.com/2018/06/07/first-he-auditioned-for-the-apprentice-then-he-was-hired-to-teach-at-trump-university/

Quote: I write about Michael Cohen — I call him a pitbull — how he attacked me and accused me of stealing money and how he screamed and yelled at me.

He actually said, “Gilpin, what do you know? Somebody is stealing money from Mr. Trump and somebody is stealing money from Trump University, and what do you know about it?”

Accused me of it, basically. Then belittled me by saying you'll never "eff" your spouse again.

My spouse had died of cancer and I was fighting for my life. I was raising two daughters on my own as a single dad and burying my spouse.

THREAD: What does the potential cooperation of Michael Cohen mean for the Mueller investigation?

1/ Today @abcnews reported that Michael Cohen is likely to cooperate with federal prosecutors in Manhattan. He has reportedly fired his defense attorneys.

Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen likely to cooperate as his attorneys leave case: Sources
His law firm not expected to represent him going forward, source says.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-cooperate-attorneys-leave-case/story?id=55861988

2/ It’s not surprising that Cohen is moving towards cooperation, if the @abcnews reports are correct. When the FBI executes a search warrant at your home and office, you’re in trouble. The judge in the Stormy Daniels case concluded Cohen is likely to be charged, and he’s right.

3/ Although Cohen is cooperating with federal prosecutors in Manhattan (not Mueller’s team), cooperation deals typically require the cooperator to provide all information about any criminal activity he knows about. Prosecutors then share that info with other jurisdictions.

4/ Assuming that Cohen has information that will be useful to law enforcement—information that will lead to charges against others—he will get a deal. But one unusual complication is that Cohen is an attorney and some information he has may be about former clients.

5/ There are ample examples of attorneys who are prosecuted—I tried and convicted one—but when they cooperate, everyone involved needs to make sure attorney-client privilege is respected.

6/ Most conversations involving criminal activity likely won’t be privileged because they don’t involve legal advice. Only conversations about legal advice are privileged. A conversation about legal advice isn’t privileged if the advice is used to further the crime.

7/ That last sentence is called the “crime/fraud” exception to attorney-client privilege. It’s more limited than some commentators suggest, but combined with the fact that most criminal conversations aren’t about legal advice, likely few of Cohen’s conversations were privileged.

8/ It’s also worth noting that federal prosecutors allege that Cohen didn’t practice law much, and thus far the documents they seized are consistent with that allegation. The retired judge reviewing the Cohen documents found that less than 1/10th of one percent were privileged.

9/ So if Cohen cooperates, he will have to tell almost all of what he knows about criminal activity to federal prosecutors, who can share that info with Mueller, other federal prosecutors, and state prosecutors.

10/ Trump could derail all of this with a pardon of Cohen. His recent talk of pardons appears to be an attempt to reduce the political damage of giving pardons. If Trump pardoned Cohen for federal crimes, state prosecutors would have to use the evidence gathered by the FBI.

11/ That could result in a cooperation deal for state, not federal authorities. By moving towards cooperation now, Cohen is signaling that he doesn’t believe he will receive a pardon—or he’s trying to get one sooner rather than later.

12/ Regardless of how it plays out, Cohen’s cooperation is a blow to the Trump team and could strengthen the case Mueller is building. How much it helps Mueller depends on what Cohen knows and how forthcoming he is. /end

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1006909313347137536.html

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/michael-cohen-has-hired-a-new-lawyer

MICHAEL COHEN, HOLDING HIS CARDS CLOSE TO THE VEST, HAS HIRED A NEW LAWYER

The president’s former attorney, who parted with his lawyers last week, has now hired Guy Petrillo, who served as the chief of the criminal division in the S.D.N.Y. from 2008 to 2009.

BY EMILY JANE FOX
JUNE 19, 2018 2:52 PM

Last week, as Michael Cohen parted with his attorneys at McDermott, Will & Emery, various speculative guessing games emerged within the media about what the move foretold about his legal future. Was Cohen inching toward cooperating with the government? What part of his legal bill was the Trump Organization responsible for underwriting? All along, people close to Cohen told me that the move was merely part of a larger strategy. The lawyers at McDermott, Will & Emery specialized in document review, which was required given the 3.7 million documents seized by the government from Cohen's hotel room, apartment, and office in April. But as that portion of the legal process wrapped up, and a criminal investigation loomed, those close to Cohen signaled he would turn to a lawyer more familiar with the S.D.N.Y. As one longtime friend put it to me, “As far as a criminal case going forward in the Southern District, he’s going to want a New York attorney who came from the Southern District.”

Cohen, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, has now hired Guy Petrillo to represent him in the ongoing criminal investigation of his business dealings in the Southern District of New York. Petrillo, a New York attorney who works with clients in criminal and civil matters prosecuted by the government, served as the chief of the criminal division in the S.D.N.Y. from 2008 to 2009. According to his Web site, Petrillo handles cases involving money laundering and fraud, along with congressional and special investigations. Neither he nor Cohen immediately responded to requests for comment.

News of Cohen’s legal shake-up has inevitably fanned speculation about whether he would flip. The conjecture appeared to weigh on Donald Trump, who distanced himself from his former personal attorney when asked by reporters outside the White House last week if he thought Cohen would cooperate with the government. “I always liked Michael,” he told reporters.

The use of the past tense was not lost on those close to Cohen. These people say that Trump has been foolishly careless with how he has publicly talked about Cohen, who they believe holds all the cards in the situation. “That one line had to be the dumbest thing ever said,” one person familiar with his thinking told me. And that, indeed, would be quite an accomplishment.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-cohen-resigns-rnc-committee-post/story?id=56033406

the rnc still kept him on board through all this corruption and payoff shit. dude bounced on *them* (supposedly) because of the child separation shit. might as well curry as much good grace with the media as you can before indictment.

.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/publisher-of-national-enquirer-subpoenaed-in-michael-cohen-probe-1529529151

?

https://twitter.com/MichaelCohen212/status/1013580058760540160

He has nothing to do with nothing wrong and is a victim and this is a witch hunt by 13 angry Democrats!

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-cohen-family-country-president-trump-loyalty/story?id=56304585

Michael Cohen says family and country, not President Trump, is his 'first loyalty'
By GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS Jul 2, 2018, 7:08 AM ET

Michael Cohen -- President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney and a former executive vice president at the Trump Organization -- has always insisted he would remain loyal to the president.

He was the fix-it guy, the pit bull so fiercely protective of his boss that he’d once described himself as "the guy who would take a bullet" for the president.

But in his first in-depth interview since the FBI raided his office and homes in April, Cohen strongly signaled his willingness to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York -- even if that puts President Trump in jeopardy.

“My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will,” Cohen told me. “I put family and country first.”

We spoke for 45 minutes Saturday evening at a Manhattan hotel, where Cohen has been staying for the past several months. And during that time, the question of whether Cohen might flip on the president has been the subject of intense speculation.

Even the president weighed in, tweeting in April that “most people will flip if the government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that.”

He described Cohen as a “fine person with a wonderful family.”

But Cohen did not praise the president during our conversation -- and pointedly disagreed with Trump’s criticism of the federal investigations.

When I asked Cohen directly what he would do if prosecutors forced him to choose between protecting the president and protecting his family, he said his family is “my first priority.”

Cohen added: “Once I understand what charges might be filed against me, if any at all, I will defer to my new counsel, Guy Petrillo, for guidance.”

But when I pointed out to Cohen that he wasn’t repeating past vows to “take a bullet” and “do anything” to protect the president, the longtime Trump loyalist left little doubt about where he stands now, saying simply: “To be crystal clear, my wife, my daughter and my son, and this country have my first loyalty.”

Cohen recently retained Petrillo, a highly regarded former federal prosecutor who once led the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan -- the very same office currently conducting the criminal investigation of Cohen.

etrillo is expected to take over as Cohen’s lead counsel in the coming days. And Cohen makes clear that his decision about whether to cooperate will be based not on any previous loyalty to Trump -- but on Petrillo’s legal advice.

Once Petrillo fully assumes his role, a joint defense agreement Cohen shared with the president, which allowed their lawyers to share information and documents with each other, will come to an end, ABC News has learned.

At that point, the legal interests of the president of the United States and his longtime personal attorney could quickly become adversarial.

When I asked Cohen how he might respond if the president or his legal team come after him -- to try and discredit him and the work he did for Mr. Trump over the last decade -- he sat up straight. His voice gained strength.

“I will not be a punching bag as part of anyone’s defense strategy,” he said emphatically. “I am not a villain of this story, and I will not allow others to try to depict me that way.”

Prosecutors in New York’s Southern District are investigating Cohen for alleged violations of election law and possible financial crimes associated with his personal business dealings.

He has not been charged with any crime. But on the advice of his attorney, Cohen declined to address specific questions about matters currently under investigation.

“I respect the prosecutors. I respect the process,” Cohen said. “I would not do or say anything that might be perceived as interfering with their professional review of the evidence and the facts.”

One subject the prosecutors are surely exploring: that $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult-film star Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, less than two weeks before the 2016 election, in exchange for her silence –- a possible violation of campaign finance law.

I asked Cohen if the president directed him to make that payment or promised to reimburse him. In the past, Cohen has said that he acted on his own initiative.

Not this time.

“I want to answer. One day I will answer,” he said. “But for now, I can’t comment further on advice of my counsel.”

On issue after issue, Cohen did, however, separate himself from President Trump -– starting with the president’s criticism of how the government has conducted its investigation.

After federal agents searched Cohen’s New York properties, Trump described the raid as a break-in, an “attack on our country, in a true sense. It’s an attack on what we all stand for.”

“I don’t agree with those who demonize or vilify the FBI. I respect the FBI as an institution, as well as their agents,” Cohen told me. “When they searched my hotel room and my home, it was obviously upsetting to me and my family. Nonetheless, the agents were respectful, courteous and professional. I thanked them for their service and as they left, we shook hands.”

Cohen also refused to criticize the Mueller investigation.

"I don’t like the term witch hunt,” he said, adding that he condemned Russia for interfering in the 2016 election.

“As an American, I repudiate Russia’s or any other foreign government’s attempt to interfere or meddle in our democratic process, and I would call on all Americans to do the same,” he said.

And in a direct rebuttal to President Trump, who sent out a tweet last week repeating Vladimir Putin’s claim that Russia did not interfere in our election, Cohen added this: “Simply accepting the denial of Mr. Putin is unsustainable.”

“I respect our nation’s intelligence agencies’... unanimous conclusions,” he said.

Cohen also repeated his previous denials of any personal involvement with Russian attempts to interfere in our election, declaring that he never went to Prague, as alleged in the Steele dossier, and never colluded with the Russians in any way.

Although he has not been interviewed yet by Mueller’s team, he says he has provided documents and added that he would fully cooperate with them, just as he says he has with the Senate and House committees investigating the matter.

“I appeared under oath before the House Select Intelligence Committee for over six hours and to the Senate Select Intelligence Committee for over eight hours,” he says.

Cohen believes Mueller will not find any evidence that he had any illegal or improper dealings with the Russians.

But Cohen did criticize those members of the Trump campaign who participated in that now infamous Trump Tower meeting in June of 2016 with several Russians after being promised dirt on Hillary Clinton.

“I believe it was a mistake by those from the Trump campaign who did participate,” he said. "It was simply an example of poor judgment.”

When I asked Cohen if President Trump knew about that meeting before it happened, he declined to answer.

“I can’t comment under advice of my counsel due to the ongoing investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York,” Cohen said.

After months of silence, Cohen seemed relieved to be telling more of his story. He visibly relaxed over the course of the interview after telling me -- with some understatement -- that the last year has been “difficult, upsetting and unpleasant.”

When I asked if he had any regrets about how he handled any of the matters under investigation, he said “as an attorney and as an employee, I tried to make good faith judgments in the past. I also acknowledge that I am not perfect. I would prefer not to be in this situation at all, obviously.”

This interview, he hopes, will be a first step towards his ultimate goal: “Resolution.”

“I want to regain my name and my reputation and my life back," he said.


Jim Hill, Eliana Larramendia and the ABC News specialized units contributed to this report.

Prediction: He's going to do as much as possible to protect Trump and everyone else while protecting himself.

So he might need to snitch a little, but he ain't going to tell the whole truth.

He knows that federal charges can be pardoned, and he knows that he might be able to fight off (or at least reduce) any state charges. But he'll need a big pile of money to do that with any confidence. So he's doing this dance, dangling the possibility of his cooperation to try to get Trump himself, or anyone who cares about protecting Trump, to pony up some of his legal bills.

At the very least, he knows that his family won't be prosecuted, so if he can minimize his own liability to state charges, and be confident that the Trump Organization will see to it that his family stays comfortable while he's up the river, then that might be enough for him.

Or maybe I've been watching The Wire too much.

I just think that in the end, he's going to flip. Who would want to go to jail for Donald Trump? I'm sure Mueller has been able to find lots of interesting stuff, but we'll see.

>Who would
>want to go to jail for Donald Trump?

You're right, though, and as our President likes to say: we'll see.

the whole gang.

along with his intent to pull out of the joint agreement with trumps legal team later this week, indicate he is likely to cooperate with sdny investigators.

flynn pulled out of his joint agreement with trumps lawyers and started cooperating with mueller shortly thereafter.

even that traffic ticket he got at age 19...they might ask about that too....remember..they got all the info...the questions are going to be a formality

that is about to drop.

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1013929550986792966

https://usa.spectator.co.uk/2018/07/what-does-michael-cohen-know/


https://twitter.com/therickwilson/status/1013936054884339712?s=21

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1014970677307289601

https://twitter.com/AriMelber/status/1014976237142454272

Dude is in debt to his eyeballs
No real employment or assets
And already burned through months of legal fees

https://twitter.com/LannyDavis/status/1016280422928576513

Did @rudygiuliani really say on Sunday shows that @michaelcohen212 should cooperate with prosecutors and tell the truth? Seriously? Is that Trump and Giuliani definition of “truth”? Trump/Giuliani next to the word “truth” = oxymoron. Stay tuned. #thetruthmatters

As in, let's get these clowns dead or litigated out of office before they have time to vote in another racist right-wing SC nom.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/ex-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-discussing-plea-deal-prosecutors-n902571

"Several major companies say Cohen contacted them after Trump’s upset victory in the 2016 president election promising access to the new administration. An official with the pharmaceutical company Novartis said the company signed a one-year, $1.2 million contract with Cohen, and AT&T also said it has met with Cohen. AT&T confirmed in an email to employees saying it had hired “several consultants” in early 2017 to help it “understand” the incoming administration."

if not, why would these companies think it was a good idea?

so most likely figured they could buy there way to get the merger approved. either outright bribing or paying for 'a way in'

big businesses are just interested in whatever helps their stock price


>"Several major companies say Cohen contacted them after
>Trump’s upset victory in the 2016 president election
>promising access to the new administration. An official with
>the pharmaceutical company Novartis said the company signed a
>one-year, $1.2 million contract with Cohen, and AT&T also said
>it has met with Cohen. AT&T confirmed in an email to employees
>saying it had hired “several consultants” in early 2017 to
>help it “understand” the incoming administration."
>
>if not, why would these companies think it was a good idea?

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former longtime personal attorney, tentatively reaches a plea deal: Sources

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-cohen-president-trumps-longtime-personal-attorney-reaches/story?id=57310974

According to an anonymous CNN source

he might mention the silver spoon

the feds have everything already

essentially he has nothing to offer and the plea is just speed things up so they can get on with the rest (imo)

(but not cooperating)

Campaign finance violations?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/nyregion/michael-cohen-plea-deal-trump.html

Approached with a degree of skepticism. Not that the information within isn’t non factual but that often misleads and ilor omits critical information for a fuller understanding of the facts.

Sorry, I follow many spots of this case from afar so as not to burn my NYT/NewYorker/etc. free reads per month too quickly, but The Press Box guys always big up Haberman whenever the Times comes up so I figured she was a free pass on everything 'cause they seem very academic and trustworthy in their takes. I know she's on the Trump beat hard, but does she go too hard or something?


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

>Sorry, I follow many spots of this case from afar so as not
>to burn my NYT/NewYorker/etc. free reads per month too
>quickly,

Use incognito to work around this problem.

but The Press Box guys always big up Haberman
>whenever the Times comes up so I figured she was a free pass
>on everything 'cause they seem very academic and trustworthy
>in their takes. I know she's on the Trump beat hard, but does
>she go too hard or something?

Maggie Haberman has basically acted as Trump's mouthpiece from time to time. She subtly defends him or "carries water for him". She has been called out a few times by other journalists on twitter because of it.

But I suppose now is a time to be more diligent about giving it a shot.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

>But I suppose now is a time to be more diligent about giving
>it a shot.

Sorry, I should have added to clear cookies and cache in conjuction with using incognito. I do that and never have a problem with NYT website.

It's literally a Joe McCarthy trick that was passed down to him by Roy Cohn.

Even stories that seem damaging to him. And he does it now when he wants to rotate the media narrative. Supposedly Haberman has been his main mouthpiece for this since he came to office, even calling her directly sometimes.

I don't know if I'd blame her for it. She gets big stories, corroborates them, writes them up and doesn't reveal her source. That much is what a reporter is supposed to do.

But whenever we get one of these bombshell reports from Haberman, I always pause and ask myself if it's actually as important as the story it's gonna supplant in the media narrative.

= trump knew from the beginning =campaign finance violations =

-is it possible to indict a sitting prez?
-constitutional crises
-supreme court decision

he walking out in cuffs. broke

https://twitter.com/MichaelCohen212/status/678410436774141956

https://twitter.com/LannyDavis/status/1032026098320789504

https://twitter.com/JohnJHarwood/status/1032004513232760833

chris collins about a week ago and now duncan hunter.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/21/politics/duncan-hunter-campaign-charges/index.html

wtf apparently the same family has held this seat for like 30 years

dude had zero qualms about running for re-election while under investigation for easily traceable shit he knew he would be indicted for.

and people had zero qualms voting for him.

That guy rules.

*crosses fingers*

told Rachel Maddow that Cohen knows everything..and is fixin to tell everything..if he hasn't already...and that Trump was in on everything.

https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/1032080049980272640

info on collusion, knowledge of hacks, etc.

basically what we all know is the logical conclusion to all of this.

literally everything theyve been accused of (and initially deny) turns out to be true.

What are the chances this is just a signal to Trump to do him a solid, or else?

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1032157499510738944


https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1032157499510738944.html

(THREAD) So what happens now that Michael Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, has said on MSNBC that Cohen will tell Mueller (a) Trump colluded with the Russians, and (b) his collusion involved knowing about Russian hacking *in advance*? I'll break it down. Hope you'll read and share.

1/ First, here's video of what Michael Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, said on MSNBC last night, which was perhaps the most shocking thing anyone has said on TV in the last decade when you think about its implications for this presidency and for the nation:

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/cohen-more-than-happy-to-tell-mueller-all-that-he-knows-attorney-1303813187974?v=raila

2/ Second, here's an example of how it's being covered. One question that will be answered today is whether The New York Times and The Washington Post appreciate the import of what Davis said *enough* to report on this story as they *did not do* yesterday:

https://nypost.com/2018/08/21/cohen-willing-to-tell-mueller-about-conspiracy-to-collude-lawyer/

3/ Third, understand that while Davis (@LannyDavis) is unlikely to walk back what he said to MSNBC, you *should* expect him to *clam up* and realize that revealing what he revealed was a mistake. He wasn't serving his client well and what he did on MSNBC was deeply irresponsible.

4/ What Davis did was irresponsible (and I say this attorney to attorney, as I've tagged Lanny and he follows this feed) because as an attorney you *mustn't* do *anything* that could jeopardize your client beyond the jeopardy they already face. Davis' words were harmful to Cohen.

5/ Cohen needs his value to Mueller to be as high as it can be; revealing what he has in the media damages the value of his information by giving information to potential jurors, the media, and Mueller critics when what Mueller *wants* is to have information others do *not* have.

6/ When a prosecutor doesn't control the flow of valuable information that's incoming to him—or for all we know, has already come to him—by a witness' proffer, it can slam doors in the faces of his investigators that wouldn't have been slammed if the information was closely held.

7/ For instance, imagine that there's a witness willing to talk to Mueller if s/he believes Mueller does *not* know about Trump's collusion who suddenly will *refuse* to talk to Mueller (or his investigators) if s/he discovers that Mueller *has* been told about Trump's collusion.

8/ Mueller wants to control the information Cohen is going to give him—when it's released, who has it, how it's framed, how it shapes his probe. He doesn't want Cohen's lawyer making those decisions. I suspect that's why Davis had *clammed up* by the time he spoke to @ChrisCuomo.

9/ So don't expect Lanny Davis—who I think, as a Clinton ally, was a bit giddy about being able to stick it to Trump, and let his emotions overrule his professional instincts—to repeat his claim that Cohen can confirm Trump-Russia collusion. But the thing is—he *already said it*.

10/ What that means is that The Washington Post and The New York Times *have* to report what Davis said. They can say, "Well, he *intimated*..." but the fact is, if the Times and Post report what Davis said, *most* Americans will assume Cohen is confirming Trump-Russia collusion.

11/ And let's be clear: Davis *absolutely* confirmed that what Michael Cohen is now offering Mueller is that Trump *did* collude with Russia under *any definition of that word* you might choose to use. And Davis *can't* unring that bell; that information in the public square now.

12/ The question now is, "Did Cohen already talk to Mueller?" If he already spoke to Mueller—gave even a partial proffer of the information he has—I was right to think there was a sub rosa cooperation agreement lying invisibly behind the favorable plea terms that Cohen got today.

13/ If he *didn't* talk to Mueller already one could *argue* Davis was trying to "tease" the proffer to get Mueller interested—but in fact that's unnecessary, you'd just go to Mueller privately. (And the next step would be Cohen meeting with Mueller's team for *scores of hours*).

14/ And that really is what comes next now: Cohen negotiating his *Russia* knowledge into, he hopes, no prison time. The theory? If Mueller knows I'm already going to prison for about five years, he may run any sentence I get *concurrent* to that one or just let me go altogether.

15/ And that *is* one way to read what Cohen did today: he knew he was getting prison time either way, on the campaign finance stuff *or* on Russia, so he needed to begin the narrative Lanny Davis was pushing on TV tonight and begin it *now*: "I'm here to tell America the truth."

16/ Today's theater—a man pleading guilty with no cooperation deal and accepting prison time—is almost certainly, then, just the appetizer for what Cohen *really* has to offer the government, which is Trump-Russia collusion. This *isn't*—in the end—about Stormy Daniels, that is.

17/ So I would expect Davis to claim up; Cohen to basically disappear; Mueller to *not* leak; and the Mueller *investigation* to take the view of Cohen—who is not a witness anyone will build a case around—it *must*: he can help us get the proof we need, but he can't be our case.

18/ So what changed tonight is we know where the story's headed—that *doesn't* mean we're suddenly going to have more *evidence* than we had, besides knowing what Cohen is telling Mueller behind closed doors in broad strokes. But there's something more important than any of this.

19/ I think I know what "hacking" Davis is referring to—and he's only got it partially right. Cohen can confirm Trump heard from Papadopoulos in April 2016 that Russia had the "missing" Clinton emails. Meaning that he knew Russia was claiming to be hacking. But there's a problem.

20/ The problem is, Russia *never had those particular emails*—they gave *fake* Clinton emails to Trump adviser Joe Schmitz and to Trump campaign agent Peter W. Smith, who said he was working with Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Sam Clovis, and Kellyanne Conway. So it's complicated.

21/ What I think Davis is *really* saying is that Trump knew Russia was boasting of being behind cyber-intrusions in April—about 50 days before DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0. And he responded to that knowledge by furiously working—through his NatSec team—to find those Clinton emails.

22/ Meanwhile, Trump was almost certainly using any backchannel he could to let Russia know he approved of them getting as much Clinton dirt as possible. But did he know about the *DNC* hacking in advance? Davis intimates that he might have, but realize that's *far* less likely.

23/ Simply put, there was *no reason* for *anyone* associated with the Kremlin to risk their IRA/GRU operations by letting a moron like Trump know what they were going to do in advance. They *did* benefit from dangling Clinton emails before Trump because they knew he'd go for it.

24/ That said, *because* Russia *did* make criminal attempts (particularly on July 28, 2016, just one day after "Russia, if you're listening...") to get Clinton's emails, Cohen *is* implicating Trump in Conspiracy to Commit Computer Crimes—as this feed has been saying for a year.

25/ So is there Trump-Russia collusion? I think that's absolutely clear, and Cohen *will* help Mueller *add* to what he's already been told by Flynn, Gates, and Papadopoulos on that score, which I continue to think (particularly as to the first two of those three men) is a *lot*.

CONCLUSION/ The end of this story was all but confirmed tonight—proof of Trump-Russia collusion in the public square and Trump's impeachment or resignation (though resignation would lead to indictment, so he'll avoid that). The question now? *How long it takes to get there*. /end

thank you

>thank you


You're welcome. Truth be told, I'm fascinated by this story/case and try to read as much as I can about it. From what's reported, we probably only know about 15-25% of what Mueller knows, so I always thinks it's weird when people say they are overwhelmed by the information from this case. The are a lot of names, places, and dates and I don't expect that people have it all memorized but for the most part this is a very cut and dry case.

nobody should be saying shit...let Don Sr. do all the talking

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlKFBXlX0AA84FK.jpg

For those of us who hate Trump.

How did so much land on the same day?


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1032247043992023040

Tremendous.

These are some strange, strange times to be living in.

The wild things is that the first troll to be elected president wasn't a millenial, sometime in the 2030s or 2040s, but a 70 year old boomer in 2016.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1032256443985084417

I have to grudgingly respect 45's gangster
the boldness, the IDGAF, the fuck you, pay me brazenness
It has to be liberating to live life not giving a single fuck about anyone and anything, no consequences, no karma, no payback

The current sitting president has respect for a man that broke the law. He has respect for a dude that broke the law behind shady financial dealings. That tells me that Trump himself had or probably currently has murky financial dealings as well.

I've always wondered how our country allowed Reagan to remain in office when he seemingly was in the midst of an obvious mental decline. Now I know. It's embarrassing and depressing really.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/403012-schumer-kavanaugh-hearing-should-be-delayed-after-cohen-plea-deal

Schumer: Kavanaugh hearing should be delayed after Cohen plea deal
BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 08/22/18 11:23 AM EDT

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday said the Senate Judiciary Committee should delay its confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in the wake of former President Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's guilty plea.

"It's a game changer. It should be. ... In my view, the Senate Judiciary Committee should immediately pause the consideration of the Kavanaugh nomination," Schumer said from the Senate floor.

He added that he thought Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, had scheduled Kavanaugh's hearing "too soon" and he believed it should be delayed.

Kavanaugh's hearing is scheduled to begin Sept. 4. Republicans have given no indication they are open to delaying the hearing.

But Democrats are demanding that it be delayed after Cohen pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance law violations.

Lanny Davis, Cohen's lawyer and an opinion contributor for The Hill, has said that Cohen's decision implicates the president in wrongdoing.

"Very clearly, there is no dispute that Donald Trump committed a crime," he told MSNBC's "Morning Joe". "No dispute, because his own lawyers said to the special counsel in a letter that he directed, that's the word they used, Michael Cohen to make these payments."

Democrats have raised concerns that Kavanaugh has a broad view on executive authority and would try to protect Trump from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

Schumer told reporters on Tuesday that Kavanaugh would not say in their meeting if he believed a president could be subpoenaed.

He added on Wednesday that his answer combined with Cohen's plea makes Kavanaugh's nomination a "danger."

"At the very least, the very least, it is unseemly for the president of the United States to be picking a Supreme Court justice who could soon be effectively a juror in a case involving the president himself," Schumer said.

Several Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, which Schumer is not a member of, have also called for Kavanaugh's hearings to be delayed.

i don't trust the GOP to do the right thing ever.

Absolutely hilarious

Looks like he's going to back up claim by Cohen/Cohen's lawyer that Trump new about the payments.


https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1032676407187570688

Mr. Pecker, please tell the court about the buried porn star payoff story

your patience will be rewarded.

Unless the Dems get control of the Senate & the House, that dude is finishing his term, at the very least.

The Republicans won't impeach or convict.

>
> Unless the Dems get control of the Senate & the House, that
>dude is finishing his term, at the very least.
>
> The Republicans won't impeach or convict.

Yesterday morning on Good Morning America, he said as much. The best Mueller can do is present his full case to Congress, but the grounds for Trump being removed will be political and not legal since it's Congress that will have to remove him, not any of court of law.

POTUS is above the law?

They're so scared of angering 45 supporters & losing their support that they won't do anything to anger that clown. ANYTHING. I really believe that Mueller could have hard, indisputable evidence and the GOP would just shrug.

Plus, he's putting into motion a lot of their platform. So they're fine with him getting his hands dirty to enact all their policies.

Congress decided to. What we have is an immoral Congress.

dude can commit all sorts of crimes and as long as Congress doesn't impeach him he can just get away with shit?

>dude can commit all sorts of crimes and as long as Congress
>doesn't impeach him he can just get away with shit?


Yes and no.


There is no precedent if a sitting president can be indicted. Mueller can indict Trump (while still president) if he sees fit, but Trump would ultimately take the indictment to court. The case would make its way to the Supreme Court where it would be decided (if Kavanaugh is confirmed the Supreme Court would probably rule in Trumps favor). Avoiding a long drawn out legal battle it would be easier to just start with the impeachment process in the House of Representatives.

Nixon would have been impeached because he lost the confidence of the Republican Party, so instead he resigned to get out in front of the situation and not be disgraced by the impeachment process.

Trump hasn't lost the confidence of the Republican Party (he ultimately is the Republican Party) so that's why we are in this current predicament. Members of Congress, who are afraid to go against Trump (fear of reprisal, so to speak), that's where the problem lies.

If we had a "normal" Congress, things would probably play a lot differently.

67 votes! 67. And people are excited that they MIGHT, if they're lucky, get to 51. 67 is numerically impossible in 2018.

The hyperpartisanship of modern life is yet another thing that the 'founding fathers' were woefully unprepared for.

>67 votes! 67. And people are excited that they MIGHT, if
>they're lucky, get to 51. 67 is numerically impossible in
>2018.
>
>The hyperpartisanship of modern life is yet another thing that
>the 'founding fathers' were woefully unprepared for.

They need a simple majority in the House to impeach, which could possibly be in play.

But getting those 67 Senate seats for a conviction? Nah, I don't see it happening.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-cohen-expected-plead-guilty-lying-congress-collusion/story?id=59491450

Michael Cohen expected to plead guilty to lying to Congress in collusion probe; gave 70 hours of interviews to special counsel: Sources
By GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ELIANA LARRAMENDIA JAMES HILL
Nov 29, 2018, 9:05 AM ET

Special counsel Robert Mueller has reached a tentative deal with Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney and long-time fixer for President Donald Trump, sources told ABC News.

Cohen is scheduled to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday where he is expected to enter a guilty plea for misstatements to Congress in closed-door testimony last year about his contacts with Russians during the presidential campaign.

Once among the president’s most loyal and zealous defenders in business and politics, Cohen has now promised to “put family and country first” by cooperating with prosecutors, becoming perhaps the most pivotal public witness against his former boss.

Cohen’s earlier plea deal with federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York implicated President Trump in campaign finance felonies. Since then, Cohen has spent more than 70 hours in interviews with Mueller's team. The questioning has focused on contacts with Russians by Trump associates during the campaign, Trump’s business ties to Russia, obstruction of justice and talk of possible pardons, sources familiar with the discussions have told ABC News.

“The potential significance of Cohen’s cooperation is immense,” said Kendall Coffey, a former United States Attorney in Florida.

As Trump’s personal attorney and problem solver for more than a decade, Cohen’s portfolio at the Trump Organization covered personal and business matters both routine and highly sensitive. His dealings while serving as a senior executive in Trump’s global empire include several projects thought to be of interest to Mueller’s prosecutors, most notably the pursuit of a Trump Tower project in Moscow during the presidential campaign.

"It cannot be determined if Cohen’s cooperation will lead to other criminal allegations," Coffey said. "But for most high-powered business people with complex business interests, having one’s personal attorney become a star witness for the prosecution is the worst possible legal nightmare."

Cohen once said that he would “take a bullet” for the president but has now come to regard Trump as dangerously unfit for the presidency, according to people close to Cohen.

He has been determined to tell Mueller’s team, other federal prosecutors and the New York State Attorney General’s Office all that he knows -- and his testimony poses a potentially serious threat to the president, sources told ABC News. They also say Cohen’s voluntary cooperation has been crucial to the special counsel’s case.

The news of the agreement comes during a tumultuous week in the Mueller investigation. On Monday, the special counsel’s plea deal with Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort officially collapsed, with prosecutors alleging that Manafort breached the pact by lying to federal agents and government lawyers during interviews. Manafort’s attorneys dispute the allegations that he lied.

The president this week has been ratcheting up his criticisms of the investigation and Mueller’s team, accusing the prosecutors in a Wednesday tweet of “viciously telling witnesses to lie about facts” and likening the inquiry to the dark period in American history when Republican U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy sought to expose alleged communist sympathizers in the 1950s.

Sources familiar with the special counsel’s proposed agreement with Cohen told ABC News that the 52-year-old New Yorker will admit to making multiple misstatements to two congressional intelligence committees investigating alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. It was not immediately clear what Cohen told the congressional committees in the fall of 2017 that he will now say was false.

Though much remains unknown about the scope of the investigation, Mueller is reportedly at work on preparing his final report and Washington is bracing for the potential of another round of indictments now that the midterm elections have passed.

Cohen’s anticipated agreement with Mueller also comes just two weeks before he is due to be sentenced in a separate case in federal court in New York, which burst into public view in April when federal agents raided his law office and residences.

Cohen pleaded guilty in August to six felonies associated with his personal business dealings - including tax evasion and making false statements to a bank – and two felony campaign finance violations in connection with his role in arranging non-disclosure agreements during the campaign with two women who had claimed past affairs with Trump.

During a plea hearing in that case, Cohen directly implicated President Trump in the alleged schemes to silence the women: adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Cohen told the court that he made the arrangements for those hush-money deals “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” referring to then-candidate Trump, “for the principal purpose of influencing the election.”

Trump has denied the allegations of the affairs and has said that he learned of the deals only after they were made. The president’s attorney, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who once called Cohen an “honest, honorable lawyer,” said after the plea hearing that Cohen’s actions “reflect a pattern of lies and dishonesty over a significant period of time.”

Cohen remains free on bond in advance of a sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 12. He is facing a possible term of 46 to 63 months in prison and a potential fine of up to $1 million.

Cohen’s voluntary cooperation with Mueller could earn him significant credit with the special counsel in advance of his sentencing date in the New York case.

“If Cohen cooperates and provides substantial assistance, he could still receive a recommendation from the government for a reduced sentence even though it was not part of the original plea agreement,” said Barbara McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor and a former federal prosecutor.

Since entering his guilty pleas in Manhattan, Cohen has been talking with multiple agencies investigating the president, sources said. He is doing so voluntarily, without the protection of a formal cooperation agreement or the specific promise of a reduced sentence.

“His cooperation has already created the most serious federal allegations to date concerning President Trump, and more may be coming,” Coffey said.

Cohen’s interviews with Mueller’s team have also been attended in part by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York and by lawyers from the office of the New York State Attorney General, who are investigating the Trump family’s charitable organization.

“Cohen is potentially a very significant cooperator in light of his close relationship with Trump,” McQuade said.

Cohen has confirmed he attended a lunch meeting with a Ukrainian politician one week after Trump took office, where the two men discussed the potential for Cohen to share with his contacts at the White House a Ukraine peace proposal reportedly favored by Russia. Cohen also played an integral role in discussions about a possible Trump Tower in Moscow – negotiations that were going on at least through the early stages of the 2016 presidential campaign.

“Cohen’s credibility could be subject to significant cross-examination because of his long history of defending Trump. But if Mueller can corroborate Cohen's testimony with documents, recordings or other witness testimony, then it could be very valuable,” McQuade said.

Cohen’s expected admission to making misstatements to Congress and his cooperation with investigators coincide with his very public transition over the past several months from the staunch Trump loyalist who protected the president and his family to a possible key witness against the president on multiple fronts.

Cohen clearly signaled his intentions to abandon his long-standing fealty to Trump, telling ABC News in a June interview that “my wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will. I put family and country first,” he said.

His guilty plea set to be entered Thursday centers around his testimony to Congress in the fall of 2017, at a time when Cohen was still firmly in the president’s camp, sources said.

In a public statement released in September 2017 -- in advance of his closed sessions on Capitol Hill -- Cohen said that he “had nothing to do with any Russian involvement in our electoral process” and said he “never saw anything – not a hint of anything – that demonstrated involvement in Russian interference in our election or any form of Russian collusion.”

He said that the raw intelligence reports that made up the now infamous Steele Dossier, which asserted that Cohen had a key role in a secretive Trump campaign connection with Kremlin operatives, were “riddled with total falsehoods and intentionally salacious allegations.”

Cohen also claimed in the statement that the proposal he worked on during the campaign to build a Trump property in Moscow “was solely a real estate deal and nothing more.” The plan was terminated in January of 2016, Cohen said, after it was determined that the project was not viable for business reasons.

Under federal law, it is a crime to knowingly and willfully make materially false statements to Congress or to any branch of the federal government in connection with matters under investigation. Violators can be punished with a fine and up to five years in prison.


This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/418928-federal-agents-raid-office-of-tax-firm-that-previously-worked-for

By Owen Daugherty - 11/29/18 12:49 PM EST

Federal agents have reportedly raided the Chicago City Hall office of a lawyer who previously did tax work for President Trump.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that federal agents removed everyone from the office of Chicago Finance Committee Chairman Ed Burke on Thursday morning, covering the floor-to-ceiling windows with brown paper.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment when contacted by the Sun-Times. A man who answered the door of the office when a reporter knocked also declined to comment.

Burke's office did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.

Burke worked for Trump for more than a decade doing property tax work.
Burke’s law firm of Klafter & Burke has worked with Trump’s companies repeatedly to reduce the property tax that Trump Tower and his other properties in Chicago have had to pay, according to the Sun-Times.

Over his 12 years working for Trump, Burke was allegedly able to cut the property taxes on the downtown tower by more than $14 million.

Burke stopped working for Trump this summer, citing “irreconcilable differences” in letters filed with the Illinois State Property Tax Appeal Board.

The federal agents appearance at the Chicago office of Burke’s takes place on the same day Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen entered into a plea agreement to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Last week, Trump submitted his written answers to a list of questions from Mueller, whose probe he has repeatedly dismissed as a "witch hunt."

Updated at 1:13 p.m.

Statement: My weakness was my blind loyalty to Donald Trump

None of these clowns will actually do any time in "federal pound me in the ass" (c) prison, so what's the point?

Plus I'm sure he'll serve less between good behavior, appeal, and probably walk on some technicality.

If he didn't serve up 45 what's the use?

Some people might scoff at 3 years, but I doubt he's one of those "I can do three years standing on my head" type of criminals. Likely he'll be singing soon.

Trump also cannot use the "John Edwards" defense now because AMI (Natl Enquirer) also came out and let it be known that Trump/Cohen specifically said the payoffs to the hoes were to prevent issues with the election. Ruh Roh...thats election fraud. Cohen also stated that Trump told him to make the payments. but they aint done yet, and Cohen can still cooperate more to shave time. How many hot ramen meals you think thats gon take? they bout to hit up the foundation and that RICO is right around the corner.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-was-room-during-hush-money-discussions-nbc-news-confirms-n947536

Trump was in the room during hush money discussions with tabloid publisher
A source confirmed to NBC News that Trump was the "other member of the campaign" present when Michael Cohen and David Pecker agreed to silence women.

Donald Trump was the third person in the room in August 2015 when his lawyer Michael Cohen and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker discussed ways Pecker could help counter negative stories about Trump's relationships with women, NBC News has confirmed.

As part of a nonprosecution agreement disclosed Wednesday by federal prosecutors, American Media Inc., the Enquirer's parent company, admitted that "Pecker offered to help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate's relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided."

The "statement of admitted facts" says that AMI admitted making a $150,000 payment "in concert with the campaign," and says that Pecker, Cohen and "at least one other member of the campaign" were in the meeting. According to a person familiar with the matter, the "other member" was Trump.

David Pecker attends an event in Paris in 2012.David Pecker attends an event in Paris in 2012.Francois Durand / Getty Images
Trump was first identified as attending the meeting by The Wall Street Journal.

Daniel Goldman, an NBC News analyst and former assistant U.S. attorney said the agreement doesn't detail what Trump said and did in the meeting. "But if Trump is now in the room, as early as August of 2015 and in combination with the recording where Trump clearly knows what Cohen is talking about with regarding to David Pecker, you now squarely place Trump in the middle of a conspiracy to commit campaign finance fraud."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which investigated Cohen's hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, declined to comment.

McDougal, a former Playboy Playmate, and her lawyers have said that the National Enquirer paid her $150,000 in August 2016 as part of a "catch-and-kill" strategy to keep the story from circulating publicly.

McCaskill slams Senate's 'embarrassing uncles' in farewell speech
When Cohen pleaded guilty to arranging the payments in August, he said he had done so "at the direction" of an unnamed candidate, and that a $150,000 payment prior to the 2016 election was "for the principal purpose of influencing" the election. The meeting between Cohen, Pecker and unnamed other parties to discuss suppressing stories was referenced in the criminal information document to which Cohen pleaded guilty. The document also refers to "at least one other member of the campaign" being present.

The statement of admitted facts says that AMI's "principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election." Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for the president, has said the payments were made to spare Trump's family from embarrassment.

On Wednesday, Judge William Pauley sentenced Cohen to a total of 36 months behind bars, and three years of post-release supervision, for tax evasion, violating campaign finance law and other charges. The judge ordered him to pay almost $1.4 million in restitution and forfeit $500,000, while fining him $50,000 for lying to Congress. Cohen must turn himself in to start serving his sentence by March 6.

At his sentencing, Cohen said that "time and time again, I felt it was my duty to cover up dirty deeds."

President Trump tweeted after the sentencing that he "never directed Michael Cohen to break the law."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.