3 Takeaways on the FBI Raid of Michael Cohens Office

[brooklynite]

[link:https://politicalwire.com/2018/04/09/3-takeaways-on-the-fbi-raid-of-trumps-attorney/|Political Wire (paywall)

1. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York secured the search warrants for the FBI, based on a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office and likely approved by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. That means that U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in New York — who was appointed by President Trump and personally interviewed by him — considered the case serious enough to issue a search warrant.

2. A search warrant of an attorney’s office for personal communications with his clients is extremely rare. The U.S. Attorney’s Manual says prosecutors “are expected to take the least intrusive approach consistent with vigorous and effective law enforcement when evidence is sought from an attorney actively engaged in the practice of law.” If a FBI raid is the “least intrusive,” one can only imagine the seriousness of the crimes.

3. A federal magistrate judge had to review the request for a search warrant and apparently also found probable cause that Cohen’s office contained evidence of a specified federal crime.

[MontanaMama]

1. That settles it.

All of this is Hillary’s fault...or President Obama’s. Same dif...

[cilla4progress]

3. Totally

MM

[Kablooie]

4. It's just so unfair that their lawyer's offices weren't raided.

It's blatant partisanship!

[Cha]

20. Of course that's the only way his mind can handle his Fixer getting raided

just like in the movies.



MontanaMama

[MontanaMama]

22. Hes a friggin hot mess

isn’t he? Hey Cha!!

[BootinUp]

2. Cohen is truly up shit creek.

[onetexan]

12. damn fool brought it upon himself by being loyal to his crime boss

He is Victor Corleone's Tom Hagen

[Gothmog]

5. Thanks for posting this

[Hamlette]

6. I can't imagine they would do this for the Stormy Daniels case. I so hope it is more.

Some have been saying the Stormy Daniels thing could bring Trump down. I never got that. Maybe this is it. It was covering up something worse?

[tikka]

13. Stormy's payment could involve bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations.

I hope that there is something more, but, hey, they got Al Capone on tax evasion.

[Hamlette]

23. understood, but I want more than a campaign finance violation for Pete's sake!

[DallasNE]

7. Fear Of Destruction of Evidence

Another factor, I'm sure.

[SergeStorms]

8. Add this to your list....

These are (alleged) crimes that happened in New York State and any charges filed will be from New York State. Trump will not be able to preemptively pardon Cohen to insure his silence, so Cohen is going down!

Cohen, being the bullying chickenshit he is, will definitely tell everything he knows about the Trump Crime Family to save his own ass. As the Trump Crime Family "fixer" he knows where ALL the bodies are buried. He is well and truly screwed. Everyone connected to Trump is well and truly screwed.

[Thunderbeast]

16. Not true

These are still Federal charges. Handing it off to the Federal Prosecutor in Manhattan does not change jurisdiction to state courts, or shield Cohen from a Federal pardon.

[Duppers]

18. From the Palmer Report...

"No sitting U.S. President has ever tried to pardon his own alleged co-conspirators, so this has never been tested in practice. If Donald Trump were to issue a pardon for Michael Cohen for his actions in the Trump-Russia scandal, the courts would have to rule whether such a pardon is Constitutional, and whether to uphold it or nullify it. From there, Special Counsel Robert Mueller would have to decide whether to charge Trump with obstruction of justice for having tried to use a pardon to prevent an alleged co-conspirator from testifying against him.

So there are three different possible outcomes. Different legal scholars have stated different views on which way they think the court might rule. The key here may be that for a judge to have signed off on a search warrant against him for the seizure of communications between Trump and his attorney, the judge must have believed there was evidence that Trump and Cohen conspired to commit a crime. This would directly paint Trump and Cohen as alleged co-conspirators, perhaps bolstering the legal argument that Trump can’t legally pardon Cohen.

But the bottom line is this: if New York State brings parallel charges against Cohen, then there will be nothing Trump can do, as the president cannot pardon state level charges."


http://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/pardon-michael-cohen-trump-law/9321/

[SergeStorms]

25. My mistake.

I thought they went through Schneiderman, NYAG.

[Cha]

21. Excellent reminder about the

charges filed in NY state!

Wonder if trump has WH lawyers working furiously on trying to extricate himself from his own hot mess?

[Dopers_Greed]

9. Trump is screwed

After this, I'm now completely convinced that he's going down

[PinkTiger]

10. Cohen is Trump's consiglieri

And yes, he knows where all the bodies are buried and how the money was laundered. They are all in deep shit now.

[PaulX2]

11. A Sane Man Would Abdicate And Flee

I read the other day here. Since it is trump that won't happen.

[mr_lebowski]

14. Him and Assange can be bunk-mates at the Embassy & don't worry, Donnie, Vlad will keep the Caviar

And the "Urinating Prostitutes!" copiously flowing ... even when you're disgraced, money confiscated, out-of-power, hiding out like vermin, and giving hand-jobs for crack.

Trust me ... he'll STILL BE your MAN, ever and ever!!! That Trump Tower - Moscow deal should be closing ANY DAY NOW!

In fact, he even said there's some Big Mac Secret Sauce on your doorknob there, why don't go get yourself a Taste of Home, you f**k.

[JI7]

15. where would he go ? there is nobody that wants him and even Putin doesn't want him

if he can't give him what he demands. after hacking the election for him and all the other crap they have done for him Trump doesn't return the favors Putin will sell him out also once he has no need for him.

[wiggs]

17. Another take-away: Mueller must have most of his case in place! For such a

bold, visible move Mueller must feel confident that the case can now survive media pressure and perhaps his firing.

And even if Mueller/SDNY are moving before ALL the pieces are in place, Cohen might believe Mueller is close enough to the end that he has to destroy evidence before it's subpoena'd.

Either way, it seems to signal that we are closer to the end than the beginning. Otherwise, Mueller would not risk the main investigation by referring an offshoot track for an unrelated investigation that makes international news.

[Johonny]

19. If they turn Cohen, then the presidency is over

[Pluvious]

24. Wouldn't it be interesting if Cohen left the country suddenly ? n/t