General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMueller and the FBI had the evidence on Cohen before the raids.
Where did they get it?
Perhaps it was discovered in the recent warrants served against Paul Manafort? After all, he fought mighty hard to keep them from the documents in his storage locker.
But, this raid was not made in the hope that they would find something on Cohen. They already had it.
Mueller was not gambling that he might find something.
Skraxx
(2,977 posts)onenote
(42,704 posts)Seems highly unlikely.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)onenote
(42,704 posts)The US Attorney wouldn't ask for a subpoena to collect material the FBI already had and a judge wouldn't grant that subpoena.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)info. Thats standard. But they had to show evidence that they had reason to believe crimes were committed - Cohen was hiding things, and a coverup was coming.
onenote
(42,704 posts)bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Were involved- that goes without saying. Are you really splitting hairs between some evidence and the evidence? Because its usually a pile of evidence, so the is a little ridiculous to hang your hat on. This is in fact how you get to the evidence, if there is such a thing.
unblock
(52,243 posts)It's one thing to have testimony about criminal activity, it's an entirely different thing to have documents like the books and records of criminal activity.
MGKrebs
(8,138 posts)But if they had everything they just would have charged him, I would think, take him into custody and then get the warrant. So they are looking for more than what they have.
I think what we can say is, they have something and they have good info that there was more to get.
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)Going back to well before Trump became president. Accusations of shady business deals have followed him around for decades. If they found multiple paper trails leading to Michael Cohen, then that would be enough to get a warrant.
Where did the paper come from? Maybe Deutsche Bank. Mueller subpoenaed Deutsche Bank last year. The only major bank that would lend to Trump and a bank known to be involved in money laundering.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)Hekate
(90,708 posts)NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)NDA just before the election. Paid for by Cohen. Trump knows nothing about it.
For certain aspects of the warrant I would think that alone would be enough. It is public knowledge from the parties involved and clearly outlines an in-kind campaign contribution that was unreported.
I'm sure there is a lot more but that one aspect can be garnered from public knowledge alone, and is in the scope of the FBI. Where else was it not reported? Was he upfront when extending his mortgage or is that the bank fraud aspect?
safeinOhio
(32,687 posts)"I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we're in the courthouse. And I will take you for every penny you still don't have. And I will come after you and everybody else that you possibly know," Cohen said. "So I'm warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I'm going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?"