Free Advice for Michael Cohen From Ex-Federal Prosecutors: Shut Up

[DonViejo]

When we cut deals in the Southern District of New York, the first rule was: Your information belongs to us. If the president’s former fixer isn't careful, he could blow it all.

DANIEL S. GOLDMAN
ELIE HONIG
07.27.18 4:57 PM ET

As the feud between President Donald Trump and his former attorney and all-purpose fixer Michael Cohen continues to escalate publicly on a near-daily basis, it’s worth asking what prosecutors make of all this. It is very unusual for a potential cooperating witness like Cohen to say anything at all publicly, never mind to get into a back-and-forth battle with the president of the United States, complete with innuendo, personal insults, and macho boasting going both ways. If we’re sitting in the prosecutor’s chair on this one, our message to Cohen would be this: We’re interested, but you need to shut up.

During our careers as organized crime prosecutors with the Southern District of New York, the same office investigating Cohen, we dealt with dozens of cooperating witnesses. Many of them were colorful, some of them were dangerous, and all of them took a lot of work. It is vital to understand that cooperation, particularly in the SDNY, is a laborious process. To start, both sides have to be interested. The potential cooperator (here, Cohen) has to be willing to meet with prosecutors, admit all of his criminal conduct —even if that involves dozens of crimes committed over many years — take a guilty plea, and testify as needed. The cooperator also has to give information on all crimes that others committed; cooperators do not get to choose who they do and do not cooperate against.

The prosecution, on the other hand, has to believe that the potential cooperator has valuable information and is, or can become, a credible witness. The benefit to the prosecution is that it now has an insider who can expose the inner workings of a closed organization, while the benefit to somebody like Cohen is that the prosecution will write a letter to the sentencing judge urging a reduction in sentence. In the SDNY, prosecutors do not let any of the cooperator’s crimes slide, and do not guarantee the cooperator any particular sentence.

If both sides are interested, then the work begins. Typically, the prosecutor and the cooperator will meet in a series of interview sessions, “proffers,” in which the cooperator tells the prosecutor everything he knows. These proffers can take up days or even weeks, particularly with a cooperator who has a lot of how own baggage and a lot of dirt on others, like Cohen, presumably.

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/free-advice-for-michael-cohen-from-ex-federal-prosecutors-shut-up?ref=home

[mainer]

1. My understanding is that the leaks aren't coming from Cohen

but maybe from someone within the administration..

[oberliner]

2. Lanny Davis gave the tape to CNN

[Mc Mike]

3. Funny, I used to consult the I-Ching for advice, by randomly opening it.

It used to tell me the exact same thing. All the time.