Michael Cohen Investigation

[triplehorn 2664]

Consider:

-- the very high bar for granting a search warrant to confiscate an attorney's files and devices

--the especially high standard given whose attorney is being raided

--that a warrant is granted due to a high degree of likelihood (evidence) a crime has been/is being committed

--and that POTUS is named multiple times in said warrants granted due to evidence of a crime

Irrespective of claims of subject or target status, it's break the fucking glass time for Donald Trump.

[ChiTownDoc 21152]

I’d bet a stack of cash on this being related to some strong arm tactics.  Cohen threatened people for Trump.  Stormy really has no reason to make that up.  These clowns aren’t too sophisticated. 

The ‘we were joking defense’ will be bought hook, line, and sinker by the rubes. 

[Jhawkmvp 1489]

8 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

So proper fucked?

[DanTheHorn 4922]

 

[burntorangebongos 10710]

How is stuff leaking? About how AMI paid the door man? Is that coming from the US Attys office?

[jimmyjazz 45915]

I like that the doorman is like "fuck it, here's some more detail".

[Chooky 13307]

Cohen's lawyers file a motion to dismiss Avana whatever's case based on the fact that Cohen will plead the 5th on all questioning to avoid incriminating himself.  So apparently you can't ask Cohen anything.  

 

Transparency and shit.

[zork 629]

4 hours ago, burntorangebongos said:

How is stuff leaking? About how AMI paid the door man? Is that coming from the US Attys office?

Tainted taint team talking?

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

4 hours ago, burntorangebongos said:

How is stuff leaking? About how AMI paid the door man? Is that coming from the US Attys office?

Oh now we care about leaks. 

[burntorangebongos 10710]

This is like a sieve! I'm just curious where it is coming from since it has been mums-the-word with the Mueller team. I guess the US attorney team is like a bunch of $9.95 subscribers! hahaha i hope they keep it up, this shit is gold. He gotta have  more abortions than illigits. We should take bets on over/under illigit kids and over/under on aborts.

[Biff Tannen 45678]

Got damn I love that avatar.

[atomheartbevo 89659]

23 minutes ago, burntorangebongos said:

This is like a sieve! I'm just curious where it is coming from since it has been mums-the-word with the Mueller team. I guess the US attorney team is like a bunch of $9.95 subscribers! hahaha i hope they keep it up, this shit is gold. He gotta have  more abortions than illigits. We should take bets on over/under illigit kids and over/under on aborts.

Remember all of the leaks from insider the White House?  This stuff is reminiscent of that - Trump, and Cohen by proxy, seems to surround himself with people who are constantly looking to stab each other in the back, to get ahead in Trump's eyes.

[TwiceHorn 31457]

None of this "leaky" shit sounds very credible, at least as concerns the Cohen warrant(s).  The warrants, and supporting affidavits, would have to be pretty specific as to the materials sought and exactly how those materials prove the crime, and which crime it proves.  All this leaky shit sounds like civil discovery fishing expedition stuff.

For example, the warrants would have to identify things with sufficient specificity that it could be either easily segregated from privileged stuff, or subject to the crime/fraud exception.  The warrant most likely wouldn't permit sifting through "everything in Cohen's office" to be segregated by the "taint team" into privileged and non-privileged stuff.  The judge would/should have to be satisfied that the invasion into legitimately privileged stuff is minimal.

[burntorangebongos 10710]

^^^^^^^^ Okay, but where is it coming from? I would agree that the US Attorney team are unlikely leakers. I just don't get  why the flood and why this is so different than what has happened before.? 

[atomheartbevo 89659]

The alternative is that a lot of this stuff was known to a lot of people, but they either didn't have corroborating evidence/sources, or they were worried about lawsuits, etc.

Cohen gets raided, and all of the sudden everybody is going to tell what they heard.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Pods 7552]

^appropriate that this is post #69

[Grade of D as in David 13253]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-allies-worry-that-federal-investigators-may-have-seized-recordings-made-by-his-attorney/2018/04/12/16d6345a-3e89-11e8-912d-16c9e9b37800_story.html

 

Some nuggets:

“We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes,” said one Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. “Now we are wondering, who did he tape? Did he store those someplace where they were actually seized? . . . Did they find his recordings?” 

 

One associate said Trump knew of Cohen’s practice because the attorney would often play him recordings Cohen had made of his conversations with other top Trump advisers.

 

“If you are looking for evidence, you can’t do any better than people talking on tape,” said Nick Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor.

[ChiTownDoc 21152]

Nothing would be more appropriate for stupid watergate than dipshit’s actual fucking attorney recording himself having all kinds of incriminating conversations. God damn it, the level of stupid is truly mind boggling.  

[Pods 7552]

I've read that it's surprisingly not that uncommon for people in Manafort and Cohen's situations to keep extensive documentation in case someone tries to squeeze them.

Cohen seemed to like to use his recordings as a weapon later. This is some pretty rich karma coming home to roost. 

[zork 629]

23 minutes ago, Pods said:

I've read that it's surprisingly not that uncommon for people in Manafort and Cohen's situations to keep extensive documentation in case someone tries to squeeze them.

Cohen seemed to like to use his recordings as a weapon later. This is some pretty rich karma coming home to roost. 

That is all well and good unless it taint admissible.  

[Gatorubet 30233]

 

Pee Brain.   Sweet!!

[burntorangebongos 10710]

https://goo.gl/images/bhULoU

 

Marcela Baudreau Salomon, I think this is her, the housekeeper.

@PalmerReport If indeed it was Marcella Baudreau, she is currently the President of Winston Valet and still at Trump Tower under the name Marcella Solomon...FWIW.

name found here:

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/05/realestate/live-in-help-is-living-in-style.html

Edited April 13, 2018 by burntorangebongos

[burntorangebongos 10710]

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/first-republic-bank-tom-barrack-michael-cohen

Looks like the prominent GOP LA donor that got someone to get an abortion might be Tom Barrack. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

2 hours ago, burntorangebongos said:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/first-republic-bank-tom-barrack-michael-cohen

Looks like the prominent GOP LA donor that got someone to get an abortion might be Tom Barrack. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Broidy

I’m going with Elliott Broidy

[jimmyjazz 45915]

8 hours ago, zork said:

That is all well and good unless it taint admissible.  

Please elaborate, counselor, because anyone with a functioning brain stem can see that your boy is FUCKED.

[Bozo_Casanova 26451]

 

Never saw a woman ... so alone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

33 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Never saw a woman ... so alone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote

Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows

 

[burntorangebongos 10710]

Or just another lost angel....City of Night

[zork 629]

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Please elaborate, counselor, because anyone with a functioning brain stem can see that your boy is FUCKED.

I just wanted to cleverly use the word taint.

[TwiceHorn 31457]

14 hours ago, burntorangebongos said:

^^^^^^^^ Okay, but where is it coming from? I would agree that the US Attorney team are unlikely leakers. I just don't get  why the flood and why this is so different than what has happened before.? 

I think maybe it's just subpoenas to others (AMI?) and not directly Cohen-related.  They kind of make it seem like the subject of the Cohen warrants, but judicial reporting is terrible.

 

Also, subpoenas to third parties like AMI tend to be less likely to be under seal and the "witness" (the person/entity to whom the subpoena is directed), can disclose whatever they wish about the subpoena, so it's not really leaky in the same way that a search warrant under seal might be.

Edited April 13, 2018 by TwiceHorn

[TwiceHorn 31457]

3 minutes ago, zork said:

I just wanted to cleverly use the word taint.

Perhaps we should refer to it henceforth as the "gooch team" or the "grundle team."

Edited April 13, 2018 by TwiceHorn

[Jive Turkey 12595]

More like Michael Clayton. The janitor. 

 

Edited April 13, 2018 by Jive Turkey

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

6 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Broidy

I’m going with Elliott Broidy

 

BOOM!

Edited April 13, 2018 by Hugo Stiglitz

[burntorangebongos 10710]

Yup. Elliott Broidy. Came to give Hugo his props. Looks like Broidy might end up wearing an orange jumpsuit.

[Pods 7552]

26 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

For normal people, the CYA documentation is supposed to show you didn’t commit malpractice or do anything unethical if a deal goes bad and suddenly your client tries to blame it on you.  When people say keeping documentation is common or recommend it as a practice there is an implicit assumption that the documentation won’t, you know, confirm you are participating in crimes.

I can't find it now, but the article I was referencing was specifically about the middle man in a crime keeping documents so they can't be left holding the entire bag later. It was referring to why Manafort would have kept documents going back to his Ukraine days. 

Being an attorney, Cohen probably thought these documents were fairly safe for him to keep and there's some really good stuff in there. 

[Mojo Hand 4580]

That tweet summary buries some of the lede, which is that she had an abortion.

Edit:  I do see above that some of you mentioned that earlier in the day.

Edited April 13, 2018 by Mojo Hand

[Kyrie Eleison 9312]

this fat fuck seeded a Playmate...

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

2 minutes ago, Kyrie Eleison said:

this fat fuck seeded a Playmate...

 

Money can get you a lot of things in life you ordinarily wouldn't have access to.

[retread 2951]

via Imgflip Meme Generator

[Pods 7552]

Quote

Based on information gathered in the investigation to date, the USAO-SDNY and FBI have reason to believe that Cohen has exceedingly few clients and a low volume of potentially privileged communications.

Quote

To be sure, searches of premises belonging to an attorney raise special concerns, which impose a need for heightened care, due to the fact that such premises may contain privileged material. But there can be no dispute that attorneys, like anyone else, may be criminally investigated for their conduct, and that law enforcement officials may search an attorney’s law office – or other premises – “pursuant to a valid warrant that is supported by probable cause that an attorney has been engaging in criminal activity and that the law offices in question contain evidence of this suspected wrongdoing.” United States v. Stewart, No. 02 Cr. 396 (JGK), 2002 WL 1300059, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. June 11, 2002). That is what happened here: A federal magistrate judge found that there was probable cause to believe that Cohen’s premises and devices contained evidence, fruits and instrumentalities that specified federal crimes were committed. 

That is what happened here: A federal magistrate judge found that there was probable cause to believe that Cohen’s premises and devices contained evidence, fruits and instrumentalities that specified federal crimes were committed. 

Edited April 13, 2018 by Pods

[Pods 7552]

Quote

Based on the information presently known to the USAO, the Investigative Team has compiled a list of individuals and entities relevant to the investigation with whom Cohen undisputedly does not have an attorney-client relationship. (The USAO- SDNY has asked Cohen’s counsel to provide a list of Cohen’s clients and attorneys, but that invitation has thus far been ignored.) To the extent there are any remaining potentially privileged documents—i.e., any communications between Cohen and clients known or believed to have been represented by Cohen, any communications between Cohen and an identified attorney or law firm known or believed to have represented Cohen—the Filter Team will review them to determine whether the material is: (1) not privileged, (2) potentially privileged, (3) requires redaction, and/or (4) potentially meets an applicable exception (for example, the crime- fraud exception).

Quote

To be clear, under no circumstances will a potentially privileged document or a document potentially subject to the crime-fraud exception be provided to or described to the Investigative Team without the consent of the privilege holder or his/her counsel, or the court’s approval. If the Filter Team is unable to clarify a document’s category, or if there is an exception to the privilege that applies to particular material, such as the crime-fraud exception, or any waiver of the privilege – the Filter Team will (1) confer with counsel for the privilege holder at the appropriate time and before any such material is shared with the Investigative Team and, if no agreement can be reached, submit the material under seal to an appropriate court for a determination as to whether the material is privileged; (2) bring the document to a court for resolution, including by seeking an ex parte determination if appropriate; or (3) if the document is of obviously minimal probative value, place the document into the “Privileged” category as a means of efficiently completing the review.

 

[Pig Bellmont 8717]

lol so Michael Cohen’s emails were already seized through prior warrants on alternate sources and the gov says there were ZERO emails to Trump. The histrionics about preserving privilege are assuredly more about preventing the FBI from seeing all the illegal crap they were doing re international business deals

[Tuco 5076]

lol so Michael Cohen’s emails were already seized through prior warrants on alternate sources and the gov says there were ZERO emails to Trump. The histrionics about preserving privilege are assuredly more about preventing the FBI from seeing all the illegal crap they were doing re international business deals

I don’t believe trump uses email. Emails are sent to his secretary who prints them out for him and then he hand marks them for a response. How does that play out in a privilege scenario?

So, Cohen fixed a pregnancy scandal for prominent republican and he keeps recordings. Any chance he used this fix as blackmail to get Trump support in the party?

[Pig Bellmont 8717]

Communications sent to non-clients are typically not protected by any privilege. There are also subject matter waivers that can apply. 

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Hope Hicks sure did get the fuck out of dodge at the perfect time.

Especially since she was the one that handled all of Trump’s emails.

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

22 minutes ago, Tuco said:

 

I don’t believe trump uses email. Emails are sent to his secretary who prints them out for him and then he hand marks them for a response. How does that play out in a privilege scenario?

So, Cohen fixed a pregnancy scandal for prominent republican and he keeps recordings. Any chance he used this fix as blackmail to get Trump support in the party?

 

Word is Trump is so paranoid about written trails and only uses phone calls to communicate when he can't do it in person.  It would be terrible if someone recorded those calls.

Edited April 13, 2018 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Here’s what I don’t get AT ALL. 

The Dossier is back in the news but all anyone can talk about is the piss part.

Seems like the MICHEAL COHEN part of the Dossier, which describes basically TREASON in pretty good detail, should be front and center in the media.

But nope, NO ONE is talking about that.

Seems odd AF.

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

29 minutes ago, Pig Bellmont said:

lol so Michael Cohen’s emails were already seized through prior warrants on alternate sources and the gov says there were ZERO emails to Trump. The histrionics about preserving privilege are assuredly more about preventing the FBI from seeing all the illegal crap they were doing re international business deals

There is about zero chance that there aren't Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations.

[Biff Tannen 45678]

2 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Here’s what I don’t get AT ALL. 

The Dossier is back in the news but all anyone can talk about is the piss part.

Seems like the MICHEAL COHEN part of the Dossier, which describes basically TREASON in pretty good detail, should be front and center in the media.

But nope, NO ONE is talking about that.

Seems odd AF.

While this Cohen stuff is fun and all, I really really hope that they don't lose focus on Russia.  Yeah, these are all bad guys, but if they get them for non-Russia related stuff, it's just fuel for the right that Mueller overstepped his bounds.  I want treason, not porn star payoffs.