Posted on 04/09/2018 1:24:44 PM PDT by gattaca
The FBI raided the offices of President Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen on Monday.
The raid came after federal prosecutors in New York City obtained a search warrant following a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller, Cohen's lawyer told the New York Times. Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and related issues.
NBC News confirmed news of the raid.
The Times reported that FBI agents seized records relating to several issues, including a $130,000 payment Cohen has said he made to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Daniels has said that money was given to her in exchange for her agreement to keep quiet about an affair she had with Trump that began in 2006. The White House has denied that Trump had sex with Daniels, and Trump has said he was unaware of the deal Cohen made with her.
In addition to records related to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, FBI agents also seized emails, tax documents and business records, according to the Times, which cited a person briefed on the search.
Cohen is an executive vice president and general counsel of the Trump Organization.
It was not immediately clear where the raid occurred. Vanity Fair reported that FBI agents on Monday visited a room at the Lowes Regency Hotel in Manhattan, where Cohen has been staying and executed the warrants.
Cohen's lawyer, Stephen Ryan, said, "Today the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York executed a series of search warrants and seized the privileged communications between my client, Michael Cohen, and his clients. I have been advised by federal prosecutors that the New York action is, in part, a referral by the Office of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller."
"The decision by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York to conduct their investigation using search warrants is completely inappropriate and unnecessary," Ryan said.
"It resulted in 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, including providing thousands of non-privileged documents to the Congress and sitting for depositions under oath."
Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told CNBC that the White House has no comment on the raid.
Spokesmen for the FBI's New York field office and for Mueller did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.
And Sessions won’t even fire Rosenstein.
This is all so infuriating.
You shouldn’t make assumptions without researching facts. Back when Trump was elected I posted many comments to the effect of how difficult it was going to be to drain the vast and very deep Swamp. I went so far as to say it was an ocean, not a swamp.
What you also don’t know is that I have worked in DC and fully understand how deeply entrenched the establishment really is. Again, you’re making comments without trying to understand where someone’s views are coming from.
I do know, and you should too, that you simply cannot allow subordinates to undermine you. Successful managers identify, isolate and remove those cancers as quickly as they can. Its a matter of survival. Action speaks louder than words every time.
It was miraculous that Trump was elected. But I never expected it would be an easy task. To the contrary I discussed many times during exchanges with FReepers why it was going to difficult. Some disagreed with me and thought Trump was going to swing the axe. I respected their views and hopes, but that didn’t happen.
All the one dollar bills a sagging G-string can hold?
Figures this little worm Rosenstein is neck-deep in this....
Worthless Republicans could end this tomorrow, just pull Mueller’s funding. He would not have a team for long if he couldn’t pay them.
right! Is McConnell or Ryan calling for and end to this travesty yet?
Oh please! Get a grip.
No, they are too busy thwarting Trump’s agenda and protecting the Deep State.
He is accountable to no one. He has a lot to lose as well, being complicit in the DNC crimes. He either finds a way to take Trump down, or he will eventually be in prison. No one can stop him, except his partner in crime rosenstein.
Oh please! Get a grip.
*****************
I’m concerned about Trump’s grip on power if he doesn’t start facing up to the reality of having to remove the people involved in this subversive and lawless cabal.
Yep!
WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH RUSSIAN COLLUSION?! MR, MUELLER IS A OUT OF CONTROL JUGGERNAUT and politically biased.
The Bushes, Kasich and Canada born Teddy will never ever get over being defeated by a man who never ran for any office before. These are the same people who would gladly accept campaign contributions from DJT before he ran for president. Romney and McCain did not directly lose to Trump, but the fact that they lost to a community organizer from south side of Chicago, while Trump beat out the smartest woman in America (in minds of liberals) has to gall them intensely. Linda Graham and Little Marco seems to have gotten mostly over Trump insults during campaign.
I’m not a lawyer (or even close) but on first view this appears to be a violation of attorney/client privilege.
Except, what if they say they aren’t investigating Trump for wrong-doing but rather Cohen. They tell a judge that Trump has nothing to do with the need for a search warrant but rather they believe that Cohen broke a law of some sort.
They get the warrant and gather up all that they can-again nothing to do with Trump but rather Cohen.
Then because of the swine that they are they actually comb through everything just to find anything on Trump.
They then say, “well Trump was not a target, we believed that Cohen had broken X law and while we were looking we found this....”
That way they are able to subterfuge attorney/client privilege like the swamp that they are.
Could this be what they are attempting?
(Sorry if this theory has already been posted)
The Soviet American Deep State will have to reward Mueller. I expect him to run, and win, the Presidential election in 2020.
Great idea....
150,000 peeps marching on DC would be a good first start. Count me in.
I believe he will be assassinated.
Bingo! You are right on!
The MSM says there is no attorney/client privilege if evidence of a crime exists. Apparently in Mueller’s investigation, a crime UNRELATED to Trump/Russia has come to light. Mueller handed it off to the feds at the southern district of New York. It required a federal judge to sign off on it.
How does this happen? Who is this judge?
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