Michael Cohen and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

[Stephanie B]

Those may not be the only open investigations. There have been stories that there is at least one state AG conducting inquiries that parallel some of the Federal ones and are looking into violations of state laws.

Which are not things that Trump can pardon his way out of.

[Stephanie B]

Oops. Duplicated post {deleted}.

[Stephanie B]

There is a very narrow path of legality that he might be able to navigate if people are willing to discount his prior statements to the media and suspend their hold on logic.

There's a cable channel that's entirely dedicated for that purpose.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Haha - that's one of the best comments around. Maybe Ted Nugent can weight in.

[vcdgrips]

I know nothing more than what is available to the public in the news. To expand on what was posted above:

There is an exception to the a/c priv re the commission of crimes.

Given the importance of the A/C priv., in ANY case involving ANY atty, less intrusive means need to be considered and even the issuing of subpoenas to an atty would require the approval of an Asst. AG at Main Justice. If it was determined that a SW was still needed, the level of review re this search warrant package ( the Search warrant itself, the attachment describing the premises to be searched and items to be seized and the affidavit in support of the same) as it pertains to the search of ANY atty, would be bare minimum as follows
1. The drafting agent
2. Their immediate supervisor
3. In house FBI Counsel with the SAC being in the loop as well
4. The assigned AUSA
5. Another AUSA and/or his supervisor
6. The Presidentially appointed US Atty
7. "Consultation" with an Asst AG from Main Justice
8. The Federal Magistrate or District Judge who signs the warrant itself

In this particular case I suspect it went something like this. Again, I do not know anything about this particular case.
1. The drafting agent
2. Their immediate supervisor
3. In house FBI Counsel
4. The Special Agent in Charge being fully involved in real time as opposed to just being notified
4. The assigned AUSA
5. The AUSA's direct supervisor
6. The AUSA's Criminal Chief (almost always a career prosecutor, lots of experience, the day to day boss of all things criminal in a given office)
7. The First Asst U.S. Atty ( sometimes career, sometimes brought in by the US Atty when they come in)
8. The US Atty (Presidentially appointed)
9. Significant and real time consultation with an Asst AG from Main Justice at least
10. The Federal Judge who signs the warrant.

FWIW

[blues]

^^^^...which is to say that the mere fact that it has gone forward and been executed means that all of these individuals, realizing what was at stake beyond just their jobs and livelihood, have made a determination that the probable cause has not only met, but exceeded the standard necessary to swim in these dangerous waters.

There is much at stake here and I will be gobsmacked if there's only a minnow on the hook upon reeling the line in.

[LittleLebowski]

I'm glad that Trump's lawyer didn't get a chance to review all evidence and wipe hard drives ala Hillary.

[blues]

I'm glad that Trump's lawyer didn't get a chance to review all evidence and wipe hard drives ala Hillary.

How do we know that he hadn't done so already in an abundance of caution (and corruption)?

[Peally]

That link's headline made my eyes bleed.

[farscott]

Just so there is no confusion, this is not Mueller. This search warrant was executed by FBI's NYC FO under U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York - NOT Mueller's Special Counsel or the agents assigned to his Russia investigation. Sure, the leads came from Mueller's investigation into Cohen's bank records, but he took the evidence to his boss, Rod Rosenstein, who deemed it outside of the Special Counsel's Russia scope. Rosenstein then referred it to the local U.S. Attorney. Just so we are crystal clear, the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY is Geoffrey Berman - a Sessions and Trump appointee. That means that a Trump appointee who has been in office for just a year signed off on this warrant. Let that sink in for a minute...

Here is the scoop on Berman if your are interested; Cliff's Notes version - his is not an idiot or Leftist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Berman

The practical implications are very severe for Trump. This means there is a second criminal probe involving his closest associates and a second federal grand jury out there examining evidence.



A bunch of people saw this coming or something very similar. In his infinite wisdom, Cohen painted himself into a corner with his public statements where he either: 1) made illegal campaign contributions (and possible wire fraud along the way), 2) committed a major ethical breech by acting without his client's consent, or 3) caused the campaign to commit fraud. There is a very narrow path of legality that he might be able to navigate if people are willing to discount his prior statements to the media and suspend their hold on logic.

US Attorney Berman has recused himself from the investigation. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-at...ry?id=54365546