The Russia Investigations and other Trump-related cases

[River]

I've heard that rumor. But I'm wondering if the Libby move wasn't a redirect. Someone in the Administration suggested it as a less self-destructive way to put his thumb in the eye of prosecutors.

Either that or the Libby pardon was just something Bolton talked him into.

[Frelga]

And now Trump ordered strikes on Syria. Not in any way related to the investigation, I'm sure.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way ... s-on-syria

[RoseMorninStar]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Meanwhile, more Cohen news. Reportedly Mueller has evidence that he was in Prague in late August of September of 2016, just as Steele reported in the infamous dossier, and contrary to Cohen's repeated vehement denials.

Mueller has evidence that Trump lawyer met in Prague with Russians during campaign, sources say

[RoseMorninStar]

It is interesting that the Trump team seems more concerned about the raid on Cohen than the Mueller investigation. I can only guess that's because Trump figures he can pardon anyone in the Federal investigation but with this being in New York, he won't be able to do that. I am also supposing it's because they thought all of the stuff was safe due to Client/Attorney privilege.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That is not correct, Rose. The New York investigation is still being conducted by federal officials, under federal law, not NY state law. Any charges that resulted would be just as subject to pardons as charges stemming from Mueller's office.

There were reports earlier in the process that Mueller's office was cooperating with the New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, for exactly the reason that you suggest, but this is different. This is under the auspices of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, although Mr. Berman has recused himself because he was appointed by Trump after Trump fired the previous US Attorney for the SDNY, Preet Bharara, under very unusual circumstances, so it is actually being led by the Deputy US attorney for the SDNY, Roberty Khuzami.

[Frelga]

Meanwhile, the US says all rockets hit their target in Syria. Russia says they (?) shot down 70 of them. I miss the days when I was pretty confident I knew which one was lying.

[Cenedril_Gildinaur]

The thing that puzzles me is how anything having to do with Stormy Daniels is related to anything having to do with Russia.

Kind of like how the relationship between Paula Jones and Whitewater was ever explained to me fully.

[RoseMorninStar]

I don't claim to understand the legal intricacies, but there was a lawyer (Keith Davidson) who offered his services to at least 3 women (he was supposed to be representing the interests of the women) but it appears he was actually working in tandem with Cohen/Trump. I would think that is, at the very least, a misrepresentation problem. Threats of violence, intimidation, cover-ups, etc.. are also an issue, not likely connected with Russia, although they may establish a pattern. Likely, however, the connection is a result of following the money (campaign finance issues).

Stormy's NDA agreement was made in Oct. 2016. Cohen did not make the payment by the agreed upon deadline. Stormy contacted Cohen to say the deal was off, but payment arrived 10 days later. The bank flagged the payment as suspicious. The emails between the bank and Coehn came from a Trump campaign email address. Because the payout was made less than a month before election (when it could have taken place any time in the previous 10 years or so) that alerted the Federal Election Commission which argues that the payment was intended to influence the Nov. 8 election and violated campaign finance law because it was not reported as an in-kind donation, a problem in common with several claims/cases. There was also the issue of a pro-Russian Ukrainian Oligarch paying $150,000 to the Trump organization for a 20-minute video conference in Sept 2015, and other foreign contributions.

Cohen was not only involved 'fixing' these NDA agreements, but it appears Mueller has evidence Cohen went to Prague to do some 'fixing' involving Russians/payments to hackers. Something Cohen has denied. I am not sure how this plays into things legally (nor have I taken the time to look it up) but I have read there have been questions as to Cohen's actual role for Trump. He claims to have other clients (but there don't seem to be any) and no court cases. I would imagine that may have come into question as it may apply to client/attorney privilege.

Here is an article which goes through how the cases may be tied/impact one another.

[Frelga]

On the one hand, Daniels appears to have an entirely separate, civil case going, for reasons that are her own, but possibly related to an offer of a lucrative book deal. Cohen's payment to her could be an illegal campaign contribution, but the Daniels case is not why the feds went after him. Cohen is believed to know everything there is to know of the shady business related to the Trump Org, and also to have side hustles of his own (taxi medallions? Wut?)

On the other, if Trump approved the payment to Daniels, it shows that he is susceptible to blackmail and willing to pay to cover up his sexual indiscretions. Which brings us to one of the issues alleged in the Steele dossier - that while in Moscow, Trump has engaged in, um, activities that were set up by the FSB, which would allow Putin to control him through blackmail. In retrospect, it appears to not have mattered, as his supporters have shrugged off that and all other activities by Trump, but that's a different topic.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The Stormy Daniels/Karen McDougall/Access Hollywood/etc. matters are separate from the Russia investigation, which is why they are not being handled by Mueller and his team, though there could be a tangential connection, particularly if the report that Mueller has evidence that Cohen really was in Prague when Steele says he was there meeting with Russian despite Cohen's denial that he was there.

[Cenedril_Gildinaur]

The only "evidence" of unusual activities in Moscow is ... well ... nothing but a rumor. It is believed because people like believing salacious details about the opposition.

[RoseMorninStar]

I could care less about Trump's sex life (I'd REALLY rather not think about it at all) but the question of susceptibility to blackmail and shady deals to cover things up is an issue. Many things in the dossier have been backed by multiple sources. Trump (and evidently Hannity) have fixated on this one salacious point, presumably implying that if that one point can't be proven it's all false. Did the 'pee-pee' incident happen? Don't know, don't care but it wouldn't surprise me nor would it change my mind about who Trump is. Does anyone doubt Trump had sexual relations with the porn star, Playboy model, etc... etc.. ? I certainly wouldn't make a federal case out of it (heh) but, again, there are a lot of other details in that dossier that all American's should be concerned about.

The Trump organization has gone through 6 bankruptcies. As this article states,

"As Fortune Magazine notes, during the 1990s, Trump found himself more than $4 billion in debt to more than 70 banks, and a series of bankruptcies, heavy financial losses, and debt restructuring lead almost all major American banks to simply refuse to do business with him. Consequently, beginning in the 2000s, he began to rely very heavily on foreign banks for his lending, and Russia—with its inner circle of wealthy oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin and lax financial integrity laws—must have seemed like a cash cow to Trump."

THAT should be of major concern/conflicts of interest, for our country.

There is a documentary that was made about Trump in the 1980's that can be found on YouTube which is quite illuminating. I think it was done by 'Biography'. Since it was made 30-35 years ago it shouldn't be considered a 'partisan hack job'.

Frelga, I wondered about the taxi medallions too. Here's an article on what they are/why he has them. Pre-Uber, they were quite coveted, expensive, and considered a good investment. Post-Uber, not so much.

[Frelga]

OMG this thread. The comments are entertaining and enlightening.

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/statu ... 0327671808

[Cenedril_Gildinaur]

People can only be blackmailed over stuff they actually did and that they want to keep secret. The golden shower dossier is pretty thoroughly debunked. Keep believing it if you want though.

[Frelga]

NEW: President Trump has asked a federal court in New York to block federal agents from reviewing materials seized in a raid of his private lawyer, Michael Cohen. https://t.co/DgVX8Ls46S

The argument seems to be that only Trump himself, as a "privilege holder" can decide what exchanges with Cohen are privileged.

More in thread https://twitter.com/bradheath/status/985685111894085632 and the entire filing is here, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents ... otion.html, not that I tried to read it.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I glanced through it, but not enough to evaluate whether it had any validity. Clearly, though, Trump is terrified at what they will find.

Sent from my LG G6 using Tapatalk

[Voronwë the Faithful]

New filing from Cohen's attorney.

https://pacer-documents.s3.amazonaws.co ... 5e1c3d562f

He seems to have backed away from the request to allow them for shot at reviewing the material and instead focusing on the request to have a special master appointed to review the material. I would not be surprised if the judge agrees to this request as a compromise between the various positions. I am also wondering whether she will request the prosecutors to reveal whether Trump is considered a possible co-conspirator in criminal activity in response to his attorney's request to allow them first crack at reviewing the material to determine what may impinge on Trump's privilege.

As for the request to reveal Cohen's clients, they list three from the past year, Trump, Elliot Broidy (the former RNC Deputy Chairman who resigned after it was revealed that Cohen had negotiated a $1.6 million hush agreement with a Playboy model that Broidy had had an affair with), and a third client who refused to be named. Speculation is that the third client was Donald Trump, Jr.

ETA: Apparently they sent in a revised filing to clarify that the unnamed client's matters are not covered by the search warrants (the original filing said that they were, which didn't make sense to me.

ETAA: In a response, prosecutors say Trump's arguments no different than Cohen's. "Despite...the extreme position that he should review the lawfully-obtained files in the first instance, the President still cannot identify a single case in which a court has ordered such a remedy." Hearing at 2:00 p.m. EDT (11:00 a.m. PDT) should be great entertainment.

[River]

Well I guess if you hire a lawyer foolish enough to conduct themself in a way that they become a FBI target this is the sort of thing that happens. Really wish it wasn't happening to a sitting president, though.

I'm wondering if this isn't why that Dowd guy suddenly bailed. Lawyers can know where (hopefully metaphorical) bodies are buried and maintain privilege but they can't help clients with the burial. If they do, privilege falls apart. Perhaps Dowd was given a choice: participate or get a new job. He chose the latter. Maybe Cohen was faced with the same choice and decided differently.

[Frelga]

Well I guess if you hire a lawyer foolish enough to conduct themself in a way that they become a FBI target this is the sort of thing that happens. Really wish it wasn't happening to a sitting president, though.

But when you need a lawyer who is prepared to go that extra-legal mile for you, that's the lawyer you get.

Meanwhile, here's Abramson's (sorry, V!) summary of Comey's interview. It sounds fairly accurate to me based on other sources.

5 COMEY INTERVIEW TAKEAWAYS

1 McCabe told Comey of the Clinton emails ASAP.
2 Pro-Trump FBI agents sat on the emails for 24 days.
3 Email review would've ended 10/12 if not for these rogue agents.
4 Comey wrote Congress under duress from these agents.
5 The IG knows all of this.

Nate Silver has always pointed to Comey as the reason Clinton lost.