Let’s start with yesterday afternoon, when Giuliani did a little clean-up on aisle five. Trump’s most visible attorney was back on the air on Wednesday to “clarify” what he said the previous two days by throwing over them a blanket claim of ignorance. President Donald Trump only recently found out that he reimbursed his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 nondisclosure agreement … Read More
Breaking: Feds Tapped Cohen’s Phones [UPDATE: Not Quite]
NBC: Federal investigators have wiretapped the phone lines of Michael Cohen, the longtime personal lawyer for President Donald Trump who is under investigation for a payment he made to an adult film star who alleged she had an affair with Trump, according to two people with knowledge of the legal proceedings involving Cohen. It is not clear how long the wiretap has been … Read More
Rudy’s Blunder
Rudy Giuliani on Sean Hannity’s show last night turned into a bombshell. It was a very strange interview for Trump’s new lawyer. The former head of the SDNY and New York mayor talked in a Fox News-y kind of way, but not like a lawyer well-versed in the issues. He called Hillary a “criminal”, etc. He said that the public … Read More
Trump Campaign Trying To Break Every Campaign Finance Law Ever Written
Or so it seems. ABC News reports: The Trump campaign has spent nearly $228,000 to cover some of the legal expenses for President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, sources familiar with the payments tell ABC News, raising questions about whether the Trump campaign may have violated campaign finance laws. Federal Election Commission records show three payments made from the Trump … Read More
That Was Quick
Government lawyers are using Trump’s self-damaging rant on Fox & Friends this morning to argue that very few documents seized from Cohen will have little attorney-client privilege because — according to Trump — Cohen does “a tiny tiny little fraction” of legal work for him. (See page 4, footnote 3)
Reminder: This Is Not Normal – Unhinged President Rants On TV And Hurts His Legal Battles
The President of the United States went on a rant on Fox & Friends this morning. Trump went on long, loopy, repetitive riffs about how “fake” and “phony” everything is: the Jackson allegations, Comey’s memos, Stormy Daniels’s assertions, the Robert Mueller investigation. The hosts kept trying to bring up Kanye West’s pro-Trump tweets, but all they got were warmed-over campaign lines … Read More
Will Cohen Sing Like A Canary?
Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer of President Donald Trump whose home and office were raided earlier this month reportedly said, “I’d rather jump out of a building than turn on Donald Trump,” in a conversation with a radio host. But many in Trump’s circle are not so sure. Two sources close to the president said people in Trump’s inner circle have in recent … Read More
Kimba Wood SDNY Court: Live Tweets Revealing Sean Hannity
McKay noted that Cohen refused to disclose the third client’s name under seal. “If he can’t disclose the client name, even to the court under seal…” McKay asks how the government can contest an overbroad claim of privilege. — Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) April 16, 2018 Cohen’s other attorney Steve Ryan says the third client is a “publicly prominent individual,” and … Read More
Interesting Hearing Expected Today In SDNY Court
The defendant: Michael Cohen (Trump’s attorney-ish) The issue: Whether documents, tapes, and other things seized by the FBI can be reviewed by a “filter team” to weed out privileged documents, and whether Cohen’s lawyers (on behalf of Cohen) and/or Trump’s lawyers (on behalf of Trump) can review them first for responsiveness The time: 2:00 pm Eastern What makes this even … Read More
More And More, It Looks Like Cohen Is At The Center Of All Trump Misdeeds
The Wall Street Journal just published a stunning scoop. In 2017 Michael Cohen negotiated a $1.6 million hush deal for a major GOP fundraiser named Elliott Broidy, deputy finance chairman of the RNC. If that name rings a bell, it should. Broidy is at the center of the part of the Russia probe involving the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and international fixer and convicted pedophile … Read More
Does The First Amendment Protect The Right Of The Press Or People To “Kill” A Story?
Associated Press: Eight months before the company that owns the National Enquirer paid $150,000 to a former Playboy Playmate who claimed she’d had an affair with Donald Trump, the tabloid’s parent made a $30,000 payment to a less famous individual: a former doorman at one of the real estate mogul’s New York City buildings. As it did with the ex-Playmate, … Read More
Breaking: FBI Raids Trump Lawyer’s Office
New York Times: The F.B.I. on Monday raided the office of President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, seizing records related to several topics including payments to a pornographic-film actress. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained the search warrant after receiving a referral from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to Mr. Cohen’s lawyer, who called the search … Read More
Trump Can’t Avoid Groping Lawsuit
Bloomberg: As busy as Donald Trump is being president, he can’t avoid a former “Apprentice” contestant’s defamation lawsuit where he may be forced to respond under oath to allegations of sexual assault and his treatment of women. It’s an issue that flared up during the election campaign and while he’s been president. Trump is separately embroiled in a scandal involving a $130,000 payment to an … Read More