The Russia Investigations and other Trump-related cases

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This is quite interesting.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... spartanntp

If those tapes exist, that could be the smoking gun like Nixon's tapes were in Watergate.

[RoseMorninStar]

More like a forest fire and Floodgate.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Hmmmm? I wonder if we will find anything out today.

Hearing related to FBI raid at Trump lawyer's office set

A New York federal district court spokesman says there will be a hearing related to the search warrant executed this week for records belonging to President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

Spokesman Jordan Prince said in an email late Thursday that a hearing is set for Friday morning. He did not disclose the reason for the court proceeding.

[Primula Baggins]

I'm curious what the purpose of the hearing might be.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Apparently it is related to a request for a temporary restraining order filed by Cohen, but I don't know specifically about what.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/13/politics ... index.html

[Frelga]

You can file a restraining order against the law enforcement?

[Primula Baggins]

Apparently it’s to restrain them from looking at any of the evidence they seized.

I guess Cohen’s attorneys have to try.

[Frelga]

Well, if Trump appoints enough judges, it might work.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Well, the judge overseeing the hearing is a Reagan appointee, which may be the next best thing. But clearly Cohen et al. are worried about what the prosecutors will see if they can examine what was taken.

Meanwhile, Trump is preparing to pardon Scooter Libby, the one person convicted in the Valerie Plame scandal during the Bush administration (it may be recalled that Bush commuted Libby's sentence, but did not pardon him). And who was it who authorized the special counsel in that case? None other than James Comey, who like Rosenstein in the current case was the acting attorney general because Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself because he had a conflict and Comey was his deputy. Funny how things go 'round and 'round.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/13/politics ... index.html

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Apparently the real issue is that Trump wants a delay.

https://twitter.com/PPVSRB/status/984813187051720705

It appears that the Reagan-appointed judge is inclined to kowtow to the Trump attorney.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Looks like the actual argument will be done in a "sidebar" (not open to the public) though the government lawyers have indicated they are willing to have it be public.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The judge granted Trump's lawyers a delay until Monday afternoon to review the government lawyers' brief. Surreal.

A redacted version of the brief might be made public.

http://www.newsweek.com/michael-cohen-h ... aid-885461

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Also appearing this morning, the ubiquitous Stormy Daniels attorney, Michael Avenatti, and apparently there is some additional appearance he will be making at 2:00 p.m. today, in addition to Monday's hearing. Not sure what that is about. The whole thing is a circus, but the one thing that is clear is that Trump is very afraid of what might come out of what was seized from Cohen.

[Frelga]

NPR:

“I don’t know Mr. Libby,” Trump said in a statement, “but for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly. Hopefully, this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life.”

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The irony of Trump pardoning someone involved in a truly danger leak (though really Karl Rove is the one that should have been convicted), while falsely accusing Comey of being a "leaker" is too rich.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here's a redacted version of the U.S. Attorney's filing opposing the restraining order.

https://pacer-documents.s3.amazonaws.co ... 7be57ccae8

It makes for interesting reading, but man! I would like to see those redacted portion.

Probably the most interesting unredacted part is this:

Moreover, it is neither apparent (i) that Cohen, in his capacity as an attorney, has many, or any, attorney-client relationships other than with President Donald Trump (indeed, he does not specifically identify any in his motion and thus far has refused to identify any to the USAO-SDNY), nor (ii) that the seized communications will include a significant volume of communications with that one identified client.

Apparently the judge is frustrated with Cohen's attorney, who seems unable to name any other clients that Cohen has.

[Frelga]

Michael Cohen negotiated a deal in late 2017 to pay $1,600,000 to a former Playboy model who said she was impregnated by a Elliott Broidy, a top Republican fundraiser, people familiar with the matter tell WSJ. https://t.co/Wqy1IHsIel

Update: Broidy resigned.https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2018 ... gns-522867

He is the second RNC Finance Committee member to step aside in recent months.

Earlier this year, Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn resigned amid allegations that he’d sexually harassed women who’d worked for him.

Broidy, a 62-year-old Los Angeles-based investor, is an influential figure in Republican politics who has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to GOP candidates and committees over the years.

...

Cohen, whose Manhattan home and office were raided earlier this week by FBI investigators, remains on the RNC finance committee.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Cohen has been in the New York U.S. Attorney's office's sights for months, completely independent of Mueller's team, despite Trump's ragings against Mueller as a result of the raid on Monday.

Criminal investigation of Michael Cohen began months before FBI raids, centering on his business dealings

Meanwhile, while their attorneys made their cases in court, Trump called Cohen to "check in" with him (because the POTUS doesn't have anything better to do then check in with his criminal cronies).

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/us/p ... rance.html

Could it be that the Donald was asking his fixer/attack dog/lawyer what evidence might have been seized?

[Frelga]

Word on the (Wall) Street is that Rosenstein will be fired tonight.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I would not be at all surprised.

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