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.
My understanding is that this would be FEC related. Now this brings up the Obama presidency and campaign - “Campaign Fined Big for Hiding Donors, Keeping Illegal Donations”
This past historical offence will go under the radar by the pathetic press. But the way they could get him on a charge is if they can pin it on him personally rather than the campaign itself. It’s better to have the corporation charged as it were than the officers, CEO etc. So by analogy Obama escapes personal liability because the campaign takes the hit. Not so here. A misdemeanor?” “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” These pissants want to take him down one way or the other.
Kill Mueller....... a dead lawyer can’t go out of bounds
Here’s the deal: either We The People are going to Drain the Deep State Swamp, or the Deep State Swamp is going to drain We The People. There’s no middle ground. Make no mistake—we are at a critical moment in History.
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I completely agree with you. But I am not very optimistic. I was a big supporter of the Tea Party. While the TP was influential it wasn’t ever able to get the critical mass needed to really affect significant changes. Too many Americans were content to sit on the couch or didn’t want to expend the time and energy to change the country for the better.
I knew many people who called themselves patriots but wouldn’t sacrifice their personal time to participate in even a few gatherings. It was really disappointing.
We are by and large a comfortable (and somewhat lazy) society that is not inclined to want to rock the boat. The motivation is just not there in my humble opinion.
I hope I’m wrong.
This was shocking and reprehensible, even compared with the normal criminal conduct of America’s enemies in FedGov.
PS
When does the FBI raid Richard Blum’s attorney’s office?
Inquiring minds want to know. $2 billion in crooked contracts beats the hell out of $130K worth of hush money to the sugar girl.
He was a fallback insurance policy
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I believe you are right about that. Sessions was the Deep State’s firewall. Their redoubt.
It sounds like Mueller is trying to provoke Trump into firing him.
This is way beyond the scope of Mueller’s investigation.
Where is the oversight and control of Mueller’s investigation?
Who is going to raid the offices of the FBI to get all the documents they are stonewalling on turning over to congress?
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maybe the most profound post on this thread..
Mueller is BANKRUPTING everyone in Trumps circle!!
“And the totally useless GOP stands by and does nothing. Make no mistake about it, they are complicit in this lawlessness.”
Amen and amen. The whole situation in a nutshell. Money quote of the day, unfortunately.
“Trump has no one to blame but himself. Hey idiot, you put Sessions at the head of DOJ, you deserve this nonsense.”
So don’t think you can call the President an “idiot,” and not include most conservatives, who thought Sessions would live up to his resume.
I just finished calling 3 congressmen’s offices and telling them that I am tired of this fake investigation, that they should be investigating real crimes like the Awan Brothers and Hillary’s handling of emails. I am so disgusted.
I wonder if Hannity will take to the air waves and tell us what great people work for the FIB?
Salt of the Earth, so Sean says.
Rosenstein Gave Mueller Permission to Request FBI Raid Office of Trump’s Lawyer Michael Cohen
Every bit of it can be laid at Sessions’ door, all of it!
I don’t believe Sessions survives this while DOJ stonewalls Congress on the real crimes in the Hillary/FBI docs. His humiliation is total now.
Same strategy hussein44 used to destroy Sarah Palin in 2009 after the election.
Who is going to raid the offices of the FBI to get all the documents they are stonewalling on turning over to congress?
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They don’t have to. The DOJ IG already has the docs.
And Rosenstein works for Obama/Hillary.
And the totally useless GOP stands by and does nothing. Make no mistake about it, they are complicit in this lawlessness.
I just had a peak at Ted Cruz’s twitter. Nothing about this, naturally.
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