FBI raids Trump lawyer's office
The FBI on Monday raided the office of President Trump 's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and seized emails, tax documents and records related to his payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels.
Cohen's lawyer, Stephen Ryan, said in a statement that federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained a search warrant after receiving a referral "in part" from special counsel Robert Mueller . Ryan called the search “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.”
The New York Times reported that the payment to Daniels is just one of "many topics" being looked at by the FBI.
Other seized documents include business records and communications between Cohen and Trump, but the raid does not appear to be directly connected to Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, according to The Times.
Among the materials agents secured are those related to Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels as part of a nondisclosure agreement related to her alleged 2006 affair with Trump.
The payment went through just days before the 2016 election. Cohen has admitted to paying Daniels, but denied it violated campaign finance laws.
Last week, Trump denied knowing about the payment. It was the first time he had addressed the issue publicly.
"You'll have to ask Michael Cohen," Trump said. "Michael is my attorney. You'll have to ask Michael."
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, filed a lawsuit last month claiming that a nondisclosure agreement she signed regarding the alleged affair is invalid because Trump never signed it. Her lawyer on Sunday filed a renewed motion to depose Trump and Cohen over the payment.
Cohen, who has been Trump's attorney for years, has previously been of interest in some aspects of the special counsel's probe.
Mueller reportedly sought documents and spoke to witnesses about Cohen’s involvement in negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen was reportedly in contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman about moving forward on the project, but did not receive a response.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/382341-fbi-raids-trump-lawyers-office
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MAGA = My Attorney Got Arrested
Trump's DOJ raided trump's attorney and didn't tell trump about it... Let that sink in for a minute.
With a Trump appointed temporary Republican Federal Attorney for the Southern District of NY that Trump had already told people he was going to nominate to the Senate for the job permanently when his term runs out on May and issued by Republican Judge! And the tip was sent to them by Mueller who is also a Republican and apparently they were already investigating Cohen anyway!
I love it because even FOX can't say this is part of their phony "Deep State" conspiracy!
Let me break the news to ya:
Geoffrey Berman, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York was recused from the investigation into President Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen, CBS News' Pat Milton confirmed Tuesday. Berman played no role in the FBI raid of Cohen's residence and offices .
Let Morning Joe know too.
This is just payback from the partisan FBI leadership for their sins being exposed. The swamp will fight back when threatened.
You mean the people trump appointed?
No, the treasonous Obama holdovers.
You mean like this guy?
Robert Swan Mueller III (/ˈmʌlər/; born August 7, 1944) is an American attorney who served as the sixth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 2001 to 2013.[3] A Republican, he was appointed by President George W. Bush; President Barack Obama gave his original ten-year term a two-year extension, making him the longest-serving FBI director since J. Edgar Hoover. He is currently head of the Special Counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and related matters.
Not to mention a decorated war hero to boot. Mueller's honesty and integrity are LEGENDARY. It's absolutely mind-boggling how the right could turn on the very best of their own in a desperate attempt at protecting a total piece of shit like Trump.
They would rather have a draft dodger and, crook in the White House than an honest man in the FBI, it says a lot about where the GOP has gone in the past thirty some odd years.
Name them...and their treason? We'll wait...
I'm sure you'll be pointing Mueller is a Republican a LOT when his investigation ends and there's nothing on Trump worth impeaching.
Oh, now THAT'S funny.
I think this section of your statement captures the crux of the problem. Like the democratic party has in the past, the republican party is currently going through it's own transformation with their extreme fringes. We are witnessing this painful creation of a faction on the right who doesn't accept facts. It's a new reality and we need to learn how to deal with these people. Otherwise we'll go insane. lol
Republicans and, Democrats both agree that Mueller is honest and, has integrity.
On May 16, 2017, Mueller interviewed with President Trump to again serve as the Director of the FBI. Trump did not hire Mueller and immediately provided feedback he wanted to go a new direction, someone who hadn't been in the position before.[53] The very next day, on May 17, 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller to serve as special counsel for the United States Department of Justice. In this capacity, Mueller oversees the investigation into "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation".[54]
Mueller's appointment to oversee the investigation immediately garnered widespread support from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.[55][56] Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) said, "Former Director Mueller is exactly the right kind of individual for this job. I now have significantly greater confidence that the investigation will follow the facts wherever they lead." Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) stated, "former FBI dir. Mueller is well qualified to oversee this probe".[55] Newt Gingrich, former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives and prominent conservative political commentator, stated via Twitter that "Robert Mueller is a superb choice to be special counsel. His reputation is impeccable for honesty and integrity."[5
Do you know more than people who have actually worked with Mueller?
Mueller is Trump's and his supporters worse nightmare, a genuinely honest man with unimpeachable integrity. The real live untouchable who will follow the law and the investigation to the truth and only to the truth no matter where is leads because that is all he cares about, finding out the truth because that is what his job is and that is what he does. Above reproach.
People can insult him all they want, but those insults just slide off from his as just plain silly and laughable when you see them bounce off from his impeccable history and reputation. They can laugh about it all they want, but in law enforcement circles he really is a legend and there is no other person in this country who could have been a better pick to do a more fair and honest job for this investigation
I"m not doubting his qualification. Now if he were honest and had integrity, he would (1) recused himself as soon as the Uranium One information come to light (which he knew of before all this started) and (2) discontinued his investigation (now a farce) when it come to light there is no evidence of what he was supposed to be looking for. It's to a point now that he is still going just to appease the left amidst the hissy fit and waste money.
First, it has been proven that the Uranium One deal had nothing to do with anything in any investigation since no one in the White House at the time had anything to do with it. Second, Rosenstein (A fellow Republican and, appointee of Trump) gave Mueller these "rules" for the investigation, look for "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation". So, everything Mueller is doing right now and, has done during the investigation is all connected to the probe. You don't like it, tough.
And they have come up empty. Raiding the lawyers home, office and hotel SHOULD tell you that. But the lefts disbelief that Trump defeated Clinton without help somehow "there is something" and they will continue to waste money and cry like a toddler in Walmart.
Speaking of which it seems that the morons on Faux & Fiends (and the Trump supporters who watch that crap) think that Hillary sold uranium to Russia and as a consequence Russia now has nuclear weapons!!!!1!!! We should all be very afraid.
.
Plus sex-crazed pandas are a growing threat to humanity!!!!1!!
So far I see no real serious criticism of him that disqualifies him from this investigation or tarnishes his sterling reputation in the least. I see that some people shame themselves in trying to come up with reasons that they themselves know are not connected to this investigation in order to try to call into question his integrity, but IMHO it really says more about them, then it does about Robert Mueller. The mounting evidence, the indictments, the guilty pleas, even the tip to the Federal District Attorney for the Southern District of NY, helping in their already ongoing investigation of Micheal Cohen for many other offenses, not all related to Trump, to lead to the service of valid, legal, search warrants of his office, home and hotel room, show that is a serious and well run investigation.
This is bullshit getting so old. No one on the left or in the Democratic Party cares about that anymore, so get over it too. This has nothing to do with Trump defeating Clinton in 2016. That is ancient history to everyone but the right wing who brings it up all of the time as a supposed excuse as to why most people (and it is the majority of Americans) want to know how close Trump is to Putin and what his involvement with the Russians is, strictly because right now it is a national security issue to have am for all intents and purposes, a Russian operative in the Oval office.
No one on the left is even thinking about why Clinton lost (we got over that a long time ago), as much as we are thinking about how much in bed Trump is with Russia. To hell with Clinton losing. No one cares anymore. All we care about is having a Russian running the U.S. Government. This is all about Trump and him leading the most corrupt government in American history and does not have a damned thing to do with Clinton. It has everything to do with try to make sure America survives the unhinged lunatic in the White House. This is strictly an issue of national security now.
What time did they call you to give you the briefing? You do know as the seasoned investigator that you are that the probability is that the investigation gave them the evidence they needed to get the warrants for bank and wire fraud for starters, then again you already knew all that.
You do not know that. No one outside of the people conducting the raid does. Unless you were there you do not know what they found or did not find, so you can not say that they came up empty. Your comment can not be true. I am not sure if the new CoC rules allow me to say that your comment is a lie, but IMHO it is a lie, so if I get deleted then so be it.
Common sense tells us that. But, just like with 99.9% of the anti-Trump group and I know common sense isn't all that common.
Keep that in mind while you stomp your feet crying about the President. The whole thing started because the 2 time loser said blurted out collusion after she got her ass handed to her and used a fake "dossier" to back it up.
But because it hurt your feelings you are going to say it anyway.
This is really turning into a serious pile of horseshit.
First, all the pathetic comments about the "sexuality" things that have absolutely nothing to do with why the FBI "raided" his office.
Second because Mueller is now broadening the proposed "scope" of his dirt digging, illegally of course, because nothing in Cohen's files are going to draw any conclusions to the "RUSSIAN INVASION".
And, you know this how?
Of course Fish, Ketchup.
Because after all this time they still come up empty.
Sure... Nothing at all. /s
Sure... Nothing at all. /s
Meuller was to investigate Russian collusion. He's chasing shadows now. So, yes, you got nothing.
I doubt you or I have any idea what Mueller has uncovered or what the current scope of his investigation is, but we do know that he can refer incidental criminal behavior he uncovers to other prosecutors. And from that we know that whatever criminal acts the DOJ suspects that Cohen committed those crimes are likely outside the scope of Mueller's investigation.
I doubt Meuller know's what he's investigating. He's trying to latch on to anything that could possibly save his ass.
It sure does Dennis, it says Mueller is finding so much, it's taking him over a year to wrap up.
That must be one shiny turd.
Trump? I'd say that describes him perfectly.
He was to investigate obstruction of justice also and has the right to pursue any other crimes he happens to run across while investigating both collusion and obstruction as is his duty as a prosecution attorney. He cannot ignore other crimes he finds in the course of his investigation. For instance if he is examining the computer of a a person suspected of helping in the obstruction of justice and he runs across information of money laundering or bank fraud, it is his duty as a prosecutor, as an officer of the court, to follow that also. What if he ran across child porn on a subject's PC? Would you expect him to ignore it because it is not strictly part of his mandate? His mandate says he can investigate any other crimes he runs across in the course of his investigation and as Manafort and Gates can tell you he is running across many.
If you aren't careful you could find yourself in a real Pickle Relish.
It took two years to get the tapes from Nixon and, then Nixon had to resign after calling Watergate a witch hunt.
Try again, Mueller was given a wider scope than that.
So if a cop stops someone for running a stop sign they shouldn't further investigate any suspicious activity or items there because it's not within the scope of a traffic stop? Is that really what you are saying? It is my understanding that law enforcement officials are to follow-up on, or report to appropriate authorities, any potential crime they come across.
Please tell me how you know that. That spiraling circle around Trump keeps getting closer and closer. Perhaps they won't find anything, perhaps they will. After all both Nixon and Bill Clinton were only charged with lying under oath. The Nixon investigation ran for over 2 years. The Clinton investigation - all told - was almost a year and a half and started with the death of Vince Foster and the Whitewater Development Corporation. We all know they didn't find anything there and the scope of Ken Starr's investigation changed when Linda Tripp contacted his office.
Maybe he is looking for a blue dress and found money laundering, treason, bank fraud, illegal loans from sanctioned entities, massive debt to an undisclosed foreign government, you know little shit.
It just means that Trump isn't per se the subject of the investigation, as was made clear when Mueller was appointed:
.
However it's already clear that the Trump campaign did seek the help of the Russian government to help win the election. It's also pretty clear that Trump attempted to obstruct justice and then foolishly admitted it in his interview with Lester Holt. That's perhaps only the second time in his life that he's been honest.....the first was when he publicly asked Russia to help rig the election by hacking into DNC servers and releasing information unfavorable to his opponent.
And come up empty.
So you are acknowleding that it's a witch hunt.
Is and has been ignoring them.
You mean like Comey's team investigating Weiner's computer and coming across Clinton's classified email? Oh wait, that was ignored too. Actually I think that was found around the time the exoneration letter was written and before her interview.
He's a subject just not a target, yet.
In this case we don't know what Mueller has, except that there are memo's from other DOJ officials that co- oberate what Comey said about Trump.
Is it a "witch hunt" when a cop makes a traffic stop and, finds drugs in the car?
It's a Democrat witch hunt. If they had something it would have been leaked. You know the democrats are as secure as the California southern border.
Yeah, no. Two completely different things. You are grasping at imaginary straws and you know it.
LOL, Mueller, Rosenstein and, Session are Democrats? And, here I thought they were all Republicans......oh wait, they are Republicans.
You must not be reading it all because Mueller gave that part over to NY. And the best part about THAT? Trump can't pardon anybody! Meantime, Mueller is working within his boundaries. I think its so funny republicans are whining so much about things they set precedent for! Mueller will find out his things, NY will find out out their things. Swamps are pretty muddy, don't expect miracles here.
Why? We all know that the moon landing was shot in Hollywood and, that JFK wasn't shot but, lived out his life on a private island owned by Onassis.
Yep, here's the proof,
Along with Elvis and Jim Morrison
Met both when I was younger, I like Elvis better. Of course I was a kid when I met Elvis.
Nice. Unfortunately I never met either.
Well, I was 5 or, 6 when I met Elvis, it was at a beach in Florida, he rapped my hand that I'd just cut on broken glass and, gave me BBQed chicken and, a Coke.
Are you from Tupelo?
No, born and raised and still live in a suburb of Buffalo, New York.
Nice memory.
Yeah, it was. My sister had taken use to the beach that day and, Elvis and, some friends were rapping a movie or, something and, having a party on the beach.
What no Frankie and Annette and Beach Blanket Bingo....hehe
Just curious with your mention of Elvis and Morrison. 'Course I was thinking Van versus Jim.
Believe it or, not, most of those were made on set in Hollywood.
It figures.
For all those who taunted us … "SNOWFLAKES" …
Told ya' we'd be here eventually.
Don't be surprised if Cohen makes a deal to save his incarceration time …
And hands over Trump's ass in total.
Understand that this raid came from the Southern District of NEW YORK, and, that a former Giuliani law partner and Republican Trump-appointed official, along with others in the protocol, enabled the raid on Cohen's offices!
Any way you slice it, Cohen won't be able to practice law after this is over.
And pay attention for a Trump WAG-THE-DOG!
That would be Syria.
And you all are STILL grasping at straws.
And you're whistling past the graveyard …
But time will tell.
“Anyone being investigated by the FBI is not qualified to be the president of the United States” ~Trump Said on: 8/3/16 9/7/16 10/15/16 10/20/16 10/21/16 10/25/16 10/30/16
What about being raided by the on 4/9/18?
I think it's premature to start assigning who did what and why. This is breaking news and we are still learning new information on what this is exactly about.
Mueller is a republican, appointed by a republican that was appointed by trump.
4 indictments of trumps own staff. 13 indictments of russian hackers in the USA that made an effort to swing the election to trump. Flynn plead guilty and Gates' lawyer is heading for prison. 17 total indictments, so far. And now, trumps own lawyer has been raided by the FBI, (which trump actually said is an attack on the USA...hyperbole much?). with a no knock warrant. Forget about the piles of evidence linking trump and these turds to Russia, (well documented, over and over again), this alone should make even the most ardent trump supporter take pause. And what do all these people have in common? What's the ONE thing that binds them all? They all work(ed) for trump. Weird huh? And what happened to Hope Hicks? The day after she was interviewed by Mueller, she resigned. Why? Again, pretty weird.
.
But it's all a witch hunt? All a hoax? Sure, if you say so but looks to me like a lot of witches have already been caught, and more will be caught in the coming weeks.
Someone described the Trump world as a surgeon opening the stomach of a patient complaining of pain in their midsection and saying that the entire stomach and all of the organs are filled and infected with cancer. That there is no part not cancerous. The trump world and administration is the most corrupt group of people ever to occupy the White House in the history of America and we will be lucky to survive it.
That was Republican Steve Schmidt!
Senator McCain's 2008 campaign manager for those who don't know that. Steve Schmidt that is
Michael Cohen: "I am Donald Trump's fixer.."
Ok, so you are a LAWYER that FIXES things for trump? In other words, you are responsible for covering up trump's crimes... Got it.
I just can't imagine that Trump's consigliere would have committed a crime....
A legal search with a warrant and a break in are two different things. This wasn't what happened at the Watergate Complex. Can our President ever stop lying?
Nope. If he will lie about the size of his crowds, he will lie about anything.
He also said it's an attack on our country. Now that would only be possible if Trump is the King or Dictator of our country. If he IS our country itself. Trump looks at being the President as being the CEO of a private company. That he is all powerful and that he has no constraints on his power. Like a dictator of a company, except having the same power of the country.
Bingo.
Adam Schiff Retweeted Greg Sargent
The search warrant for Michael Cohen’s office was sought by a US Attorney appointed by the President and approved by a judge. That’s no witch hunt. That’s the rule of law. As Trump floats firing Mueller, all Members must speak out — or stop feigning devotion to the Constitution.
Interesting that conservatives today are saying that laws should not be enforced and crimes not investigated.
What's the crime? Usually people are charged with a crime before they are prosecuted. That's what separates us from third world countries. Soviet style justice is you look for a crime and if you can't find one, you make one up. What's the crime?
Strange that the US attorney in NYC hasn't filled me in yet on his investigation, normally he asks my permission before he executes a no-knock warrant on an attorney. But given the very high standard required for such warrants I'm guessing it's more serious than just wire fraud and bank fraud.
No surprise given his history that Trump uses the services of a consigliere rather than a legitimate attorney. The one he used for the longest time was literally a mob lawyer.
Isn't 8 separate investigations in 4 years the new standard according to house teapublicans?
Let me help you understand the reality …
• IN ORDER FOR THE RAIDS ON COHEN'S OFFICES TO HAVE PROCEEDED, PROBABLE CAUSE HAD TO HAVE BEEN FIRST ESTABLISHED, AND THEN, ALL ALONG THE JUDICIAL PROTOCOL LINE SANCTIONING THE RAIDS … and that, for any/all documents, e-mails, etc., potentially germane to possible crimes the FBI is investigating.
Sounds like you've got your procedural steps out of order. Usually it starts with an investigation, then a search warrant, then an arrest, then a prosecution at a trial. The finally steps are the conviction and stuffing the corpulent Trumptard into an orange jump suit.
Uh oh, looks like someone else may have been a naughty boy.
This whole Administration and most affiliated with it have long passed ridiculous, beyond pathetic.
With the exception of Mattis everyone Trump chooses to employ is incompetent, fundamentally opposed to their job function, a bigot, a theocrat, corrupt, criminal, a white supremacist, a literal Nazi, a fascist or a wife beater.
He couldn't find any pedophiles?
The Trump administration.
Fresh out of them at the time.
Trump's pedophile pick missed his flight from Alabama to DC.
Well you get kicked out of the conservative club if you support equal rights for women, gays, minorities or anyone of a different faith so the pool Trump can pick from is limited to the xenophobic, homophobic, Islamaphobic sexists that conservatism celebrates.
Nah, Prebus left early.
I have to laugh:
The company handed over documents about a $150,000 donation that the Ukrainian billionaire, Victor Pinchuk, made in September 2015 to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in exchange for a 20-minute appearance by Mr. Trump The payment from Mr. Pinchuk “is curious because it comes during a campaign and is from a foreigner and looks like an effort to buy influence,” said Marcus S. Owens, a former head of the Internal Revenue Service division that oversees tax-exempt organizations. He called the donation “an unusual amount of money for such a short speech.”
Mr. Pinchuk, drew more scrutiny d uring the campaign for his ties to Hillary Clinton and her family foundation. He has donated more than $13 million to that organization since 200 6."
$150,000 gets your door kicked in, 13 million gets the IRS and DOJ to work for you.
We do know that the "Trump Foundation" was a bogus charity and a scam designed to personally benefit Trump himself and which has since closed due to its violations of state and federal law about self-dealing.
That's very much unlike the "Clinton Foundation" which has consistently been one of the top-ranked public charities and from which the Clintons don't financially benefit. And if you're talking about the "Clinton Family Foundation" that's just a private charity for the Clintons' personal charitable donations (ie, you can't even donate to that one). AFAIK there have never been any credible complaints about that one either.
Did you just gloss over the difference between someone giving to an actual charity that provides help and education for under-served women and girls around the world which with a long history of donations going back to 2006 and a guy giving $150k for a 20 minutes speech from Donald during his campaign? Do you look at an octopus and call it a bird just because it also has a beak?
Absolutely disgusting! Oh, they will get him for something. Maybe, not raising the seat while taking a leak!
If the FBI had raided Hillary Clinton's attorney's office the ACLU would have been all over them.
Apparently Clinton's attorney never did anything to indicate compelling evidence of a crime.
didn't need to, they should have just raided because...well its Hillary's
Liberals have been after Trump for over a year with supposedly the best of the best and still zilch.
He was going to jail when Mannafort was indicted, he was going to jail with the fake Dossier scandal, he was going to jail over a hooker...blah blah blah. Such fools.
Too bad people hate their country so much they want to see their President fail.
We actually love our country so much that we are doing what we can to cleanse it of the criminal and his crony entourage that is in charge of it. We do not as you have done ignore and look the other way from the nauseating sight. We do not accept the nepotism and the continuous stream of lies and manipulations that are a daily grind of intentional misdirection. The irrational diplomacy that says discussion comes after infuriation and threats. I hope the conservative ideal can survive the imposition of the regressives that dominate the landscape of what was once an honorable alternative position to the liberal, balance is the ideal, unfortunately they apparently have gone into hiding to maintain a reproducible population. The love for country you profess is not for the nation that has been but for one that has been promised to be the replacement in which the classes are then two, the royalty and the serfs.
Liberals have only accomplished to stir the pot and consistently push the agenda of fear. Congrats.
How is that Armageddon working out for them?