Trump Blasts "Disgraceful" FBI Raid Of Lawyer's Office: "A Whole New Level Of Unfairness"

by Tyler Durden
Tue, 04/10/2018 - 05:01

Update II: As many probably suspected, Trump attorney Michael Cohen is under investigation for possible fraud and campaign finance violations, the Washington Post reported.

The FBI has seized documents - including emails, tax documents and other records - related to Cohen's $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Meanwhile, President Trump has stepped up to defend his longtime personal attorney, calling the raid "a whole new level of unfairness" and going as far to say it was an "attack on our country, on what we stand for before heading into a meeting with top military leaders." He also described the special counsel's team as "the most conflicted group of people I've ever met" and said the raid was "a disgraceful situation."

Trump added that the raid happened after Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein - who is supervising the Mueller probe - approved a referral that Mueller brought to the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. 

Jeff Sessions also came under fire as the president bashed him once again for recusing himself from the Mueller probe. Trump also exclaimed that "no one is looking at the other side" referring to Clinton's 30,000 missing emails.

"I have this witch hunt constantly going on," he said.

Of course, Trump has every reason to defend Cohen. As Trump's longtime lawyer, Cohen knows where the bodies are buried. And the fact that the FBI likely seized privileged material between the president and his lawyer is certainly troubling.

* * *

Update: Michael Cohen's lawyer says the FBI seized privileged communications between Cohen and his clients - a group that notably includes President Trump. And thus, we have what could quite possibly be an ulterior motive for the search.

While initial reports suggested the raid on Cohen's home wasn't related to the Mueller probe, CBS is reporting that it's unclear whether the raid was in relation to Stormy Daniels, the Mueller probe or something else.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Cohen's office in Rockefeller Center was searched along with his home and hotel room. The search was executed by the Manhattan US Attorney's Office which is carrying out an independent investigation in coordination with Mueller.

Cohen has of course already turned over his emails to the special counsel.

* * *

With stocks pulling off yet another stunning intraday reversal, in which the Dow Jones saw an 800 point round trip as trade tensions and an ominous OMB report sapped investors of what little confidence they gained over the weekend...

... the New York Times dropped a bombshell that helped drive them to their session lows when it reported that the FBI has raided the offices of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

Trump lawyer Michael Cohen

Notably, the NYT says that the search doesn't appear to be related to the Mueller probe - but rather separate charges being explored by prosecutors in New York; it is likely linked to recent events involving Cohen, Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels.

Cohen, who has been a long-time lawyer for the Trump Organization, has said he paid $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels as part of a non-disclosure agreement related to an affair she claims to have had with Trump. Cohen said he made the payment without Trump’s knowledge using his own money.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained a search warrant following a referral from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Cohen's lawyer Stephen Ryan told the NYT, adding that the search was "completely inappropriate and unnecessary."

"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," said Stephen Ryan, his lawyer. "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."

A person who had reportedly been briefed by the FBI on the matter said questions about Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to former adult film actress Stephanie Clifford - better known as Stormy Daniels - were one of several topics being explored by investigators.

As the NYT adds the FBI seized emails, tax documents, business records and payments to Stormy Daniels from Cohen's office under several search warrants.

The White House has not commented on the raid yet. Last week, Trump repeated that he was unaware of the payment made by Cohen to Daniels.

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Comments

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nmewn Whoa Dammit Mon, 04/09/2018 - 18:53 Permalink

I have no idea, the ummm, "liaison"...supposedly happened back in 2006 well before the election so no campaign funds could have ever been used and if the attorney took it upon himself to shield the affair from the public (these some odd ten years later) so what, she accepted the terms as the money grubbing gold digger she is. 

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Dilluminati nmewn Mon, 04/09/2018 - 19:19 Permalink

Show me the man I'll show you the crime.  If this is all that there was for the rationale of the raid, if the FBI saw fit to breach the attorney client privilege for what was essentially a civil affair then this is going to get really ugly in the future.  There had better be some significant "there-there" and that communicated really quick to the public or i'd say that most people get the concept of attorney client privilege and if the FBI just broke into all of the law offices of America they could solve some crimes. 

Uhhhmm there had better be some significant "there-there" something incredible or sensational to warrant what has been done.

 

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Shemp 4 Victory nmewn Mon, 04/09/2018 - 20:09 Permalink

I really wish I could still care.

Meanwhile, President Trump has stepped up to defend his longtime personal attorney, calling the raid "a whole new level of unfairness"

The US reputation for fairness is known worldwide.

and going as far to say it was an "attack on our country, on what we stand for before heading into a meeting with top military leaders."

Yes, everything is an attack on or a threat to our country.  BTW, what do "we" actually stand for? I know that "we" stand against truth, justice, freedom, property rights, contract law, dignity, and anything else with a shred of decency, but what do "we" stand for?

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SWRichmond dark pools of soros Mon, 04/09/2018 - 22:46 Permalink

It's still not too late to activate the unorganized militia and call them into the service of the United States.  Trump has the authority to do this.  

We are so far outside the law now it's ridiculous (while activating the militia would actually be legal).  Mueller's history is so checkered, the FBI is up to its neck in this, along with the justice department, the CIA, the goddamned Islamized British, the list is endless.  These people do whatever the fuck they want.  Force is the only thing they understand, and law is just a pretense.  Who are we kidding?  It's a Goddamned show and that's all.

Remember: it's these bastards who have made a joke of the law, not us.

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chumbawamba SWRichmond Mon, 04/09/2018 - 23:39 Permalink

Come on, do you really think this is going to happen?  Trump calling up the civilian (Constitutional) militia?

That would never be scripted in.  Trump is part and parcel of this Deep State.  He's the ultimate actor and soothsayer.  He's perfect for the role.  He knows how to organize a spectacle.  That's why he was chosen over Hillary.

They are all chosen.  They are all Bloodline.  Trump, Hillary, Obama, Bush, Clinton, and on and on, all related by blood.

This is all theater.

The militia will be called up when that last line is crossed, when an untenable demand is made of the people.  In that case, there won't need to be a calling up, it'll be a rising up, spontaneous.

-chumblez.

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Lower Class Elite Shemp 4 Victory Mon, 04/09/2018 - 21:57 Permalink

Apparently, about 99.9% of the "we" on this site, in this country, in the whole fucking world stand for hypocritical fake-ass bullshit dolled up as sanctimonious ideology.  They will dutifully parrot the carefully prepared talking points of their chosen stupid little "teams" as if it were their own independent thoughts. If my side does ____, it's totally justified. If their side does it, they should all be imprisoned without trial and sodomized for eternity!  All sorts of folks like to imagine they are some kind of badass rebels. Odds are they ain't no fucking rebel. They ain't no fucking badass. They don't actually hate the system, they just hate their position within that system. As long as they can get more for themselves and their particular "tribe", they will justify why that is right and good, support the system that enables that, defend that system with all manner of mental gymnastics and lofty rhetoric, and viciously attack any who do not support that system. Very few people seem to actually stand for any higher ideal than that. That especially includes the douchebags who run the system. 

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chumbawamba Lower Class Elite Mon, 04/09/2018 - 23:53 Permalink

That is exactly right, and you find these sorts of people at all social strata.  At the lowest layer are those that attack the government on the one hand while the other is palm up waiting for the next handout from the same government.

People have vested their own identities in the political players and struggles of this theater, and so their outcome is a defining aspect of their very being.  Instead of buffering one's emotions and logic from the fiction playing out before them, Trump's every success and every failure is their own to celebrate or suffer.  They are captured.

All I can hope for and wish on them is that they one day wake up and realize they are just in the audience, and they can get up and leave the theater at any time.

-chumblez.

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Dilluminati nmewn Mon, 04/09/2018 - 20:11 Permalink

"Trump attorney Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations, according to a person familiar with the case" (WAPO)

and

"Trump unloads on Robert Mueller calling FBI raid on his attorney Michael Cohen 'an attack on our country and what we also stand for' after agents seize Stormy Daniels payment documents in campaign finance and bank fraud probe (daily mail)"

Now if I'm understanding this, the attorney is charged for the campaign finance charge not trump, and that leaves bank fraud, if the bank fraud case doesn't stick, then yeah the only actual fraud charge is that "anybody actually cared" that an adult entertainer (a,k.a. paid sex entertainer on film) was paid to have sex and keep quiet about it!  I think most people are adult enough to understand that Stormy will stuff a dick up her ass on film in a crowded room and that all of her virtue signalling, or her claim that she wanted to "protect what her daughter was reading" in the news was an issue as she stated in her interview at 60 minutes, when she is now actively posing for Penthouse and that will of course include massive amounts of makeup (she needs it) and a fallopian tube spread shot.  I feel sorry for her daughter and that begets another book in and of itself if she doesn't get her daughter to follow in her trade, or a book if she does.

I found Stormy to be one of the most disingenuous interviews I ever witnessed on TV and found it all the more compelling as she was frankly transparent in her actions and thoughts. If there isn't a quick charge and slam dunk bank fraud case, then I don't think most of America would care if Trump fired these people, because again nobody cared what Stormy said, nobody sensed a sex crime had occurred, and the campaign finance angle to all of this.. if that is all there is after a year long investigation and wiretaps.. if that is it.  well I think the American public might laugh at that cow Stormy, laugh at Trump, but suckers for fairness overall and I think the reach too damn far.   But to break into a lawyers office?  There better be some "there-there."

People are not worked up about Stormy Daniels because a simple google search explains it all.  In the movie Vendetta Stormy just stuffed that cock up her ass.. in a movie VENDETTA

http://www.iafd.com/title.rme/title=vendetta/year=2017/vendetta.htm