There’s lots of news bubbling this evening on the Cohen raids front. But I want to flag a particular issue that requires more attention. I invite feedback from lawyers and prosecutors and for that matter lawyers who are engaged in criminal conduct.
We have new news on that third Michael Cohen husher, the one with Trump fundraiser and RNC deputy finance chair Elliott Broidy and an unnamed former Playboy model. As with the earlier two it was ‘negotiated’ by Cohen representing Broidy and Keith Davidson representing the unnamed woman. The settlement was for $1.6 million. Read More
What on earth is going on with the Michael Cohen investigation? Here’s my stab at putting together the big picture (sub req.)
I think this video captures Friday and the Michael Cohen story.
omg this is amazing pic.twitter.com/TOlAIKvPl5
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 14, 2018
President Trump’s lawyers last night argued that the DOJ can’t be trusted to review the materials seized from Michael Cohen. Now Cohen’s lawyer are arguing that taking it out of the DOJ’s hands will protect the investigation from the toxic atmosphere created by all the attacks on the DOJ (which of course are all coming from President Trump and his allies.)
One sub-thread to the Cohen investigation is that the US Attorney in Manhattan (SDNY) recused himself from involvement in the case. It’s been assumed that that was because of his ties to Trump. Trump appointed him (he hasn’t actually been confirmed yet or technically even nominated). He made campaign contributions to candidate Trump and even did some work on the transition. But most notably he sat for a personal interview with the President while he was being considered for the post. That is entirely irregular, though there’s no particular rule against it. It’s been widely assumed that some combination of those factors triggered Berman’s recusal. But this new New York Times piece suggests that’s not the case. Read More
The judge in the Michael Cohen case has denied Cohen’s bid to have the government blocked from going through the materials they seized last week from his offices and hotel room. But she outlined a process where both sides will go though the documents for privileged material. The government can’t look at the substance of the materials, beyond the narrow search. The judge did not rule out appointing a special master to look through the materials, but said she’d decide at a future hearing.
The upshot: This slows things down somewhat, but, at least for now, it doesn’t derail the government’s investigation. We’ll have more details up shortly.
Update: And here they are.
Allegra Kirkland on the scene in the courtroom when Hannity was unmasked as Michael Cohen’s third client.
In an earlier report, Allegra Kirkland described the scene in the federal courthouse when Sean Hannity was revealed to be Michael Cohen’s third client. We now have her full, must-read account (Prime access) of her day at the federal courthouse with Cohen and Stormy Daniels.
For you junkies, the top GOP group trying to hold onto the House majority has signaled with a multimillion dollar ad reservation which seats it’s fighting to hold and which ones it may have already given up on.