What "appearance" do you think they're going for with this no-knock raid?

4/10/2018 4:22:29 PM

The appearance of a witch hunt orchestrated by the REAL witch: Hillary Rodham Clinton?

4/10/2018 4:36:21 PM

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/no-knock_warrant

Quote :

" Such warrants are issued where an entry pursuant to the knock-and-announce rule (ie. an announcement prior to entry) would lead to the destruction of the objects for which the police are searching or would compromise the safety of the police or another individual."

4/10/2018 4:51:20 PM

Where are we seeing that this was a no-knock warrant?

Taking down a door at 5am after no one responds to a knock is not the same as a no-knock.

4/10/2018 5:30:16 PM

Every major news outlet?

4/10/2018 5:40:30 PM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/04/10/cohens-office-raided-trump-melts-down/?utm_term=.9c7a8e9ed1db

The Washington Post seems to think it was a no-knock raid. Unless you thought Cohen was just sitting in his office waiting for the last second to throw key evidence in the shredder, this was nothing more than force projection. No knock raids are supposed to be reserved for situations where you think the few seconds involved with knocking and announcing your presence would be enough to let the suspect flush the drugs or grab their guns. I don't think either of those apply here. Who knows; maybe they think Cohen is behind the use of chemical weapons in Britain?

I'm curious as to why Cohen owned a house but lived in a hotel, and why the hotel had to be raided.

4/10/2018 5:43:53 PM

I'd be curious to hear if in fact the warrants were no-knock. I often see no-knock reported in error simply because officers/agents use force to enter a building after knocking.

I've seen it reported that his house is being renovated and he is living in the hotel until the work is done.

4/10/2018 5:48:34 PM

Quote :

"Let’s start with the raid. The Post reports: Michael Cohen, the longtime attorney of President Trump, is under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, according to three people with knowledge of the case. FBI agents on Monday raided Cohen’s Manhattan office, home and hotel room as part of the investigation, seizing records about Cohen’s clients and personal finances. Among the records taken were those related to a 2016 payment Cohen made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump, according to another person familiar with the investigation. Investigators took Cohen’s computer, phone and personal financial records, including tax returns, as part of the search of his office at Rockefeller Center, the second person said. In a dramatic and broad seizure, federal prosecutors collected communications between Cohen and his clients — including those between the lawyer and Trump, according to both people. Let us not understate how extraordinary a development this is. The standard of proof required to raid any attorney’s office is exceptionally high. To authorize a raid on the president’s lawyer’s office, a federal judge or magistrate must have seen highly credible evidence of serious crimes and/or evidence Cohen was hiding or destroying evidence, according to legal experts. “The FBI raid was the result of an ongoing criminal investigation *not* by Mueller but by the interim US Attorney personally interviewed and selected by Trump himself, pursuant to a warrant issued under strict standards by a federal judge, subject to approval by the head of the Criminal Division,” said constitutional scholar Larry Tribe. He warns that “firing Sessions or Rosenstein (or reining in Mueller) would trigger a crisis for the Constitution and our national security but wouldn’t even extricate Trump from criminal investigation of his innermost circle.” In short, Tribe concludes, “This is every bit as shattering as many have surmised.”"

[Edited on April 10, 2018 at 5:51 PM. Reason : .]

4/10/2018 5:50:10 PM

Quote :

"The Washington Post seems to think it was a no-knock raid"

Pretty sure an opinion piece doesn't represent the view of the whole damn paper but good try

And even if it was, they're not reserved for only guns and drugs but nice try

4/10/2018 6:33:32 PM

What difference does it honestly make whether they technically 'knocked' or not? They seized his fucking devices, documents, records, etc and neither he, nor Trump had any clue they were coming. There is zero possible way to spin this, especially since the US attorneys that approved the raid were Trump appointees.

4/10/2018 6:39:27 PM

Quote :

"especially since the US attorneys that approved the raid were Trump appointees."

That's not the case; Berman recused himself.

[Edited on April 10, 2018 at 6:52 PM. Reason : and it makes a huge difference. A no-knock raid had no business being used.]

4/10/2018 6:51:37 PM

Quote :

" Berman was not involved in the decision to raid Cohen's office because of the recusal, two sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. The recusal was approved by senior Justice Department officials who report to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the sources said. Rosenstein himself was notified of the recusal after the decision was made."

[Edited on April 10, 2018 at 6:55 PM. Reason : .]

4/10/2018 6:55:36 PM

Quote :

" A no-knock raid had no business being used"

We, again, don't know that it was, but even if it was, I don't fashion you as a legal scholar, and instead have to figure you're doing a poor job of regurgitating content from some weird alt-right blog you read.

Quote :

"Such warrants are issued where an entry pursuant to the knock-and-announce rule (ie. an announcement prior to entry) would lead to the destruction of the objects for which the police are searching"

4/10/2018 6:57:01 PM

I don't think eulises is smart enough to understand why Berman recused himself, so I'll post more from the article:

Quote :

"The raid of Cohen's office was handled by others in the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and approved by a federal judge. Berman is a Trump appointee with ties to Rudy Giuliani who donated money to the 2016 Trump campaign, and is a longtime Trump ally and supporter. The U.S. Attorney's office declined to comment. FBI agents were dispatched early Monday morning by the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York to three locations tied to Cohen – his home, his office in Rockefeller Center and a hotel he was staying at on New York’s East Side. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team had passed information on to the Department of Justice, which referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office New York, but the raids and investigation are separate from the ongoing investigation into Russia meddling during the 2016 election. Agents took personal and financial records dating back as far as 2013, sources tell ABC News. Sources say the search was for evidence of possible bank and wire fraud in addition to possible campaign finance violations. Agents also took documents related Cohen’s dealings with adult film star Stormy Daniels just weeks before the 2016 election, according to multiple sources. Cohen’s personal electronic devices were also seized in Monday’s raid."

The irony, of course, is that Trump fucked himself over by appointing someone that he's way too close with.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/us/politics/trump-russia-mueller-rosenstein.html?smid=tw-share

Quote :

"The involvement of Mr. Rosenstein and top prosecutors in New York in the raid of Mr. Cohen’s office makes it harder for Mr. Trump to argue that his legal problems are the result of a witch hunt led by Mr. Mueller. In addition to Mr. Rosenstein, all of the top law enforcement officials involved in the raid are Republicans: Mr. Mueller; Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director; and Geoffrey Berman, the interim United States attorney in New York."

[Edited on April 10, 2018 at 7:11 PM. Reason : moar]

4/10/2018 7:05:21 PM

im not saying either way but them beimg republican doesn't make it not a witch hunt. there is and has always been a significant group of republicans who would gladly go trump huntin'. they would gladly see a president pence and "save face for the party"

4/10/2018 7:42:26 PM

Except that Trump actually picked some of them. Nice try though.

[Edited on April 10, 2018 at 7:50 PM. Reason : .]

4/10/2018 7:47:07 PM

Maybe Trump is planting deep state actors so that he can create a deep state to blame

4/10/2018 8:50:48 PM

People defended Nixon until the bitter end, so I'm guessing some of you people will never admit to being duped either.

4/10/2018 9:11:00 PM

^^397 TulsiD Chess

4/10/2018 9:16:41 PM

I do wonder if this Cohen thing will end up undercutting Trump in a way Mueller's investigation doesn't seem to. It still has Trump's skeeviness but doesn't question the legitimacy of the election or voter's sense of agency in the same way the Russia/Facebook stuff does.

4/10/2018 10:09:46 PM

Quote :

"I do wonder if this Cohen thing will end up undercutting Trump in a way Mueller's investigation doesn't seem to"

You misspelled "hope"

4/10/2018 10:51:39 PM

UJustwait, do you not know what a recusal is? the articles you posted verify what I said and contradict your claims.

4/11/2018 6:54:50 AM

Quote :

"I do wonder if this Cohen thing will end up undercutting Trump in a way Mueller's investigation doesn't seem to."

Depends on a few things, but if it undercuts him at all my guess is it would be because something comes up related to the main investigation.

Pretty sure Cohen will be indicted for something, that's for sure.

4/11/2018 7:54:01 AM

the cohen thing isn't unrelated, cohen was working out of the offices of a firm that was a lobbyist for gazprom and represented cambridge analytica (a firm that had previously been a co-conspirator in a RICO scheme)

there is nothing wrong of course with a law firm representing russian interests, there is a lot of russian money and that's normal, and if that's all it was it could easily be ignored as a coincidence. But cohen was given office space inside this law firm as part of a "strategic alliance" but no one seems to know what the alliance was about or how it benefited the firm, so it becomes something harder to ignore
https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2018/04/10/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-was-discrete-presence-at-squire-patton-boggs/?slreturn=20180311083638

4/11/2018 8:43:53 AM

https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-second-paul-manafort-associate-has-turned-on-him

4/11/2018 9:02:08 AM

^^Thanks, that clears some of this up.

4/11/2018 9:38:53 AM

https://www.buzzfeed.com/emmaloop/jill-steins-campaign-has-turned-over-documents-in-the?utm_term=.cdw6XORZqk#.jjeYjvJboZ

Lock her up?

4/11/2018 6:18:55 PM

Can someone provide an explanation of the various reasons why the Senate legislation to protect the Special Counsel from being fired would be unconstitutional?

4/12/2018 12:51:07 PM

one of the bills would move the authority to fire from executive to judicial, but it's questionable because it's just a review and appeal that's moving and he could still be fired for cause. i don't know if there is the same issue with the tillis bill.

neither of the bills is total protection, they would just need to cook up some reason to fire him

4/12/2018 1:00:26 PM

CNN: White House is prepping an effort to undermine Rosenstein.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/12/politics/rod-rosenstein-white-house-effort/index.html

[Edited on April 12, 2018 at 7:13 PM. Reason : ]

4/12/2018 7:12:17 PM

what amazes me is the rnc is working on this. how is that even a legal political activity

4/12/2018 7:58:34 PM

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/12/politics/republicans-mueller-investigation-poll/index.html

This is the stuff that worries me if we go down the impeachment route.

4/12/2018 10:53:53 PM

^ that’s insane... how can anyone think the probe is unfair?

4/12/2018 10:56:57 PM

So Cohen liked to record conversations and probably has tapes

Lol

4/13/2018 6:07:35 AM

^^The far right has put out the idea that since no collusion has been determined after such a long time, the investigation should be shut down, that there's nothing there.

Not that I agree with that statement, that's just what I hear.

4/13/2018 7:44:09 AM

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/trump-michael-cohen-press-conference-w518932

4/13/2018 2:16:06 PM

There were going to be demonstrations if Robert Mueller was fired. Anyone know if the same is planned for Rod Rosenstein's firing?

If so, I believe that the one in Raleigh would be at noon tomorrow between the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the North Carolina Museum of History (assuming that he's fired tonight).

4/13/2018 5:05:22 PM

^personally, I view the firing of either in about the same light. I talked to several folks today that were just waiting around for this shit to go down.

4/13/2018 5:46:44 PM

Quote :

"Trump’s advisers have concluded that the New York corruption investigation involving Michael Cohen poses a greater and more imminent threat to the president than even Mueller’s investigation, several people close to Trump tell NYT."

RICO coming

4/13/2018 6:20:20 PM

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/13/prosecutors-slam-trump-lawyer-cohens-hearing-request-in-fbi-raids.html

4/13/2018 7:55:41 PM

Sources: Mueller has evidence Cohen was in Prague in 2016, confirming part of dossier

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article208870264.html#cardLink=tallRow1_card1

4/13/2018 8:59:34 PM

Second source (sort of) http://thehill.com/homenews/news/383123-mueller-can-prove-cohen-made-secret-trip-to-prague-before-the-election-report

4/13/2018 10:48:45 PM

Reuters has it now: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-prague/special-counsel-has-evidence-michael-cohen-traveled-to-prague-mcclatchy-idUSKBN1HL00J

4/13/2018 11:09:28 PM

has this been posted?

EXCLUSIVE: TWO TOP TRUMP OFFICIALS ARE EX-LOBBYISTS FOR A BILLIONAIRE WITH DEEP TIES TO RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/d35kgw/two-top-trump-officials-are-ex-lobbyists-for-a-billionaire-with-deep-ties-to-russian-oligarchs

4/13/2018 11:46:23 PM

Cohen's other client is...Sean Hannity lol

4/16/2018 3:05:04 PM

I almost spit my coffee when I read that.

4/16/2018 3:55:54 PM

hahahahaha, i thought that was a joke when i read it earlier

i'm dead

4/16/2018 4:02:35 PM

What's the significance of this?

4/16/2018 4:05:26 PM

set

4/16/2018 4:06:58 PM

em up

4/16/2018 4:07:39 PM