Long ago this blog
discussed the fake
Hillary Clinton "investigation"
of deliberately destroyed eMails
under subpoena from Congress.
We now know James Comey wrote
his first draft of an exoneration letter
in late April 2016, with 17 witnesses,
including Hillary Clinton, yet to be
interviewed by the FBI !
This blog discussed why Robert Mueller
should have been fired immediately,
because there was no evidence of a
crime, and no specific crime was ever
cited as the reason for his investigation.
Now everyone else realizes that a
Special Council can investigate anything,
especially after it was obvious there was
no collusion between Donald Trump
and anyone else ... not to mention
that collusion is not even a crime,
unless money or favors change hands,
which no one has ever claimed.
The Mueller witch hunt has morphed
into everything but collusion with Russians,
just like the 1990s Whitewater investigation did,
after the Clinton's business partners in Arkansas
went to prison, rather that telling the truth
about the Clintons.
FBI investigators are looking at Michael Cohen’s
interactions with washed up adult-film star
Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford),
and former playboy model Karen MacDougal,
who both claim to have had consensual sex
with a married man (Trump) about ten years ago,
making them appear to be sleazy women!
Cohen never held an official role with
the Trump campaign, but he did become
deputy finance chairman of the
Republican National Committee
after the election.
I don't know if FBI investigators
were interested in the
"Access Hollywood"
Billy Bush videotape.
I hope potential campaign finance
violations were the main target.
Famous law professor Alan Dershowitz,
told Slate's Isaac Chotiner:
"I know they went after bank records,
for example. Bank records could be gotten
from banks. I am told they went after tax records.
Tax records could be gotten from the tax authorities."
Michael Cohen, the former Trump Organization
dealmaker, was ( is ? ) the most important
'non-Trump' in the Trump business.
Cohen oversaw nearly all the foreign deals
after the Trump Organization shifted its focus
overseas.
Cohen was not part of the Trump Organization
legal team that set up contracts for deals
other people negotiated, and handled litigation.
Cohen was a deal maker for international deals.
Cohen, Ivanka Trump, and Donald YTrump, Jr.,
were the global development team
when the company explored international deals.
The Trump Organization did business with
some corrupt politicians, sanctions-violators,
and money launderers.
The only open question is how much they knew
about their partners' activities.
Cohen should know how much they knew.
Cohen flew to Kazakhstan and negotiated
a failed deal there with Timur Kulibayev,
an ally of Putin.
Cohen worked on a potential deal
in Moscow that never happened,
during 2015, and as late as December 2016.
Cohen met with potential overseas partners,
structured a deal, and went back to NYC
to explain the deal to the Trumps.
Trump made Cohen his sole personal attorney
post-election, and Cohen formed a new law firm,
perhaps with only one client: President Trump.
Cohen was a fixer / deal-maker,
so having a law firm was designed
to provide attorney-client privilege.
The probability of a Cohen pardon is high.
The FBI's early morning raid of Michael Cohen's
office, home and hotel room suggested investigators
were looking for evidence of bank fraud,
and violations of federal elections rules --
maybe including Cohen's $130,000 payment
to former adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
The New York Times claims FBI agents
were searching for records of payments
made to two women who claimed
they had affairs with President Trump,
and the role of the National Enquirer owner
David Pecker ( and NE parent company
American Media Inc. ), who may have offered
former Playboy model Karen MacDougal
a fitness column in his newspaper.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein
had signed off on Special Counsel
Robert Mueller's request
to transfer evidence
about the Trump Organization
to Geoffrey Berman,
the interim US Attorney
for the Southern District of New York.
Rosenstein personally signed off
on the FBI's raid of Cohen's offices.
Authorizing the Cohen search
would require approval
at the highest levels
of the Department of Justice.
Searching a lawyer’s files
is among the most sensitive moves
a federal prosecutor can make
as they pursue a criminal investigation,
and is very rare.
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.
