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You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / A Quick Housekeeping Note On The Michael Cohen News: This Is A Federal, Not A New York State, Investigation

A Quick Housekeeping Note On The Michael Cohen News: This Is A Federal, Not A New York State, Investigation

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Just a quick housekeeping note to clarify something important regarding the FBI executing a Federal search warrant on Michael Cohen’s office, home, and hotel room today. This is a Federal investigation. It is being conducted by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, also known as the Southern District of New York or SDNY. According to reporting by Bloomberg, Special Counsel Mueller brought his investigatory concerns to Deputy AG Rosenstein who then determined that this should be handled by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, not the Office of the Special Counsel.

Mueller brought information involving Cohen to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who decided that the inquiry should be handled by federal prosecutors in New York, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Under Justice Department regulations, Mueller is required to consult with Rosenstein about how to handle evidence and matters that may fall outside his jurisdiction and authority. Mueller is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, whether anyone close to Trump engaged in collusion and whether Trump sought to obstruct justice.

This is a Federal investigation. Michael Cohen is the target of this Federal investigation. It is not, based on reporting, as of now, a joint Federal/NY State investigation. I would expect that the NY state Attorney General Schneiderman will be asked to be read on in case there are parallel charges that would be more appropriately brought in NY state or, in case parts or all of the Federal investigation does not go forward, that could then be brought in NY state.

So just to reiterate: this is currently a Federal investigation being supervised/undertaken by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York as a result of guidance/instructions from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The current US Attorney for the Southern District of New York is Geoffrey S. Berman, who was appointed on an interim basis by Attorney General Sessions on behalf of the current President and assumed his current office in January 2018.

My guess is that in addition to all the other news that broke today, this story is going to continue to develop through the evening and into tomorrow.

Stay frosty!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

91Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    As being discussed downthread, the raid is supposedly based on campaign finance violations (i.e. purely Federal law) and bank/wire fraud (possibly NY criminal as well as Federal).

    “Supposedly” since it’s based on “sources with knowledge of the investigation” who spoke to Bloomberg News.

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    Also, via TPM, Agent Orange is speaking to the press and is his usual dyspeptic self:

    “It’s a disgraceful situation,” Trump told reporters, according to a pool report, at the start of a meeting with military leaders.

    “I have this witch hunt constantly going on,” he said, according to the pool report, adding: “It’s an attack on our country…what we all stand for.”

    Trump called Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office “the most conflicted group of people I have ever seen” and complained, as he often has, about Attorney General Jeff Sessions recusing himself from Russia- and campaign-related matters.

    According to the pool report, Trump complained that no one “is looking at the other side.”

    That was apparently a reference to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, and one of her staff’s subsequent deletion of thousands of emails from the server referring to Clinton’s 30k emails and “many many” other things.

  5. 5.

    khead

    Just turned on the TeeVee a bit ago. POTUS Grandpa Simpson seems a little extra crabby going through the “but Hillary” routine. Also, disgraceful. Did you know the whole thing is disgraceful?

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: From Popehat:
    https://www.popehat.com/2018/04/09/the-search-of-trump-lawyer-michael-cohens-office-what-we-can-infer-immediately/

    1. According to Cohen’s own lawyer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (widely regarded within itself as being the most important and prestigious U.S. Attorney’s Office in the country) secured the search warrants for the FBI. Assuming this report is correct, that means that a very mainstream U.S. Attorney’s Office — not just Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office — thought that there was enough for a search warrant here.

    2. Moreover, it’s not just that the office thought that there was enough for a search warrant. They thought there was enough for a search warrant of an attorney’s office for that attorney’s client communications. That’s a very fraught and extraordinary move that requires multiple levels of authorization within the Department of Justice. The U.S. Attorney’s Manual — at Section 9-13.320 — contains the relevant policies and procedures. The highlights:

    The feds are only supposed to raid a law firm if less intrusive measures won’t work.

    Such a search requires high-level approval. The USAM requires such a search warrant to be approved by the U.S. Attorney — the head of the office, a Presidential appointee — and requires “consultation” with the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. This is not a couple of rogue AUSAs sneaking in a warrant.

    3. A Magistrate Judge signed off on this. Federal magistrate judges (appointed by local district judges, not by the President) review search warrant applications. A Magistrate Judge therefore reviewed this application and found probable cause — that is, probable cause to believe that the subject premises (Cohen’s office) contains specified evidence of a specified federal crime. Now, Magistrate Judges sometimes are a little too rubber-stampy for my taste. But here, where the Magistrate Judge knew that this would become one of the most scrutinized search warrant applications ever, and because the nature of the warrant of an attorney’s office is unusual, you can expect that the Magistrate Judge felt pretty confident that there was enough there.

    More at the link!

  8. 8.

    Hoodie

    @dmsilev: Torricelli was on MSNBC saying it’s not about campaign finance, but more likely ongoing criminal activity and/or destruction of evidence. Most legal experts said that there had to be some pretty compelling evidence for a judge to approve the warrant for the raid.

  9. 9.

    J. Adams Jefferson

    Bill Kristol on CNN:

    “I would say based on — a little bit of knowledge of how these things work, if Robert Mueller asked the Southern District not to do this now, they would have held off,” The Weekly Standard founder stated. “He has sort of precedence here. so I’m a little doubtful this is not part of the investigation or in accord with his wishes. this is a huge escalation.”
    He continued, “They can’t use privileged documents and they are set aside and viewed by a third party and what is not — and this is war. We’re now close to the end game. You did not go bust in with a — to get a judge to give you a warrant to search the president’s personal lawyer’s office until you think you are close to the end of this and getting important information.”
    Kristol went on to say that the president will “go to war against” Mueller and that if Trump was thinking about firing Mueller “this is the moment where it goes to the front of his mind.”

  10. 10.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: No. But that won’t matter. This is high level, public, and they’ll have full on scrutiny. They’ll play it straight. They have no choice but too.

  11. 11.

    debbie

    @dmsilev:

    Except that I read a few days ago that a little over half of the servers in the Executive Office are unsecured. Is that a can of worms he really wants opened?

  12. 12.

    Corner Stone

    That stupid crossing his arms like a little child who has been caught smearing his poop on the walls and refuses to admit it.

  15. 15.

    lamh36

    CNN/MSNBC showed Chump’s unhinged rant from the pool report blamed Sessions, blamed FBI, blamed HRC emails, blamed Mueller…blamed Democrats…etc…

    Unhinged…smh…and yet the Deplorables will still love him…is this FINALLY enough for Congressional Republicans to…ya know what…there is no need to even complete that sentence…Congressional Republicans will DO NOTHING!

    If the Dem party isn’t on the line getting EVERY Republican up for re-election or not to answer for this orange buffoon…IDK..why dafuq they wouldn’t…SMH

  16. 16.

    dmsilev

    @lamh36: Can you imagine what his deposition in front of Mueller’s team will be like? I’m trying to think of the most cinematically dramatic courtroom breakdown scenes (Caine Mutiny, A Few Good Men both come to mind) and then dial it up to 11.

  17. 17.

    Washburn

    Any ideas on why Rosenstein tasked SDNY instead of granting Mueller’s request?

    My speculation is: 1) makes it a bit harder for Trump to make this go away by having Mueller canned. Now, presumably, the US Atty for SDNY would have to go, too. 2) makes it easier to segregate the potentially privileged documents from Mueller’s team. So, instead of having to staff Mueller’s ofc with people who would not be able to work on other parts of the investigation, keep that in SDNY office and just pass the non-priv docs onto Mueller. Just speculation.

  20. 20.

    MattF

    @Washburn: Perhaps Mueller wants to keep the Russia investigation clear of questions about how Trump deals with paying off a porn star for a one-night stand. Although it may just turn out to be relevant– what happens in Moscow may not stay in Moscow.

  21. 21.

    Barbara

    @Washburn: Door number 2. The attorneys involved will not play any role in any legal action arising out of the documents that they review. No attorney who does play such a role will have reviewed any privileged information.

  23. 23.

    Jeffro

    Oh, I’M FROSTY ALL RIGHT!!

    Actually no I’m not…?????

    Love it! Justice, that’s “says who”

  24. 24.

    Barbara

    @MattF: My understanding is that Cohen and Slater have both been hugely significant in facilitating whatever financial dealings Trump and his organization have had with Russia. They have contacts and relatives who are Russian. They probably speak Russian.

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: His legal team, such as it is, should have prevented this. No pool reporter or photo spray should have been allowed in. The legal team should have made a statement. And on the Syria stuff either the White House Press Secretary or the DOD Press Secretary should have made the statement.

  28. 28.

    trnc

    I’m glad to see this post. There’s a lot of chatter like “Ha! No pardon for this one, beyotches” over on TPM, and I’m all like, “Uh, federal prosecutor and investigation, so …?” I think Cohen might sing like a canary and earn himself a spot on the “Do Not Pardon” list, but also hopeful that some things can be referred to NY AG anyway.

  29. 29.

    tobie

    @Washburn: The banking crimes presumably occurred in the southern district of New York and would thus fall under the jurisdiction of this attorney general. That’s at least my guest.

  30. 30.

    I'll be Frank

    @Washburn: I would guess because the guidelines said that was the right thing to do, because, particularly in this situation, doing something other than what the guidelines say is fraught with peril.

    Why would you think that Rosenstein is scheming against the President?

  32. 32.

    lamh36

    @CheriJacobus
    Follow Follow @CheriJacobus
    More
    Michael Cohen is deputy national finance chair of the rnc

    4:56 PM – 9 Apr 2018

  35. 35.

    VeniceRiley

    I love the days I can look forward to a *popcorn* evening with the very crush-worthy @Maddow

  39. 39.

    lamh36

    @AdamParkhomenko
    7m7 minutes ago
    More
    Michael Cohen, National Deputy Finance Chair of the @GOP, has disappeared in the last five minutes from their website.

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MattF: Ty Cobb, who is the internal to the White House attorney- he technically works in the Office of the White House Counsel – should have gotten with the White House Counsel, and the Chief of Staff and simply made that decision. Notify the press that it would not be an open room because the meeting was classified Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information requiring Special Access (TS/SCI/SAP), as well as No Foreign (NOFORN), there would be no pool reporter, and no photo spray. That’s all they had to do.

  43. 43.

    Adam L Silverman

    I’m off to the gym. You all play nice or Michael Cohen will come and borrow your living room for a temporary office while the FBI is tossing his.

  44. 44.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    Cohen is Deputy Finance Chair of RNC.

    I had no idea. The things one leans at this place!

    ETA: Wasn’t the RNC Finance Chair fired a couple of months ago? Can’t even remember his name now but IIRC he was caught up in his own sexual harassment scandal. In any case, never knew that Cohen held an official position with the RNC.

  45. 45.

    VeniceRiley

    @shimonpro of CNN: on Twitter says it was the FBI Public Corruption Squad that executed the raid.

  46. 46.

    Barry

    @I’ll be Frank: ”
    Why would you think that Rosenstein is scheming against the President?”

    It just occurred to me – if Rosenstein did fire Mueller/shut down (or neuter) the investigation, Trump won’t reward him. That would require gratitude, and Trump has zero. Could Rosenstein think that keeping the investigation live and dangerous is his own insurance?

  47. 47.

    MattF

    @Adam L Silverman: I guess it doesn’t work like that IRL… And saying so isn’t mere snark, it describes how the WH works. Or, if you prefer, doesn’t work. In either case, that’s the way Trump wants it.

  48. 48.

    GregB

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Steve “Weinstein” Wynn.

    The corruption is staggering.

    Chris Hayes noted that the Joint Chiefs looked ashen faced after the Trump melt down.

  49. 49.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Steeplejack:

    Nice tie today, though, for a change.

    True, it’s not that solid red horror he usually wears, but I’ll bet if we saw a photo or video of him standing up, the tip would still be hovering at crotch level. Amazing his ties aren’t all shredded from being caught in his zipper.

  50. 50.

    Corner Stone

    @Steeplejack: The tie was not bad. And for once he had an appropriate knot for the collar of his shirt. A little busy for the gravity of the meeting but that’s just being nitpicky.

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @GregB:

    Oh, duh, thanks. Steve Wynn, of course.

    I’d be tempted to blame my elderly brain and increasingly unreliable memory, but the personnel churn is so fast and unremitting that I simply can’t keep track of all the players.

  52. 52.

    Anne Laurie

    @GregB:

    The greatest jobs President the legal profession has ever known.

    Somewhere, Warren G. Harding sheds a single tear…

  53. 53.

    West of the Rockies

    @lamh36:

    I’m sure he’s working on his furrowed brow even as we await further news. He’ll offer that compressed-lips grimace and nod sagely to really sell it.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    I’m about to read the Stormy Monday post, which I assumed was about Stormy Daniels, but apparently it’s not. I was working on my financial/tax info all day, so I missed everything!

  55. 55.

    Steeplejack

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    LOL. I’m on my tablet, and typing is a little harder, so I didn’t add my thought that if Trump stood up the tie would no doubt be dangling between his thighs. Great minds, etc.

    @Corner Stone:

    I’m not going all GQ; I just thought it was a nice (and surprising) change from his usual crappy red ties. And I actually liked the color of the suit—which, again, would no doubt prove to be completely ill-fitting if he had stood up.

  57. 57.

    J. Adams Jefferson

    Anyone else getting a penceful feeling in the pit of your stomach today?

    Casey always drops another shoe when you think there’s joy in Mudville.

    Believe me (phrase is not original with me) it can actually get worse than it was yesterday.

    Could be a good strategy for Repubs to recover, um, credibility in time for the midterms?

  59. 59.

    Corner Stone

    @Steeplejack: I could go on about this, the suit collar bunching and riding high, the cuffs exposed by 4 inches, etc. But he’s just a garbage human being.

  60. 60.

    Fair Economist

    @dmsilev:

    Can you imagine what his deposition in front of Mueller’s team will be like? I’m trying to think of the most cinematically dramatic courtroom breakdown scenes (Caine Mutiny, A Few Good Men both come to mind) and then dial it up to 11.

    I am thinking it will be like a dramatic scene with a hopelessly miscast actor trying to play it as a comedy – surreal rather than dramatic.

  61. 61.

    Fair Economist

    @Barbara:

    My understanding is that Cohen and Slater have both been hugely significant in facilitating whatever financial dealings Trump and his organization have had with Russia.

    This is why Mueller cares. I don’t think Mueller expects to bring Trump down, or would even want to absent foreign corruption.

  62. 62.

    Anne Laurie

    @J. Adams Jefferson:

    Could be a good strategy for Repubs to recover, um, credibility in time for the midterms?

    Bit late to start that right now, IMO — legal proceedings would most certainly drag into September at the earliest.

    If I were plotting it like a Risk game (which I was never any good at), I’d guess this was more likely to be a warning to both Trump insiders and the permanent GOP infrastructure: Don’t get any cute ideas about shutting this thing down swiftly; we’ve got a hundred different ways to blow more holes in your defenses. Keep your individual little fiefdoms quiet, and maybe you’ll be lucky enough to not attract attention you won’t like.

  66. 66.

    Anne Laurie

    @Fair Economist:

    I am thinking it will be like a dramatic scene with a hopelessly miscast actor trying to play it as a comedy – surreal rather than dramatic.

    Broad farce. Like the scene near the end of The Twelve Chairs where craven Russian-Orthodox-priest-turned-wouldbe-criminal Zero Mostel, standing amidst the wreckage of his greedy fantasies, looks up towards the heavens and wails “Lord, you’re so strict!“

    (With, one devoutly hopes, Paul Ryan/Mitch McConnell in the Gene Wilder bent-bureaucrat role… )

  67. 67.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    That sounds like something that would be well not all that complicated and yet, still over the head of most of the people that drumpf might be willing to hire. Some one would have had to put prior thought into it. Everyone there seems to be only reactionary and lacking in any type of forethought and planning.

  68. 68.

    different-church-lady

    The plot line of this Watergate reboot is just not at all believable.

  70. 70.

    cain

    I wonder if Cohen is going to sing like a bird? If he is Trump’s bag man, he’s going to have a lot of dirt to spill if he agrees to a plea bargain. You can bet Trump is probably scared shitless. He’s probably super frustrated that he’s got the most powerful post in the world and he can do nothing to stop any of it.

  72. 72.

    JR

    Time is running out
    Tick tock like the grains of sand
    Every man sharpens man
    Like steel sharpens steel…

  75. 75.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ruckus: It should be standard procedure for these types of meetings anyway. This is why you have spokespeople. This is why you have a Secretary of Defense or a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

  76. 76.

    BruceFromOhio

    @GregB:

    Chris Hayes noted that the Joint Chiefs looked ashen faced after the Trump melt down.

    These guys HAVE to be thinking about how to get this two-bit ratfuck motherfucker whacked. impeached, or arrested. Get him out of the chain of command ASAP. I really feel badly for the career guys (and women) who have gone through Desert Storm, Operation Charlie Foxtrot Iraq Part II, or Afghanistan only to hit peak career while the OFC is the fucking commander in chief. To work so hard all your professional life just to have answer to this deferment assclown who can’t maintain a line of coherent thought or his dick zipped likely stings on an hourly basis.

  77. 77.

    BruceFromOhio

    @cain:

    He’s probably super frustrated that he’s got the most powerful post in the world and he can do nothing to stop any of it.

    Gee, bummer, so fucking resign already. Go back to harassing the locals in Manhattan, or the wait staff at the Skid Mark-A-Largo.

  78. 78.

    Adam L Silverman

    @BruceFromOhio: I know GEN Votel (CENTCOM Commander), GEN Milley (Chief of Staff of the Army), and a couple of the others. GEN Milley looked miserable. GEN Votel looked uncomfortable. Gen. Goldfien (Chief of Staff of the Air Force) looked none too pleased as well. As did pretty much everyone around that table other than Bolton.

  81. 81.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Adam L Silverman: This… bothers me far more than all the rest of these shenanigans combined. It’s nothing like dealing with a shitty SSGT, and you just deal until the lieutenant RTB. We’re stuck with this asshole, and no one is coming to relieve him for a long, long time.

  82. 82.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    It should be standard procedure.
    But is there a standard of procedure in this WH other than just hoping the old fuck in the funny shaped office doesn’t open his mouth and start WWIII? Oh wait, that would take some level of planing, and that ain’t happening.

  85. 85.

    Adam L Silverman

    @BruceFromOhio: It is what it is. These guys and gals have gone from being lieutenant colonels/commanders to generals and admirals over the past 20 years of war. They’ve seen toxic leaders. They’ve dealt with orders that didn’t make sense. They’ve dealt with tactical clarity and strategic screwiness, which should really be the other way around. And they’ve dealt with the 5,000 mile screwdriver. They’ll make it work.

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: Just got back to the nets: my understanding is the strikes were Israeli. Combination of air to ground and strikes from Israeli jets (most likely F-16Is) fired from over Lebanese airspace (they’re not taking chances since the shoot down last month) and cruise missiles fired from Israeli Dolphin class subs in the Med, which are positioned between the US and the Russian naval forces. The reporting I saw also indicated that the Israelis gave the Russians some amount of heads up time, but I haven’t seen anything on how much.

  88. 88.

    MoCA Ace

    @khead:

    I keep waiting for him to hold his breath until he passes out.

    Would it be to much to ask that this happens while he is standing at the top of a very long set of marble stairs?

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