Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Bark louder, little dog.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / The Need To Focus Among Large Amounts of Breaking News

The Need To Focus Among Large Amounts of Breaking News

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A lot of news has broken this week, including today. I would argue that everyone take a deep breath and a step back and focus on which bits of the breaking news contain the really important information. I would argue that the really important domestic/American news to have come out so far this week, other than Speaker Ryan calling it quits, is that Michael Cohen is alleged to (may have?) been taping his phone conversations for several years.

From The Washington Post:

President Trump’s personal attorney Michael D. Cohen sometimes taped conversations with associates, according to three people familiar with his practice, and allies of the president are worried that the recordings were seized by federal investigators in a raid of Cohen’s office and residences this week.

Cohen, who served for a decade as a lawyer at the Trump Organization and is a close confidant of Trump’s, was known to store the conversations using digital files and then replay them for colleagues, according to people who have interacted with him.

“We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes,” said one Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. “Now we are wondering, who did he tape? Did he store those someplace where they were actually seized? . . . Did they find his recordings?”

On Monday, FBI agents seized Cohen’s computers and phones as they executed a search warrant that sought, among other records, all communications between the lawyer and Trump and campaign aides about “potential sources of negative publicity” in the lead-up to the 2016 election, The Washington Post reported.

It is unknown whether Cohen taped conversations between himself and Trump. But two people familiar with Cohen’s practices said he recorded both business and political conversations. One associate said Trump knew of Cohen’s practice because the attorney would often play him recordings Cohen had made of his conversations with other top Trump advisers.

“It was his standard practice to do it,” this person said.

Legal experts said Cohen’s taped conversations would be viewed by prosecutors as highly valuable.

“If you are looking for evidence, you can’t do any better than people talking on tape,” said Nick Akerman, a former Watergate prosecutor.

Such recordings “would be considered a gold mine,” said Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University who specializes in legal ethics.

“The significance is 9.5 to 10 on a 10-point scale,” he added, noting that investigators know “that when people speak on the phone, they are not guarded. They don’t imagine that the conversation will surface.”

Federal investigators would not automatically get access to any tapes that might have been seized in the raids. First, the recordings would be reviewed by a separate Justice Department team and possibly by a federal judge. The review is designed to protect lawyer-client privilege and to be sure that the conversations turned over are within the terms of the search warrant, legal experts said.

Getting these recordings is among the the most important things, if not the real prize, that was being sought in the raids on Cohen’s office, home office, and the hotel suite where he is staying while his home is being renovated. The President actually sent a real attorney – as in an attorney that know what she’s doing, not attorneys like Michael Cohen – to Federal Court this morning to argue the President has a personal interest in what was seized pursuant to the search warrant that was executed on Monday. And there was a scramble to hire this new attorney – she was only retained two days ago.

For those concerned with potential breaking news regarding Deputy AG Rosenstein, here’s a good primer from Lawfare.

Stay frosty!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

208Comments

  6. 6.

    FlyingToaster

    This is a Gish Gallop presidential administration. I feel like I’m getting whiplash from all the shit raining down.

    I think that I’m not going to be online Sun-Tue (well, maybe late at night in the hotel room), just to detox from all of this nonsense.

  7. 7.

    gene108

    It’s so nice out today, in NJ, I don’t want to work…

    How to look busy as the seconds tick down to quitting time…

  8. 8.

    The Moar You Know

    I would argue that everyone take a deep breath and a step back and focus on which bits of the breaking news contain the really important information.

    Frankly, the rise of CNN in the 1990s made this good advice then and now. Many people are aware that the 24/7 news cycle allows them to bury many misdeeds, because nobody can, or would want to, try and process all the “news”.

  9. 9.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, a White House insider who has spoken with President Donald Trump claims the firing of both Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is imminent.

  11. 11.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    In the latest stunning development in the ongoing meltdown of the Trump gang, today the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump’s fixer Michael Cohen set up a 1.6 million hush money payout to a Playboy model impregnated by top GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy — a pregnancy that the model terminated.

  17. 17.

    Corner Stone

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: I always wonder how they come up with these amounts. How do you settle on a price for a 10 month affair or a one-night stand? What is a termination worth between a married man and his lover?
    I guess it’s like any other service rendered but for most goods/products/projects etc, there is an inherent value that is somewhat knowable.

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    @schrodingers_cat:

    And then what? How does this help him politically?

    Then he finds some mook who’s willing to fire Mueller and all his problems are over, of course.

  21. 21.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Roger Moore: How so? His problems are going to multiply if he does that. It also makes him look guilty as hell.
    I know you are snarking but everyone here is freaking out. What then, is he going to jail everyone in the opposition and Jeff Bezos too?

    ETA: Indira Gandhi try to do this in the 1970s in India, she was far more powerful and gutsy and popular than doll hair but even she couldn’t pull it off.

  24. 24.

    Mary G

    Somebody has had enough:

    Yet another instance of Donald Trump proving he’s utterly incapable of being presidential. Stop with the name calling. Stop with the bullying. And stop with your Hillary Clinton obsession. You’re not being paid to tweet. Do your job! https://t.co/YiEbbybX62— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) April 13, 2018

    I know she probably didn’t write it herself, but I have never seen anything like this tone from her operation ever. Her brand has been compromise and cooperation even in the face of the most ridiculous Republicans forever. Maybe it’s due to worry about reelection, but as someone who’s been begging her to go to the mattresses for so long, I am cheering.

  30. 30.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: And that the attorney named Davidson once again made an appearance here. Specifically, Davidson, as was the case with MacDougal and with Daniels, was the middle person and that Cohen told Broidy he’d handle things because he’d worked with Davidson on this before. This is something that deserves a lot more light focused on it.

  33. 33.

    Spanky

    Beautiful weather today and tomorrow here in DC. Tomorrow’s another March for Science! Odds are good that it gets transmogrified into something … bigger.

  34. 34.

    scav

    Well, presumably all these loose — in private hands — recordings of conversations with Trump advisors are judged as profoundly different from emails on private servers by the usual suspects. And, if any 18 — or choose a number — minute gaps show up that will not at all be interesting according to the similar sources. I can’t decide if I’m simply spiritually nauseated by living here any more of if my body is somehow spontaneously rejecting whatever physical remnents of confidence I had in the bulk of my co-citizens.

  35. 35.

    ChrisS

    I wonder if this common knowledge that Cohen recorded meetings made its way to the special investigator’s office who then promptly found a way to obtain said recordings.

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @scav: Did you say emails? We’ve got you covered!
    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/04/scott-pruitt-has-at-least-four-official-email-addresses-senators-say/

    Two Democratic senators have written a formal letter to the Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog, asking a basic question: how many email accounts does Administrator Scott Pruitt have?
    “Our offices have received information indicating that the Administrator uses three different secret epa.gov email addresses in addition to his official email address: [email protected],” the senators wrote in a letter sent to the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General and first published by The Washington Post.

    “It is imperative that there be an investigation into whether the agency has properly searched these email addresses for responsive documents in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.”

    The two senators, Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.), say that Pruitt has “at least four” such accounts. The concern is that, when FOIA requests come into the office, the EPA may not be fully searching all the active email accounts.

    Much more at the link!

  37. 37.

    kindness

    Trump is going to fire Mueller. Not directly. Apparently today Trump will fire Rosenstein and the replacement will fire Mueller.

    This is the worst historical drama I’ve ever watched.

  38. 38.

    tobie

    TPM and NYT have the DOJ’s IG report. It’s dated Feb 2018. No recommendation for firing is made in the report. The matter is referred to the FBI. The IG determined that McCabe demonstrated four instances of “lack of candor,” three under oath, most relating to McCabe’s communication with the WSJ regarding the Clinton Foundation. I’m not sure whether “lack of candor” means not forthcoming, misleading, or giving false testimony.

  39. 39.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Roger Moore:
    Snark, I know. But if he does this he automatically ensures that not only does he hand control of the House over to the Democrats but perhaps even the Senate by razor thin margins. He’s going to regret this.

  41. 41.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @kindness:
    Mueller has civil service protections. He can’t be fired without cause. Holding the president accountable isn’t considered cause for firing I’m sure.

  42. 42.

    efgoldman

    @kindness:

    This is the worst historical drama I’ve ever watched.

    As we’ve said many times, if you submitted it as a screenplay or novel outline, it would be flatly rejected as not credible.

  46. 46.

    Adam L Silverman

    @tobie: Accusations of lack of candor are a major disciplinary issue at the FBI. Usually when they’re made the accused has a chance to refute them through an internal process that will either clear that person or lead to their termination.

  47. 47.

    Feebog

    @Mary G:

    It’s a response to the most recent DeLeon ad which portrays her as squishy on Trump. Not impressed with any of my choices for Senator. DiFi is just too old for another six year term and DeLeon just comes across as a dipshit.

  48. 48.

    scav

    @Adam L Silverman: I thought I was supposed to stay frosty, not indulge in more auto-immune induced nausea! Or, have I been profoundly confused about your wishes for a good long time? But, whheeeeeee!

  49. 49.

    Roger Moore

    @schrodingers_cat:

    How so? His problems are going to multiply if he does that.

    You know that, and I know that, but I’m very worried that Trump doesn’t know that. And I’m worried in at least the back of my mind that enough of the media will go along with whatever Trump does that him firing Mueller and shutting down the investigation won’t actually blow up in his face.

    That outcome- Trump shuts Mueller down and the media just treats it as Trump being Trump- is the worst possible for two reasons:

    1) The investigation is shut down and the evidence is destroyed.

    2) Trump decides he can ignore everyone telling him that he shouldn’t do X, Y, or Z because it will blow up in his face, and goes on to do something even more damaging.

    I realize I’m listening to my fear when I say this, but the possibility it might happen is freaking me and a lot of other people out.

  51. 51.

    low-tech cyclist

    Poor Michael Cohen. Nixon resigned just before he turned 8. If he’d been a little older, he’d have remembered what a bad idea it can be to have audio recordings of all your dealings if your dealings are legally questionable.

    Lemme pull out that world’s smallest violin for Mr. Not-Quite-Old-Enough-To-Remember-Watergate. :D

  52. 52.

    Spanky

    Also too, the stock market is doing it’s roller coaster thingy again. I guess maybe because they don’t know what the hell the Administration is going to do next?

    My totally unqualified market advice: hang on for the ride.

  53. 53.

    scav

    @trollhattan: “Trex and the Crater of Doom”! Those illustrations are Stellar! I should never have purged that book from my library in a moment of weakness.

  55. 55.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Spanky:

    There you go assuming fair, un-hacked elections again! When will you ever learn?

    Has anyone thought to ask the Republican Secretaries of State how their hardening of the election systems is going?

    Irrelevant in the long term. No one will believe the results if the House doesn’t flip. As I’ve said here many times, history shows that the President’s party gets hammered in mid-term elections. If that fails to happen then we know something is wrong. The results will need to be contested by not just the Democratic party but all of us well. The GOP has no legitimacy.

  57. 57.

    The Moar You Know

    Poor Michael Cohen. Nixon resigned just before he turned 8. If he’d been a little older, he’d have remembered what a bad idea it can be to have audio recordings of all your dealings if your dealings are legally questionable.

    @low-tech cyclist: He and I are the same age. We all knew what happened to Nixon and why. Everyone my age got that lesson in why taping your awful deeds is a bad idea. I can only assume he made and kept these recordings because he is a monumental idiot.

  58. 58.

    trollhattan

    @Feebog:
    I do not like it not one bit. Was really hoping for a DiFi retirement and the CA Dem A-list competing for the seat. Instead we have at best the A-minus list competing for governor and no relevant challenger for the senate seat (given it’s basically impossible for DiFi to lose).

    Hrrrmph.

  59. 59.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    @Adam L Silverman: No one gives a shit, he’s a white male Republican. It is pretty clear that as a group they can do whatever they damn well please and the rest of us can fuck right off !

  60. 60.

    Dave

    @schrodingers_cat: Yep he’s already waited too long. If he wanted any chance of that working it needed to happen early and suddenly now after everything that’s come out and midterms in November? It’s too late. He has the instincts of an autocrat but is too cowardly to really succeed. Which may or may not be reassuring depending on how you look at it.

  61. 61.

    T S

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Look, I’m going to volunteer and hope for the best this Fall, but this certainty about the better outcome is going to give you a real sad if it doesn’t come through. We might end up with close to a 50/50 split, but if it doesn’t go all the way over, we have 2 more awful damn years to ride out with full GOP control. I’m not giving up, I’m bracing for the worst.

  62. 62.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Roger Moore:

    You know that, and I know that, but I’m very worried that Trump doesn’t know that. And I’m worried in at least the back of my mind that enough of the media will go along with whatever Trump does that him firing Mueller and shutting down the investigation won’t actually blow up in his face

    Then we have to be the ones who will make it blow up in his face.

  63. 63.

    efgoldman

    @Roger Moore:

    1) The investigation is shut down and the evidence is destroyed.

    I would bet real money that Mueller’s folks are sharing prosecutable info with the NY AG.

  64. 64.

    Roger Moore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    And that the attorney named Davidson once again made an appearance here.

    Davidson’s ethics desperately need investigating. He’s not representing his clients’ best interests, and he deserves to lose his bar license. IANAL so I don’t know if there’s a criminal case against him, but that sure as hell can’t be ethical.

  65. 65.

    schrodingers_cat

    I am distracting myself by listening to another great score from Amit Trivedi, Udta Punjab* (Flying Punjab/ High Punjab) about the drug problem in the land of 5 rivers.
    Hass Nach Le is soothing while
    Udta Punjab is hard hitting and edgy lyrics by Varun Grover

    This 2016 movie got in hot water with the censor board.

  70. 70.

    tobie

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m sure McCabe’s lawyers will question whether McCabe was given adequate opportunity to address these charges.
    I don’t know why but I feel for McCabe…when you’re put under glass bowl for months, bullied by the President, etc. you’re bound to be suspicious of anyone sent to question you and you make mistakes. I’ve seen no indication that IG Horowitz understood just how political his mission was, and anyone this blind to how his report would or could be used is complicit with the Trump administration.

  71. 71.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Dave: To really brazen out he has to be able silence all opposition and get away with it. That’s truly a tall order. Our side is fired up. He is not Bush II after the September attacks.
    The ceiling of his approval is 40%

  72. 72.

    Cheryl Rofer

    I am preparing a talk for next Thursday. It’s going well, and I should have most of it done by tonight so I can add in bits through the next few days.

    I was thinking of making a post with highlights from 40,000 feet early in the week, but we can see how that has gone.

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    @kindness:

    This is the worst historical drama I’ve ever watched.

    Yeah. History is always slower and more boring when you’re living through it rather than watching the condensed version.

  75. 75.

    trollhattan

    Since it’s a Friday open thread, can I get a “Holy fucking shit!” from the assembled multitude?

    Ever since Marjory Stoneman Douglas senior David Hogg began pushing for gun control in the wake of the massacre at his high school, he’s been a target for conservatives. An aide to Republican state Rep. Shawn Harrison called Hogg a crisis actor. Laura Ingraham blasted him for “whining” after being rejected from several California colleges. Talk-show host Jamie Allman said he had been “hanging out getting ready to ram a hot poker up David’s Hogg’s ass.”

    Now, a member of Parkland’s Education Advisory Board, which makes recommendations to that city’s commission about its schools, apparently shared multiple memes depicting Hogg as a Nazi. An account that appears to belong to Wayne Alder, who is critical of the #NeverAgain movement’s gun-control message, also tweeted an image of Hogg with his fist raised. “Parkland. Here is your future. I won’t be wearing the Broward Brown Shirt,” he wrote, referencing the shirts worn by Adolf Hitler’s stormtroopers.

    In a phone call with New Times Thursday, Alder oddly claimed he’d never posted about Hogg. He didn’t deny the account was his, though, and after New Times shared screenshots of his Twitter account with the Nazi-related tweets and retweets, the account’s settings were soon changed to private.

    The grownups are failing the Parkland kids at every imaginable level.

  76. 76.

    Spanky

    @Roger Moore: I don’t think anyone here feels bored.

    Possum Queen up! Can’t get audio here at work. I’ll just wait for the barrage of commentary …

  77. 77.

    Kelly

    I’m sure the news will get crazier than this before November. I first paid attention to the news at around age 12 with civil rights protests, war protests, assassinations, riots burning cities. By the time Watergate showed up it just seemed like more of the same.
    As far as out current events go I’ll steal GW Bush’s line This is some weird shit.
    Rainy with temps in the 40’s here in the western Cascade foothills. Classic April weather. Just a bit to warm to ski up on the passes, just bit to cold for river trips here. I think Adam’s advice about pacing myself put on my rain gear and go for a nice walk.

  78. 78.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    @davidfrum

    The most militant pro lifer I know just emailed me that he saw no legitimate public concern in an RNC official paying for an abortion.

  79. 79.

    efgoldman

    @trollhattan:

    The grownups are failing the Parkland kids at every imaginable level.

    Time for young David to hire a really aggressive lawyer who starts suing the ass off the assholes for slander.

  80. 80.

    Mary G

    @Feebog: @trollhattan: I agree. DiFi is due to retire and while I don’t know much about DeLeon, what I’ve heard sounds like he’s not ready. It seems like a lot of good Democratic candidates have convinced themselves that they can make a credible run for president against Trump and don’t want to bother to run for Senate or governor. It’s idiotic. I’m looking at you, Garcetti.

  83. 83.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Roger Moore: I think investigation is going to find that Davidson really works with Cohen and Pecker at AMI, not for his identified clients like MacDougal and Daniels on these issues. He’s in a lot of trouble.

  84. 84.

    raven

    The United States accused the Syrian government on Friday of using banned chemical arms at least 50 times since Syria’s civil war began seven years ago — substantially higher than previous official estimates.

    The accusation, made by the American ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, came during a vitriolic exchange with her Russian counterpart at a meeting of the Security Council, which focused on a suspected chemical weapons assault in a Damascus suburb last week. The United States and its allies have blamed the assault on President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

  85. 85.

    trollhattan

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
    Trump sure has the ability to turn their rock-solid convictions into squishy inconveniences. It’s still instructive how easily he sliced through the hundred-candidate Republican field.

  89. 89.

    Adam L Silverman

    @tobie: My understanding is that IG Horowitz plays everything straight. He’s a career guy, not a political appointee (though some of those have been career guys and gals that also play things straight too). As for McCabe, there are civil service limitations in place for FBI personnel given the nature of their work, but I expect there will be a challenge to the when and how of his termination.

  90. 90.

    Spanky

    BREAKING NEWS
    House Speaker Paul Ryan endorses Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to succeed him

    … and no one cares outside of the RNC Thunderdome.

  91. 91.

    efgoldman

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:

    The most militant pro lifer I know just emailed me that he saw no legitimate public concern in an RNC official paying for an abortion.

    Apparently the Conservadictionary doesn’t have an entry for “hypocrisy”
    I never thought I’d hate anyone like I hate those fuckers.

  92. 92.

    Adam L Silverman

    @schrodingers_cat: It is also very difficult to stop the signal in the US. We can’t even stop the bogus signals – whether from bots and trolls or of zombie ideas. The US is probably not a good place to test the various theories of how a largely free and open state and society, no matter how flawed, can be quickly turned into an authoritarian state and society.

  102. 102.

    trollhattan

    Meanwhile, in Vladlandia.

    A Moscow court on Friday banned the popular Telegram instant messaging service in Russia over its refusal to hand over keys that would allow the authorities to decrypt private conversations.

    As the news spread like wildfire, so did manuals to bypass the ban.
    –Moscow Times

  103. 103.

    rikyrah

    @tobie:

    TPM and NYT have the DOJ’s IG report. It’s dated Feb 2018. No recommendation for firing is made in the report.

    They produced a report that didn’t have firing McCabe as a suggestion IN the report?

  104. 104.

    sigaba

    Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein tells confidants he is prepared to be fired

    WASHINGTON — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has struck a stoic and righteous tone in private conversations he has had this week about the fate of his job as President Donald Trump has launched public criticism against him and considered firing him, according to three sources who have spoken to Rosenstein.

    In those conversations, he has repeated the phrase, “Here I stand,” a reference to Martin Luther’s famous quote, “Here I stand, I can do no other.” Coincidentally, former FBI Director James Comey, whom Rosenstein fired, repeated the same phrase to President George W. Bush in a conversation that has been widely reported and that Comey describes in his forthcoming book.

    One source who spoke to Rosenstein said he seemed fully aware he may soon lose his job and was at peace with the possibility, confident he had done his job with integrity.

    Rosenstein has said in recent private conversations that history will prove he did the right thing by firing Comey in May 2017, claiming that the American people do not have all the facts about what led to his decision to write the memo that led to Comey’s dismissal, the sources said.

    All these guys do seem to be of a piece — Comey, Rosenstein, McCabe. It’s not enough to actually be clean, everybody’s got to KNOW how clean you are and how dirty everyone else is, even if that means occasionally leaking or throwing elections for the sake of your image as square-jawed untouchable G-man.

  105. 105.

    Adam L Silverman

    @trollhattan: Methinks Mr. Alder is 1) not going to be on the Parkland Education Advisory Board for long and 2) his sit down with Hogg’s father, FBI Supervisory Special Agent (retired) Hogg, is not going to be pleasant…

  107. 107.

    Adam L Silverman

    @celticdragonchick: Doesn’t Dreher usually look one or two missed meals away from being malnourished? I haven’t gone looking for a pic of him recently, but I have this impression he’s kind of scrawny.

  108. 108.

    Ladyraxterinok

    What is with GOPers making and keeping recotdings of conversations? The Nixon WH tapes and now this possibility.

    The Nixon tapes marked the end of any defense.

    I was on an nearly empty bus with my toddler son. We were making a long, slow round trip through our small IA town. The driver was listening to the House proceedings on his radio, loud enuff that I could hear too. And then came the testimony that there were tapes. Stunned disbelief!

  110. 110.

    Aleta

    Renato Mariotti
    @renato_mariotti
    Federal prosecutors claim that they didn’t seize many privileged documents from Cohen.

    Cohen’s lawyer claims there are “thousands and thousands” of privileged documents but is using weasel words. The language below is the judge’s way of saying she thinks he’s full of crap.

    Stephen Brown
    @PPVSRB
    Wood is drilling down on Cohen’s attorney. “What I need to know is whether you had a basis as an officer of the court to tell me there are ‘thousands and thousands of privileged documents.'”
    Show this thread

  111. 111.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Elliott Broidy has resigned as Deputy Chair of the RNC Finance committee.

    Wynn, Cohen, now Broidy. What is it with that committee?

  113. 113.

    tobie

    @Adam L Silverman: That’s my point. “Playing it straight” and “just following orders” is inherently political in extraordinary times like these. Sessions commissioned Horowitz to investigate the FBI’s handling of l’affaire Clinton not because he wanted the DOJ and FBI to think about how they could do their job better in the future but to call into question the integrity of any FBI investigation and especially any investigation of Trump. Horowitz is now a weapon in their campaign against the FBI. Trump and Sessions now have the capacity to say, “Even straight shooters like IG Horowitz have shown just how thoroughly politicized the FBI is. We therefore can’t place trust in anything the FBI finds or any testimony Comey or McCabe might give.” The strategy is as plain as day.

  114. 114.

    celticdragonchick

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Yep…which is strange for someone so hung up on food p*rn whenever he is in France and showing off the restaurant or café he is having mussels and Bordeaux at.

  117. 117.

    efgoldman

    @sigaba:

    It’s not enough to actually be clean, everybody’s got to KNOW how clean you are and how dirty everyone else is

    He’ll be out of work for maybe five minutes, until some big rainmaker firms in NYC and DC come calling.

  120. 120.

    Aleta

    Charles Gasparino
    ‏@CGasparino
    wall street trading desks AND GOP staffers telling me they’re hearing Rod Rosenstein is OUT as Deputy AG as @POTUS rages over Mueller inquiry as early as tonight.

  121. 121.

    tobie

    @sigaba:

    All these guys do seem to be of a piece — Comey, Rosenstein, McCabe. It’s not enough to actually be clean, everybody’s got to KNOW how clean you are and how dirty everyone else is.

    This. Amen.

  123. 123.

    Vhh

    DOJ just announced that Cohen is under criminal investigation. Trump fring Rosenstein, who approved the raid, would thus seem to be obstruction. What say the lawyers?

  124. 124.

    Aleta

    Renato Mariotti
    ‏@renato_mariotti
    Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have obtained covert search warrants of Cohen’s email accounts. Their privilege review found he performed “little to no legal work” and exchanged “zero emails” with Trump. Then why is Trump so concerned about this search?

  125. 125.

    efgoldman

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    The Nixon tapes marked the end of any defense.

    LBJ, and I think JFK, also taped in the oval office. Tricksie’s had material importance to prosecution.

  127. 127.

    celticdragonchick

    @celticdragonchick: @schrodingers_cat:

    Who said children don’t need a seedy looking pseudo academic to tell them their teleology is disordered and their parents should raise them in an intentional BENEDICT OPTION community to make sure they do not succumb to emotivism?

  128. 128.

    tobie

    @Aleta: Did he have emails with Hope Hicks and/or Trump’s other long time assistant (whose name I can’t remember)? Trump doesn’t do email but his staff does.

  129. 129.

    Aleta

    Renato Mariotti
    ‏@renato_mariotti

    Federal prosecutors in Manhattan: The prosecutors “and FBI have reason to believe that Cohen has exceedingly few clients and a low volume of potentially privileged communications.”

    That’s because communications that aren’t about legal advice aren’t privileged.

    As federal prosecutors in New York note, Michael Cohen is seeking special treatment no other person receives—he wants his attorney to be able to review and pull back documents seized pursuant to a lawful search warrant. Absolutely unprecedented.

  132. 132.

    trollhattan

    Always interesting to read that “one-party consent” for recording is legal in places. California requires two-party consent.

  134. 134.

    efgoldman

    @MattF:

    When you’re a stable genius, you can figure out anything.

    Yup. Writing his own legal briefs….

    …in crayon.

    ETA: He probably makes sure that he has at least the 64-color box

  137. 137.

    tobie

    @Aleta: Hopefully this will all come out. Cohen might have emailed with lots of people–Donnie Jr, Jarvanka, Hicks, Lewandowski etc.–and I imagine Twitler would be terrified for that stuff to come out. We’ll see. The raid on Cohen clearly has taken Trump’s panic to a new level.

  141. 141.

    germy

    DOJ just issued the McCabe report – which is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey – McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018

    Frosty.

  143. 143.

    Ladyraxterinok

    In the early days, Hitler kept making military moves his generals warned him against. Many of his moves were successful. He then decided he knew better than any general and proceeded to ignore them.

  145. 145.

    Roger Moore

    @tobie:

    Did he have emails with Hope Hicks and/or Trump’s other long time assistant (whose name I can’t remember)?

    I’m not a lawyer so don’t take my word for it, but ISTR that communications through a third party would not be privileged. Once you start sharing it, it’s too late to say it’s super secret.

  147. 147.

    sukabi

    @Roger Moore: wouldn’t a lawyer playing recordings of his clients to not involved persons negate any attorney/client privilege? If not, then it seems it should at the very least get his ass hauled in front of the bar for sanctions or disbarrment.

  148. 148.

    efgoldman

    @Central Planning:

    I don’t see anything about anybody being fired.

    Weekends bring a 24-hour tweetstorm.
    But first the fucking sniveling coward has to find someone to do it.

    ETA: Also, he’s staying in DC, not going to Mal-a-Loco, which increase the agita.

  151. 151.

    James E. Powell

    @Adam L Silverman:

    A lot of news has broken this week, including today. I would argue that everyone take a deep breath and a step back and focus on which bits of the breaking news contain the really important information.

    You’re right of course. And I also want to thank you and the rest of the FP Crew for keeping track and breaking down all this mishegas. I stopped watching the news in the summer of ’16 and am rarely able to read the news without going into an apoplectic rage. You guys are keeping me sane.

  152. 152.

    Baud

    @efgoldman:

    He’s probably also asking the potential replacement if he’ll fire Mueller and can’t get a straight “yes” answer since that would be obstruction.

  153. 153.

    sukabi

    @Central Planning: the day is still young, it’s 1pm on the west coast, and Twitter does most of his ‘work’ after 6pm, depending on what his ‘advisors’ at FOX tell him to do.

  155. 155.

    SFAW

    @germy:

    DOJ just issued the McCabe report – which is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey – McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018

    Good Christ, he’s like a parody of himself. When I first read that, I thought it was someone play-acting at foaming-at-the-mouth. Then I saw the “author.”

    But I am warmed by the thought that Congress will rein him in.

    ETA: And, despite the Befehl you gave, Steiner ain’t coming.

  167. 167.

    randy khan

    @efgoldman:

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    The Nixon tapes marked the end of any defense.

    LBJ, and I think JFK, also taped in the oval office. Tricksie’s had material importance to prosecution.

    Doris Kearns Goodwin has a great story about LBJ, Nixon and tapes. It goes something like this:

    She was working with LBJ on his biography when some Nixon White House staffer came to the LBJ Ranch for some reason. Johnson was talking with the guy about working his memoirs and how much the tapes he had made were helping him, then said “You tell Nixon he should tape everything for his memoirs.”

  175. 175.

    Aleta

    @Gin & Tonic: Thanks for asking. Got asked where I’d like to to go and blanked out. Would welcome a couple of mid-range ideas if you have time.

  176. 176.

    VeniceRiley

    @Feebog: I’m with DiFi for the reason she has the gravitas and influence we really need right now. Also I don’t like what went down at CalDems meeting. Guh. Wilmerites will be the death of us, with their shenanigans.

  178. 178.

    efgoldman

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    The lawyers on my Twitter feed are saying that this is not a good idea

    Their hope, I guess, is to get it before the right conservative judge who will ignore the law. Also delay, delay, obfuscate, delay some more.

  180. 180.

    Mnemosyne

    @Aleta:

    IANAL, but even I know that when a judge starts asking a lawyer about something the lawyer should/should not do “as an officer of the court,” said lawyer should kiss his/her ass goodbye.

  181. 181.

    The Pale Scot

    @eclare:

    Glad Trump didn’t have someone as competent as Stringer Bell

    They’re all akin to Bubbles’ white doper friend.

    In the land of the one celled brain, the brain with 2 neurons is king

  182. 182.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Aleta: I’d suggest Broadway Bistro. Essentially modern American, fairly limited menu but good choices. Not in the heart of downtown, so you can park a car if you’re driving there. I also like Nick’s a bit further out Broadway, but it’s a little pricier, and you may need a reservation for Friday night. If you’re on the east side, Chez Pascal is great, but it’s more like $30 entrees. Not sure what “mid-range” means to you.

  185. 185.

    The Pale Scot

    @tobie:
    I always took “lack of candor” as meaning just giving a dry recitation of facts, with no interpretation or comments about them. “lack of candor” doesn’t mean lying like a mother fucker

  186. 186.

    Aleta

    @Gin & Tonic: Thanks. Perfect. I was thinking under 40, and 30 is better. At this point would rather go drink gin martinis though. But they are wine people which is OK too.

  187. 187.

    Fair Economist

    @Feebog: De Leon has been leading the CA State Senate, which has been doing pretty well legislatively, so he can get good stuff done. Before that, he was appropriations chair, so he is a serious policy guy.

  188. 188.

    Roger Moore

    @ruemara:

    Do you think if Trump had a heart attack from all this, they’d just prop him up and keep trucking until they couldn’t hide he was a bucket kicked?

    Yes. I don’t think they could keep the secret for very long, but they would definitely try. There’s a lot of looting they have left to do.

  189. 189.

    efgoldman

    @Roger Moore:

    I don’t think they could keep the secret for very long

    Sample twit to look for: “kmvvweivj efgf,fvkefwerofggkrewb zuhuhfdvevw qqmc isjcj auoshc liar liar liar…”

  190. 190.

    Matt

    @trollhattan:

    I don’t even get how the “the Parkland kids are Nazis” thing is supposed to work as an attack – surely that should mean the wingnuts are ON THEIR SIDE…

  191. 191.

    TenguPhule

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:

    today the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump’s fixer Michael Cohen set up a 1.6 million hush money payout to a Playboy model impregnated by top GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy — a pregnancy that the model terminated.

    And for anyone who claimed abortion would be the breaking point of the Republican faithful.

    You were wrong.

  194. 194.

    TenguPhule

    @schrodingers_cat:

    What then, is he going to jail everyone in the opposition and Jeff Bezos too?

    Then we learn rule of law is over in America. After that, nobody truly knows.

  196. 196.

    BroD

    I would argue that everyone take a deep breath and a step back and focus on which bits of the breaking news contain the really important information.

    I took a deep breath and wrote my congressman (Elijah Cummings) and Senators (figure it out ;~) saying (something like) we need Congress to hold the line if the Sh*t hits the fan.

  197. 197.

    Adam L Silverman

    @tobie: Actually the IG investigation was started by Comey. The IG is also looking into the NY Field Office’s alleged leaking.

  198. 198.

    Annie

    @Mary G:

    Wow. Totally agree. I have never heard anything like this from DiFi. She’s always been so devoted to decorum, from her that’s the equivalent of jumping up and down and screaming.

  199. 199.

    Fair Economist

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Elliott Broidy has resigned as Deputy Chair of the RNC Finance committee.

    Wynn, Cohen, now Broidy. What is it with that committee?

    And the refrain: Can you imagine what it would be like if three top officials of the DNC Finance committee resigned because of charges of rape, sexual harrassment, and money laundering to cover it up?

  201. 201.

    Citizen Alan

    @TenguPhule:
    Honestly I don’t think evangelicals have a problem at all with abortion for the right sort of women. They just don’t think women should be free to have abortions when they want to because they want women to be effectively enslaved by men. A powerful rich man paying for the abortion of a mistress or prostitute doesn’t interfere with that goal at all.

  202. 202.

    John Fremont

    @TenguPhule: Yep. The response will be something like the bumper sticker I used to see, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.”

  203. 203.

    Mnemosyne

    @TenguPhule:

    It might be the breaking point for a Republican woman if she had one after publicly declaring herself “pro-life.” It’s never going to damage any Republican men, though, because they can say that her immoral actions are not their fault and this is why we need to ban abortion.

  206. 206.

    Procopius

    I mostly ignore “breaking news.” It seems like 95% of it is either hypotheticals, speculation, of fantasy. For example the alleged chemical attack in Syria — reported by the White Helmets, a propaganda organization that is known to stage disaster videos to promote themselves and funded by MI6 and the CIA. No other evidence offered. Speculation that the raids on Cohen have something to do with the Stormy Daniels affair. Possible, but money laundering is much more likely, or violations of campaign contribution laws yet those possibilities are not mentioned. Trump’s announcement that he’s going to mount another wave of cruise missiles. Now he’s saying, “Nyah, nyah, I didn’t say when, wait for it, sucka,” and SecDef Mattis is saying we need to take a more measured approach and gather some evidence (he just admitted in February they still have no evidence from the two previous alleged incidents). There’s nothing I can do about any of it anyway, so I might as well wait until there’s a chance in a calmer time somebody might actually find a true story.

  207. 207.

    Procopius

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Imminent. Yeah, right. They’ve been saying that for over a year. What does that have to do with when my pot roast is done, or whether or not I need a haircut? Why should I care about it anyway? There’s nothing I can do about it, before or after it happens, if it ever does.

  208. 208.

    Procopius

    @kindness:

    Apparently today Trump will …

    I imagine sometime today Trump will drink a glass of water. That seems a lot more probable that firing Rosenstein, so why don’t we see it reported in the same breathless tone of absolute certainty?

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