Sources say Michael Cohen will co-operate with Federal prosecutors
I think the media has overstated the certainty and importance of this.
First: certainty. The source does not seem to be Cohen or his team, and Federal prosecutors usually keep their cards close to the vest, so at this point it seems to be just a rumor. The certifiable story is that Cohen will no longer have any attorneys to defend him in the Federal case, so his range of options is getting ever more limited, and co-operation seems like a good option. But remember that at this point: (1) Cohen has not been charged with a crime; and (2) neither he nor his existing team have met with Federal prosecutors at all!
Media sources are divided on this report. The Wall Street Journal said Cohen is searching for a new criminal defense lawyer and has not yet decided whether to co-operate. ABC News said it is likely that Cohen will co-operate. In other words, I'll believe he's flipped when I hear it from a primary source.
Second: importance. It's good to remember that this is a Cohen thing, not a Trump thing. Cohen's conversations with Trump when acting as his attorney, along with almost all correspondence in which Cohen was acting as Trump's attorney, are still covered by attorney-client privilege. Trump is only a peripheral character in the case, which is mostly about Cohen's own criminal shenanigans in the financial realm, and not about Trump-related issues. HOWEVER ... in any case where Cohen and Trump may have worked together to commit an illegal act, if such a presumption can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of a judge or special master, attorney-client privilege would be waived. While I think they may have done just that, they also may have covered their asses well enough to skirt the law. The impact on Trump probably hinges on whether Trump's payments to Cohen were a retainer or a reimbursement, and at this point that seems to be a moot issue.
For what it's worth, Rudy Giuliani says Cohen is not co-operating, and even if he did, Trump doesn't care .
They grabbed every piece of paper, phone call and text message this guy ever made for the last decade. (all 300,000 of them), they found something like 270 that were ruled privileged by the special master.
ReplyDeleteI would have a feeling that the lawyers left because of the conflict because the RNC was paying their bills and not Cohen himself, and that is why he was left without a lawyer and needs to find another one.
Of course this is all just educated speculation on the conflict part, but the special master's findings will be public pretty soon, as the deadline to contest her findings is almost here.
A popular misconception is that all communications with a lawyer are privileged. But in actuality, only communications made for the purpose of getting legal advice are privileged. This matters when a lawyer is working on non-legal matters. Reports I've read seem to indicate Cohen did a lot of non-legal work for Trump. But negotiating confidentiality agreements with porn stars sounds like lawyer type work to me. What I don't understand is why buying Stormy Daniels silence would be in any way illegal. It's not illegal to lie about an affair unless you lie under oath or to a federal agent. The issue with the Stormy payment was that if someone else paid her it might be considered a campaign contribution and at first they were claiming Trump hadn't paid. But now Rudy says Trump did pay???
ReplyDeleteI just wish Trump would go away...
Note to Trump:
ReplyDeleteWe shall know you by the company you keep.
And judging by the company, Trump is a criminal.