IS TRUMP A US PRESIDENT, OR A MAFIA BOSS?

….Michael Cohen,  the president’s personal “fixer Lawyer”. 

Cohen says that the president is “more like part of the family”…….which family?

My, my, my, it’s looking more and more like the special investigation of Trump’s possible collusion with Russia, is transforming into a classic New York mob-type investigation.

What I mean by that is that when the FBI went after mobsters like “Diamond Joe” in Chicago and John Gotti in New York, first they went after some lower-level gang members to get them to cooperate.  They then use these lower level guys to get them to turn on some higher level guys that are close to the “Boss”, and then they can go after the big guy himself.

So here, first there was George Papadopoulos, who was turned by the special prosecutor before anyone really knew who he was or what he did for the Trump campaign.  Then there was Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort, these men were very close to the president during the election campaign.  And now we have the president’s private lawyer who is in real trouble on his own.  And that might make him want to save himself by telling on some big bad issues of the “Boss”.

You may recall that these kind issues are not always for Mafia or gang type activities, or those of today's foreign oligarchs.  Remember, there was the major American corporate scandal of the Texas energy trader, Enron.

Since Trump has shown only off and on loyalty to those around him, when your lawyer needs a lawyer, that is usually a bad situation.  But when your lawyer's office, home and hotel are raided by federal investigators, that’s a really bad sign.

The extraordinary step of executing a search warrant at the legal office of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal attorney, indicates that Cohen is suddenly in serious legal jeopardy on his own. And although the investigation is not directly related to the Mueller probe, it’s just another example of the legal walls closing in on one of the people closest to the president.  Cohen no doubt is someone who may have a wealth of information about the president’s business and personal conduct.

It was humorous to hear the president’s comments about his lawyer’s raid by the authorities, which the president totally misunderstood that the raid had nothing directly to do with Robert Mueller’s investigation. 

The search warrants were obtained by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, not by Mueller’s team. According to a statement from Cohen’s attorney, prosecutors had informed him that the investigation is, “in part,” based on a referral from the special counsel, not directly from Mueller.

This investigation falls outside of Mueller’s jurisdiction and thus resulted from his referral to the New York prosecutors.  

What is so alarming is that for there to be such an extensive raid on any lawyer, which is not a common occurrence, there must have been some convincing evidence for the necessary judges to sign the OK on issuing the search warrants.  You may not be aware that a search warrant, unlike a grand jury subpoena, requires the prosecutors to go before a federal judge to demonstrate probable cause that a crime has been committed.  They must show evidence that the crime can be found in all the premises that need to be searched.

And before approving the search of a lawyer’s office, particularly someone like a lawyer of the US President, the judge must be totally satisfied that there is serious substance behind the prosecutors’ allegations. This is not just a prosecutorial fishing expedition to fulfill the whims of a federal judge.

It is notable, that this issue would likely have also required approval by Trump’s own guy, the new interim US attorney for the Southern District, Geoffrey S. Berman.  And Berman was just appointed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions this past January

Basically, it appears that Mueller referred these issues to New York’s Southern District Attorney, and that makes it a state issue that cannot be subject to a pardon by the president.  Therefore, if Cohen wants to avoid going to prison for a long time, he may need to agree to fully cooperate with the authorities.  And if something comes up that would interest the special prosecutor, it would be to Cohen’s best interest to provide any help there that he can.

The president will likely argue that this raid violates the attorney-client privilege.  On Monday evening, Trump said it was “a disgrace what’s going on.” However, in a search like this, prosecutors typically set up a privilege team or “taint team” of investigators to review potentially privileged documents and shield those from the direct team actually involved in the prosecution. 

There are exceptions to the attorney-client privilege if the communications to an attorney are used in furtherance of a crime or fraud and that could come into play here.  After all, Trump has denied knowing about the payment to Stormy Daniels and those are likely not privileged if they do not contain attorney-client communications.

Documents are not automatically privileged simply because they passed through an attorney’s hands.

Cohen, who is someone extremely close to Trump and who has been known as the president’s “fixer lawyer”, now appears to have serious legal problems.

If the federal prosecutors feel they have enough on you to execute a search warrant, it’s never a good sign.  Look today at Paul Manafort.  To the extent that Cohen was part of Trump’s innermost circle, who might have knowledge relevant to Mueller’s inquiry, one can’t rule out the possibility that his own legal troubles could induce him to also cooperate in the Russia investigation.

But the week is early, and who knows what will turn up by this Friday?

Copyright G.Ater  2018