Developments in the Michael Cohen case
Today there’s been a big flurry of coverage of the report that Michael Cohen (remember him? Trump’s attorney and “fixer”?) will be cooperating with Mueller, since Cohen is about to part company with his lawyers.
My first reaction was: I’d like Andrew C. McCarthy’s take on this, although I couldn’t find any commentary yet from him about it. My second though was to wonder whether the report is even true. So many things have been predicted, with the information coming from supposedly informed and yet anonymous sources, that have turned out to be so much garbage.
As Allahpundit at Hot Air wrote:
No quotes, no named sources, not even a “Cohen reportedly told friends.” It seems based on an assumption: Because Cohen is about to be momentarily lawyer-less, he must be preparing to roll over. Maybe he’s lining up new representation, though, inspired by his boss’s weird habit of cycling through attorneys every few months.
Or maybe not.
Clear as mud, as an old boyfriend of mine used to say.
And then we have this from the WSJ, which says that Cohen and his present lawyers will be saying bye-bye but:
Mr. Cohen doesn’t yet have a replacement law firm but is searching for a federal criminal lawyer in New York, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Cohen wants to hire a lawyer with close ties to the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, the people said.
Mr. Cohen hasn’t yet decided whether he will cooperate with prosecutors in the case, according to one of those people. He hasn’t been charged with any crime.
I get tired of articles based on rumors, but the MSM doesn’t get tired of writing them. What percentage turn out to be true? Certainly some—but is it any more than one might expect from chance?
I get the feeling that this story, and yesterday’s story about Rosenstein threatening Congressman, are meant to distract from the OIG report coming out tomorrow. Just a wild guess.
“I get tired of articles based on rumors, but the MSM doesn’t get tired of writing them. What percentage turn out to be true? Certainly some–but is it any more than one might expect from chance?”
Throw enough “stuff” at the walls & some of it’s sure to stick. Stopped clock is right at least twice a day.
Pick your truism. But “more than chance?” Probably not.
Oh…BTW…autofill seems to have quit autofilling.
Nothing on this but here’s McCarthy on Rosenstein
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/06/rod-rosenstein-subpoena-threat-shows-conflict-of-interest/
BTW – a little bit of what-about-ism — Clinton’s case is exponentially worse than this poor guy’s.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/ex-defense-contractor-receives-prison-sentence-for-unlawfully-storing-classified-information
“A former defense contractor was sentenced to 41 months in prison for unlawfully retaining classified material while serving in the Navy and while working for a defense contractor, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Weldon Marshall, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully retaining national defense information in March and was sentenced Wednesday. In addition to his prison sentence, he received one year of supervised release, according to the Justice Department.
Marshall served in the Navy from 1999 to 2004 and had access to classified information during that time, including material describing U.S. nuclear command, control, and communications.
The Texas man was accused of downloading classified documents and other information classified as Secret onto a CD labeled “My Secret TACAMO Stuff” and illegally storing the CD at a house he owned in Liverpool, Texas.”
The last time a Cohen cooperated with a Mé¼ller, Cohen was turned into a soap bar
Noting will be done. That is the fail safe position. If something is done, a few wrists will be slapped. Otherwise dozens, including bho and hrc, will be discovering orange is the new black. Wake me when that happens. Otherwise it is all 26 page of the NYT.
Giuliani weighs in (with a denial, FWIW):
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/14/giuliani-denies-report-that-michael-cohen-may-cooperate-with-investigation.html
Whom to believe, what to believe….
The whole thing stinks.
And here’s a smile (always good!) for the day:
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/392233-ex-obama-ethics-chief-pruitt-just-seems-to-be-fundamentally-unfit
Who else but Michael Cohen would be in a position to know exactly what he has done, and conceivably what he might get in trouble for, if pursued by an aggressive prosecutor? So this reporting is all very speculative.
The ongoing problem is that Robert Mueller simply has no discretion or common sense. The longer this drags out, the worse the special counsel will end up looking. If he was really smart, Mueller could have wrapped this up months ago, saying that nothing more happened than a few Russians buying some ads on Facebook.
One wonders if this will ever end, since Donald Trump could finish out his first term, and could even be re-elected, but still be pursued and investigated by any future federal or state attorney general, all for his original and unforgivable “crime” of winning the Presidential election in 2016. That amount of vindictiveness by some on the Left is certainly conceivable.
There can be no doubt that he’s angling for the 2018 mid-terms (perfect timing being the goal), paving the way to Trump’s ultimate impeachment….
Alas so earnestly and ethically besotted with the idea of blowing Trump out of the water as a result of all those charges, revelations and accusations—and the way that Trump will undoubtedly be provoked to “retaliate”.
“Win-win” think they. (And who could possibly think otherwise?)
Still, the best laid plans do have a nasty way of not turning out as expected. And Mueller’s strategy could backfire…as it degenerates into all the gravitas of a shotgun-wielding Elmer Fudd (with BB plugging the barrels).
On the other hand, like Hillary’s electoral fantasies, Mueller’s goals may be far too grand to fail.
Attack from ALL sides.
you want to know why we cant find good politicians
they would have to do what trump is doing now
deal with this kind of response
so only the ones that they allow get in..
and in the future – if you let them