Russia Investigation Heating Up

[time4fun]

A new variable has been introduced into the game here:

Trump retained a lawyer Wed night who showed up to the Cohen hearing today to fight elements of the warrant.

Trump and Cohen's lawyers are both fighting for the right to review the evidence before the Prosecutors do because they suspect some of it is covered by attorney-client privilege. Trump's new lawyer was able to get delay so they would have a chance to review the new filing the SDNY Attorney's office filed in Court today. They get until Sunday night to review it and prepare their response. Meanwhile SDNY is pushing back and claiming that Cohen's lawyer is trying to use attorney-client privilege as "a sword" to stop seizure of evidence. (The whole sword vs shield metaphor is one of the legal field's favorites)

It got REALLY Circus-y when Stormy Daniel's lawyer showed up and asked to be included so he could basically fight to make as many of the documents public as possible- citing the fact that some of that material invariably involved Daniels.

So this might actually work. Candidly, Cohen doesn't have a ton of leg to stand on with this. Odds are the evidence presented for the warrant was overwhelming, and there's no way this wasn't done 1000% by the book. And under normal circumstances Trump wouldn't either because his communications were actually a part of the warrant. (There's a relatively recent 6th Circuit decision regarding taint teams brought by a third party in an attorney's office raid that ruled for the third party and punched a moderately sized hole in the taint team concept. Being a third party here makes your case much stronger)

BUT when you introduce the President- suddenly this case has actual Constitutional implications. I'm guessing they'll end up appointing a magistrate Judge to oversee the taint process, but regardless of what happens the Trump legal team will appeal any ruling that falls short of what they want. It would be extremely difficult for an Appellate Court to refuse to take the case, and also very difficult for SCOTUS to refuse to take the case. So at the very least- this builds in a solid delay.

[Androidpk]

Meanwhile SDNY is pushing back and claiming that Cohen's lawyer is trying to use attorney-client privilege as "a sword" to stop seizure of evidence. (The whole sword vs shield metaphor is one of the legal field's favorites)

Can you explain that?

[cwolff]

Tillis, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called it "critically important" to the country that the special counsel conclude his investigation without any perceptions that it was shut down by the executive branch.

"If the president actually removes the special counsel without good cause, it would likely result in swift, bipartisan backlash and shake the country’s faith in the integrity of our legal system," Tillis writes.
"The result would not be good for the American people, the Republican Party or the president," he added.

Another libtard republican I guess.

[time4fun]

ROFL

Cohen didn't bother showing up to Court today (The Judge was not pleased), and his legal team was arguing that they should be allowed to review the evidence first because of attorney-client privilege concerns with his other clients. When asked who his other clients were, aside from Trump, they couldn't answer.

They had to adjourn until 4 so they could go talk to Cohen and find out.

[cwolff]

Apparently Cohen doesn't do much legal work at all. Also...if he never discussed stormy daniels with trump then information about that isn't covered by atty/client anyway.

[time4fun]

Can you explain that?

Protections are supposed to be a shield for your rights- they're not supposed to be used to undermine the rights of others or the legitimate state interest of ensuring justice. You see this a lot in civil rights cases- religious freedom is one of the more recent examples. Basically people go in and claim they have a right to not have their religion interfered with, and that gives them the right to discriminate. (So instead of using that right to protect from encroachment, they're using it to attack other people's rights) It popped up a lot in early housing discrimination cases too- arguing that freedom of association means they shouldn't have to live with black people, etc.

What I assume the Attorney's office was pointing out was that attorney-client privilege is supposed to protect the client, not the attorney. Given that Cohen's legal team couldn't name a single specific client whose rights might be jeopardized, it was pretty clear that they were trying to use the 6th amendment to stop what SDNY would deem a legitimate search and seizure warrant/the legitimate administration of justice against Cohen based on protections that exist for the best interests of Cohen's clients.

[Candor]

I doubt Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein will be a civil servant much longer. It wouldn't be smart for Trump to fire him, but I don't think Rosenstein will be around a week from now.

[time4fun]

Apparently Cohen doesn't do much legal work at all. Also...if he never discussed stormy daniels with trump then information about that isn't covered by atty/client anyway.

Apparently Cohen is having a hard time finding qualified representation.

[time4fun]

Apparently when Trump's new attorney said:

“These interests are so weighty … this is of most concern to him, the public a close second, and anyone in this country who’s ever hired a lawyer.”

The courtroom snickered because they put the public's interest behind Trump's

[Androidpk]

I doubt Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein will be a civil servant much longer. It wouldn't be smart for Trump to fire him, but I don't think Rosenstein will be around a week from now.

I will not be surprised if Trump fires him today.