And more here in the NY Daily News…raid sparked by evidence of the Stormy payola but more intel wanted re: T and MC.
" To what do those “seized emails, tax documents and business records” pertain? It was also noted in the NYT piece that records seized included “communications between Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen.”
If they only relate to the Cohen-Clifford transaction, they would likely fall directly within the scope of a special counsel referral to SDNY was based solely on a “hush-money” referral. And, rightly so, also fall within the SDNY’s jurisdiction as a separate, if possibly related, matter.
But if said documents also provided insight into — or worse, evidence of — other kinds of wrongdoing, particularly if they have relevance to the Russia investigation, that not only bodes badly for the President (Cohen is his personal attorney. Imagine what he knows about a realm of issues), but are eminently less assailable as evidence if they fall under a warrant that is broader in scope than one involving hush money.
But I digress. What is perhaps most telling about this action is that the special counsel, and by extension, the SDNY, had no compulsion about executing a search warrant on the President’s personal counsel.
Stormy Daniels’ lawyer to try having Trump testify about payout
Again, according to the NYT, Cohen’s attorney called the search “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” But defense attorneys always say that.
Clearly, the use of a search warrant rather than a subpoena in this instance is another indicator that the special counsel’s prosecutors and investigators (and, now those of the SDNY and FBI New York) don’t trust a word the clowns in the Trump administration are telling them.
These prosecutors and investigators don’t trust them — and are playing hardball, like they would with a drug dealer or a terrorist, not because they don’t like the subject-in-chief or his minions, or because they have a bias against them, but because that trust was long ago violated.
As a result, Trump and company get to face the wrath of a federal investigation scorned. Truth is, it’s their own damned fault. If I were in their shoes, I should think I’d be peeing my pants, too.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s ‘pit bull,’ comes to boss’ aid again"
Montoya is a retired FBI senior executive who served under Bob Mueller and Jim Comey as Special Agent in Charge of two field offices.