Mueller did EXACTLY what he should have done!

[Mycroft]

Here is another wrinkle in this event:

SCOOP: ABC News has learned Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is recused from the Michael Cohen investigation. He had no role in raid of Cohen's office. Another recusal that will make @realDonaldTrump unhappy.

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) April 10, 2018

A sourced briefed on the matter says the Berman recusal was approved by ... Rod Rosenstein https://t.co/V0LNk3fVGq

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) April 10, 2018

So...it seems the SDNY DA ISN'T the one who approved this action.

Hmmm...

Update from Karl:

The source clarifies: The Berman recusal was approved by senior DOJ officials who report to Rosenstein. Rosenstein himself, the source says, was told after the fact. A second source familiar with the investigation confirms this timeline.

 

[JackA]

Robert Mueller is a Republican.

Yes, and so is Comey, and so is Rosenstein and so is the head of the FBI office in New York that conducted the raid, and so is Sessions who is staying out of it.

 

[Moot]

I have no doubt that the target was Cohen. The problem is that the communications between Trump and Cohen are still protected.

Not if both lawyer and client were engaged in criminal activity.

 

[jmotivator]

I suspect Rosenstein and Berman (USA for SDNY) and the federal judge who approved the warrant all have an even BETTER grasp than you do, and yet they approved and searched Cohen's office.

Everyone has absolute trust in the legal system when it is pounding someone the hate.

You act as though prosecutor overreach and poor decisions never happen within the FBI or DOJ.

 

[Moot]

I don't have a beef with someone going after Cohen if there is evidence of him committing a crime. I DO have a beef if it turns out that Mueller is using this situation to get access to information he wouldn't normally be able to get.

Mueller isn't investigating Cohen...the US attorney for the Southern District of NY, is..

 

[Moot]

Everyone has absolute trust in the legal system when it is pounding someone the hate.

We are a nation of laws regardless of what side you're on.

 

[Mycroft]

Mueller isn't investigating Cohen...the US attorney for the Southern District of NY, is..

Ummm...not sure why you see fit to mention that to me, since I've said nothing about Mueller investigating Cohen. Perhaps you just jumped in here and aren't aware of what I've been talking to others about.

I suggest you get up to speed.

 

[JasperL]

Everyone has absolute trust in the legal system when it is pounding someone the hate.

You act as though prosecutor overreach and poor decisions never happen within the FBI or DOJ.

That's not really my position at all, which was basically that the limits on attorney-client privilege would be well known to everyone, most especially the judge who approved the warrant. This was an extraordinary step here - the idea that the parties involved are skating some thin line seems....highly unlikely to me. It's career ending stuff to be on the wrong end of this kind of raid. It's very possibly career ending being on the RIGHT side of this kind of raid, given Trump's history.

Just seems to me the basis for the raid is more likely bullet proof than flimsy and questionable given the stakes involved and that the target is the personal attorney of the sitting POTUS.

 

[Moot]

Ummm...not sure why you see fit to mention that to me, since I've said nothing about Mueller investigating Cohen. Perhaps you just jumped in here and aren't aware of what I've been talking to others about.

I suggest you get up to speed.

It was in response to your statement...."I DO have a beef if it turns out that Mueller is using this situation to get access to information he wouldn't normally be able to get."


I suggest you work on your short term memory.

 

[Mycroft]

It was in response to your statement...."I DO have a beef if it turns out that Mueller is using this situation to get access to information he wouldn't normally be able to get."


I suggest you work on your short term memory.

That statement of mine says nothing about Mueller investigating Cohen...well, except maybe in YOUR mind. That statement simply implies that Mueller might want to get information that Cohen has.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

I don't have a beef with someone going after Cohen if there is evidence of him committing a crime. I DO have a beef if it turns out that Mueller is using this situation to get access to information he wouldn't normally be able to get.

Thing is, the information that he "normally wouldn't be able to get" is mostly stuff that is now turned over to the NY state AG's office.
If he "normally wouldn't be able to get" that information, it would most likely be because it is not germaine to HIS investigation, although now having been made aware of it, he has done "exactly what he was supposed to do".

 

[Moot]

That statement of mine says nothing about Mueller investigating Cohen...well, except maybe in YOUR mind. That statement simply implies that Mueller might want to get information that Cohen has.

Yes, it did...

I don't have a beef with someone going after Cohen if there is evidence of him committing a crime. I DO have a beef if it turns out that Mueller is using this situation to get access to information he wouldn't normally be able to get.

Like I said, Mueller is not "going after" or "using this situation to get access to Cohen's information"...the US District Attorney of South New York...is.

Got it?

 

[jnug]

Here is another wrinkle in this event:



So...it seems the SDNY DA ISN'T the one who approved this action.

Hmmm...

Update from Karl:

Wonder why Berman recused. Sounds like he had a laundry list of possible reasons. Somebody will probably report on it sooner or later.

 

[Fearandloathing]

I don't have a beef with someone going after Cohen if there is evidence of him committing a crime. I DO have a beef if it turns out that Mueller is using this situation to get access to information he wouldn't normally be able to get.

Do you have any evidence or even rumor that Mueller is likely to do that?

In point of fact isn't it true that Mueller has a stellar reputation both as an attorney and a Republican? And that the Trump gang has been truing to undermine his credibility for months?

Those are true. Him cutting corners ah, lets see evidence

 

[jmotivator]

We are a nation of laws regardless of what side you're on.

Indeed we are, and yet, even the great Robert Mueller has a history of some pretty bungled and corrupt investigations.

Being a nation of laws does not put law enforcement above the law, nor does it instruct us to simply accept the actions of law enforcement without question.

That is the opposite of how we should act as a nation of laws... and yet, when the law if pounding the other guy the blind faith in law becomes patriotic.

 

[JasperL]

Thing is, the information that he "normally wouldn't be able to get" is mostly stuff that is now turned over to the NY state AG's office.
If he "normally wouldn't be able to get" that information, it would most likely be because it is not germaine to HIS investigation, although now having been made aware of it, he has done "exactly what he was supposed to do".

Just a correction - the information is in the hands of career federal employees in the FBI, who will vet the information seized before turning over non-privileged stuff subject to the warrant to the federal U.S. Attorney's office in the SDNY.

 

[Moot]

Indeed we are, and yet, even the great Robert Mueller has a history of some pretty bungled and corrupt investigations.

Being a nation of laws does not put law enforcement above the law, nor does it instruct us to simply accept the actions of law enforcement without question.

That is the opposite of how we should act as a nation of laws... and yet, when the law if pounding the other guy the blind faith in law becomes patriotic.

I hit a paywall on your link, do you have another? It wouldn't even let me use "incognito." dang, I hope WaPo and NYT don't start doing that. Anyway, if you have another link I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[independentusa]

Thing is, the information that he "normally wouldn't be able to get" is mostly stuff that is now turned over to the NY state AG's office.
If he "normally wouldn't be able to get" that information, it would most likely be because it is not germaine to HIS investigation, although now having been made aware of it, he has done "exactly what he was supposed to do".

Actually you are wrong. There are two sets of FBI agents that look at the info they get from his office. The first set only looks to make sure whatever is passed on to the second is info within the Scope of the Warrant. The second set then looks at just the info that is within the scope of the warrant as passed to them from the first group. Any information not within the scope of the warrant could never be used in court as it would as they say on TV be the fruit of the forbidden tree.

 

[jnug]

Media in this country is as half baked as the Electorate at large, and the Congress and the Administration.

The whole "gonna' fire Mueller" whirlwind is the most laughable absurdity I have seen in a long time. All of them panting away for the hot by-line while Sara the Hucksterby really does not have anything to add.

I swear I don't know why Putin just doesn't walk right in our front door. What does he have to fear? Nothing I can see.

 

[JasperL]

Indeed we are, and yet, even the great Robert Mueller has a history of some pretty bungled and corrupt investigations.

Being a nation of laws does not put law enforcement above the law, nor does it instruct us to simply accept the actions of law enforcement without question.

That is the opposite of how we should act as a nation of laws... and yet, when the law if pounding the other guy the blind faith in law becomes patriotic.

We may find out that this raid is an abuse of power, but it seems unlikely to me given the many sign offs needed and the extraordinary nature of it, which would raise the bar versus lower it. Occam's Razor would appear to tell us Cohen is dirty, and the raid is federal law enforcement and the judiciary doing their assigned and proper roles.

 

[Mach]

I don't have a beef with someone going after Cohen if there is evidence of him committing a crime. I DO have a beef if it turns out that Mueller is using this situation to get access to information he wouldn't normally be able to get.

I'm not sure what that means. We don't know what really occurred here, or will occur. If it's all legal, and if Rosenstein is the one that has ultimate responsibility, I'm not sure what your beef would be, or why it would be with Mueller. Which law would you want to change? We don't even know what occurred.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Actually you are wrong. There are two sets of FBI agents that look at the info they get from his office. The first set only looks to make sure whatever is passed on to the second is info within the Scope of the Warrant. The second set then looks at just the info that is within the scope of the warrant as passed to them from the first group. Any information not within the scope of the warrant could never be used in court as it would as they say on TV be the fruit of the forbidden tree.

I just referred your statement to a friend of mine who is an attorney and I am waiting to see what he thinks.

 

[jnug]

Another example of media awash in its own glitter and glitz...."it feels like we are living in a tinderbox".....uohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Thats a nice line.

Hope the world is laughing its butt ends off at us. We know they are in Russia. Christ, they can barely lift themselves to their feet before they are back down on the ground balled up laughing.

 

[Kenn2shen]

Good try, but attorney-client privilege is attorney client privilege, and I look forward to seeing you sorry pieces of trash walk this back.

You people are destroying every good thing about our legal system just to get to a politician you don't like. That's all I have to say about this.

There is no attorney-client privilege that clears or covers-up criminality, or Obstructs Justice for the purposes of a criminal conspiracy. A defense lawyer's job is to defend their client to the best of their ability. But, if a lawyer helps a client break the law, the lawyer is also a criminal, and attorney-client privilege is abrogated. Neither Trump nor Cohen can explain why Trump's personal lawyer paid hush-money to a porn-star the lawyer had never met, but the client knew & there are photos showing it. Someone had better find a "David Dennison" Stormy can claim she knew intimately. Won't happen. And once again, Trump's lies are transparent. Cohen can plead he was unaware of the campaign finance laws violated, and other crookery, money-laundering, etc - or avoid his penalties with a "roll & sing"...

 

[Kenn2shen]

Neither Trump nor Cohen can explain why Trump's personal lawyer paid hush-money to a porn-star the lawyer had never met, but the client knew & there are photos showing it. Someone had better find a "David Dennison" Stormy can claim she knew intimately. Won't happen. And once again, Trump's lies are transparent. Cohen can plead he was unaware of the campaign finance laws violated, and other crookery, money-laundering, etc - or avoid his penalties with a "roll & sing"...