Looks like Guiliani threw both Cohen and Trump under the bus...did he do it on purpose? trying to save your soul Mr. 9/11?
Rudy made a doodie
4 possible felonies from Rudy Giuliani admission:
1. $130k payment to Stormy was in-kind coordinated contribution above limits
2. Cohen was a straw donor used to cover up true source of contribution
3. False statements on financial disclosures
4. False statements on banking forms
Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti just accused President Trump of the same federal crime that imprisoned former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, who was convicted of illegally structuring hush money.
Michael Avenatti just accused Trump of a federal crime after bombshell Giuliani admission
By Grant Stern May 2, 2018
Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti just accused President Trump of the same federal crime that imprisoned former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, who was convicted of illegally structuring hush money to the boys he molested as an Illinois wrestling coach.
President Trump’s new lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, just dropped a bombshell admission on live cable news during an interview with Sean Hannity, saying that Donald Trump reimbursed a $130,000 hush money payment from his lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels.
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Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti called into MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell and after a “speechless” moment on air, they dissected Rudy Giuliani’s mistaken interpretation of the campaign finance law applicable to the Stormy Daniels case.
Avenatti instantly recognized Giuliani’s statements as a potential violation of the Patriot Act, saying:
“The plot thickens, right?”
“I certainly hope that what Rudy Giuliani is not suggesting is, is that in fact, the reimbursement took place over several months, in an effort to avoid triggering a $10,000 monetary requirement relating to payments; namely if they structured reimbursement payments.”
“Again, I don’t have any basis that they did. But that statement causes me grave concern. If they structured reimbursements in amounts less of than $10,000 in an effort to potentially avoid detection; that’s a serious, serious problem.”
“That’s called structuring. It’s a violation of federal law. It’s a criminal act…”
“It doesn’t make any sense why this reimbursement took place over several months, it doesn’t make any sense unless they were trying to avoid detection.”
Structuring is a serious crime that Congress made illegal after the 9/11 attacks when they strengthened the Banking Secrecy Act to catch the money launderers funding terrorism who used small deposits to evade detection.
The penalty for a violation of greater than $100,000 in illegally structured transactions over a 12-month period is up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
Disgraced former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for violating the Patriot Act. He was released last year and registered as a sex offender.
Rudy Giuliani told his Fox News interviewer that Trump’s hush money payments were in fact reimbursed by the President “over the period of several months” and “funneled through a law firm.”
Depending on how the factual circumstances of Trump’s payments conform to Rudy Giuliani’s statements on Fox News tonight, the former New York Mayor’s admissions could result in the President facing unprecedented felony criminal charges very soon.
Watch Rudy Giuliani admitting to Sean Hannity that hush money payments were structured, which may violate the Patriot Act:
https://washingtonpress.com/2018/05/02/ ... admission/
GIULIANI: "I said, $130K? You're gonna, you're gonna do a couple checks for $130K."
A "couple" checks? You mean Trump split up the payment into arbitrarily chosen smaller amounts, so as to pay Cohen through a stream of disbursements with less recognizable dollar amounts? Huh.
Trump and Cohen refuse to disclose what they think is in the documents that were seized from Cohen making it hard for Trumps lawyers to prepare.
Guess Trump and Cohen don’t want to disclose their decades of Russian mob dealings
Comic Michelle Wolf Responds To Backlash: 'I'm Glad I Stuck To My Guns'
Trump: Okay okay. I lied about my health. But I didn't fuck that sex worker, I'm rich, and I didn't collude with Vladimir Putin.
McDeere
"I was going to get this over with." Very revealing choice of words from Rudy to @costareports last night. Cuts against Trump's efforts this morning to paint last night's revelation as no big deal.
Connor Lynch
This is what happens when the government is forced to produce seized Cohen documents to the administration. 4 or 5 days ago is about when they began receiving rolling productions.
emptywheel
Replying to @realconnorlynch @McDeereUSA @costareports
Telling, too, that Giuliani invoked the Special Master.
https://twitter.com/realconnorlynch/sta ... 9205102594
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWJo05fDNus
emptywheel
What 2 people with knowledge of the legal proceedings against Cohen have an incentive to burn a wiretap?
Ah well. I just can't think WHO would want to burn this wiretap.
Cue Giuliani outrage tour "in response" to this news in 3 ... 2... 1...
Oh would you look at that?!?!
As if this was all scripted.emptywheel added,
NEW: Giuliani tells me he can't confirm there were wiretaps, hasn't been informed. But when read NBC report, he was furious. "If they picked up the president, they would have had to notify him." Said if true, wld be a "mockery" of attorney-client privilege and "gov't misconduct"
Dear Donald Trump:
You did the "tapp" story line already in season one.
This viewer demands that you not repeat your storylines like this. GIVE US NEW OUTRAGE!!!
Extra points for leaking it to NBC bc MSNBC will create an entire cable show to hype a wiretap against someone the Feds already said had had his content collected.
Well played, "tapp" producers. Well played.
Next up, Giuliani, who has promised his client he can end this investigation right away, will be calling for Rosenstein's head.
Remember: Sessions is not actually recused from the Cohen investigation.
Hey NY FBI office?
How do you like Rudy "Stormtroopers" 911 NOW?
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/9 ... 9813977088
Laurence Tribe
To get a warrant to wiretap Michael Cohen’s phone conversations, the FBI had to comply with highly stringent rules and standards laid down by SCOTUS in Katz v. US, 389 U.S. 347 (1967), in an opinion I helped Justice Stewart draft for the Court as his law clerk.
At least one phone call between a phone line associated with Cohen and the White House was intercepted, a source said.
Federal investigators have wiretapped the phone lines of Michael Cohen, the longtime personal lawyer for President Donald Trump who is under investigation for a payment he made to an adult film star who alleged she had an affair with Trump, according to two people with knowledge of the legal proceedings involving Cohen.
It is not clear how long the wiretap has been authorized, but NBC News has learned it was in place in the weeks leading up to the raids on Cohen's offices, hotel room, and home in early April, according to one person with direct knowledge.
At least one phone call between a phone line associated with Cohen and the White House was intercepted, the person said.
Previously, federal prosecutors in New York have said in court filings that they have conducted covert searches on multiple e-mail accounts maintained by Cohen.
Spokespeople for the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI in New York declined comment.
Image: Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani visit the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Aug. 16, 2016.
Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani visit the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Aug. 16, 2016.Eric Thayer / Reuters
After the raid, members of Trump's legal team advised the president not to speak to Cohen, according to a person familiar with the discussion.
Two sources close to Trump's newest attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, say he learned that days after the raid the president had made a call to Cohen, and told Trump never to call again out of concern the call was being recorded by prosecutors.
Giuliani told Fox News Wednesday night that Trump repaid Cohen the $130,000 he used to keep the adult film star, Stormy Daniels, from going public with allegations about her affair with Trump.
Giuliani is also described as having warned Trump that Cohen is likely to flip on him, something Trump pushed back on, telling Giuliani that he has known Cohen for years and expects him to be loyal, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the conversations.
Giuliani and a lawyer for Cohen, Steve Ryan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House referred NBC News to outside counsel.
It is unclear what incriminating information Cohen could give prosecutors on Trump, if he chose to cooperate. He represented Trump and the Trump Organization in its business dealings for nearly two decades before Trump became president. Special counsel Robert Mueller is interested in any information that federal investigators in New York may pick up that would be relevant to his investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Cohen has previously said publicly that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights if subpoenaed to avoid incriminating himself before a grand jury and there is no indication from public filings that Cohen is cooperating in the probe.
The Cohen investigation is being led by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan and the FBI. Investigators are looking into the $130,000 transaction between Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels, also known as Stephanie Clifford, who allegedly had an affair with Trump more than a decade ago, and a reported payment of S150,000 from American Media Inc., publishers of the National Enquirer, to a second woman who allegedly had an affair with Trump, Playboy model Karen McDougal.
The White House has denied allegations of the affairs.
Investigators are also seeking information about the 2005"Access Hollywood" tape in which Donald Trump was heard making vulgar boasts about women.
The bureau's interest in the "Access Hollywood" tape, on which Trump bragged to host Billy Bush that he would grab women "by the p---y," was first reported by the New York Times. "Access Hollywood" is an NBC Universal television program.
Material seized from Cohen's office, hotel room and home included taped conversations, as well as cellphones and hard drives.
Cohen has asserted in court that much of the material gleaned in the raids should be protected from the eyes of prosecutors under attorney-client privilege.
Former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg, now an NBC News analyst, says there's a high bar for having a wiretap approved.
"The affidavits are typically highly detailed and carefully vetted by experienced lawyers," he said. "In all cases the wiretap must be approved by a federal judge."
Rosenberg said that wiretaps are usually approved for an investigation into a current crime and not solely for possible crimes that have been committed in the past.
"This is an exacting process where the government must demonstrate to a federal judge that there is an ongoing crime."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald ... es-n871011
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