If the FBI found it necessary to serve Cohen a no-knock warrant.....

[RandySF]

do they also have him on Obstruction?

[onecaliberal]

1. They already have him on bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign violations.

[dem4decades]

2. From what I've heard tonight,to get a Judge to issue a no knock warrant on the President's lawyer

They have some very incriminating evidence against Cohen.

[uponit7771]

5. +1, on the face of it that makes sense ... for any lawyer to be served a no knock it sounds

... like something serious.

My understanding is this is what the alphabet crew does to mob people

[jberryhill]

3. They have him sliced, diced and on ice

Provided that he wasn’t tipped off and managed to destroy or hide whatever it was.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

17. The guy looks like a real dim bulb.

Do we think he was dumb enough to leave incriminating evidence laying around?

I'm thinking yes.

Maybe I'm just not familiar with how much electronic and paper trail gets generated. I would like to think I would be smart enough to not leave a trail if I was a crook.

But the FBI does these searches for a reason...

[jberryhill]

18. It really depends on what they were after

There are places where, if you lose your bank account number and access codes, you’ve just lost your account.

[PJMcK]

4. Minor point

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York found it necessary to seek the warrants. This decision appears to be based on evidence that Robert Mueller's investigation discovered. Since it was apparently outside of his investigative mandate, he referred it to the appropriate agency.

Without any evidence or inside knowledge, I'll guess that the prosecutors have evidence of serious financial malfeasance.

[RandySF]

6. But the urgency of the raid

gives me the impression that Cohen was in the process of obstruction.

[lunasun]

11. Why was he staying at the hotel? I can not keep up! Moving stuff around . Ditching box loads

of stuff maybe while going to the hotel . Wonder how much he was able to destroy before the raid

[Golden Raisin]

12. Staying at the hotel while

his apartment was being renovated. I live in Manhattan and this is not entirely exceptional, particularly for the wealthy who can afford it. However, with Trump, Cohen and Co. I'd trust them and any stories they tell about as far as I could pick up a stegosaurus with one hand and toss it.

[lunasun]

13. Thanks I did not get how a hotel room fit in the story. But as you posted who knows truth with them

[jberryhill]

19. A hotel room figures into every story with these perverts

[gratuitous]

7. I wonder why the President called it a break-in?

When the FBI executes a duly-issued search warrant, that's not a break-in. Someone should tell that to Trump.

[flibbitygiblets]

9. Jill Wine Banks said that too, on Lawrence. Ari Melber said basically "yes they had a warrant, but

it was a no-knock warrant, so technically yeah they kicked down the door. The only other person they did that with was Manafort, who is now charged with multiple crimes".

[flibbitygiblets]

8. IDK...If Mueller had Cohen on obstruction, then why refer over to another FBI investigator?

I'm thinking that Mueller found out about the campaign finance irregularities, turned it over to the other FBI guy, and let them have at him. If nothing else, it strips Trump of yet another lawyer (Cohen can't be trump's lawyer anymore per Ari Melber), and it's not like good attorneys are knocking down Trump's door. One less person to discourage trump from having a nice little sit-down with Robert Mueller.

Mueller has to know that trump would be far less guarded and loose-lipped if he comes in on his own terms, as opposed to under grand jury subpoena.

[Snackshack]

15. Mueller

Last edited Tue Apr 10, 2018, 10:06 AM - Edit history (1)

Did this to insulate the investigation. Sen. Blumenthal gave a very good impromptu press conference about this. There was a post with the video of it farther down the page, page 2 or 3 by now. But basically the Southern District of NY is now involved. The SDNY cannot be fired, the Judge cannot be fired. So if/when trump fires Mueller or Rosenstein or even Sessions it will not matter, the investigation will continue.

Mueller can see what is coming and taking steps to ensure the investigation runs its course. He is a very smart law enforcement official. Trumps hubris is going to be his downfall. Thinking he could play the government like his contestants on his reality tv show was a very bad miscalculation.

[SonofDonald]

20. That's it

And manafort is already going to trial.

Different cases in different courts.

Coming at them from all sides.

[Nevernose]

10. They use no knocks

On black people and poor people and just plain people all the fucking time.

White collar criminals will ruin a person’s life a hell of a lot worse than a drug dealer could. A smack dealer will just kill people. A banker will destroy communities wholesale, for fun, and keep the destruction going for generations. Biblical level horrors.

They also own shredders, and therefore deserve a lot more no-knock warrants.

(Total side note, but that’s how you know the War on Drugs is racist bullshit: one drug dog on a sidewalk on Wall Street would net more cocaine in a day than every crack bust in the Bronx combined in a year)

[BootinUp]

14. Evidence from the raids may weigh heavily. nt

[TheFrenchRazor]

16. maybe they thought he had a joint or a couple unauthorized pain pills. nt