Bombshell and generally unnoticed note filed by Fed attorney re: Cohen today

[grantcart]

This wasn't the first warrant on Michael Cohen. Turns out that they have been reading his emails for some time.

They are making a broad assertion in a 22 page submission to the court that privilege isn't going to apply for most of what they were looking for and have taken from Cohen's office because

The Southern District of New York (SDNY) has an interesting counterargument: Cohen is barely a practicing lawyer, anyway—which they claim to know because they’ve been reading his emails.

This wasn't the first warrant.

https://qz.com/1252448/donald-trump-lawyer-michael-cohens-emails-have-been-under-scrutiny-by-the-us-government/

NLawyers for Michael Cohen, personal lawyer to Donald Trump, argued in a hearing today that a recent FBI raid on his offices swept up sensitive documents that should be protected by client-attorney privilege. The Southern District of New York (SDNY) has an interesting counterargument: Cohen is barely a practicing lawyer, anyway—which they claim to know because they’ve been reading his emails.

A 22-page opposition document filed by the US attorney to counter Cohen’s request for a temporary restraining order on seized files (pdf) reveals that the Southern District has been privy to Cohen’s email for a while now, having obtained a previously undisclosed search warrant. According to the documents, “Cohen has exceedingly few clients and a low volume of potentially privileged communications” (p.1) and “performs little to no legal work” (p.4).

The US attorney also questioned the Cohen team’s grasp of the law in his own defense, noting that: “Not only is Cohen’s reliance on the [United States’ Attorney Manual] USAM misplaced, but he invokes the wrong section,” which “applies to ‘attorneys who are not suspects’ of a criminal investigation” (p.13).

The government’s argument emphasizes that information seized from Cohen’s work or home were taken as part of an investigation seeking “evidence of crimes, many of which have nothing to do with his work as attorney, but rather relate to Cohen’s own business dealings” (p.4).

Stunning.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

1. So the Mueller referral was just added fuel?

[grantcart]

3. I don't know but I am guessing that Mueller had the first warrant

and has been reading Cohen emails for some time.

Question is how long?

You have to wonder how in the hell did they get the first warrant to read emails to and from an attorney.

They must have had something very specific from Gates who was at the campaign offices with Cohen.

Having read the emails they must have had a ton of material to get the second warrant.

[pnwmom]

4. Don't forget Flynn. Remember that Cohen acknowledged delivering some document

to Flynn's office?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/us/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-russia.html?mtrref=www.google.com

A week before Michael T. Flynn resigned as national security adviser, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia.

Mr. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, who delivered the document; Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Mr. Trump scout deals in Russia; and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

SNIP

After speaking with Mr. Sater and Mr. Artemenko in person, Mr. Cohen said he would deliver the plan to the White House.

SNIP

He said Mr. Sater had given him the written proposal in a sealed envelope. When Mr. Cohen met with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office in early February, he said, he left the proposal in Mr. Flynn’s office.

Mr. Cohen said he was waiting for a response when Mr. Flynn was forced from his post.

[grantcart]

5. Anything is possible but that is from last year. Gates is from 2 months ago

I am fairly certain that who ever authorized the warrant on his emails didn't allow for an open ended witch hunt but had a time constraint on it, either it showed promise or they had to cut it loose.

Even more surprising to me is that this isn't making big news.

[pnwmom]

6. How do you know that a warrant wouldn't have produced useful information

that caused it to be renewed?

Besides, Flynn probably wasn't cooperating a year ago. He didn't sign the plea agreement till last fall.

[grantcart]

9. Warrants are a lot more restrictive than people realize

I have a relative who is a judge and have seen that person grill the law enforcement at length over something I thought was routine. A lot of courtroom activity is routine and repetitive, judges take the authority over issuing warrants very seriously.

Federal warrants are even more difficult to get. I have a client whose job is to get wire tap warrants for the local federal agency. He fills an application and it then goes to the local counsel for the agency who reviews it and it then goes to the federal district attorney and if approved to the agency general counsel in Washington and then to the department of justice and then must go down the chain again. Once the warrant is in hand and the wire taps in place (in this case almost all for cartel related drug operations) there is an officer from the agency who listens to the conversation and another from another agency who observes. They can only listen to the conversation for about 2 minutes and if nothing relevant is heard must turn it off for 15 minutes. They can only record the conversation if they hear something that is related to the warrant.

here are the rules

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/computers-and-electrical-engineering/computers-and-computing/wiretapping

Documentary requirements. Title III mandates that electronic surveillance orders only be issued on the basis of a properly authorized application, except in emergency situations described in the statute. As Goldsmith has noted, the statute mandates several safeguards. First, an application must be made in writing and under oath. Second, the application must establish probable cause for the person, crime, conversation, communication facility, and time period. In order to curtail the potential for abuse and harassment, the application must also demonstrate that investigators have exhausted all reasonable alternative forms of investigation. Finally, the application must reveal all previous surveillance requests involving persons or facilities named in the instant application.

Assuming these requirements are satisfied, a qualified judge may properly issue an electronic surveillance order. As Goldsmith has detailed, each judicial order must satisfy specific statutory criteria: first, the order must specify the officials authorized to conduct the surveillance; second, it must identify both the place and, if known, the person or persons targeted for interception; third, it must state the particular crime to which the surveillance relates; fourth, the order must specify the period of surveillance; finally, each order must mandate prompt execution, minimal interception of irrelevant conversations, and termination of surveillance when the evidence sought is obtained or when thirty days have passed, whichever occurs first. Title III allows applications for extensions and authorizes judges to issue extension orders in compliance with all statutory requirements

What we see in the movies, guys carrying on wiretaps for hours on end etc, is nothing like the real thing.

Those are the rules in a normal wiretap/email warrant. It has to be well defined and the time limited and once the evidence you were looking for is obtained you must move on the filing of charges. In a case that would involve possible lawyer/client privilege the scrutiny and restrictions would be tenfold. I am familiar with one case where the prosecutors had 90 days to file charges or the evidence from the warrant was invalidated and they filed on the 91st day and the target walked free.

In our system you can't just have open ended investigations (although counter terrorist or intelligence gathering operations are completely different than normal criminal investigations). You have to identify the objective and get the evidence and wrap it up, you literally are on the clock, which means that charges for Cohen should be filed relatively quickly.

[pnwmom]

11. This all supports the idea that it was Michael Flynn's plea that gave information

that provided needed evidence to get the warrant -- not Gates's plea that only happened a couple months ago.

All the steps described here take time. (Also, these are the steps for wiretaps. Getting access to emails probably follows a similar pattern for approval, but there wouldn't be a limit on how many minutes of "listening" were allowed.)

He fills an application and it then goes to the local counsel for the agency who reviews it and it then goes to the federal district attorney and if approved to the agency general counsel in Washington and then to the department of justice and then must go down the chain again. Once the warrant is in hand and the wire taps in place (in this case almost all for cartel related drug operations) there is an officer from the agency who listens to the conversation and another from another agency who observes. They can only listen to the conversation for about 2 minutes and if nothing relevant is heard must turn it off for 15 minutes. They can only record the conversation if they hear something that is related to the warrant.

[iluvtennis]

12. Thanks for this info...good stuff.

[Honeycombe8]

26. Very informative and interesting. Thanks! Good info to know. nt

[beachbum bob]

14. a tactical decision by Mueller to turn this aspect over to the SDNY office as now its firmly inside

the Justice system and to squash any further investigation into Cohen would be criminal in nature

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. Mueller tree is propagating. Pointless to try cut it down now. He probably has a dead-hand switch

for reports and sealed indictments.

[Honeycombe8]

27. I'm in awe. Is Mueller perhaps the smartest person in the world?

Of course, Mueller has an ace team, and I imagine they discuss strategy at length, and they all bring their expertise to the table.

I'm in awe of them.

[orangecrush]

33. Same here!

[bitterross]

2. He's a hired gun, not an attorney.

It's clear he is just a thug.

[SunSeeker]

8. Yup. A bouncer...but with less class. nt

[grantcart]

19. He will bring joining the low class in prison shortly

[LiberalBrooke]

16. Yes a thug.

He did not practice law, he threatened people.

[Honeycombe8]

28. Apparently. He has a law degree & renews it.

That way, he & Trump can claim privilege on everything they do together.

It was also part of the scheme to keep Cohen out of the govt, so that the atty-client privilege would apply.

[orangecrush]

32. Great summation!

[world wide wally]

7. trump's business partner (in crime)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Trump knows he's dirty, he knows Trump's dirty, we know tRump's dirty, Mueller knows both are dirty.

[Cha]

10. Mahalo, grant, for these

valuable pesky details from today's revelation from Annalisa Merelli

"The government’s argument emphasizes that information seized from Cohen’s work or home were taken as part of an investigation seeking “evidence of crimes, many of which have nothing to do with his work as attorney, but rather relate to Cohen’s own business dealings”

[grantcart]

17. Thanks Cha

[Cha]

18. ..

[Hekate]

13. Brilliant, just wonderful. Some good is going to come out of this cluster*. Thanks, grantcart.

[grantcart]

15. Kick

[Mr.Bill]

20. It's just astounding to me

that people choose to live their lives like this.

[liberalla]

21. yes grantcart, that is a nice little bombshell of information to consider...

thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[Amaryllis]

24. On Chris Hayes: Cohen is a fixer, not an attorney, and there is no client/fixer privilege.

Therefore there is no atty/client privilege.

[Lucinda]

35. That is exactly the way I think of him

[BobTheSubgenius]

25. Stunning in concept.

In context, not that surprising.

[grantcart]

30. Really is

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. As an aside....Comey used to be USA for SDNY.

Just appreciating the irony.

[orangecrush]

31. HOT DAMN!!!

This just keeps getting better.

[certainot]

34. maybe cohen's learning law like i used to do the day before exams, where i tried to

convince myself i had a photographic memory to catch up with all the chapters i had ignored....