Ninja’d!
Why? Since Rosenstein could be a witness in any investigation of obstruction of justice, there could be a question about him being in charge of Mueller who is doing the investigation. According to CNN the proper procedure in this case is to consult the DoJ ethics people which protects Rosenstein assuming he follows their advice, which it seems as if he has.
Interesting, especially since I seem to remember certain posters claiming that Cohen not being in Prague was evidence that dossier was full of lies.
Now, why would someone lie about this if there was nothing illicit going on?
Exactly this. This was maybe the the thing in the dossier that was most likely to be shown to be false. Turns out it’s true.
This is solid evidence of collusion. Not proof mind you, but solid evidence.
Well, he’s fucked. My baseless speculation is that cell phone records and artifacts on the phones recently confiscated from his office will do a mighty fine job of showing exactly where he went while he was there.
I… I… are you sure? I have some vague notion that this was the case, but my recollection is hazy.
I’m struggling with the very same question.
Is it baseless, really? Such things are often discovered via phone records. OTOH, if Cohen was smart, he’d have used burner phones to conduct any illicit activity. If he was smart.
Multiple news outlets reporting Trump about to announce an attack on Syria.
Yeah, I agree. I just meant that I had no knowledge of the situation beyond what I read in the article. Maybe “baseless” was the wrong word.
I think you speculated in a perfectly reasonable way. 
I got ninja’d (by a good 12-18 hours) on the latest Cohen scoop.
Whether it impacts Trump’s poll numbers is one thing, but even if it doesn’t, this has to be pretty demoralizing to Trump and those close to him. I wonder if this investigation is now beginning to get to the point where it’s moving too fast for Trump’s allies to keep up. The real toll the investigation has taken is not so much in terms of poll numbers, but it must be taking a serious toll in terms of having anyone even remotely competent wanting to work in the White House. And that, in time, will have a very real cost for the president and his supporters.
Bolding mine.
I think I see the problem…
Actually, I think Cohen’s slip-up may have been more along the lines of arrogance, in a “burner phones are for common criminals; I have attorney-client privilege” kind of way
Now I’m picturing that scene in every 80s cop movie where the villain says that he has “diplomatic immunity” and then gets shot in the face as the hero says, “and it’s just been revoked.” Roll credits.
I think the raid was just the “oh one more thing”, as Columbo would say.
- I think the investigators already know damn near everything.
- I think the raid was merely to get more documentation that confirms what they already know.
- I think the raid was a way to keep Cohen from doing what he is famous for doing - “losing” (destroying) documents that the court or the police told him he had to produce.
It was their “We’re wise to your bullshit” statement.
You are probably right. Plus, he’s gotten away with so much, for so long already, it’s outrageous.
There are reports that Trump allies are more worried about the Cohen thing than the Mueller investigation. There’s a strong suggestion in the various things going on with the Stormy Daniels case and other related cases with women that Cohen has been pulling a scam with that Davidson(?) lawyer guy to shut various women up about Trump and GOP affairs. But unless Trump was in on the possible scams with Cohen, I’m not sure how this would be a bigger risk for charges (for Trump) than the Mueller thing (more likely impeachment there). I think Cohen is potentially in a heck of a lot of trouble for sure
There’s a sexual harassment case against Trump that’s going forward, and many of the details of this case could (and probably will) be made public.
If reports are accurate, there are digitally recorded conversations in Cohen’s possession – well now in the FBI’s possession. But if the attorney in the sexual harassment case is able to get his hands on some of those conversations, and if the courts decide it’s pertinent to show a pattern of conduct…
I think Repubs are also concerned that the pee tape is in fact real – like very. Here they are sticking their neck out for this guy. What happens if somehow the pee tape were released? The image of a sitting president requesting and watching golden showers, or maybe there’s imagery of Donald in diapers. Who knows at this point?
Trump may or may not know if there was a tape, but the fact that he’s worried there might be one simply confirms the incident really did happen. It would be the least significant thing possible to “get” him for, almost certainly not even illegal, but it would make it impossible for the blowjob-condemners to continue to excuse him.
I’m guessing that the Cohen thing and the Russia thing are not separate things. There are probably Cohen things that have nothing to do with Russia, and Russia things that have nothing to do with Cohen, but I’d wager that the Venn diagram has substantial overlap.