Michael Cohen Secretly Taped Trump Discussing Payment to Playboy Model

[ecouch]

Cohen released the tape. Attorney client privilege doesn't exist when they're discussing a committing a crime or committing fraud.

Nothing in this sentence is factual.

We don't know who leaked the tape. I think we can safely ignore the Alex Jones theory that Trump leaked it. Just a hunch. It seems like Cohen would be digging himself an even deeper hole if he leaked it, but who knows.

Nothing was criminal.

Cohen very well could be in trouble for releasing privileged, as deemed by the court, information.

"If it fact this material was originally leaked by Cohen when it was still privileged ... remember, a judicial officer found it to be privileged, it then was leaked only after it was leaked did [Rudy] Giuliani waive the privilege as to this in order to protect the privilege as to any other possible conversations ... if Cohen is the source of the leak, he has a serious problem," Dershowitz said on Fox News, indicating that Cohen may have violated attorney-client privilege.

"This was a conversation between a lawyer and a client that should never have been heard," he said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...en-could-be-in-trouble-over-leaked-trump-tape

 

[TopSecretBoiler]

Nothing in this sentence is factual.

We don't know who leaked the tape. I think we can safely ignore the Alex Jones theory that Trump leaked it. Just a hunch. It seems like Cohen would be digging himself an even deeper hole if he leaked it, but who knows.

Cohen very well could be in trouble for releasing privileged, as deemed by the court, information.

"If it fact this material was originally leaked by Cohen when it was still privileged ... remember, a judicial officer found it to be privileged, it then was leaked only after it was leaked did [Rudy] Giuliani waive the privilege as to this in order to protect the privilege as to any other possible conversations ... if Cohen is the source of the leak, he has a serious problem," Dershowitz said on Fox News, indicating that Cohen may have violated attorney-client privilege.

"This was a conversation between a lawyer and a client that should never have been heard," he said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...en-could-be-in-trouble-over-leaked-trump-tape

Lanny Davis (Cohen's attorney) released it to CNN. He's a noted lwnj clintonite. To me this says they got nothing. Already leaking to the press and the choice of Davis to begin with is laughable. He's not an expert in this area, other than watching bill get impeached.

 

[SqueakyClean]

I believe I heard on the radio earlier that:

1) Cohen's lawyer released it. This is not a "leaked" audio. Cohen and his attorney discussed the situation and decided to release it. I do not know whether the motivations for doing this are to just get out in front of it because it was going to be released anyways eventually or if he is firing the first salvo in an ugly war that is about to start. Regardless, Trump did not want this information coming out, and despite Hunk's witty response, I think it is pretty clear that Cohen no longer has motivation for staying silent considering the response from Trump via Twitter and Guliani's interview on Fox. Again, it just comes down to what he knows and what he can prove.


2) My understanding is that the Trump legal team waived the right to confidentiality on this tape. So it is not considered privileged information. I didn't catch all of what was being said, so don't quote me on it, but they implied there was no immediate legal reparations against Cohen's lawyer for releasing this tape.
I

 

[kescwi]

I believe I heard on the radio earlier that:

1) Cohen's lawyer released it. This is not a "leaked" audio. Cohen and his attorney discussed the situation and decided to release it. I do not know whether the motivations for doing this are to just get out in front of it because it was going to be released anyways eventually or if he is firing the first salvo in an ugly war that is about to start. Regardless, Trump did not want this information coming out, and despite Hunk's witty response, I think it is pretty clear that Cohen no longer has motivation for staying silent considering the response from Trump via Twitter and Guliani's interview on Fox. Again, it just comes down to what he knows and what he can prove.


2) My understanding is that the Trump legal team waived the right to confidentiality on this tape. So it is not considered privileged information. I didn't catch all of what was being said, so don't quote me on it, but they implied there was no immediate legal reparations against Cohen's lawyer for releasing this tape.
I

Yes it was Trump, they were privileged but his attorneys waived it. Cohen will not be in any trouble over the recording and/or release.
http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...s-waive-privilege-on-cohens-secret-recordings

 

[hunkgolden]

Lanny Davis (Cohen's attorney) released it to CNN. He's a noted lwnj clintonite. To me this says they got nothing. Already leaking to the press and the choice of Davis to begin with is laughable. He's not an expert in this area, other than watching bill get impeached.

Yup - Davis released it because there's nothing there. It was basically to shut everyone up.

 

[gr8indoorsman]

Kinda unclear what about this is "criminal". Otherwise, it just looks bad for Trump, but not sure where we're crossing the line into the "criminal" realm. Trump hasn't lied under oath about any of this, to my knowledge.

 

[hunkgolden]

Kinda unclear what about this is "criminal". Otherwise, it just looks bad for Trump, but not sure where we're crossing the line into the "criminal" realm. Trump hasn't lied under oath about any of this, to my knowledge.

Yup...although Indy35 and others on here have somehow convinced themselves this tape is proof of a felony.

 

[kescwi]

Kinda unclear what about this is "criminal". Otherwise, it just looks bad for Trump, but not sure where we're crossing the line into the "criminal" realm. Trump hasn't lied under oath about any of this, to my knowledge.

Yeah, it doesn’t seem to be much here, probably why Trump wanted it out, so he can play his tweet games with it.

Aside from making Trump look bad, it also looks like this conversation is about the potential negative impact on the the campaign. While they only discussed they didn’t make a payment here it appears, they did to Daniels, however, and Trump has claimed MC was his personal attorney and MC and the payment had nothing to do with the campaign. If they get something similar to this with the porn star that could be trouble for Trump.

 

[SqueakyClean]

As far as I can tell, the tape does not incriminate Trump. (Dammit Jim, I'm an engineer, not a lawyer).

…..assuming that there was no actual payment from either Trump or Cohen. If Cohen comes out / testifies that there indeed was a payment to either the National Enquirer owner or to the girl herself, or some other form of favor granted, then the whole "misappropriation of campaign funds" thing comes front and center again.


With that said, if the Stormy Daniels case for campaign fund violations proceeds, the prosecution will use this tape to establish credibility. While there was (supposedly) no payment for the McDougal situation, the fact that Cohen discussed the process of creating a shell company and how they were trying to delay these stories from coming out until a later time (after the election) is similar enough of a situation where they can try to establish a pattern of activity. This tape is not a "smoking gun", but if things ever do get to a trial level, this is the kind of information they are going to bring to the table to bolster their arguments.

 

[BoilerBiker]

There is no crime here. Just a leaked conversation. This is nothing but modern day political drama.

Trump lied about it, there is that.

hooray, its the 90s all over again!
just buddies bill & don and their parties reversed.

(sadly the clarifying factor is whether lying is under oath. thats how much we have improved since then)

 

[ecouch]

Lanny Davis (Cohen's attorney) released it to CNN. He's a noted lwnj clintonite. To me this says they got nothing. Already leaking to the press and the choice of Davis to begin with is laughable. He's not an expert in this area, other than watching bill get impeached.

Heh. Dollars to donuts the current outrage machine doesn't even know who Lanny Davis is and what he has done in the past.

The most noteworthy thing to come of this is that there was a junior high school kid who had to go through life named Dave Pecker.

 

[BuilderBob6]

Looks like Cohen will be the next addition to the Trump shit list.

Not sure "list" is still accurate. It's more like a pamphlet at this point.

Nasty tweet coming in 3....2...1....

 

[ecouch]

Looks like Cohen will be the next addition to the Trump shit list.

Not sure "list" is still accurate. It's more like a pamphlet at this point.

Nasty tweet coming in 3....2...1....

You know, this reads like a Trump tweet.

Sad!

 

[miksta]

You know, this reads like a Trump tweet.

Sad!

Needs a few misspellings and more general ignorance. But yeah, I can see it.

 

[BuilderBob6]