MAGA 
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President Donald Trump is demanding the chance to review his files seized by federal investigators from his longtime fixer, Michael Cohen, to assess which are protected by attorney-client privilege, arguing that DOJ prosecutors cannot fairly make that determination.
The Dumpster: I’m the president (small, very small p) god damn it. I am special. I get to choose who, when and where I am prosecuted and with what information. Those crayon sketches from kindergarten are admissible, nothing else.
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I normally use §resident to work that in. Just a tip.
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Dershowitz maybe referred Hendon … wow beautiful
In her Sunday letter, [Trump attorney Joanna] Hendon said that agents acted in an “aggressive, intrusive, and unorthodox manner” during the raid and that their actions were “disquieting to lawyers, clients, citizens, and commentators alike.”
Hmmm. That’s funny. Here’s what Michael Cohen had to say about the agents who raided his home and office:
“I will tell you that members of the FBI that conducted the search and seizure were all extremely professional, courteous and respectful. And I thanked them at the conclusion.”
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Is a Special Master a master of his, or her, domain?
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My assessment, based on a quick perusal of the letter to the judge, is that the chance of Judge Wood letting Trump, rather than a taint team, identify the privileged communications is remote in the extreme. The following factors immediately jump out:
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It is legally irrelevant, in this case, that Trump happens to be the president. At no point has Cohen served as White House counsel. He has acted for Trump as his personal attorney (i) for many years preceding Trump’s presidency, an (ii) since the presidency, as Trump’s personal attorney, dealing with non-official matters.
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That being so, the question to be asked is under what circumstances can a person object to his communications with his attorney being perused by a taint team? The answer to that question will be presumably be something like
(i) taint teams are lawful;
(ii) the alternative to a taint team–in this case, Trump’s lawyers perusing Cohen’s documents before the taint team–is unprecedented and problematic in all sorts of ways. Trump will in effect not only be perusing his own own communications but communications between Cohen and other parties who may themselves be privilege-holders or indeed the subject of this criminal investigation, and it is obviously unsatisfactory for any party other than a team of trained and neutral professionals to view such sensitive documents.
(iii) Trump’s argument boils down to the contention that the whole taint team process, which relies on assurances given by the taint team, simply cannot be trusted in this case. But there is no specific reason for the court to accept that contention.
That’s my prediction. Also, Trump will appeal. Also, the judge will float the idea to Trump that one of his attorneys might want to be on the taint team. Trump will reject this offer.
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The letter brief does echo the Dotard’s stated views on the search and seizure, and presumably that was one of the purposes of the filing. Might be McGahn or Giuliani who referred, but my money is on Dershowitz, who has been spending quality time with the Dotard recently.
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He has people for that, oh wait he had people for that. Now he’s got to find new people for all those interesting new legal problems.
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In completely unrelated news, it is the 106th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Ok it’s a little bit related.
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Disquieting to “commentators” is sure to endear the team to the Judge.
Why not just say “Sean Hannity will call for you to be fired if you don’t agree”
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…the “staggering amount of attention trained on this investigation, Mr. Cohen, and the President” make it impossible for them to review the material fairly.
that’s for the courts to determine, bless your heart.
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calls him out … hooo booy –
(I didn’t know there was an abc interview tonite ? …
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So, I take it that you’re unimpressed by the argument put forth by the current occupant’s newly hired legal wizards?
I was wondering WTF they were thinking by trying to influence a judge via media, isn’t that what courtrooms are for?
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He thinks the Justice Department are his personal lawyers and they’re supposed to defend him and exhibit loyalty to him personally. But now he’s litigating against them. I think there’s a flaw in this strategy, Mr. President*.
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Could this be grounds to ignore the letter?
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No legal experience here but loads of common sense.
Could be wrong, might be right. lol
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I don’t practice criminal law, but I understand that discovery in a criminal case is quite limited compared to discovery in a civil case. The cases I have read hold unequivocally that use of a taint team in a criminal case, in which the defendant is not entitled to see all the government’s evidence against him, is lawful and basically the standard procedure. But this isn’t a criminal case – yet. Cohen filed a civil case against the United States seeking a temporary restraining order, and I don’t know what the scope of discovery would be in such a case. Someone here who practices on the criminal side, please share your wisdom and experience!
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Weak-o. I’m surprised that so little was made of the standard Dotard argument that everybody is “unfair.”
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