Discussion: Cohen Team: DOJ Can't Review Seized Docs Because of 'Impartiality' Concerns

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This bullshit speaks for itself. It’s clear that Cohen has only one real client, and that’s Donald J. Trump.

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It would be interesting to see the search warrant affidavit. If the Government provided evidence that Cohen’s entire “practice” was essentially a criminal enterprise, then there would be no attorney-client privilege protection at all. There’s a price to be paid for bragging about being a “bulldog”, representing shady characters (like Trump) and going around making threats. Cohen seems to be paying it.

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So the top ‘legal’ group in the US can’t use the law against criminals because they might be BIASED? JHC.

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I am perplexed. Another letter instead of a proper motion, brief or pleading. And WTF does the “MJ” in the case number stand for?

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disclosing the identity of this third unnamed client or of other previous clients Cohen has engaged would “most certainly be embarrassing and ‘detrimental” to those clients

“I am such a noxious person that my clients are afraid to be tied to me publicly”

this is an interesting business strategy

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They are just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.

They are now claiming that the Prosecutors cannot be “Impartial” because they have seen evidence?!?!?!?!

Where in our adversarial criminal justice system does it say PROSECUTORS must remain “impartial”!?!?!?!

IT’S THEIR FUCKING JOB to be the State’s ADVOCATE for PROSECUTION, not to help the Defendant get out of it.

Christ on a crutch…

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WTF? Did ANY of these Trumpster clowns actually go to law school?

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I hope the judge just follows the law and tells Cohen’s attorneys to come back when they have something legal to talk about. And again, why use the letter format. Wasn’t there a warrant and isn’t there an actual case number. A pleading would seem to be in order.

I think they are using the letter format for full Fox News effect.

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Regarding the third, unnamed client, there is this interesting sentence in the letter:

Upon information and belief, the unnamed legal client’s matters are responsive to any matter
covered by Attachment A of the search warrants. (emphasis added)

I confess that the first time I read that sentence, I read it as “are not responsive” because that’s what I expected to see. But it’s much more interesting as written.

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“The Department of Justice can’t fairly sort through Cohen’s documents because they’re biased against criminals.”

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Trump tweets: “Playing tapes of my voice itself is DEEPLY PREJUDICIAL since Comey’s baritone makes me sound like a high-pitched child! Hilary and Obama directed the entire DOJ to find recordings of me in order to humiliate me! CRIMINAL!”

McDermott, Will & Emery: “In the current climate, the controversy over the timbre and pitch of the President’s voice dictate that all recordings of him be erased in order to avoid the toxic partisan politics of the day and attacks on the impartiality of the Justice Department.”

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Well, that was a complete load of shit.

I went and looked at the docket report I am at a complete loss to understand what in the fuck these people think they’re doing. It looks like Trump’s lawyers must have made an oral motion to intervene at the hearing, which Wood granted. Which in itself is through the looking glass stuff to me.

I’m guessing “MJ” means “Magistrate Judge” and that this somehow relates to a motion filed in the original probable cause proceeding, but it’s all just incomprehensible to me. Maybe someone from NYC can make sense of it or someone who practices federal white collar criminal law. Or both. But I know enough to know when a document submitted to a court is a load of shit when I see it.

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Between 2017 and 2018, they note, Cohen had seven business clients and three legal clients

WTF is that even supposed to mean? If someone wasn’t a “legal client”, then there would be no attorney-client privilege under any circumstance, anyway.

But for someone practicing law, there is no such distinction, nor has anyone ever heard of such a distinction in the context of attorney-client relationship, between “business” clients and “legal” clients. For an attorney, ALL clients are “legal” clients.

Again, WTF are these clowns even talking about? “Oh, no, your honor – this is not a legal client, this is a business client.”

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This is so bad. The names of clients aren’t privileged. You have to be able to identify the person to determine whether the privilege attaches.

Instead of making a legal argument, Cohen’s lawyers claim that

“Under Second Circuit law, the identity of a client may be protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege in “special circumstances.” Vingelli v. Drug Enf’t Agency, 992 F.2d 449, 450 (2d Cir. 1993) (‘Recognizing that client identity . . . [is] not presently sheltered under the privilege, defense counsel urges that the information sought falls into one of the special exceptions to that rule. What those ‘special circumstances’ are that would protect this information has not been precisely defined. What they are remains as enigmatic as the smile that Leonardo Da Vinci left us on the face of the Mona Lisa. In light of defense counsel’s argument, our task is to examine the special circumstances rules to see if they apply in the present case.’).”

Oh please. Is there any case in which a lawyer was required to disclose the name of a client because of “special circumstances”? If so, cite them. What did those cases recognize as “special circumstances”? Comparisons to Mona Lisa’s smile are about as unhelpful as could be.

Instead, Cohen’s lawyers offer this lame argument: “Although there is a paucity of case law explaining factual situations that constitute ‘special circumstances,’ we respectfully submit that the circumstances do not get more special than the unique circumstances presented by this case.”

But the whole letter is lame.

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As I said in another thread, they’re trying to work the ref. Posted this earlier.

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Yeah, that was the key bullshit signal.

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Cohen’s lawyers stated in their letter that it was responsive to Judge Wood’s request for letter briefs at the hearing on Friday. If that’s correct, that would solve the puzzle…

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Maybe the Judge could sign a NDA…?

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I wondered whether they had left out “not.” The letter is sloppy enough to make me believe they might have. I hope against hope that Judge Woods forces Cohen to disclose the name. It’s probably a doozy.

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