Trump vs. Cohen: Former Client & Former Lawyer Locked in “Survival of the Fittest”

“The Liar” vs. “The Fixer” Legal Battle to the Finish  

Update on the following and noteworthy from this headlines from TIME:

“Prosecutors in Michael Cohen Probe Get 12 Audio 
Recordings for Review”

NOTE: When the story first broke it was reported that one audio tape had been seized that had information on the Trump-Stormy Daniels $130,000 pay off – this TIME piece and from other reports now say the Feds have 12 such recording – and boy is Trump PO’ed.

Now for today: Building on the below statement (emphasized) by Rep. Schiff, consider this aspect out from the Washington Post via MSN re: the recently reported 12 Cohen tapes now in Federal custody.

What is on them vis-à-vis that Russia has on him – that is the so-called “goods on him” that may be compromising information subjecting him to Russian blackmail – simply: we do not know, but Federal prosecutor for sure know – be on that angle. This is interesting and possibly a true part of this story – so, stay tuned, time will reveal the truth – it always does in the end.

The aspect of that is from this story in the fifth point (of 5 points raised) by the author, Jennifer Rubin, wherein she writes in this summary:

“Fifth, did anyone else, including the Russians, know about Trump’s payments?”

(My note: That was used as hush money to cover Trump’s affairs with Porn Star Stormy Daniels ($130,000), or with Playboy Model Karen McDougal (possibly the $150,000 to stop AMI, parent company of the National Enquirer who was holding the story for reasons unknown?)

For those who think the Russians have something on Trump, this provides an interesting line of inquiry. Russian operatives’ knowledge of Trump’s sex life, and the list of accusers, and of payoffs, would be powerful leverage for Moscow. 

One thing is clear: Trump conducted himself in such a way as to leave himself open to blackmail. There may or may not have been the Steele dossier’s alleged tape of Trump in Moscow with prostitutes, but there is certainly reason to believe that there was enough evidence of Trump’s poor personal conduct to fill a whole file cabinet in some Russian intelligence agency’s office. 

In sum, the first released Cohen tape gives the public and investigators a glimpse into the shady fix-world of Cohen. How much “fixing” he did — and whether it leads to more evidence, more witnesses and more bad facts — remains to be seen, but this first installment of the Cohen tapes suggests that we know only a fraction of the facts that prosecutors could be assembling.”

Now the Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) part. Schiff is the Ranking DEM on the House Intelligence Committee story and how it (the emphasized part) ties in to the post above.  

What Rep. Schiff said (July 20) from this story:

Although the White House has since walked back Trump’s original Helsinki press conference statements whereinin which Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for two hours alone – with no other American officials in the room – and then, at a joint press conference, questioned the findings of the U.S. intelligence community that Russians had meddled in the U.S. election, in part because he said Putin had forcefully denied the meddling during the private session. Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for two hours alone – with no other American officials in the room – and then, at a joint press conference, Trump questioned the findings of the U.S. intelligence community that have said and continue to say that the Russians and specifically under Putin, did without any doubt meddled in the 2016 election, in part saying that Putin had forcefully denied the meddling during the private session and Trump apparently trusted Putin’s word.

Schiff says legitimate questions remain about whether the president has been compromised by the Russians.

Specifically, Schiff said: “Look there is certainly one very simple explanation for something that seems inexplicable to all of us. Why would the president undermine NATO? Why would the president undermine Europe? Why would the president do all these things? Why would the president deny the obvious — that the Russians intervened in our election?”

Schiff continued: “It could be that there is just some pathology at work with him, that he is so terrified that his election was illegitimate that he is responding in this way. So maybe there’s a pathology.”

Schiff concluded: “But it’s also quite possible that the Russians have compromising material on him, that the Russians were laundering money through his businesses — and he knows that, and they know that… But in terms of the United States and our national security and our interests, what matters most is the president’s actions. And he is acting like someone compromised.”

Full story from Rep. Schiff here.

My 2 cents on the Jennifer Rubin Washington Post update and Rep. Schiff post: The other four points raised by Rubin are in the story here and are very interesting and possibly deal with Federal campaign financing abuse and other potential criminal law violations.

However the points about the tapes and previous Schiff’s remarks are possibly linked – that is the most damaging part of this sad, sad saga starring Donald J. Trump I believe.

Thanks for stopping by.