re: Michael Cohen asserts 5th Amendment Right in Stormy Civil Case

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think this is a smart play on his part.

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If by smart you mean the best of his bad options, sure.

If you mean this is some sort of shrewd tactical move overall, uh, no.

Youre losing. Go ask your wife what all of this means.

I was thinking it was an admission he couldn't answer questions he expected to face without admitting to his obviously criminal behavior.

My wife is Johnathan Turley, noted law professor. You know, the one who recently wrote an article titled When will the media accept that Trump is not a criminal"

She had this to say:

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For a year, some of us have cautioned Trump that Cohen represents a growing threat to his presidency and that he should sever contact with him. Instead, the president brought Cohen even closer with a recent dinner at Mar-A-Lago, glowing tweets and a public statement that he remains his attorney and speaks for him.

In the meantime, Cohen has made wrong move after wrong move, maximizing the risk to Trump and himself. This includes the colossally stupid move to take the bait of Michael Avenatti, the attorney for Stormy Daniels, and entering the California case to enforce Cohen’s flawed nondisclosure agreement. Cohen simply could have defaulted or waived. Instead, he put himself and his client into litigation and possible discovery with a veteran litigator and a former porn star.

Trump may have followed his instinct that, by keeping Cohen close, he could reaffirm that anything Cohen knew would be covered by attorney-client privilege. If so, he did not consult with a competent lawyer. Cohen undermined Trump’s confidentiality defenses in every possible way. The key to using attorney-client privilege is to secure the services of a lawyer who can maintain clear lines of representation and confidentiality.

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Finally, there is the problem that prosecutors seized a trove of material linked to Cohen’s business and legal dealings, including reportedly taped conversations with clients and associates. Such recordings without consent would be presumptively unethical and clearly reckless, but this is Cohen. A pardon will not require such material to be returned to Cohen so long as it is relevant to a criminal case. Unless Cohen is the only possible defendant tied to the evidence, this material could still be deemed material to an ongoing investigation in New York or Washington. State prosecutors routinely share evidence with federal prosecutors.

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My wife is Johnathan Turley

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That sure explains it!

Btw, I didn’t read the rest of that shite.

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Except he didn't pay Stormy for the sex. She's a whore who wanted to sleep with Trump. She has never claimed he paid her for sex, only for her silence (not illegal). Even if he did pay for sex why would he pay for it with campaign money? He paid for most of his own campaign.

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It's not even about having paid for it with campaign funds (laundered through his hotels etc) because that stuff is actually difficult to prove, even if there was exactly $129,999.74 paid by the campaign to several trump businesses the day the check was signed - it's about the fact that his personal attorney paid for a "thing of value" in the run up to an election, and it was never declared as a campaign contribution.

Trump did not sign the documents, which isn't unheard of and does not invalidate the documents, but it does mean that Trump had to have previously either authorized Cohen to act on his behalf in this matter, or in all similar matters.

Or... and this is the explanation they appear to be running with: Cohen just broke the law because he felt like it and Trump had no idea. No idea whatsoever. None. Didn't know Cohen made an agreement with Cohen's own money in Trump's name. Didn't know that Cohen decided that 10 days before an election this wasn't actually "of value" to the campaign, even though, being the kind man that he is, Michael Cohen felt an inexplicable compulsion to remortgage his house to raise the funds.

Also, as for it not being illegal, as I'm sure you're well aware, adultery is a crime in New York, and paying out money to cover up a crime, is in itself, a crime. And then forming an LLC in the state of Delaware to do that? Well that's a crime too. And lying to the court about whether it happened or not? That'd be a crime too. And lying about it in public during a federal investigation into related matters? Well, that'd be a crime too.

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This is my belief, of course, Trump has a different opinion......

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yeah according to Trump himself his own personal attorney and fixer is....

a mobster
disgraceful
and guilty.

Well yes, and the judge asked to speak to him specifically before she postpones, not sure why, but this case is gonna go to sleep for a while. I'm not sure that anything that gets found by the SDNY could make things better for Cohen/Trump with Daniels, there's plenty that could make it worse.