Michael Cohen, personal lawyer of Donald Trump, will be in U.S. District Court in New York this afternoon, trying to exclude thousands of documents seized by the FBI from the federal case against him. Mr. Cohen has been charged by Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami, not (as in the SNL skit above) Robert Mueller. Since Mr. Cohen has only one client, Donald Trump, the case against Michael Cohen is more of a present threat to Mr. Trump than the Mueller investigation. And since Michael Cohen serves Donald Trump in the capacity of bagman and fixer, not as a lawyer, attorney-client privilege does not apply. In any case, a lawyer abetting a client in criminal acts cannot hide behind privilege.
More:
“Trump advisers see Cohen probe as greater threat to Trump than Mueller: report,” Max Greenwood, The Hill
“What Exactly Was Michael Cohen Doing for Donald Trump?” David A. Graham, The Atlantic
“Trump Wants to Review Seized Michael Cohen Materials Before Federal Prosecutors,” Margaret Hartmann, New York Magazine
“Michael Cohen and the End Stage of the Trump Presidency,” Adam Davidson, The New Yorker
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Two former officials of the South American soccer association were found guilty in U.S. Federal Court on Friday of accepting millions of dollars in bribes. The jury will deliberate on a third defendant next week. 24 other people tied to FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, have pleaded guilty, and 15 more charged in the racketeering and money-laundering probe are fighting extradition to the U.S.
More:
“2 Top Soccer Officials Found Guilty in FIFA Case,” Rebecca R. Ruiz, New York Times
“Fifa trial: two ex-soccer officials found guilty on multiple charges of corruption,” Oliver Laughland, The Guardian
Update:
“Fifa trial: ex-president of Peru soccer acquitted of corruption charge,” AP via The Guardian
Speaking on Mark Levin’s radio show, Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressed Hawaiian Federal Judge Derrick Watson’s order blocking President Trump’s latest ‘Muslim ban”:
“I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the President of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and Constitutional power.”
“… Hawaii is not only a series of islands in the Pacific, but it is the least white and most ethnically and racially diverse state in the country. That probably has at least a little to do with why a white conservative man from Alabama named after the former president of the Confederacy and the man who fired on Ft. Sumter doesn’t think it’s a legitimate part of America.”
— “Sessions Suggests That Hawaiians Aren’t Real Americans,” Martin Longman, Washington Monthly
U.S. District Court Judge Karen Schreier has ruled than South Dakota’s ban on same-sex marriage is in violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. “Plaintiffs have a fundamental right to marry,” wrote Judge Schreier. “South Dakota law deprives them of that right solely because they are same-sex couples and without sufficient justification.” The judge stayed her ruling pending appeals, which SD Attorney General Marty Jackley has promised. The attorney for the successful plaintiffs intends to appeal the stay.
More:
“Judge strikes down South Dakota gay marriage ban,” Reid Wilson, Washington Post
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On Wednesday, Newtown authorities released recordings of the 911 emergency calls from inside Sandy Hook Elementary School during the mass shooting of first-graders. The neighbors at the NSSF didn’t comment on that.
In 2009, Oscar Mayer ran an ad campaign claiming its Jumbo Beef Franks beat out Ball Park Franks in a national taste test. Ball Park Franks manufacturer Sara Lee countered by claiming that Oscar Mayer did not cook Ball Park wieners correctly during the tests and falsely stated that its Oscar Mayer tube steaks are “100 percent pure beef” when they are not.
Sara Lee is suing Kraft, accusing the rival firm of “willful, false, misleading, deceptive, defamatory, and unfair commercial advertising.” The suit has reached U.S. District Court in Chicago, and newspapers have been serving up hot, juicy puns:
A Washington, DC fish wholesaler has been found guilty of buying rockfish from a gang of rustlers. A co-owner and a fish buyer will go to the pokey, and the company has been fined $875,000. The DC bass bandits were collared last December. The rockfish (Morone saxatilis or Roccus saxatilis), also known as the striped bass, is the state fish of Maryland. It was overfished for decades, and harvesting is tightly controlled.
A posse has been roundin’ up rockfish rustlers for some time. Convictions were based on investigations by a special task force of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Maryland Natural Resources Police, and the Virginia Marine Police between 2003 through 2007.
A federal judge has ruled that a California ban on same-sex marriage violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution. “Proposition 8,” the “California Marriage Protection Act,” had restricted marriages in the state to opposite-sex couples.
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