April 19, 2018

Cohen drops libel suits against BuzzFeed & Fusion GPS over publication of Steele Dossier

Embattled attorney Michael Cohen has dropped a pair of much-touted libel suits against BuzzFeed and the private investigation firm Fusion GPS over publication of the so-called dossier detailing alleged ties between President Donald Trump and Russia.

Cohen abandoned the suits late Wednesday as he continues to fight to recover documents and electronic files seized from his home, office and hotel room last week by federal authorities as part of what appears to be a broad criminal investigation into his conduct.


"The decision to voluntarily discontinue these cases was a difficult one," Cohen's attorney David Schwartz said. "We believe the defendants defamed my client, and vindicating Mr. Cohen’s rights was — and still remains — important. But given the events that have unfolded, and the time, attention, and resources needed to prosecute these matters, we have dismissed the matters, despite their merits."

The dossier claims that Cohen met with Russian operatives somewhere in Europe, including Prague, to attend a meeting to “clean up the mess” created by public disclosures of other Trump associates’ reported ties to Russia.

MORE:
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/19/michael-cohen-drops-buzzfeed-fusion-lawsuit-537327





https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/986952914617978881




UPDATE: I think maybe someone has remembered a visit to the Czech Republic

HERE IS BUZZFEED's STATEMENT




https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/986954179980746753

April 19, 2018

Fortune Magazine: The World's 50 Greatest Leaders-Parkland StudentsNo 1-Trump Did NOT Make The List

THE TOP 10
1. The Students Marjory Stoneman Douglas and other schools 2. Bill and Melinda Gates Cofounders, Gates Foundation 3. The #MeToo Movement 4. Moon Jae-in President, South Korea
5. Kenneth Frazier CEO, Merck 6. Scott Gottlieb FDA commisioner 7. Margarethe Vestager Commissioner for Competition, European Union 8. Larry Fink CEO, BlackRock 9. General Joseph Dunford Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff 10. Liu He Vice Premier, China

11-20
11. Mary Barra CEO, General Motors 12. Nick Saban Football coach, University of Alabama 13. Emmanuel Macron President, France 14. Tim Cook CEO, Apple 15. Serena Williams Athlete 16. Isabelle Kocher CEO, Engie 17. Katie Bethell Executive director, PL+US 18. Ryan Coogler Film director 19. Huateng “Pony” Ma CEO, Tencent 20. Indira Jaising Founder, Lawyers Collective

21-30
21. Marc Benioff CEO, Salesforce 22. The Gymnasts and Their Allies 23. Kathleen McLaughlin Chief sustainability officer, Walmart 24. Mukesh Ambani Chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries 25. Mick Cornett Former mayor, Oklahoma City 26. Donald Hopkins Physician, the Carter Center 27. Oprah Winfrey CEO, OWN 28. Mitch Landrieu Mayor, New Orleans 29. Jacinda Ardern Prime Minister, New Zealand 30. Ma Jun Environmentalist, China

31-40
31. West Virginia Teachers 32. Leymah Gbowee President, Gbowee Peace Foundation 33. Jamie Dimon CEO, JPMorgan Chase 34. Michael Sorrell President, Paul Quinn College 35. Reese Witherspoon Actor/producer 36. Daniel Servitje Montull CEO, Grupo Bimbo 37. Izumi Nakamitsu Undersecretary general for disarmament, United Nations 38. Bashar Masri Founder, Rawabi 39. Leila de Lima Senator, Philippines 40. Angela Nyambura Gichaga CEO, Financing Alliance for Health

41-50
41. Timothy Keller Evangelical minister/author, Redeemer City to City 42. Gwynne Shotwell President and chief operating officer, SpaceX 43. Balkrishna Doshi Architect, India 44. Feike Sijbesma CEO, DSM 45. Kelly Chibale Scientist, South Africa 46. Ana Botín Group executive 
chairman, Banco Santander 47. Dina Meza Journalist, PEN Honduras 48. Ridwan Kamil Mayor, Bandung, Indonesia 49. Amy Gutmann President, University of Pennsylvania 50. Ed Bastian CEO, Delta Air Lines

Much More Info:
http://fortune.com/longform/worlds-greatest-leaders-2018/

April 19, 2018

Haley: She "isn't going to let the potus run over her like some of these star-struck men around WH"

For now at least, she is showing off her savvy in navigating the administration's ever shifting dynamics. She appears to have emerged from the combative approach unscathed -- a rare feat in Trump's orbit.

"It's clear that in situations like this she is prepared to defend herself -- and publicly, if necessary," said John Negroponte, a former US ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush.

Another source close to Haley said the ambassador "isn't going to let the President run over her like some of these star-struck men around the White House let him do."

.............


https://twitter.com/ckmarie/status/986769536467832832

April 19, 2018

T H I S .

April 18, 2018

85-year-old attorney who represented Trump for decades---Cohen will flip. Stay away from him.

Trump called one of his longtime legal advisers, Jay Goldberg, on Friday to discuss the Cohen probe. Goldberg warned him not to trust Cohen, saying on a scale of 100 to 1—where 100 is fully protecting the president—Cohen "isn't even a 1."

Cohen Would Turn Against President if Charged, Counselor Warned Trump
Former prosecutor Jay Goldberg says he cautioned president that his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, could be compelled to cooperate with prosecutors


One of President Donald Trump’s longtime legal advisers said he warned the president in a phone call Friday that Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer and close friend, would turn against the president and cooperate with federal prosecutors if faced with criminal charges.

Mr. Trump made the call seeking advicel from Jay Goldberg, who represented Mr. Trump in the 1990s and early 2000s. Mr. Goldberg said he cautioned the president not to trust Mr. Cohen. On a scale of 100 to 1, where 100 is fully protecting the president, Mr. Cohen “isn’t even a 1,” he said he told Mr. Trump.


.......

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cohen-would-turn-against-president-if-charged-counselor-warned-trump-1524093151
https://twitter.com/rebeccaballhaus/status/986744951345242112
https://twitter.com/joe_palazzolo/status/986748210436767749
https://twitter.com/NormEisen/status/986752307198152705

April 18, 2018

The Pillars of Fox News

April 18, 2018

Josh Marshall's epiphany: Trump used Cohen because he was a conduit for Ukraine/Russia $$$

TPM, Trump brought Cohen into the organization not because he was a lawyer but because he was a conduit for money from Russia and Ukraine.


Cohen-ology Pays Off After All
By Josh Marshall | April 18, 2018 5:50 pm


Yesterday afternoon I had one of those epiphanies about a story I usually have no more than once every few years. It was partly triggered by details I put in this post about Michael Cohen. But it wasn’t about that alone. It was the sum of a dozen developments since the raid on Cohen’s homes and office last Monday. Starting over a year ago we focused our resources tightly on Cohen, Sater and an assortment of lesser capos and goodfellas in the Trump syndicate.

...........

Now, who’s Seth Hettana?

It turns out we at TPM have known and admired Seth’s work for years and years. He was one of the lead reporters – I think with the AP – on the Duke Cunningham scandal and wrote a book about it. A couple weeks ago I was emailed a press release announcing the imminent release of Seth’s new Trump/Russia book. I get a million press releases. But I had no idea he was even working on one. So I replied to the email and asked for a review copy which arrived a few days ago. I had not gotten around to looking at it yet. But in that excerpt, the reference to the El Caribe is followed by these two paragraphs …

I spoke to two former federal investigators who told me Cohen was introduced to Donald Trump by his father-in-law, Fima Shusterman, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Ukraine who arrived in the U.S. in 1975. Shusterman was in the garment business and owned a fleet of taxicabs with his partners, Shalva Botier and Edward Zubok – all three men were convicted of a money-laundering related offense in 1993. “Fima may have been a (possibly silent) business partner with Trump, perhaps even used as a conduit for Russian investors in Trump properties and other ventures,” a former federal investigator told me. “Cohen, who married into the family, was given the job with the Trump Org as a favor to Shusterman.” (“Untrue,” Cohen told me. “Your source is creating fake news.”)

Shusterman, who owned at least four New York taxi companies, also set his son-in-law up in the yellow cab business. Cohen once ran 260 yellow cabs with his Ukrainian-born partner, the “taxi king” Simon V. Garber, until their partnership ended acrimoniously in 2012. Glenn Simpson, the private investigator who was independently hired to examine Trump’s Russia connections during the real estate mogul’s presidential run, testified before the House Intelligence Committee that Cohen “had a lot of connections to the former Soviet Union, and that he seemed to have associations with organized crime figures in New York and Florida – Russian organized crime figures,” including Garber.

Now, when I saw this, my jaw dropped. Admittedly, the significance probably needs some deciphering and perhaps you need to be a bit obsessed. But it connects together and makes sense of a number of key questions I’ve had. As I’ve explained many times here at TPM, Trump brought Cohen into the organization not because he was a lawyer but because he was a conduit for money from Russia and Ukraine. He’d been on a buying spree in the year or so before he was hired, buying up apartment units for him and members of his Ukrainian immigrant family. Trump wanted access to that spigot and more. So what Seth describes here – along with how Cohen got into the taxi business – is basically in line with my understanding. But I’d never realized Shusterman was such a critical player – perhaps even already a source of cash for Trump and, if Seth’s source is right, the reason Cohen got his job.

This brings a lot together – not least of which is fleshing out just what who Cohen’s money channel was based on. It also helps me understand, candidly, how a dope like Cohen got the gig. Quite apart from the money, it’s always been clear – he’s said as much – that Cohen has worshiped Trump since he was a high schooler – when Trump was king of the NYC tabs. It may not seem like much. But for us Cohen-ologists, it’s like the missing link, where the derp meets the wise guys and it all makes sense.

This all crystallized for me what I already knew or thought I knew and added another layer of knowledge and illumination. I’ll explain more about why in subsequent posts. For now, I strongly recommend getting a copy of Hettana’s book. It’s actually called Trump/Russia: A Definitive History. I plan to dig into my copy tonight. It’s apparently available for pre-order now and comes out in early May.


Lots of links & More Here:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/cohen-ology-pays-off-after-all

April 18, 2018

Parent Co of Nat'l Enquirer agrees to let Karen McDougal out of contract that kept her from talking

The parent company of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc., has agreed to let ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal out of a contract that had kept her from talking freely about her alleged affair with Trump, her lawyer tells NYT.


https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/986717315726282755

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/986716007019565056

April 18, 2018

???-Email warning police to be prepared with riot gear In case Mueller is fired

https://twitter.com/MCipriani_WTAE/status/986631272515751937
https://twitter.com/MCipriani_WTAE/status/986635152913780736

April 18, 2018

Michael Cohen was childhood friends with Felix Sater

In today’s podcast, we look into the background of Michael Cohen. TPM first reported last year that Cohen was actually a childhood friend of Felix Sater, whose father was himself a reputed capo in the Mogilevich organized crime syndicate, said to be Russia’s largest and most dangerous. Filling out this picture of how Cohen fell into this milieu we’ve always been focused on the fact that Cohen’s uncle, Morton Levine, owned and ran a Brooklyn social club, El Caribe, which was a well-known meeting spot for members of Italian and Russian organized crime families in the 1970s and 1980s. (Levine, a medical doctor has never been charged with a crime.) But now it turns out there’s a bit more to this story.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/good-grief-cohens-gets-mobbier-the-closer-i-look





https://trump-russia.com/2017/08/30/felix-sater-and-michael-cohen-childhood-friends/

https://www.thenation.com/article/who-is-felix-sater-and-why-is-donald-trump-so-afraid-of-him/