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Cohen’s Lawyers Confirm Damaging Claims

Cohen’s Lawyers Confirm Damaging Claims

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet.

Lawyers for Michael Cohen on Wednesday seemed to confirm the accuracy of some of a report released by Michael Avenatti this week, but they suggested that Avenatti may have come into the possession of the related bank documents illegally.

Cohen is an attorney for President Donald Trump, and he is currently under investigation by the federal government. Avenatti represents Stephanie Clifford, an adult film star better known as Stormy Daniels, in her case against Cohen and Trump over a hush money payment made before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with the president.

On Tuesday, Avenatti released an “executive summary” that detailed an extensive list of payments made to Cohen’s LLC, Essential Consultants, by major U.S. corporations and a company backed by a Russian oligarch. Cohen’s lawyers said that the some of the information in the summary appears to be erroneous, conflating their client with another man by the name of Michael Cohen. But they also said that some of the information suggests Avenatti had direct access to Cohen’s private bank records, which they say they do not believe he had legal access to.

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Avenatti has refused to say how he obtained the information in the report. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Treasury Department is investigating whether the information was illicitly leaked.

“Mr. Ryan’s submission on behalf of Mr. Cohen is baseless, improper and sanctionable,” Avenatti said in a tweet about Cohen’s lawyer’s statements. “They fail to address, let alone contradict, 99% of the statements in what we released. Among other things, they effectively concede the receipt of the $500,000 from those with Russian ties.”

Cody Fenwick is a reporter and editor. Follow him on Twitter @codytfenwick.

DNC Sues Trump Campaign, Wikileaks Over Russia Collusion Conspiracy

DNC Sues Trump Campaign, Wikileaks Over Russia Collusion Conspiracy

Reprinted with permission from Shareblue.com

While Trump continues to Tweet-rage that the investigation into his campaign’s collusion with Russia is a “witch hunt” and a “hoax,” the Democratic Party is fighting back in a big, multimillion dollar way.

On Friday, the Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit against Trump’s campaign, Russia, and WikiLeaks for conspiring to fix the 2016 election “to hurt Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and help Trump by hacking the computer networks of the Democratic Party and disseminating stolen material found there,” the Washington Post reports.

The suit doesn’t name Donald Trump personally, but it does target several top officials from his campaign, including Paul Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates, and foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, all of whom have been indicted as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Papadopoulos and Gates have both pleaded guilty and are now cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.

The suit also names Trump’s longtime confidante Roger Stone, who was confirmed in March to have communicated with Russia’s military intelligence during the election.

DNC chairman Tom Perez issued a blistering statement, condemning Russia, the Trump campaign, and Trump himself.

“During the 2016 presidential campaign, Russia launched an all-out assault on our democracy, and it found a willing and active partner in Donald Trump’s campaign,” Perez said. He called the collusion “an act of unprecedented treachery.”

The Washington Post notes that the lawsuit is not entirely unprecedented: “In 1972, the DNC filed suit against former president Richard Nixon’s reelection committee seeking $1 million in damages for the break-in at Democratic headquarters in the Watergate building.”

Trump’s team — including his latest hire, Rudy Giuliani — continue to insist that Mueller’s investigation should be wrapping up soon. But with this lawsuit, the team has a whole new set of problems that aren’t going away any time soon.