As virtually anyone who follows the news at all now knows, the FBI just executed a search warrant, and raided President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. He’s the guy who admitted to paying $130,000 of his own money to get porn star Stormy Daniels to shut up about her alleged sexual dalliance with Donald Trump (about 12 years ago.) She took the money, but then proceeded to blab about it anyway, going so far as to tell all (if it’s true) on 60 Minutes.
Speculation is that the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which conducted the raid in cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller, is seeking evidence of possible bank fraud, wire fraud, and maybe campaign finance violations. Trump’s attorney claims he got the $130,000 through a home-equity line of credit. Did he in some way mislead the bank on the application for the loan? And since the loan was made shortly before the 2016 presidential election, was the money in some way a campaign contribution to the Trump campaign that went unreported? Guess we’re going to have to wait and see.
President Trump of course is outraged about this raid on his personal attorney. Among other things, he’s tweeted that it’s “A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!” And “Attorney-client privilege is dead!” Trump has also claimed that some people have urged him to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
Now I practiced law for nearly 20 years. And I’ve been a Member of the House Judiciary Committee for over 20 years, and I would strongly advise President Trump not to attempt to fire special counsel Mueller – or to direct anyone else to do so. It would lead to a firestorm of controversy, which would not be in President Trump’s best interest, nor in the best interest of our country.
And while I’m giving free legal advice, I’d also strongly advise against President Trump submitting himself to an interview by Mueller. Trump has said he’s eager to be interviewed by the special counsel, but this would be a very bad idea. Trump could easily get tripped up during an interrogation and end up with a lying-to-the-FBI charge against him, or a perjury charge if he’s under oath. It’s not worth the risk.
About 20 years ago as a Member of the House Judiciary Committee, I was involved in another investigation of a President. The investigation of Bill Clinton by independent counsel Kenneth Starr started out looking into the Whitewater land deal and ended up in an impeachment over perjury and obstruction of justice related to sexual conduct with underlings. The Trump investigation was initially about alleged collusion with Russia (at this point there doesn’t seem to be much there there) and President Trump and his legal team should do everything possible to avoid ending up with a perjury or obstruction charge. That means don’t submit yourself to a Mueller interview.
After I’d written this week’s blog, a political bombshell went off (although not completely unexpected.) Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he will not be seeking re-election to the House. That means a new speaker following this November’s midterm election.
Republicans will have a lot of discussions between now and November over a possible replacement. And of course Nancy Pelosi hopes that Democrats will pick up enough seats this November to re-install her as Speaker of the House. (Hopefully that nightmare scenario won’t happen.)
In any event, I wish Paul, his wife Janna, and their three children all the best in the future. And may God continue to bless the greatest nation on the face of the earth.