The Special Counsel ability to press those close to President Trump was hitting home. Despite months of denying any interference by Russia in elections the investigations continued.
Other forces made the situation even direr as the accusations by Stormy Daniels made life hard for Trump and his personal lawyer.
Michael Cohen was now preparing to plead the 5th in a matter that saw FBI raid his office. Could this decision mean that Cohen had something to hide? Or was Trump the one to be concerned and Cohen was trying to protect him?
Even now Trump’s lawyers had said they are hiring a special forensic team to review documents seized.
The Judge hadn’t allowed the documents to be viewed and Trump and Cohen lawyers were pressing to see them.
This could be another sign that there was information which could prove damaging. This would eventually be known if the situation was handled correctly with transparency.
Trump’s feud with Comey wasn’t helpful in anyway either. He called Comey many names, but Comey said he chose to respect the office and had no nickname for Trump.
Pleading The 5th
“Based upon the advice of counsel, I will assert my Fifth Amendment rights in connection with all proceedings in this case due to the ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York,” Cohen said.
He made this statement just a day before and said why he decided to plead the fifth.
He said “on April 10, 2018, I first realized that my Fifth Amendment rights would be implicated in this case, after I considered the events of April 9, 2018, described in the above paragraph two.”
In response to the development Daniels lawyer Michael Avanetti tweeted “This is a stunning development. Never before in our nation’s history has the attorney for the sitting President invoked the 5th Amend in connection with issues surrounding the President. It is esp. stunning seeing as MC served as the “fixer” for Mr. Trump for over 10 yrs.”
Russian Probe Pressure
The Russian investigation was certainly a nightmare; it was taking a toll on many people. Another individual who suffered scrutiny was Attorney General Jeff Sessions. It was said that he was tiptoeing around the probe.
Sessions was asked if he would resign if Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were fired.
He replied “that calls for a speculative answer.” He continued “I am not able to do that.”
When asked about the matter pertaining to Cohen he kept his response simple, refusing to disclose any information.
“I have sought advice on those matters. I have not met with the top ethics person on it, but I can assure you I have not violated my recusal,” he said.
Meanwhile Trump added another lawyer to his legal team recently. Rudolph W. Giuliani had joined Trump’s team and was looking into making the interview with Mueller possible.
“I’m doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the Country and because I have high regard for the President and for Bob Mueller,” Giuliani said.
Now that Cohen was going to plead the fifth regarding his protection of Trump, how important a role could this development have?
It was possible that the Daniels situation could be among the questions Trump could face. Only time will tell how all of this will go down, only time.