Fat hurts wrote:
Unpriviledged wrote:
LOL . . . another weak Trump smoke-screen. He could not waive his attorney-client privilege because the judge in the seized-documents case had determined those tapes did not qualify for that protection. So, Trump saying he waived his privilege is a yuge nothingburger.
You got the facts wrong. The court was in the process of making a determination about the tapes when both Cohen and Trump decided to waive privilege. Look it up.
Indeed.
That would mean that the special master determined that there was probable cause to believe that the communications were made in furtherance of a crime, which is far worse than withdrawing priv assertion. But I promise you Trump did not waive priv “because it’s already out there”
— Daniel S. Goldman (@danielsgoldman) July 23, 2018
Why did Trump waive attorney-client privilege over the recording(s) with Michael Cohen?
Posted by Admin
in avenatti, cohen, News, Press Releases, privilege, The Blog, Trump, Uncategorized
CNN reported over the weekend that the two-minute recording of Trump and Cohen discussing the rights to Karen McDougal’s story was made public only because Team Trump allowed it to be. The special master in Cohen’s case in Manhattan had withheld the recording from prosecutors on grounds of attorney-client privilege. Trump, the client, told her not to bother and to hand it over to the U.S. Attorney. That’s when Rudy Giuliani started talking about it.
Why would he do that? Even Team Cohen was confused by it, per CNN: “Team Cohen remains surprised that Trump’s lawyers removed the protective claim of privilege, given their view that the tape is harmful to the President.”
One obvious reason is that it’s good PR *if* Giuliani’s right that there’s nothing incriminating on it. (Which he may well be.) It’s embarrassing that Trump was caught talking about McDougal but in the end the question is whether any laws were broken. If he has an opportunity to show the world that he has nothing to hide on that front, why not show them by waiving the privilege?
Many a smart litigator is offering another reason for waiving it, though.
/5 it’s possible that the USAO would use it here too. Especially if the tapes are not particularly bad for Trump, the better PR move may be to let them go rather than picking a privilege fight that could lead to a judicial ruling that he went to Cohen for crime or fraud.
— WouldOrWouldn'tHat (@Popehat) July 23, 2018
That would mean that the special master determined that there was probable cause to believe that the communications were made in furtherance of a crime, which is far worse than withdrawing priv assertion. But I promise you Trump did not waive priv “because it’s already out there”
— Daniel S. Goldman (@danielsgoldman) July 23, 2018
I can think of no good legal reason for the Trump team not to assert privilege over these tapes. Their strategy, such as it is, must involve the optics of being associated with Cohen or with arguing with the DOJ over the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege.
https://t.co/SnTi6zDC6m— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) July 23, 2018
Game it out yourself. If Trump tries to keep the tape from the U.S. Attorney by asserting the privilege, imagine the headlines if the DOJ turns around and files a motion demanding that it should receive the tape anyway because it contains evidence that a crime or fraud was committed by the president and his lawyer. That’s one of the exceptions to attorney-client privilege: For obvious reasons, you can’t shield your conversations with your lawyer if the two of you were engaged in a criminal conspiracy. If the DOJ did that, the 100-point headlines blaring that “JUSTICE DEP’T SUSPECTS TRUMP OF CRIME OR FRAUD” would be a PR nightmare to end all nightmares for POTUS. And there’d be no way of completely “winning” on it no matter how the court ruled on the DOJ’s motion. If the court agreed that there’s reason to believe a crime or fraud was committed, obviously that’s an even bigger PR nightmare.
https://westlakelegal.com/why-did-trump-waive-attorney-client-privilege-over-the-recordings-with-michael-cohen/