June 13, 2018

UPDATE: (Frances Langum) Video above - Katy Tur reporting that Cohen expects prosecutors to arrest him as early as today. Gabriel Sherman reporting that this may be a giant "smoke signal" to Trump that Cohen feels "abandoned."

News from the Michael Cohen corner of the world.

First, we heard yesterday that he was telling friends he expects to be arrested very soon.

Cohen has been telling friends he fears he will soon be indicted and arrested over the federal investigation he’s facing in New York, the source told the Daily News. Investigators are probing Cohen for bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, potential offenses that resulted in FBI raids at his Manhattan home, hotel room and office in April.

Today brings the news that Cohen's current attorneys are leaving the case, likely in anticipation of him choosing to cooperate with the federal government.

ABC News:

As attorneys for Michael Cohen rush to meet Judge Kimba Wood’s Friday deadline to complete a privilege review of over 3.7 million documents seized in the April 9 raids of Cohen’s New York properties and law office, a source representing this matter has disclosed to ABC News that the law firm handling the case for Cohen is not expected to represent him going forward.

That change in representation suggests he may be preparing to flip in exchange for a deal with prosecutors. And any deal he strikes will have to be one that involves spilling the beans on everything not subject to attorney-client privilege.

Given that Cohen didn't actually do much in the way of actual lawyering for his clients, it seems like he has a lot to say and he may indeed be saying it. I hope they have a witness protection program in prison.

Meanwhile, Michael Avenatti has some things to say about the attorneys representing Cohen (for now, anyway):

I'm told by people familiar with matters like this that it is quite a big deal for lawyers to bail out before a big hearing. "It is," they wrote, "The epitome of a nuclear bomb falling on your case."

"Law firms don’t quit randomly," they wrote. "There are rules about when and why you can do that...[It's] usually because your client won’t listen, lies to you or is actively working against their own best interests."

Well, whatever the reason, we hope Mr. Cohen runs into the arms of prosecutors and lets it all spill.

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