Tag: New York Daily News

Trump Lawyer: ‘If He’s Indicted This is an All-Out War’

by Breck Worsham, posted in law, news, politics

NEW YORK (The Hill) — A lawyer for former President Trump said on Monday that it will be “an all-out war” if Trump is indicted in the Manhattan district attorney’s probe into a 2016 hush-money payment.

“They can do what they want,” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said of the possible indictment in an interview with former Trump adviser Kimberly Guilfoyle on Monday. “At that point, this is an all-out war.”

“He’ll be there loud and proud, and there’s nobody that’s gonna make him cower,” Tacopina told Guilfoyle, who is also the fiancée of the former president’s oldest son Donald Trump Jr.

The Trump attorney similarly told the New York Daily News on Friday that the former president would not refuse to surrender if he is indicted, emphasizing that “there won’t be a standoff at Mar-a-Lago with Secret Service and the Manhattan DA’s office.”

Tacopina has been making the rounds on TV defending the former president, as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) appears to be nearing the end of his investigation into a $130,000 payment made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

An indictment appeared increasingly close, after Trump suggested on Saturday that he could be arrested in the Manhattan probe as soon as Tuesday and called on his supporters to protest the possible indictment.

The former president said in a post on Truth Social that “illegal leaks” indicate that “the far & away leading Republican candidate & former president of the United States of America, will be arrested on Tuesday of next week.”

However, a Trump spokesperson said he had not been formally notified of charges.

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MICHAEL SAVAGE: ‘Epstein was murdered’

by Breck Worsham, posted in crime, law, news, politics

SAN FRANCISCO — Conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage on Wednesday told Newsmax TV that he doesn’t buy the official story surrounding billionaire business tycoon Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged suicide and believes the accused pedophile to have been murdered.

Epstein, who was being held in a federal facility awaiting trial on mulitiple counts of child sex crimes was found dead in his cell on August 10.

“He was killed,” Savage told “Newsmax Now” host John Bachman, describing Epstein’s death as a scene straight out of “The Godfather” movie. “You have to be blind not to see he was executed,” Savage said. “The whole thing is absurd. And it was done in plain sight. Right in front of our eyes.”

Savage’s comments follow revelations by Epstein’s former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, that he has been pressured by security guards at the jail to remain silent on the issue.

“The clear message Mr. Tartaglione has received is that if he conveys information about the facility or about [Epstein’s] recent suicide, there will be a price to pay,” Tartaglione’s lawyer, Bruce Barket, said Wednesday in a released statement. “Whether or not the investigators into the suicide chose to interview Mr. Tartaglione about the attempted suicide to which he was witness or about how the facility is run and the conditions under which the inmates are forced to live, the correction officers know he has information potentially very damaging to the very people now charged with guarding him or their coworkers.”

The coroner who performed the autopsy on Epstein shortly after his death found that Epstein had sustained numerous broken neck bones. The injuries, said the coroner, was more consistent with a victim of homicide than suicide.

“Among the bones broken in Epstein’s neck was the hyoid bone, which in men is near the Adam’s apple,” the Washington Post reported. “Such breaks can occur in those who hang themselves, particularly if they are older, according to forensic experts and studies on the subject. But they are more common in victims of homicide by strangulation,” experts said.

It was reported shortly before Epstein’s death that he had communicated a desire to cooperate with federal officials and “name names” of other high profile individuals who had participated in the sexual abuse of children.

Attorney General Barr has called for a formal investigation into Epstein’s death.

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REPORT: Trump attorney Michael Cohen expects to be arrested ‘soon’

by Breck Worsham, posted in crime, law, news, politics

Washington, D.C. (New York Daily News) — Michael Cohen thinks he might soon swap his pinstripes for jail stripes.

The longtime attorney and personal fixer to President Trump expects to be put in cuffs any day now, possibly opening up his top client to legal complications, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Cohen has been telling friends he fears his arrest is imminent, the source told the Daily News. Cohen remains under federal investigation for bank fraud and campaign finance violations, potential offenses that resulted in FBI raids at his Manhattan home, hotel room and office in April.

Cohen, 51, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Federal agents stormed into Cohen’s domiciles on April 9 and seized a cache of records, including communications between him and Trump, according to court papers.

A former White House official said Trump is likely concerned about the prospect of Cohen in cuffs.

“Trump should be super worried about Michael Cohen,” the ex-official told Vanity Fair, which first reported Cohen’s fears of a potential arrest. “If anyone can blow up Trump, it’s him.”

Cohen has worked for Trump in various capacities since 2011. Cohen’s aggressive legal tactics and tough-talking demeanor resulted in his being nicknamed Trump’s “bulldog.”

He has been making damning headlines ever since it was revealed in January that he brokered a hush agreement between Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels.

Daniels, 39, accepted $130,000 from Cohen in exchange for signing the contract, which bars her from speaking publicly about allegedly having sex with Trump in 2006.

Michael Avenatti, who represents Daniels in a lawsuit seeking to void the hush agreement, said news of Cohen’s imminent arrest confirms his predictions.

“It looks like once again I’m about to be proven right,” Avenatti told The News Tuesday afternoon, noting he said last month that Cohen would be indicted within 90 days. “He’s going to be charged with a number of crimes.”

Cohen’s potential arrest comes at a precarious time for Trump.

Special counsel Robert Mueller continues to investigate allegations of collusion between the President’s campaign and Russia, and earlier produced federal indictments against four Trump associates.

Cohen has also landed on Mueller’s radar.

Multiple companies with business before the federal government pumped millions of dollars into Cohen’s shadowy consulting firm, Essential Consultants, shortly after Trump’s election. One of the companies was Columbus Nova, a Manhattan-based investment firm whose primary client is Viktor Vekselberg, a sanctioned Russian oligarch who has reportedly been interviewed by Mueller’s investigators.

Trump wouldn’t rule out pardoning Cohen when asked about his scandals last week.

“I haven’t even thought about it,” the President told reporters at the White House. “I haven’t thought about any of it. It’s certainly far too early to be thinking about that.”

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