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Encrypted Communications Apps Failed To Protect Michael Cohen (fastcompany.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Within the detailed federal allegations against former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty earlier this week to eight charges including campaign finance violations, are multiple references to texts sent by Cohen and even a call made "through an encrypted telephone application." Cohen was apparently a fan of encrypted communications apps like WhatsApp and Signal, but those tools failed to keep his messages and calls out of sight from investigators. In June, prosecutors said in a court filing the FBI had obtained 731 pages of messages and call logs from those apps from Cohen's phones. Investigators also managed to reconstruct at least 16 pages of physically shredded documents. Those logs, judging by the charging document, appear to have helped document at least Cohen's communications with officials at the National Enquirer about allegations from porn actress Stormy Daniels -- whom Cohen allegedly paid on behalf of Trump, violating campaign finance law. It's unclear if the FBI actually broke through any layers of encryption to get the data. It's possible that Cohen, who apparently at times taped conversations, stored the conversation logs in a less-than-secure way.
Just wait, they have to finish writing it first...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
That's your understanding because that's the narrative they've created for you. And you believe it because you want to (and it makes you feel superior somehow). There's nothing illegal about any of it. Famous people pay others to keep quiet about things every single day.
It's worse than that. The point is to make sure no outsider, no one not already in the club, ever dares run for President again. Trump is a circus clown, yes, but his success so far totally exposes the Beltway Croud as even more inept. They cannot allow his election to stand otherwise they'll need to find new jobs.
No it isn't. Congressman do it EVERY DAY.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/p...
So what? Cohen was Trump's lawyer. If Cohen advised Trump to do illegal things that's on Cohen. Let's not pretend Cohen is suddenly a credible person either just because you think he might be able to damage Trump when nothing else so far has.
It wasn't a campaign donation. Trump self-financed his campaign. He directed Cohen to pay with a check for crying out loud. He would've paid even if he wasn't running for office.
Even if it had been a publicly-funded campaign, see the John Edwards precedent.
The FEC ruled that Edwards paying off his lover with campaign funds to keep quiet WAS NOT a campaign violation, even though the payments came directly from campaign fund.
Again, you are wrong. It is not illegal to pay someone to keep quiet; happens all the time. The fact that Cohen plead guilty to a non-crime does not make the act itself illegal.
The Justice Dept. tried to convict John Edwards on the exact same charges; they lost, and here's why: when an act can serve "dual purposes", in this case, hiding embarassing information from Edward's family, in addition to hiding information that may hurt his election chances, the act cannot be considered illegal.
The only problem is if campaign money is used and not reported (see the Obama campaign's $380K fine for that very thing). Trump claims his personal money was used; there is no requirement to report this so again, nothing illegal.
Alan Dershowitz, no fan of Trump, also disputes your claim. Talking heads on TV claiming Trump is in legal jeopardy for the payment are just blowing smoke; they have no legal basis that would stand up in court to make the claim.