In all of the fury over the allegations about Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday, this story didn’t get as much attention as it would have otherwise:
President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has participated over the last month in multiple interview sessions lasting for hours with investigators from the office of special counsel, Robert Mueller, sources tell ABC News.
The special counsel’s questioning of Cohen, one of the president’s closest associates over the past decade, has focused primarily on all aspects of Trump’s dealings with Russia — including financial and business dealings and the investigation into alleged collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign and its surrogates to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Investigators were also interested in knowing, the sources say, whether Trump or any of his associates discussed the possibility of a pardon with Cohen…
The interviews with Cohen took place in Washington, D.C., and New York City. They were also attended in part by prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York…
ABC News has also learned that Cohen is also cooperating with a separate probe by New York state authorities into the inner workings of the Trump family charity and the Trump Organization, where Cohen served as an executive vice president and special counsel to Trump for 10 years.
NBC News has now corroborated that story on the same day this happened.
Look who paid a visit to Manhattan Federal Court?
He wouldn’t say what for. pic.twitter.com/xo8cn4EN1b
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) September 21, 2018
That is Michael Cohen paying a visit to the same federal courthouse where he pleaded guilty a month ago and faces sentencing in December.
It’s clear that there is a lot happening with respect to what the president’s former lawyer is telling the Mueller investigators, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York and state prosecutors. None of us have any way of knowing the specifics, including Trump and his legal team.
There are those who suspect that there is a connection between what is going on behind closed doors with Michael Cohen and the article in the New York Times today about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, which could lay the groundwork for Trump to fire him.
Yesterday it was reported that Trump lawyer Cohen was _specifically_ talking to Mueller team about campaign/Russian collusion questions.
Today we get an administration-sourced hit piece paving the way for a Rosenstein firing.
Not subtle.
— Hunter (@HunterDK) September 21, 2018
In case you’re wondering about the basis for that connection, Don Trump, Jr. jumped right out of the gate with a reaction to the news about Rosenstein.
Shocked!!! Absolutely Shocked!!! Ohhh, who are we kidding at this point? No one is shocked that these guys would do anything in their power to undermine @realdonaldtrump.
Rosenstein Suggested He Secretly Record Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment https://t.co/ZTEwS8E1iJ
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 21, 2018
That’s the reaction the White House will be trying to hype in response to the claims made in the New York Times story about Rosenstein. The news prompted this from Gabriel Sherman:
Hearing Bill Shine rolling out media plan to build public support for Trump to fire Rosenstein
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) September 21, 2018
Whether any of that is connected to the fact that Cohen is singing to every prosecutor that is lining up charges against the president is not something we can determine at this point. What we can do is keep all that in mind as we watch these events continue to unfold.
