broke the law in trying to keep control over Cohen secretly? Trying to get information from Cohen, as Cohen's defense to charges progresses?

This is big. Not the Republicans will care.

You couldn't cast a more inept clusterfuck of crooks and co-conspirators.

Nicely put.

inexplicable.

What does Trump have on them? If Trump couldn't find something, did he arrange illegal contributions or have questionable conversations so that Trump created a problem where none existed before? Bribes? Anyone bribed or considering accepting bribes are owned by someone else...the bribe becomes the threat. Aren't threats/blackmail/bribes standard tools used by crime organizations to generate this kind of loyalty?

SHOCKED, I'm telling you, SHOCKED!

Surely with his background he would know right from wrong, wouldn't he?

Not only is he a crooked liar and grossly incompetent, he is a high profile embarrassment to the profession. And yes, I know... (insert your own lawyer joke here) but this is beyond acceptable.

Who ran Disney and they were looking to renovate a theater in New York, they voiced concerns that the ACLU would object to the "aggressive" tactics to renovate the theater and neighborhood. And the company did not want to be associated with a scandal and was willing to take a more timid approach for the long term.

Giuliani told them, who was mayor at the time, "Don't worry about the ACLU". He was rebuffed and told if there is any sign of issues, they would disavow and support the ACLU, he responded again "Don't worry about the ACLU".

Disney went forward with their plans...with caution. But that gives you a good glimpse of the corruption that may still permeate in politics with New York.

witness, which he became much later.

Ergo, there's some kind of attorney/client privilege still in place, and nothing wrong with trying to maintain the agreement, even if these attorneys WERE sent by the WH. Which of course they're not (nudge nudge).

I'm guessing it's not until Cohen becomes a hostile witness that this sort of thing becomes most likely illegal.

But I don't recall there being any reason to believe that Cohen had became one within the first 2 months of the raid, i.e. during this period of contact.

So ... I'm not sure this is going anywhere, sadly. Even though it's of course shady-sounding as hell.

But I'm just guessing, and hopefully we'll see eventually ...

I'd love to be totally wrong.

At the very minimum, it's evidence of a PATTERN, even if not technically illegal.