Michael Avenatti Cartoons

Cohen investigated for bank fraud, campaign finance violations: report says

Federal investigators in New York are reportedly working to determine if Michael Cohen—President Trump’s former lawyer—committed bank fraud on over $20 million worth of loans, and possible campaign finance violations.
The New York Times on Sunday reported that the loans in question were for a taxi business that is owned by Cohen and his family.
Investigators are trying to determine if he misrepresented assets in order to obtain the loans from Sterling National Bank and the Melrose Credit Union, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Justice Department has been investigating Cohen for months, raiding his home, office and hotel room in search of documents related to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and a separate $130,000 payment the attorney facilitated before the election to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress who says she had sex with Trump in 2006.
The report said prosecutors are investigating whether or not Cohen violated campaign finance laws by securing these deals with women who claimed they had sex with Trump.
Cohen, long a loyal counselor to the president, has more recently signaled that he’d be open to cooperating with prosecutors.
Federal prosecutors are reportedly focused on Cohen’s investments in taxi medallions, the report said.
The Times reported that Cohen used 32 medallions as collateral for loans, and the medallions--at the time-- brought in more than $1 million a year and are valued at over $1 million. Authorities are reportedly investigating if Cohen failed to report the income to the IRS.
The Times report said that it is not clear if Cohen spoke to prosecutors about a potential deal. Cohen did not respond to the paper for comment.
A spokesperson for Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, told NBC News: "Lanny cannot comment on advice of counsel since there is an ongoing investigation."

Avenatti, mulling WH run, tells anti-Trump Dems in New Hampshire to 'fight fire with fire'

Michael Avenatti headlined a Democratic Party event in Greenfield, New Hampshire.  (Fox News)

Michael Avenatti took aim at President Donald Trump and called on Democrats to “fight fire with fire” as he headlined a Democratic Party event Sunday in the state that holds the first primary in the race for the White House.
The Los Angeles-based attorney, best known for representing adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against the president, told Fox News and other news organizations that “I’m absolutely being serious” as he mulls a run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
And his message to other potential Democratic White House hopefuls is that the 2020 “election is going to be a brutal, knockdown, street fight, and if someone’s not up for that type of campaign, they need to stay home and not seek the nomination.”
He also brushed aside any concerns that his law firm's legal issues could hurt him politically.
Headlining the Hillsborough County Democrats summer picnic and fundraiser, Avenatti repeatedly fired away at the president, saying to big applause that “Donald Trump does not have the knowledge, wisdom, compassion or fortitude to serve as president of the United States.”
But he added that “this president, no matter how corrupt or cruel he is, he knows how to fight.”
Avenatti said that Democrats “have a tendency to bring nail clippers to a gunfight” and he told the crowd of party officials, candidates and activists, “I believe that our party, the Democratic Party, must be a party that fights fire with fire. I believe we cannot be the party of turning the other cheek.”
And as he did during a stop last weekend in Iowa – the state that holds the first-in-the-nation caucus – Avenatti modified a slogan made famous by former first lady Michelle Obama, urging that “when they (Republicans) go low, we hit harder.”
He closed his nearly 25-minute speech with a variation of Trump’s signature campaign line, saying, “We will make America gracious again. We will make America fair again. We will make America dynamic again. We will make America respected. And above all else, we will make America America again.”
Avenatti arrived in New Hampshire from Florida, where he headlined a Democratic Party event in Tampa Saturday night. He told reporters he’s headed back to Iowa in a few days and announced he’d return to New Hampshire in late September.

I don’t think [President Trump is] very quick on his feet. I don’t think he’s that intelligent and I think he’d be completely outclassed.
- Michael Avenatti

Pushing back against charges that his political testing of the waters is a publicity stunt, Avenatti argued, “I’m not going to go out and do this and give speeches like this and talk to people on some lark. I’m going to seriously consider this because the 2020 election is a critical election, I would venture to say the most critical in modern times.”
Avenatti warned, “If the Democratic Party proceeds to nominate the person who would be the best president, that is going to be a mistake.”
He said 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton “was the most qualified individual to ever run for the White House in the history of our nation.”
LIZ PEEK: IS AVENATTI READY TO RUN? HIS LEFT-WING MEDIA ALLIES CERTAINLY THINK SO!
But he added that “all the experience in the world, all the qualifications in the world, all of the policy positions in the world, they don’t mean anything if you can’t beat Donald Trump in the general election, period.”

Avenatti said, “Donald Trump doesn’t want to debate me on a national stage. That’s for sure. There’s no question about that.”  (Fox News)

Asked how he would take the fight to the president, a confident Avenatti claimed, “Donald Trump doesn’t want to debate me on a national stage. That’s for sure. There’s no question about that.”
“I think he’s a bully and I think he doesn’t like people who punch back and I think I’d be incredibly effective against him,” Avenatti added. “I don’t think he’s very quick on his feet. I don’t think he’s that intelligent and I think he’d be completely outclassed.”
AVENATTI: 'I'M EXPLORING A RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES'
Avenatti’s firm Eagan Avenatti was settling a case with the Internal Revenue Service over $880,000 in unpaid payroll taxes. The firm had defaulted on millions of dollars in debt and had fallen years behind in paying its payroll taxes.
Asked by Fox News if he was concerned his firm’s legal issues could affect his hopes of running for the White House, Avenatti said, “I’m not worried about it. Show me anybody who’s had great success and I’ll show you somebody that’s had great challenges.”
On policy, Avenatti told the crowd that as president, he’d push for Medicare for all, ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, and what he called “sensible gun control in America,” adding, “We should never have another school shooting on U.S. soil.”
He also called for investing in public school teachers and securing the nation’s borders “while at the same time honoring the values and principles that founded this country.”

Drive-by shooting at US embassy in Turkish capital, no casualties: report

Turkish authorities on Monday responded to a drive-by shooting at the U.S. embassy in Ankara amid increased tensions between the two countries over the detained American pastor, Reuters reported.
There were no injuries, but a window in a security cabin was reportedly hit. The shooting occurred at about 5 a.m. local time.
The report said the embassy was set to be closed this week for Eid al-Adha festival.
Private Ihlas news agency said four to five rounds were fired from a moving white car and targeted security booth outside Gate 6.
Earlier Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration rebuffed Turkey’s offer to release pastor Andrew Brunson if the U.S. halted the investigation into Turkish bank Halkbank.
The Turkish government agreed to drop terrorism charges against the pastor in exchange of the U.S. government dropping fines totaling billions of dollars against the bank.
“A real NATO ally wouldn’t have arrested Brunson in the first place,” the official told the Journal.

Giuliani on dangers of Trump-Mueller interview: 'Truth isn't truth'

President Trump's personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, proclaimed Sunday that "truth isn't truth" while attempting to explain his reluctance to have Trump sit down for an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team.
"I am not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury," Giuliani said on NBC News' "Meet The Press." "And when you tell me that, you know, he should testify because he's going to tell the truth and he shouldn't worry, well that's so silly because it's somebody's version of the truth. Not the truth."
"Truth is truth," interrupted moderator Chuck Todd, to which Giuliani responded: "No, it isn’t truth. Truth isn’t truth."
An apparently exasperated Todd joked, "This is going to become a bad meme," before telling Giuliani, "Don't do 'truth isn't truth' to me."
"[If] they have two pieces of evidence," Giuliani shot back, "[and] Trump says I didn’t tell them and the other guy says that he did say it, which is the truth? Maybe you know because you’re a genius."
"At that point, you’re right," Todd answered. "... No, you’re right. I don’t read minds on that front."
Trump repeatedly has said that he is open to sitting down with Mueller's investigators. However, attorneys Giuliani and Jay Sekulow have cautioned against it.
Both sides have exchanged proposals for interview conditions, but no agreement has been struck. The president's lawyers also have said they would fight any attempt by Mueller to issue a subpoena to Trump.
Giuliani also accused the special counsel's office of illegally leaking to The New York Times that White House Counsel Don McGahn has been cooperating extensively with the Mueller probe. The Times published the story Saturday, drawing an angry response from the president on Twitter.
"The only other one that could've done it was McGahn," Giuliani said. "I mean, I didn't leak it to The Times and Jay Sekulow didn’t leak it to The Times, the president sure as heck didn't, so who could it be? It could be McGahn, and McGahn’s not doing it. He would've done it a long time ago if he was going to do it.
"They’re down to desperation time," Giuliani said of the Mueller team. "They have to write a report and they don’t have a single bit of evidence."
Earlier Sunday, Trump tweeted that McGahn was not, as he put it, "a John Dean type 'RAT,'" -- a reference to the White House counsel for Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Dean eventually cooperated with prosecutors and congressional investigators, providing key testimony that led to Nixon's resignation in the face of certain impeachment and removal from office in 1974.
Giuliani told NBC that Trump didn't raise executive privilege or attorney-client privilege during those interviews because his team believed — he says now, wrongly — that fully participating would be the fastest way to bring the investigation to a close.
"The president encouraged him to testify, is happy that he did, is quite secure that there is nothing in the testimony that will hurt the president," Giuliani said.
McGahn's attorney William Burck added in a statement: "President Trump, through counsel, declined to assert any privilege over Mr. McGahn's testimony, so Mr. McGahn answered the Special Counsel team's questions fulsomely and honestly, as any person interviewed by federal investigators must."