Remind me of what exactly Michael Cohen's work for Sean Hannity might have to do with Russian collusion? Zero. Nothing. Not a damn thing.
But Clinton and Obama political allies are using their old opposition research lie to conduct a free-floating witch hunt against any and all Trump supporters. And so we have this ridiculous police state farce.
Cohen had asked a federal judge for a temporary restraining order to stop federal prosecutors in Manhattan from viewing the information seized by the FBI until an independent third party, called a “special master,” be allowed to sort out what is protected by attorney-client privilege.
Similarly, Trump’s own legal representation in this case, Joanna Hendon, filed a letter on Sunday night asking the judge to give Cohen’s team first-access to the material.
U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood denied the requests and ruled that prosecutors will get first access to the information, followed by Cohen’s defense team ten days later. Wood noted that she has not yet decided whether she will appoint a special master in the case at all.
On Friday, Judge Wood asked Cohen’s attorneys how they could argue that “thousands” of seized documents could be privileged while they refused to provide a list of Cohen’s clients to the court.
Those clients, it has now been revealed, include Trump, Republican fundraiser Elliot Broidy, and Fox News host Sean Hannity, who had asked not to be named. Cohen’s team claimed in the Monday filing that Hannity’s identity was protected under attorney-client privilege, but the U.S. Attorney’s office disagreed, alleging that Cohen’s team was simply employing a delaying tactic.
Guess whom Kimba sided with?
Cohen attorney Steve Ryan argued that the third client—Hannity—is a “publicly prominent individual,” who did not want his name released.
“I’m simply trying to protect the privacy of that individual,” he added.
After much discussion, Wood ruled that the name must be publicly disclosed immediately.
“The client’s name is Sean Hannity,” replied Todd Harrison, Cohen’s attorney. The room erupted in laughter.
Of course it must.
Judge Kimba Wood was Bill Clinton's nominee for Attorney General. But then her nomination fell apart over her employment of an illegal alien and the Playboy thing. Kimba has made headlines before for all the wrong things.
Wood was dubbed the “Love Judge” in 1995 when the soon-to-be ex-wife of a multimillionaire Wall Street financier found his diary, which was filled with passionate prose about his trysts with the jurist.
Moneyman Frank Richardson gushed about the time he spent with Wood, describing her as “absolutely wonderful, very intelligent, a complete woman and able to give love wonderfully and freely.”
The illicit romance began in the spring of that year with dinners at ritzy restaurants and weekend getaways at Wood’s country home. At the time, Kimba was married to a Time magazine columnist but the two were about to divorce.
That's where the sneering at Cohen's clients is coming from.
It's a safe bet that Judge Kimba Wood might harbor some resentment toward Republicans. And a Clinton nominee should not be overseeing a case involving his political opponents. Except that's how Team Coup keeps doing things.
And so why is Hannity's attorney client privilege being violated? Because Russia, right?
Clintonworld created a conspiracy theory, spread it into the DOJ and the FBI, and now people's lives are being destroyed by Clinton allies acting as judges and prosecutors. This isn't the rule of law. It's a banana republic.