Michael Cohen attorneys release new Trump allegations

Michael Cohen's legal team has released a 12-page memo it provided to House Democrats Thursday. The memo outlines evidence of what his team describes as "Trump's involvement in a conspiracy to collude with Russian government intervention in his favor during the 2016 presidential campaign" and "other felony crimes committed by Trump before and after he became president."

The big picture: This release comes two days after the New York Times reported that members of special counsel Robert Mueller's team believe the details of the Mueller report are more damaging than Attorney General Bill Barr first indicated in his summary, which said Mueller's team did not establish a conspiracy with Russia.

*On Thursday, attorney Lanny Davis indicated that Cohen could provide documents from his computers and phones from the past decade that would give "significant value to the various congressional oversight and investigation committees."

Read the memo, plus appendices.

https://www.axios.com/michael-cohens-alleged-evidence-trump-crimes-russia-70a202e0-a474-4322-9033-7e674bfec4ed.html

In wake of reports of frustration between Mueller’s team and DOJ, Nadler tells Barr he wants “all communications” between special counsel and department “regarding the report, including those regarding the disclosure of the report to Congress” and public

https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1113890235778310145

FBi Director Chris Wray says in House appropriations subcommittee hearing that he has not read the Mueller report

https://twitter.com/etuckerAP/status/1113807024586919937

.@RepCharlieCrist: "You're under the Department of Justice, right?"

FBI Director Wray: "Yes, the FBI is part of the Justice Department."

Crist: "Have you had an occasion to read the Mueller Report?"

Wray: "I have not."

https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1113810302871666688

Limited information Barr has shared about Russia investigation frustrated some on Mueller’s team

By Ellen Nakashima ,
Carol D. Leonnig and
Rosalind S. Helderman

April 3 at 11:33 PM

... snip

Some members of the office were particularly disappointed that Barr did not release summary information the special counsel team had prepared, according to two people familiar with their reactions.

“There was immediate displeasure from the team when they saw how the attorney general had characterized their work instead,” according one U.S. official briefed on the matter.

Summaries were prepared for different sections of the report, with a view that they could made public, the official said.

The report was prepared “so that the front matter from each section could have been released immediately — or very quickly,” the official said. “It was done in a way that minimum redactions, if any, would have been necessary, and the work would have spoken for itself.”

Mueller’s team assumed the information was going to be made available to the public, the official said, “and so they prepared their summaries to be shared in their own words — and not in the attorney general’s summary of their work, as turned out to be the case.”

More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/limited-information-barr-has-shared-about-russia-investigation-frustrated-some-on-muellers-team/2019/04/03/c98e8a02-567a-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html?utm_term=.682b67e54e6e

Investigating Donald Trump, Mueller Team Sees No Clear Link to Exoneration

https://twitter.com/pbump/status/1113585172652359682

Miami Herald reporter @jkbjournalist and her editor met with Alan Dershowitz Monday for a lengthy, off-the-record briefing regarding her investigative series #PerversionofJustice, which re-examines the case of serial sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein and his remarkably light punishment.
https://twitter.com/MiamiHerald/status/1113571546612813825

Mr. Dershowitz was not the primary focus of the series. But he was Mr. Epstein’s friend and lawyer, and helped fashion his plea deal. One of the teenage victims also accused Mr. Dershowitz of sexually abusing her, a fact that has been reported numerous times over several years.

At Monday’s meeting, Mr. Dershowitz read select passages from voluminous documents that he said vindicated him. He declined to let the journalists examine the documents or take copies.

Since #PerversionofJustice published the following has happened:

Lawmakers have demanded an investigation into whether then-U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta acted properly.
https://twitter.com/MiamiHerald/status/1113572173925502983

Mr. Epstein settled a lawsuit filed by lawyers for some of his victims. He issued an apology — to the lawyers, not the victims.

The Department of Justice’s internal watchdog opened an investigation into Mr. Acosta’s role in the secret negotiation that spared Mr. Epstein.

A federal judge ruled that the non-prosecution agreement Mr. Dershowitz helped fashion violated the Crime Victims Rights Act, which requires that victims be apprised of all plea deals.

The Herald successful petitioned a New York court for the release of sealed court documents in New York that could reveal evidence of a broader sexual trafficking ring.

The Miami Herald stands by its story. You can read Part 1 of #PerversionofJustice here:
https://twitter.com/MiamiHerald/status/1113573247117930498

Counterintelligence probe of Chinese activity focuses on Mar-a-Lago, Cindy Yang, intruder

Federal authorities are investigating possible Chinese intelligence operations targeting President Donald Trump and his private Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago, sources familiar with the never-before-reported investigation told the Miami Herald Wednesday.

The federal counter-intelligence probe was turbo-charged on Saturday when U.S. Secret Service agents arrested a Chinese woman, Yujing Zhang, after they said she tried to enter the club with a bevy of electronic devices, including a thumb drive infected with “malicious malware.”

The ongoing investigation has also recently focused on Li “Cindy” Yang, the sources told the Miami Herald. Yang is a South Florida massage parlor entrepreneur who has promoted events at Mar-a-Lago with ads targeting Chinese business executives hoping to gain access to Trump and his family. The investigation began before the Herald revealed Yang’s business of selling access last month and focused on other people.

Before her arrest, Zhang was unknown to federal authorities. Now, investigators with the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force in South Florida are trying to figure out who Zhang is and whether she is involved in a possible Chinese intelligence mission and whether there are links to Yang’s social events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article228783369.html#storylink=cpy

New: Chinese woman carrying four cellphones and computer equipment including a thumb drive containing malware has been charged with lying her way into Mar-a-Lago while Trump was there last weekend

https://twitter.com/jonswaine/status/1113164512625143808