Trending 4-10-2018

FBI RAIDS PRESIDENT TRUMP’S LAWYER MICHAEL COHEN’S OFFICE

The FBI raided the office of Michael Cohen, a personal lawyer, and confidant of President Donald Trump, Cohen's attorney confirmed to CNN Monday. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that included in the documents authorities seized was information related to Stephanie Clifford, better known as porn actress Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006 that the White House has denied. A source familiar with the matter said the search warrant was very broad in terms of items sought, and another source said the search included bank records.

Stephen Ryan, a lawyer for Cohen, said in a statement that the US Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York had executed "a series of search warrants" including at his office, and "seized the privileged communications" between Cohen and his clients.

An outraged Trump on slammed the move as a "disgraceful situation" and "an attack on our country." A White House official said Trump had been watching TV reports, and that the President knew about the raid before the news broke. The warrants were broad and included the Loew's Regency hotel where Cohen has been staying, according to a source familiar with the matter, as well as Cohen’s home. There were approximately a dozen FBI agents involved, the source said.

"I have been advised by federal prosecutors that the New York action is, in part, a referral by the Office of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller," Ryan said in the statement. "... It resulted in the unnecessary seizure of protected attorney-client communications between a lawyer and his clients. These government tactics are also wrong because Mr. Cohen has cooperated completely with all government entities, including providing thousands of non-privileged documents to the Congress and sitting for depositions under oath."

"This is ridiculous. This is now getting ridiculous," Trump said Monday, pointing to a "whole new level of unfairness." When asked, “Why don’t you just fire Mueller”? The President responded, "Why don't I just fire Mueller? Well, I think it's a disgrace what's going on. We'll see what happens," Trump said. "Many people have said you should fire him. Again, they found nothing. And in finding nothing, that's a big statement."

IMMINENT STRIKE ON SYRIA PENDING

President Donald Trump on Monday threatened an imminent military strike against Syria, vowing to respond “forcefully” to Saturday’s apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians and warning that Russia or any other nation found to share responsibility will “pay a price.” According to the Associated Press, as he began an evening meeting with military leaders at the White House, Trump promised to “make a decision tonight or very shortly thereafter.” He said: “We have a lot of options militarily, and we’ll be letting you know pretty soon. Probably after the fact.”

The White House sharply rejected any suggestion that Trump’s own words about pulling U.S. troops out of Syria had opened the door for the attack, which killed more than 40 people, including children. Trump, asked at midday whether Russian President Vladimir Putin bore any responsibility for the weekend attack, responded: “He may, yeah, he may. And if he does it’s going to be very tough, very tough.” He added: “Everybody’s gonna pay a price. He will. Everybody will.”

Then, during the meeting with top military leaders, he said the weekend assault “will be met and it will be met forcefully.” Trump said there was little question that Syria was responsible for the apparent weekend attack, although the government of President Bashar Assad denied it. “To me there’s not much of a doubt, but the generals will figure it out,” Trump said. Emphatic in his condemnation of the apparent gas attack, Trump noted graphic pictures of the dead and sickened, calling the assault “heinous,” ″atrocious,” ″horrible” and “barbaric.”

Press secretary Sarah Sanders said it would be “outrageous” to say that Trump’s recent announcement that he intends to remove all U.S. forces from Syria in the coming months had emboldened Assad. “I think that it is outrageous to say that the president of the United States green-lit something as atrocious as the actions that have taken place over the last several days,” she said.

Trump said no action was “off the table” and also conferred with Vice President Mike Pence and his new national security adviser, John Bolton. Monday was the first day on the job for Bolton, who has previously advocated military action against Syria. Trump said, “If it’s Russia, if it’s Syria, if it’s Iran, if it’s all of them together, we’ll figure it out.”  Photo Courtesy of RT News Isreali Hawks Urge UuS to strike over Douma

Zuckerberg ARRIVES ON THE HILL

CEO Mark Zuckerberg will spend two days answering lawmakers’ questions about the powerful social network he helped create, and what is he doing to protect users’ privacy. His first time seated before Congress to answer questions and not sending another spokesman from the company to answer for him.

He'll appear at a joint hearing conducted by the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees on today, starting at 2:15 p.m. ET then return tomorrow morning for more. The hearings are set to address Facebook's use and protection of user data in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Zuckerberg is reportedly set to take the blame for Facebook’s recent problems, according to prepared remarks released Monday by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. He's expected to concede that Facebook "didn't do enough" to prevent a host of problems on its platform, such as fake news, foreign interference in elections, hate speech and data privacy.

"We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake," Zuckerberg will say. "It was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here."