Feds: Michael Cohen, others under scrutiny by grand jury

Federal prosecutors said in a Thursday court filing that there is an ongoing grand jury investigation into former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen — as well as others. The disclosure was made in the Southern District of New York, where the media is requesting to obtain the search warrants used by the FBI to raid Cohen’s home and office in April. Releasing the search warrants used by the FBI to gather information on Cohen would "interfere with this investigation and implicate significant privacy concerns for numerous uncharged third parties who are named" in them," wrote federal prosecutors.

“The disclosure would almost certainly result in a very public guessing game in which the media and members of the public attempted to guess the identities of the uncharged parties described in the materials — particularly the campaign finance portions,” prosecutors said. Furthermore, disclosure of the warrants "would jeopardize an ongoing law enforcement investigation in concrete ways." Cohen worked for President Trump from 2006 until May of this year.

In August, Cohen — who at one point said he would take a bullet for Trump — pleaded guilty to eight counts of campaign finance violations, tax fraud, and bank fraud. “I participated in the conduct for the purposes of influencing the election,” Cohen said in court about his payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The two women have claimed to have had affairs with Trump in the past, which the president has denied. One payment of $150,000 was made during "summer of 2016, in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” Cohen confessed, and the second payment of $130,000 was made around "October of 2016, at the direction of the same candidate." Cohen has reportedly had multiple interviews with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian election interference and possible Kremlin connections to the Trump campaign.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/feds-michael-cohen-others-under-scrutiny-by-grand-jury

Hundreds Of Caravan Migrants Accept Bus Rides Home Amid "Sickness, Fear And Police Harassment"

"Sickness, fear and police harassment" has taken its toll on the migrant caravan making its way to the US border, according to AP, as several hundred asylum seekers have accepted government offers to bus them back to their countries of origin.

The group, many with children and even pushing toddlers in strollers, planned to depart Mapastepec at dawn Thursday with more than 1,000 miles still to go before they reach the U.S. border. Jose David Sarmientos Aguilar, a 16-year-old student from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, was one of at least 80 migrants waiting in the town square of Huixtla, where the rest of the caravan departed Wednesday morning, for four buses that would take them back to Honduras. Sarmientos Aguilar said it was partly the spontaneous nature of the caravan — many people joined on the spur of the moment — as well as the rumors of migrants dying that did him in. -AP

Aguilar says he joined the march "without thinking about what could happen and the consequences it could bring," and that the Monday death of a migrant who fell from a truck, as well as rumors of two more killed in the town of Huixtla, pushed him over the edge. "There have been a lot of tragedies. It’s not necessary to go on losing more lives to reach there (the U.S.)," said Aguilar. "I am a little sick in the chest. I have a cough. And so instead of risking getter sicker and something happening to me, it’s better to go home." As the New York Times notes: "Recently there has been a sense that the caravan is fraying. Nervousness and exhaustion have contributed to heightened anxiety and paranoia. Sickness is spreading quickly. Dehydration, sore throats, blistered feet, respiratory infections, pink eye and other ailments and injuries are slowing some members and knocking others out of the migration." Adding to the desperation was a sleepless night on Tuesday in the town of Huixtla due to a rumor "that a band of baby snatchers was prowling the encampments," according to The Times.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-25/hundreds-caravan-migrants-accept-bus-rides-home-amid-sickness-fear-and-police