Quick THREAD: What does it mean when NYT reports the U.S. Attorney had a "referral" from Mueller to raid Michael Cohen? Answer: Whole thing is Bad News for Cohen. nyti.ms/2Hmha6j
1. The "referral" likely means that the Special Counsel asked the SDNY to carry out the raids. The SDNY is tooled up to execute such raids, whereas the Special Counsel’s Office sitting in DC would face logistical challenges in trying to do it themselves.
2. There’s nothing unusual about this, prosecutors in one US Attorney’s Office sometimes ask those in another jurisdiction to carry out a raid for them for similar reasons. That could be what "referral" means.
3. Now it could mean by “referral” he means that Mueller has concluded that there is some aspect to what is in Cohen’s office that is outside of Mueller’s jurisdiction and so he is referring the search to SDNY US Atty. It’s unclear from the Stephen Ryan sentence reported by NYT.
4. Either way, it’s a big deal that Cohen was raided. DOJ only raids once they have concluded that lesser options (like cooperation) aren’t working and that there is a risk that evidence may be destroyed, etc. A raid requires approval from someone high-up.
5. So this is (unsurprisingly) very bad news for Cohen. END
