Sudden change of plans

President Trump has scrapped his planned trip to Peru and Colombia, the White House announced Tuesday.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump will remain in Washington to oversee the response to an apparent chemical weapons attack in Syria. Vice President Pence will travel in Trump’s place.

  The Hill

Damn! They were hoping to get him occupied somewhere else while Comey makes his book tour.

I'm sure the FBI raid on Cohen yesterday had nothing to do with his decision to stick around and make plans to bomb Syria.

The White House had already cut down the number of days Trump planned to spend in South America after Peru’s president resigned over corruption allegations.

[...]

The Summit of the Americas brings together leaders of Western Hemisphere nations to discuss issues facing the region. This year’s summit theme is “Democratic Governance Against Corruption.”

Yeah, he wouldn't have had anything to offer on that anyway.

The image of FBI agents carting away computers and records of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal lawyer, is just the latest cringeworthy moment from the life and times of the attorney. Few would be surprised by Cohen being criminally charged. However, Cohen’s greatest danger to Trump may be not as a defendant but as bait.

[...]

Media is reporting that Mueller went to Rosenstein with the evidence against Cohen for fraud and other offenses in Russia and Ukraine, including campaign finance violations in the very election that is the subject of the original mandate. Yet, now, Rosenstein reportedly wanted Cohen investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. If so, why? The offenses are far closer to Trump and the campaign than those allowed against Manafort.

This is why the referral to the Southern District was a move that may be as cunning as it is hostile. The timing and the manner of the raid have all of the characteristics of a wolf pit, and Trump — not Cohen — could prove to be the prize.

[...]

Until the raid, Trump appeared, finally, to be following the advice of his lawyers in the White House and preparing for a negotiated interview with Mueller. One day after reportedly starting to prepare for that interview, the president was thrown into a rage over the raiding of his personal lawyer’s office.

[...]

Like any good wolf trap, this set-up, first and foremost, protects the hunters. By referring the matter, Mueller and Rosenstein protected themselves from criticism of expanding the investigation.

  Jonathan Turley @ The Hill

Well, not from the criticism, but from legal repercussions.

At the same time, they brought into the mix U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, who Trump interviewed and nominated, as well as a neutral magistrate who signed the search warrant.

As well as a case in State court that cannot be presidentially pardoned.

Trump's ass is hanging out in the wind. And it's a big ass.

Here's the problem with that:  Berman.

At the time of his appointment, Berman was also a fellow shareholder and law partner of Rudy Giuliani at Greenberg Traurig. Berman has worked there for more than a decade. (Giuliani is a Trump ally and loyalist.) Berman’s LinkedIn profile shows that he remains a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig.

Berman is the son of Ronald Berman, a major real estate developer in New Jersey.

   Wall Street on Parade

But, here's the clincher:

Just two days after Berman was named U.S. Attorney for the SDNY, he named Robert Khuzami to be his Deputy U.S. Attorney for that jurisdiction. More sirens went off. Khuzami was General Counsel to Deutsche Bank-Americas from January 2002 to February 2009. Deutsche Bank has been a major lender to Trump’s businesses for decades, even as other major Wall Street banks refused further lending to him. In January of last year, Deutsche Bank was charged with laundering billions of dollars out of Russia and paid approximately $630 million in fines.

UPDATE:  Addressing my concerns about Berman:  he is recused.