Feds raid office of Chicago-based attorney who did tax work for Trump

[Oceander]

This is similar to storming Manafort's home in the early hours of the morning.  It is designed to intimidate---drastically and dramatically.  THESE are storm trooper tactics and they should alarm all of us.  Please, stop trying to defend or explain them.  You're better than this.

And this is the man and actions our Congress wants to protect by law. This is chilling.

As to planting evidence ... who would know?  We'd have no choice but to believe the ones who planted it.  They would win this automatically so it's moot at this point.

Nonsense.  This is nothing similar to storming an individual’s private residence at 6 in the morning. 

And you have no idea if this is even remotely related to Trump.  The fact is, this guys firm was big in property tax contesting in Chicago, so assuming they were good, other developers would have used them as well.

He’s a Chicago pol with a shady past - he’s part of the Democrat party machine - and this is much more likely to relate to corruption of his own, not to Trump. 

You’re letting yourself get bamboozled by the people who desperately want to find something bad on Trump.  There’s no need to go there yet with this guy.  Wait to see how it plays out.

[Sanguine]

    If I'm not mistaken there is no proof that this has anything to do with Trump. Chicago is as corrupt as it gets, could be another City Councilman investigation.

EVERYTHING is about Trump.  Seems like anyway.

[corbe]

   The Trumpers jumping in early to defend is not a good sign @Sanguine

[Right_in_Virginia]

Nonsense.  This is nothing similar to storming an individual’s private residence at 6 in the morning. 

And you have no idea if this is even remotely related to Trump.  The fact is, this guys firm was big in property tax contesting in Chicago, so assuming they were good, other developers would have used them as well.

He’s a Chicago pol with a shady past - he’s part of the Democrat party machine - and this is much more likely to relate to corruption of his own, not to Trump. 

You’re letting yourself get bamboozled by the people who desperately want to find something bad on Trump.  There’s no need to go there yet with this guy.  Wait to see how it plays out.

Well, I guess I've misread your posts through the years.  Apparently, you do prefer to defend these tactics.

Very disappointing.

[corbe]

    @Oceander It's not lost on me that you've been catching a lot of $hit here, lately. 
    Keep the Faith, your not half as liberal as they make you out to be. 

[Oceander]

Well, I guess I've misread your posts through the years.  Apparently, you do prefer to defend these tactics.

Very disappointing.

What tactics?  Entering a business office that is open to the public during normal hours, presenting a presumably signed warrant to seize the entire contents of the office, shooing everyone out so the evidence cannot be destroyed, and then putting up brown paper on the windows to ward off gawkers, and most likely to also preserve the privacy of the owners of that office from nosy neighbors?

Those tactics?   I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I see the problem with that.  Perhaps you can explain why this is tantamount to rousting an old man out of bed at 6 in the morning with a swat team and guns drawn.

[edpc]

This is similar to storming Manafort's home in the early hours of the morning.  It is designed to intimidate---drastically and dramatically.  THESE are storm trooper tactics and they should alarm all of us.  Please, stop trying to defend or explain them.  You're better than this.

That’s some nice revisionist history. We now now Manafort had incriminating documents at his home, like emails and altered PDF files, inflating his income.  He was lying about his complete cooperation with the prosecutors and they knew it.  Many of his financial irregularities had already been investigated in 2014.

[XenaLee]

I have no idea what’s SOP, but I find it insanely difficult to believe that this was done so they could plant evidence.  Please.  Call attention to themselves in exactly that way? 

For one thing, that office is probably on a hallway with a number of other offices, and is probably accessible by the public.  The last thing anybody needs, including the other tenants in the building, is a tidal wave of the curious and the sight-seers flooding into the building to see what they can see.

Funny (odd) that.... as long as I have lived... I have never heard of another case or incident where the Feds papered over the windows/doors of another office like that.  One would think if it was ""standard procedure"" .... we would have heard of at least one other occurrence.   

[edpc]

Funny (odd) that.... as long as I have lived... I have never heard of another case or incident where the Feds papered over the windows/doors of another office like that.  One would think if it was ""standard procedure"" .... we would have heard of at least one other occurrence.   

The most likely explanation is they were looking for something specific and had received information about it. Everyone has a camera and video recorder on their cell these days. The agents were probably protecting their methods/sources for the evidence. If they had bugged the office, phones, and computers, they wouldn’t want the general public to see the devices and locations.

[XenaLee]

The most likely explanation is they were looking for something specific and had received information about it. Everyone has a camera and video recorder on their cell these days. The agents were probably protecting their methods/sources for the evidence. If they had bugged the office, phones, and computers, they wouldn’t want the general public to see the devices and locations.

Exactly.  They had something to hide in that raid... which is pretty much what we've come to expect from the "feds" post-Obamanation.   America has been (probably fatally) infected.

One point someone made on this is... how come there was no particular agency involved.  No FBI or IRS identified agents.  Just plain-clothes agents show up.  Is that normal?  I didn't think so.  But then... nothing IS normal now in this nu Amerika.   Things are happening here that previously only happened under commie dictator or banana republic conditions.  It's almost as if Hillary/Evita had actually won.   

[LadyLiberty]

I can find other examples online where windows were covered during an FBI raid.  They seem to be businesses that have uncovered windows, like storefronts, where there are no blinds that can simply be closed. 

Example: 

http://www.startribune.com/irs-fbi-agents-raid-stillwater-mayor-s-accounting-business/251231601/

IRS, FBI agents raid Stillwater mayor's business

"The IRS, the FBI and another agency searched the accounting business, but what they were searching for was not disclosed. "

...........

"Cardboard covered the windows of the office as agents worked throughout the morning. Nevertheless, several agents wearing rubber gloves could be seen inside sorting through papers and putting them into boxes."

More:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fbi-raids-gop-consulting-firm-tied-to-conservative-scam-pacs_us_5914b924e4b00f308cf3c410

https://abc7chicago.com/news/chinatown-restaurants-raided-by-fbi-agents/364395/