RUSH: I want to kick off here with a different take on the raid of Trump’s lawyer’s office by the FBI working in conjunction with the U.S. attorney’s office, Southern District of Manhattan, after a referral by the august and incomparably integrity-filled special counsel, Robert F. or B. or whatever Mueller III.

I happen to be privy to a secret conversation — that’s not the right word. Not mysterious, but what a bunch of libs themselves are saying about this, about what a bunch of liberal media people are saying about this. And the key from their standpoint — now, I just want to throw this out to you — is that this is nothing about attorney-client privilege being violated because Cohen is not really a Trump lawyer in the sense of things. He is a fixer. He is assigned to go places and fix situations, but he’s not actually, in many of the things that he does for Trump, a lawyer. And so there isn’t any attorney-client privilege.

For example, they are saying, what if Trump dispatched Cohen to Russia or Ukraine to negotiate some aspect of a new hotel deal? They are theorizing that Mueller and his team are thinking that there’s a lot of what Cohen has done for Trump that would not even fall under the privilege, and, therefore, there would be no protection. Now, it’s a stretch. It’s a reach. But I haven’t heard any of the legal beagles and analysts on our side reference such a thing.

I must admit, it intrigued me because they’re making the point that Cohen, while a personal lawyer for Trump prior to the campaign and Trump’s inauguration, Cohen did not make the cut as one of Trump’s lawyers after he was inaugurated. He remains a personal fixer over here. Their belief is that he did things that have nothing to do with attorney-client privilege and therefore they wouldn’t be covered. And, interestingly, they think many of these things that Cohen was involved with happened to be in and about Russia. And they involve Trump’s business and that that is why Mueller is interested.

These guys — I’m just telling you what they think. I’m not adding a bullet point agreement to it, not saying I agree with it or not, but I haven’t seen anybody else on our side like the Dersh and the diGenovas and whoever else is out there, I haven’t heard them address this possibility, but I know that a bunch of leftists are. Not just leftist lawyers but some leftist journalists out there are really excited because they think Mueller is pulling a real fast one on everybody here, because there’s just too much that Cohen has been doing for Trump over the years, not in an official capacity as a lawyer. But Cohen is a lawyer. So how they’re gonna distinguish what Cohen was doing for Trump as a lawyer here, but not over here, is interesting.

What it boils down to is, they still don’t have anything. And they are grasping. They’re grasping at straws to try to find any way — they remain convinced — after hearing and being privy to that which I just shared with you, I remain convinced that they think there really is something to this Russia collusion business, and they are hell-bent on finding it.

Just like we sometimes, on our side, will see a news event and we’ll start speculating about it. We won’t know anything, but we start speculating. And it sounds like, “Hey, that could be an interesting theory.” I think that’s what these guys are doing. I don’t think they know what’s going on, either. And I think some of them are troubled themselves at the violation of attorney-client privilege or the potential for it. And so they’re doing a bit of a CYA, but they’re also intrigued.

They’re very intrigued by the idea that there’s a bunch of stuff Cohen will not be able to shield Trump from because there’s no privilege in many of the things that Cohen’s been doing. Yeah, I can share some of the details with you as the program unfolds. But just in the umbrella sense, it’s another example to this that I wanted to share with you that I haven’t seen anybody else get into. ‘Cause everybody remains focused on the fact that this is really beyond the norm. Search warrants, violating attorney-client privilege, the chilling impact of all of that.

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RUSH: You can pooh-pooh it all you want. I’m just telling you what the left is out there saying and thinking, and they’re thinking… Let me cut to the chase. They think Cohen is going to be the actual route to Trump-Russia collusion, and they think that Cohen is vulnerable because he really wasn’t a lawyer in the sense that Trump was discussing legal strategy. And that if this guy was nothing more than a fixer, and if he’s out there doing deals, then he really wasn’t a lawyer…

I’m just telling you what they think Mueller is doing. I think they’re all wet. But this is an illustration. They’re salivating, ’cause they don’t have anything. They’re making it up. It’s wishful thinking that they can somehow convert Cohen into a non-lawyer and that Cohen knows everything. He knows what Ivanka’s been doing, knows what Don Jr. has been doing. He knows what Jared’s been doing.

They’ve been running the Trump Organization. “He’s got ’em dead to rights,” is what the left thinks, and they don’t even need to pierce attorney-client privilege to find out what Cohen knows. You keep a sharp eye. You’ll see. It won’t be long before this pops up in the Drive-By Media. You wait.

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RUSH: Mike in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Let me sneak a phone call in here before we have to go to the next break. How are you doing, sir?

CALLER: Doing great, Rush. First time caller. I want to get right to the Trump-Cohen situation. Trump created that. By stating that he had no involvement in the $130,000 payment to Daniels, he basically waved his attorney-client privilege because Cohen was not acting for him at that time. That’s all I have.

RUSH: You think Trump waived attorney-client privilege by saying he didn’t even know about the payment?

CALLER: Yes, because if the attorney was representing him as his attorney, then he clearly would have known about the payment. We all know Trump knew about the payment. He just stated that he didn’t.

RUSH: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait. So you’re saying Trump is lying when he said he didn’t know about the payment?

CALLER: Correct.

RUSH: And had —

CALLER: If you don’t believe that, I have some land in Florida to sell you for $130,000.

RUSH: (laughing) I wouldn’t pay over 110 for it, depending on where… All right. Well, look. Damn it. I should have… I took this call thinking I could squeeze it in in a minute. And we did, but I’m not finished with it, but I have to take a break anyway. Hang on. I’m glad you called.

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RUSH: Okay. I ran out of time when I took the last call. I only had one minute going into that. And the caller is a smart the guy, and he was assuming a lot of people would have a basic understanding of certain things before he made his point. He said that when Trump said that he didn’t know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, that that blew up attorney-client privilege. After Trump talked about it, bye-bye privilege.

His point was Trump did something very stupid by talking about the payment at all, but then specifically denying it. Bye-bye privilege. I mean, if one of the parties to privilege is talking about it, bye-bye. And it was his point that that’s when Mueller decided to make his move. “Okay, Trump has given up attorney-client privilege, let’s move in here,” except Mueller referred to it to the SDNY.

I’m still telling you what the left thinks. The left thinks that Cohen is going to be the guy. Folks, do not doubt me on this. I hope this starts showing up on Drive-By Media soon, ’cause it isn’t gonna be along. After all of this, they think Michael Cohen is now the key to proving Trump-Russia collusion. And they think it doesn’t even have to be collusion on the election. If they can prove that Cohen was out making deals in Russia for hotels and stuff with Russian oligarchs tied to Putin, that that’s all they’re gonna need.

I’m just telling you. I’m not backing it up. I’m not agreeing with it. I’m just telling you what they think. I like to keep track of what the left is doing and thinking, as a means of A, understanding it, then, B, being able to refute it.

Greetings. Welcome back. Great to have you. 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program.

Speaking of Mueller, I wonder if he’s gonna the give up this investigation pretty soon ’cause there’s new polling data out there. Rasmussen Reports says that Mueller has lost majority support. (laughing) So freaking what? Rasmussen Reports says that Mueller has lost a full 14 points. What was it, a 20 point favorable rating 52-32 is now just a six-point advantage. That’s right, Rasmussen’s been polling what the public thinks of Mueller and his investigation. And just last week, Mueller had an approval rating of 52 to 32.

By the way, one of the reasons why the Democrats are so excited about this is ’cause they think this proves that a majority of Americans are for Mueller, which means they have to be against Trump. And this is one of the numbers that’s making them think a blue wave is coming. Well, ever since Mueller is perceived to have been the one to investigate Trump’s lawyer’s office to conduct the raid and so forth, Rasmussen claims that Mueller’s approval number has dropped by a full 14 points.

This is a Breitbart story. “Prior to what many are describing as Mueller’s unprecedented stunt –” Mueller didn’t do anything here. He might be the engineer, but he passed off this information to the Southern District of New York U.S. attorney’s office. Anyway, “– the special counsel and former Obama official was held in high regard by a majority of the public. Back in October, a full 52 percent believed ‘Mueller’s investigation is an honest attempt to determine criminal wrongdoing.'”

That number is now down to 46 percent. (laughing) Below 50% think he’s doing a good job. I don’t know. I mean, is the press gonna ask Mueller if he’s gonna quit now? Like April Ryan asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders, “Is Trump gonna resign in the midst of all this?” Well, somebody needs to ask Mueller and his team, “Are you guys gonna quit now that your public approval number is below 50%?” But, you know, it’s not entirely irrelevant.

When you’re talking about impeachment, impeachment’s a purely political act, high crimes and misdemeanors, yeah, it’s a constitutional attachment, requirement, but you’re not gonna succeed unless you have the political climate for it, and if the political climate supporting the independent counsel’s investigation plunges below 50%, then you could say that the objective of the special counsel is also plunging below 50%. There will be people that will harp on it nevertheless.

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RUSH: “Let me be clear. I am not a crook.” Let me be clear. I don’t agree with this cockamamie theory that Cohen can be pierced because he wasn’t acting as Trump’s lawyer here and there. I don’t buy that. Attorney-client privilege is absolute. I’m just telling you where the left thinks they can take this, and I’m gonna tell you… No. I’m gonna stop there. It’s a leftist writer in The New Yorker in the midst of a 17-tweet thread that is positing Cohen has the goods to get rid of Ivanka, get rid of Don Jr., get rid of Trump, and all Mueller has to do is flip him.

And Mueller can flip him because there isn’t any attorney-client privilege for much of what Cohen’s been doing. I’m just telling you that’s what they’re saying. It’s another example of they don’t have anything. Now they gotta flip Don Jr. and Ivanka? And why do they gotta flip Don Jr. and Ivanka? Because they were running the Trump Organization during the campaign. You know, Trump divested himself. Ahem! (laughing) Ahem. And so they were there. And Cohen was fully aware what they were doing and helping them get it done.

And not as Trump’s lawyer, according to this guy at The New Yorker. But don’t… As to Trump piercing his own or blowing his own attorney-client privilege by saying he didn’t know about the payment to Stormy? That may be a stretch. We’ll find out. Here’s another question. Did Stormy report the $130,000 payment she got on her taxes? If she did, what an idiot. You’re gonna report hush money? By definition, the person paying you is not gonna report it. That’s the idea. That’s one of the reasons Cohen is in trouble.

One of the banks… Well, the bank that cleared the payment got curious about it. The bank that cleared the payment from Cohen got curious about it. If Stormy declared it, what is she gonna do? Declare it as income for what? You don’t think Cohen gave her a 1099 do you on that deal? (laughing) If anything, it would have been a gift. But she wants to keep the dough and open her mouth about this. She signed the NDA. All this is because Stormy needs the money because a lot of her appearances are being canceled.

A Make America Horny Again Tour stop in Detroit was canceled because her jet couldn’t get there on time. (interruption) Yeah, according to this they’re flying her around in jets to meet these tour dates of hers. She’s got an appearance at some strip club five miles from Mar-a-Lago while Trump is in town, next time he’s here. I think the dates are not gonna overlap. I think that Trump’s actually gonna be arriving a couple days after she strips at the Make America Horny Again Tour.

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RUSH: My numerous and uncountable, there are so many of them, friends in the legal community are now weighing in on this New Yorker leftist writer claim that Cohen really can’t claim attorney-client privilege on much of the work he does for Trump. The consensus from the legal beagles is that that is absolute folly. Any communication between a client and their attorney is privileged if the client communicated with the attorney thinking they were speaking confidentially to their attorney. It doesn’t matter what the topic is.

But the real point is this. The attorney-client privilege sits in the mind of the client. If the client believes that he is telling somebody who is his attorney something confidential, then the privilege holds and can’t be busted. The Supreme Court settled the issue in 1973, Couch v. the United States.

The only two ways to pierce the privilege is through the crime fraud exception, which is where you think the lawyer is in cahoots with the mob, with the client, or if the communication to the attorney was not intended to be confidential, that is, intended to be disclosed to third parties, like tax return info, public relations information, or information intended to be used to prepare a real estate deed. I mean, things that are gonna end up being public you can’t protect under privilege. So that’s to refute.

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RUSH: This is Bill in Kennesaw, Georgia. I’m glad you waited. I really appreciate that. Welcome back, sir. How are you?

CALLER: Hi, Rush. I’m great. Thanks for taking the call. I’ll be real quick. Everyone agrees that there is no such crime as collusion, so what if Trump just comes on television, says, “Okay, you got me. We colluded to defeat Hillary, and Hillary colluded to defeat us. We’re just better colluders.” What happens to the investigation then?

RUSH: Are you being facetious or do you actually —

CALLER: No, I’m not. If he just says, okay, we colluded, it’s not even a crime, so what?

RUSH: Okay. Before rendering an expert and reasoned opinion on this, let me ask your motivation here. Why do you want Trump to do this? Is your objective to just shut down these investigations ’cause you’re fed up with ’em, you’re tired of hearing about it every day, you’re tired of watching the media, you’re tired the gloating, you’re tired of all the promises, the innuendo, you’re tired of it, and you want Trump to stop it?

CALLER: Absolutely. Put a stop to it. Take the wind out of his sails and then just watch him flounder, ’cause he’ll have nothing.

RUSH: Well, respectfully, I have to tell you, that wouldn’t be the result. If Trump were to either call a press conference and say, “You know what? I’m gonna end this and I’m gonna tell everybody, ‘Yeah, we colluded, we colluded to beat Hillary, and Hillary was colluding to beat us.'” The fact that he admits colluding is going to reignite and fire this up, it’s going to ignite it. It’s going to expand its life span.

The headline: “Trump Admits Collusion.” And the low-information voters on Yahoo News are going, “Oh, my God! He did it! Oh, my God, he did it, and they got to him, and he admitted it! Oh, my God!” The Drive-By Media, “Trump admits collusion. Mueller triumphs over Trump, wears Trump down. Trump sues for peace. Trump can’t handle it anymore.”

And you’re gonna be saying, “No, no, no, no, no, he didn’t say he colluded with Russia.” They’re gonna say he doesn’t have to. All he did was he admitted he colluded. And the Democrats start impeachment proceedings even before they have the House, with Rick Wilson probably advising them. Nah. Don’t think that would work.

See, I asked you why you want to do it because I understand you’re tired of it. You know they’ve got nothing. You know they’re not gonna end up with anything unless they manufacture it. Because there isn’t any collusion with Russia. As you point out, collusion isn’t a crime in and of itself anyway. And you want it ended. You’re fed up it. But that’s not the way to do it. Look, let me just tell you, it isn’t going to end any time soon. Just steel yourself and prepare yourself.

It’s been expanded now, with Mueller referring this to the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, that’s a brand-new investigation just getting started. Why, we’re looking at maybe another two years on that one alone. So this is where my advice to turn off the news comes in real handy. Just don’t watch it. Try it. Seriously for a week and see if your overall mood, outlook on life and your country isn’t greatly improved.