As I was walking my dog last night listening to Pod Save America (yes, I’m that much of a nerd – but if you don’t already listen to this podcast, I highly recommend it), I was making a mental list of the items I wanted to discuss for today’s Tuesday Top Three (I’m looking at you, Scott Pruitt). But as soon as I got home, the Internet and my agenda for this post exploded with the breaking news of an FBI raid on the home and office of Trump’s longtime attorney, Michael Cohen.

With the way our news cycle is going these days, it’s certainly possible that there will be another breaking story before I can hit the publish button on this post. But as of now, my Tuesday Top Three for April 10th, 2018 is all about the Cohen raid.

A Total Witchhunt

There are a few things I want to point out about the FBI raid on Cohen. First, this is the first time in known history that a U.S. President’s lawyer has been raided by the FBI. This is a big deal. This piece from the Washington Post sums up nicely why Trump should be worried about the seizure of Cohen’s documents. It is certainly possible that Cohen is under investigation for potential crimes unrelated to his work for Trump – possible, but unlikely.

According to new reports, what appears to be much more likely is that the FBI was looking for documents related to payments made by Cohen on behalf of Trump to multiple women who have had alleged affairs with the President, including porn star Stormy Daniels (If you’re still not clear on why we should care about Trumps’ alleged sexual encounters, check out this interview with Anderson Cooper.

In the last 12 hours, President Trump, several Republicans in Congress, and Fox News anchors have all made statements about this raid being an overstep by the Mueller team, an invasion of attorney-client privilege, and a witchhunt by Democrats.

Sen. @RandPaul: FBI Raid on Trump's Attorney Was 'Great Overstep' by Mueller https://t.co/TVaz6Q6N9r — Fox News (@FoxNews) April 10, 2018

If you ask me, they are being awfully defensive of a person who “hasn’t done anything wrong.”

One of the Pod Save America hosts had a great response:

Just some points worth remembering as we barrel towards a constitutional crisis

1. Mueller is a Republican appointed by Bush and chosen by Trump's DOJ

2. The raid was approved by a Federal judge and not conducted by Mueller

3. Attorney Client privilege is not absolute — Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) April 10, 2018

Let me unpack this a bit further:

The witchhunt is being led by the witches. Mueller is a Republican. So is Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Mueller investigation AND who handed the information that sparked this FBI raid to the Southern District of New York. We can probably all tell by now that Trump doesn’t have the best selection skills when it comes to hiring, and he for sure can’t pin this one on Democrats. It’s not Mueller Time. The FBI Raid was ordered by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York and was approved by a federal judge. Trump made it sound like Mueller came barrelling into Cohen’s office personally, Big Bad Wolf style, and blew his house in. It has been reported that Mueller’s team came across information that they deemed to be important but unrelated to their investigation, and so they passed this information on to Rosenstein to do with as he saw fit. Rosenstein reviewed the information and decided to pass it to the New York office. Kimmy Schmidt might be unbreakable, but attorney-client privilege is not. When the attorney in question is suspected of having committed or facilitated a crime, these documents and communications become usable in a court of law. This is why Trump melted down on television last night, and why he’s ranting on Twitter today. This is pretty suspicious activity by someone who has claimed he never had an affair and had no knowledge of a payment.

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds in the coming days. Trump has already floated the idea of firing Mueller, and there are reports from the White House today that he’s angry with Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who recused himself from the entire Mueller investigation last year.

Now more than ever, we must put pressure on our Congressional representatives to protect Mueller. Even though this particular investigation doesn’t belong to him, Trump will find a way to use it as an excuse to get rid of Mueller and the entire Russia investigation. And sadly, the response to this story shows that most of the Republicans in Congress are too worried about themselves to stop it.

So make some popcorn and enjoy the shitshow as guilty men cringe at the mention of porn stars and whine about unfair witchhunts, but also stay critical and informed – read and bookmark this guide to what Americans need to do as an immediate response should Trump have Mueller fired, and be prepared to put down the popcorn and act when the time comes.

And don’t worry, Scott Pruitt – your blog post is next.