FBI agents raided the office and a place of residence of Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen. It takes considerable evidence to convince a Southern District of New York judge to allow agents to execute such a warrant. This was big.
The warrant went well beyond Cohen’s records related to porn star and director, Stormy Daniels, aka Stephanie Clifford. Trump allegedly paid her $130,000 just prior to the presidential election to keep quiet about her affair with Trump.
A warrant becomes more necessary when there prosecutors fear the records could be destroyed or moved, and the individual would not cooperate willingly. The Mueller investigation did not conduct the raid, but referred it to the FBI agents.
According to CNBC, a person who had been briefed on the search said that the FBI agents also:
‘Seized emails, tax documents and business records.’
In order to maintain the attorney’s client privilege, a separate group of attorneys review the data to determine whether it would apply to Mueller’s investigation.
Cohen has served as an executive vice president and general counsel for the Trump Organization. The self-described “fixer” famously said that he would “take a bullet” for the president.
Agents raided Cohen’s law office at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, located in Midtown Manhattan, NY. FBI agents also searched a room at the Loews Regency Hotel in Manhattan. That was the Cohens’ temporary residence while a broken water leak was being repaired.
Mueller has been looking into Russia’s cyber war attack on the 2016 presidential elections and where the strands of that investigation took him. Possibly, that included collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.
Cohen’s attorney said that the FBI raid was “inappropriate:”
‘Completely inappropriate and unnecessary. It resulted in the unnecessary seizure of protected attorney-client communications between a lawyer and his clients. These government tactics are also wrong because Mr. Cohen has cooperated completely with all government entities, including providing thousands of non-privileged documents to the Congress and sitting for depositions under oath.’
Featured Image via Getty Images/Alex Wong.
