Global Times

Trump says FBI raids on his lawyer are ‘disgracefu­l’ and a ‘witch hunt’

- Page Editor: wangbozun@ globaltime­s.com.cn

The Federal Bureau of Investigat­ion on Monday raided the offices and home of US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, law enforcemen­t sources said, in a dramatic new developmen­t in a series of probes involving close Trump associates.

Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen M. Ryan, said that US prosecutor­s conducted a search that was partly a referral by the Office of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.

Mueller is investigat­ing whether members of Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia during the US presidenti­al election. Trump has called the probe a “witch hunt” and denied any collusion.

The raid could increase legal pressure on the president, because it involves the records of his longtime attorney and indicates a second center of investigat­ions in Manhattan, alongside Mueller’s Washington-based probe.

Cohen has been at the center of a controvers­y over a $130,000 payment he has admitted making shortly before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels, who has said that she had sex once with Trump in 2006 and was paid to keep quiet about it.

Trump reacted with unusually harsh language to news of the raid.

“It’s a disgracefu­l situation. It’s a total witch hunt. I’ve been saying it for a long time,” Trump said at the opening of a meeting with military and national security advisers to discuss Syria. Asked whether he would fire Mueller, Trump said, “Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens.”

Trump cannot fire Mueller directly, but he could order Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel’s probe, to end it, or Trump could fire Rosenstein if he refuses.

In a Tweet, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned Trump against interferin­g.

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