Trump lawyer Cohen’s offices, hotel room raided by FBI agents
US president links the raids to the ongoing Russia probe
WASHINGTON: The FBI on Monday raided the office and hotel room of Donald Trump’s long-time personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who has admitted to paying porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged affair with the US president.
The raids targeted Cohen’s office in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Plaza and a hotel room where he has been staying with his family as their home is being renovated. Agents carried away records and documents on various issues, including the payment of $130,000 of hush money by Cohen to Daniels in the run-up to the November 2016 elections, reports said.
A very angry Trump linked the raids to the Russia probe in remarks to reporters before a national security meeting at the White House, deploying the oftused phrase “witch-hunt”.
Trump said the FBI “broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys” and called it “a disgraceful situation … a total witch hunt … a whole new level of unfairness”.
The New York Times reported agents were also looking for information regarding former model Karen McDougal, who has claimed she had a year-long affair with Trump. She was paid $150,000 for her story by a news publication that never ran it.
The raid was carried out after prosecutors in the office of the US attorney of the Southern District of New York obtained search warrants on a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller, who is probing Russian meddling in the 2016 elections and alleged collusion by the Trump campaign.
The raid was confirmed by Cohen’s lawyer Stephen Ryan, who said it resulted in the “unnecessary seizure of protected attorney-client communications between a lawyer and his clients”.
The communications with “clients” seized could include those with Trump.
Trump also attacked attorney general Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia probe.
Cohen has claimed he paid Daniels out of his own pocket — using a home equity line of credit — as part of a non-disclosure agreement signed by her, and that Trump was not aware of it. He also said he was not reimbursed by the president or the Trump Organization.
Trump and the White House have denied the Daniels affair took place.