Trump lawyer Cohen’s offices, hotel room raided by FBI agents
‘WITCH HUNT’ US prez links the raids to the ongoing Russia probe, calls it a ‘whole new level of unfairness’
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 an adult film star to keep quiet about her affair with the US president years ago, an official said.
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 undergoes renovation. Agents carried away records and documents on various issues including the payment of $130,000 of hush money by Cohen to Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the November 2016 elections, reports said.
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 referral was understood to indicate Mueller’s team had passed on the information because it was not covered by its mandate.
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”.
Legal experts said the fact that the raids took place on the basis of search warrants issued by a judge meant there was a probable cause of a crime having been committed.
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”.
“It’s an attack on our country in a true sense. It’s an attack on what we all stand for,” he added.
Trump did not mention Daniels or the payment made to her
WASHINGTON:
by Cohen — the lawyer has claimed he paid her out of his own pocket as part of a non-disclosure agreement signed by her, and that Trump was not aware of it.
Trump and the White House have denied the Daniels affair took place, and have routinely directed questions about the payment to Cohen. Daniels has sued to be freed from the agreement, arguing it was not valid as Trump did not sign it.
There is nothing criminal about the affair or the payment, but legal and election law experts have said if the money was paid to keep Daniels quiet about the affair ahead of the election, it could be construed as a campaign finance contribution that was way above the permissible limit.
Cohen, in keeping with his public persona of a tough and loyal Trump aide, has waged a very public battle with Daniels and her attorney through friends and lawyers who defend him aggressively in interviews and open debates on prime time cable and network news channels.