Trump bid to access seized records hits wall
US PRESIDENT AND HIS ALLIES FACE A NEW LEVEL OF ANXIETY AFTER THE RAID BY FBI OFFICIALS ON HIS PERSONAL LAWYER’S OFFICE
US President Donald Trump suffered a setback as a federal judge rejected his initial request to keep prosecutors from immediately reviewing evidence seized by the FBI last week from his longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.
US District Judge Kimba Wood wrestled in court on Monday with the correct way to determine whether materials seized from Cohen’s home, office and hotel room involved privileged communications between Cohen and his clients.
Still, the judge ordered prosecutors to make available to Cohen’s attorneys all of the evidence seized. Prosecutors must put the material in digital form and can’t review it yet, the judge said.
Impartial ‘special master’
Wood said she was open to a plan by prosecutors to set up a team separate from the lawyers investigating case to review the evidence. But she also said she would consider appointing an impartial “special master” to help in the process.
She asked the prosecution team to get a precise estimate on how long their proposed vetting group, a so-called taint team, would need to go through everything and sort out what’s relevant and what’s privileged.
Lawyers for Trump, Cohen and the government spent three hours arguing in a Manhattan courtroom over whether prosecutors investigating Cohen could go through evidence and electronics seized in an April 9 raid.
The hearing, which generated sensational media attention, failed to deliver the sizzle expected with the presence of adult film star Stormy Daniels, who sat slumped in the back of the courtroom.
The biggest revelation was that Cohen had also represented Sean Hannity, the Fox News commentator who for the last week has decried the Cohen raids. Cohen had declined to name the client for privacy reasons, but the judge ordered him to provide a name.
Daniels claims she had sex with Trump in 2006 and took a $130,000 (Dh477,425) hush payment from Cohen shortly before the 2016 election. Cohen has said he made the payment from his own account.
“For years, Mr Cohen has acted like he is above the law,” Daniels, accompanied by her lawyer, told reporters outside the courthouse.
“This ends now. My attorney and I are committed to making sure that everyone finds out the truth and the facts of what happened, and I give my word we will not rest until that happens.”
Daniels, who walked into the courtroom about two minutes before the hearing started, wearing a black dress, strappy sandals and a pale pink blazer, appeared bored with the argument, occasionally leaning over to whisper to lawyer Michael Avenatti.
Trump and his allies have hit a new level of anxiety after the raid on his personal attorney’s office, fearful of deeper exposure for Trump, his inner circle and his adult children — and more than concerned that they don’t know exactly what is in those records and electronic devices seized last week.
Huge minefield
There is also some worry that Cohen, the self-described legal fixer who helped make bad stories go away and took a leading role in Trump Organisation projects in foreign outposts, may strike a deal with prosecutors out of concern about his own prospects.
“I think it’s a huge minefield for Donald Trump and the Trump Organisation,” said trial attorney Joseph Cammarata, who represented Paula Jones in her sexual harassment suit against President Bill Clinton. “I think this is on its own track and this train is coming down the track with brute force.”
Trump left the White House for Florida, for a two-day summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Advisers are hoping the meeting will draw attention from the legal tempest in Washington and New York.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders sought to put distance between Trump and Cohen, saying: “I believe they’ve still got some ongoing things, but the president has a large number of attorneys, as you know.”
Daniels claims she had sex with Trump in 2006 and took a $130,000 hush payment from Cohen shortly before the 2016 election. Cohen has said he made the payment from his own account.