Raid eyed Cohen role in trying to KO Trump ‘Access’ vid
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S longtime attorney Michael Cohen went for an upscale Midtown lunch Wednesday, as it was revealed that the FBI agents who raided his office and hotel room earlier this week sought communications he had with Trump about the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.
Cohen lunched with TV commentator Donny Deutsch on the top floor of Barneys on Madison Ave. near 60th St. The embattled Trump lawyer ignored shouted questions from reporters as he exited the exclusive department store, and paid more mind to members of the media than the controversy surrounding the $130,000 payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.
“Before you knock each other over, we’re all good?” Cohen (right) asked, as reporters chased him down E. 61st St.
After Cohen went back into hiding at the nearby Loews Regency Hotel, CNN reported that the federal agents who stormed his office on Monday sought any communications he had with Trump about the hot mic recording in which the President bragged about being able to “grab” women “by the p---y.” The damning recording was made public about a month before the election and prompted Trump to issue an unusual apology.
It was not clear what role Cohen, 51, might have played in regards to the recording, but sources told CNN said the federal search warrant for his Rockefeller Center office seeks any evidence showing that he tried to prevent it from becoming public.
In addition to “Access Hollywood” material, FBI agents confiscated emails, business records and documents relating to the payment Cohen issued to Daniels 11 days before Trump’s election.
Daniels, 39, says she took the cash in exchange for keeping mum about having sex with Trump in 2006. The X-rated actress is currently battling Trump and Cohen in court over a nondisclosure agreement she says should be nullified because Trump never signed it.
Agents also seized records from Cohen’s office relating to a payment to Playboy model Karen McDougal, who alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006
as well.
Prosecutors at the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan are looking into whether Cohen’s payoffs could have violated federal election laws, as they were issued during the campaign. Trump could be in legal trouble if he in any way coordinated or had knowledge of the Daniels payment, which Cohen admitted to shelling out earlier this year.
To add to Cohen’s laundry list of legal woes, the Daily News reported Wednesday that the presidential fixer owes nearly $54,000 in unpaid taxes for his taxi medallions. Cohen owns at least 32 medallions and has failed to pay the mandatory dues on several of them, according to state records.
Cohen delivered a one-word rebuke when a News reporter asked him Wednesday afternoon if he was worried about the situation he has found himself in.
“No,” he said before getting into a car and speeding off.