Michael Cohen,
President Donald Trump’s attorney, is seeking changes in his own legal team.
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney and fixer, is parting ways with his legal team as federal prosecutors in New York pursue a criminal investigation of him, according to a person familiar with the case.
Under deep financial pressure, Cohen plans to hire a new lawyer for the next phase of the probe, the person said. Cohen’s move to switch lawyers was interpreted by some legal observers as a sign he may seek to cooperate with federal prosecutors. But he could have other motives — it’s unclear, for example, how Cohen plans to fund his expensive legal defense.
Cohen and his lawyers didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Cohen has a decade-long view into Trump’s business, including proposed deals in Moscow and the former Soviet Union, as well as his presidential campaign. He’s arranged hush-money payments to women alleging they’d had affairs with Trump. He traded on his Trump connection to take in millions of dollars from global companies and a fund linked to a wealthy Russian.
Cohen’s decision to change lawyers, reported earlier by ABC News, is “very significant” but the impact on Trump depends on what he knows and whether he cooperates, former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said.
“Even if he’s cooperates, the question is what does he know and what is he going to tell prosecutors?” Mariotti said. “It’s never a good thing when your lawyer flips. But we don’t know how bad it will be for the president.”
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan will be unlikely to strike a cooperation deal unless Cohen agrees to talk to both Mueller and state and federal prosecutors in New York, Mariotti said.
“He’s not going to get a cooperation deal unless he helps them make a case against someone they wouldn’t otherwise get or moves the ball forward significantly against someone else,” he said. “If he gets a deal, he has to say what he knows about everybody, and he has been willing to cooperate with any state or federal prosecutors.”
Cohen’s change of course comes just days before a federal judge in New York is set to wrap up a review of evidence seized when the FBI searched his residences and offices in April. Cohen’s lawyers, Stephen Ryan and Todd Harrison of McDermott, Will & Emery LLP, represented him as a courtappointed special master oversaw which documents should be kept private because of attorney-client privilege.