Trump assails FBI’s raid on lawyer, berates Comey
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Sunday that all lawyers are now “deflated and concerned” by the FBI raid on the home and office of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen.
Trump also unleashed a torrent of rage Sunday against James Comey over the former FBI director’s forthcoming book, calling him “slippery,” insisting he never asked him for loyalty and labeling him “the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!”
Trump has been enraged by the raid on Cohen, calling it an “attack on the country.”
“Attorney Client privilege is now a thing of the past,” he tweeted. “I have many (too many!) lawyers and they are probably wondering when their offices, and even homes, are going to be raided with everything, including their phones and computers, taken. All lawyers are deflated and concerned!”
The raid carried out last Monday sought bank records, records on Cohen’s dealing in the taxi industry, his communications with the Trump campaign and information on payments he made in 2016 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and to porn actress Stormy Daniels, people familiar with the investigation told the Associated Press.
Lawyers for Cohen appeared in federal court in New York on Friday asking that they, not the Department of Justice, be given a first crack at reviewing the seized evidence to see if it was relevant to the investigation or could be forwarded to criminal investigators without jeopardizing attorney-client privilege.
Prosecutors contend that Cohen was “performing little to no legal work” for Trump. They acknowledged that the investigation was referred by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but was being conducted by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders demurred when asked Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” if Trump was worried that Cohen might agree to work with prosecutors, if charged, to reduce his own punishment.
“Look, the president is very confident in the fact that he has done nothing wrong,” Sanders said.
Cohen, who didn’t attend Friday’s hearing, was ordered to appear in federal court Monday to answer questions about his law practice. He has denied wrongdoing. Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, said his client will also attend Monday’s hearing.
Trump’s tweets Sunday about Comey came ahead of Comey’s interview with ABC. Comey said his belief that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 presidential election was a factor in his decision to disclose the investigation into her emails. Trump seized on that, saying Comey “was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!”
Comey is embarking on a public rollout of his book, “A Higher Loyalty,” which comes out Tuesday. The book offers Comey’s version of the highly controversial events surrounding his firing by Trump and the investigations into Russian election meddling and Clinton’s email practices.