WASHINGTON, Apr 16:President Donald Trump said today that all lawyers are now “deflated and concerned” by the FBI raid on his personal attorney Michael Cohen, who is under criminal investigation for personal business dealings.
“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 at Cohen’s apartment, hotel room, office and safety deposit box sought bank records, records on Cohen’s dealing in the taxi industry, Cohen’s 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.
One of Trump’s lawyers, Joanna Hendon, filed papers late Sunday asking a federal judge to block prosecutors from studying material seized in the raid until Cohen and the president have both had a chance to review those materials and argue which are subject to attorney-client privilege.
“Fairness and justice – as well as the appearance of fairness and justice – require that, before they are turned over to the Investigative Team, the seized materials relating to the President must be reviewed by the only person who is truly motivated to ensure that the privilege is properly invoked and applied: the privilege-holder himself, the President,” Hendon wrote.
On Friday, lawyers for Cohen appeared in federal court in New York 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.
In a court filing on Friday, federal prosecutors said the criminal investigation had been going on for months and agents had already searched multiple email accounts maintained by Cohen under an earlier search warrant.
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 US presidential election, but was being conducted by the US 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 and he can’t speak on behalf of anyone else, but he’s very confident in what he has and hasn’t done,” Sanders said.
“And he’s going to continue focusing and fighting for the American people.” Cohen, who didn’t attend Friday’s hearing, was ordered to appear in federal court on Monday to help answer questions about his law practice. He has denied wrongdoing.
Both McDougal and Daniels say they had affairs with a married Trump, which the president has denied. (AGENCIES)
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