By WND. The FBI raided the office, home and hotel room of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, on Monday and seized records there, according to the New York Times.
And now federal authorities have possession of emails and other communications exchanged between Trump and his personal lawyer, which could expose the president to further scrutiny.
Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, three sources told the Washington Post Monday evening.
The records taken by the federal bureau include those related to payments made to a pornographic actress known as Stormy Daniels, a woman who claims she had sex with Trump in 2006. In addition to records related to payments made to Daniels, the FBI also reportedly took copies of emails, tax records and business documents. The investigators also confiscated Cohen’s phone and computer.
The Times noted, “The seized records include communications between Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen, which would likely require a special team of agents to review because conversations between lawyers and clients are protected from scrutiny in most instances.” (Read more from “FBI Raids Home of Trump Lawyer Following Recent Scandal” HERE)
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What to Make of the FBI’s Raid of Michael Cohen’s Office: A Former Agent Reads the Tea Leaves
By NY Daily News. . .What today’s action demonstrates is that the special counsel is not only conducting a serious investigation of Russia interference in our democracy, and of those U.S. persons who may have colluded or conspired or otherwise enabled it, but a thorough one.
As one who’s seen Mueller in action up close and personally for a lot of years, I have long expected nothing less.
What is particularly interesting about today’s action, however, is not that it is serious or thorough, but that it was based on a referral from the special counsel to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.
Media speculation has suggested the primary basis for the referral was the $130,000 “hush money” payment Cohen made to pornographic-film actress Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, who has said repeatedly and quite convincingly that she had an affair with Trump.
But it is quite possible that was not the only basis for the search warrant used to authorize the action. Scope is a big deal in a federal search warrant. Typically, investigators can’t just take anything they please. This is particularly true in a search of a lawyer’s office, where protection of “privileged information” is the most sacred of legal cows. (Read more from “What to Make of the FBI’s Raid of Michael Cohen’s Office: A Former Agent Reads the Tea Leaves” HERE)
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