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| Wait, where are they? |
The F.B.I. on Monday raided the office of President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, seizing records related to several topics including payments to a pornographic-film actress.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained the search warrant after receiving a referral from the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to Mr. Cohen’s lawyer, who called the search “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” The search does not appear to be directly related to Mr. Mueller’s investigation, but likely resulted from information he had uncovered and gave to prosecutors in New York.
“Today the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York executed a series of search warrants and seized the privileged communications between my client, Michael Cohen, and his clients,” said Stephen Ryan, his lawyer. “I have been advised by federal prosecutors that the New York action is, in part, a referral by the Office of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.”
Mr. Cohen plays a role in aspects of the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He also recently said he paid $130,000 to a pornographic-film actress, Stephanie Clifford, who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. Ms. Clifford is known as Stormy Daniels.
Here is more from NBC News:
The FBI on Monday raided the office of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, seeking information about a $130,000 payment the attorney made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election, sources said.
Several law enforcement officials confirmed the search of Cohen's office was not the work of Mueller's prosecutors. It involves a matter that the Mueller team came across, concluded did not fall under their mandate and passed on to the U.S. Attorney's office in New York.
Legal sources familiar with the nature of the search said it involved the $130,000 payment to Daniels, who alleges that she had an affair with Trump. The sources did not say whether it might have also involved other matters.
So the Mueller team found some incriminating information about this payoff to Stormy Daniels during their investigation of Trump and his associates, decided it did not fit comfortably with the focus of their investigation, so they handed it off to the New York Attorney General, who was convinced that the evidence was sufficiently concerning enough to get a warrant to raid Cohen's office.
And that is not all. According to Vanity Fair the FBI also raided Cohen's hotel room.
And whatever is in that office clearly has Trump concerned.
Trump has been watching TV reports of the FBI raiding Cohen's office, per @jeffzeleny.— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) April 9, 2018
And here is how Trump responded publicly to questions about the raid.
Did I not say earlier that today was going to be stressful for Donald Trump?Trump comments responding to Cohen Raid pic.twitter.com/vNhZGsqCv5— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 9, 2018
That might have been an understatement.
Now the question is, will this be the thing that freaks Trump out so much that he finally fires Rod Rosenstein and starts working to close down the Mueller investigation?
Source https://ift.tt/2Ju1VZz
