The White House legal team was dealt a major blow on Monday after FBI officials raided an office and residence belonging to President Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, a move that’s likely to expose the president to greater legal scrutiny if he fires his deputy attorney general.
Authorities involved in Monday’s raid were instructed to seize documents related to Cohen’s payment to adult film star Stephanie Clifford, widely known as Stormy Daniels, who claims she accepted $130,000 from Cohen days before the 2016 election to keep quiet about an extramarital affair she alleges she had with Trump. A former senior intelligence official said the search warrant for the raid was extremely broad, allowing agents to also confiscate bank records, emails, and other documents related to various financial transactions.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein reportedly approved the raid, which was overseen by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. Former assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Hardy said a “taint team” within the New York office will now spend the next several weeks sifting through the materials that were taken in order to separate out communications that could fall under the attorney-client umbrella.
“They’re going to determine that which is fair game for the main prosecution team,” Hardy told the Washington Examiner, noting that Cohen’s attorney could file a motion for a return of property in the interim.
“That would be a vehicle for the defense but … those motions are rarely filed in the first place and they’re rarely granted,” Hardy said. “Generally, the law is on the side of the government in these situations, and whether or not the materials can be used in court is another matter.”
Such a motion could take time, as Cohen’s own legal team must determine which documents were removed from his office and hotel room. “It’s not something that you would do precipitously,” Hardy said. “They will want to get their ducks in a row to maximize impact.”
Some legal experts believe Cohen’s questionable behavior — particularly his tendency to blur the lines between his professional work and personal relationships — could present innumerable difficulties for him, in addition to already exacerbating the president’s legal troubles.
“He seems to relish mixing his roles as friend, fixer, businessman and lawyer to the point where his own attorney on TV said it was difficult to determine what role [Cohen] was playing in the Stormy Daniels situation,” Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law school professor. “That’s going to come back to haunt both Cohen and President Trump because in order to claim attorney-client privilege, you must first establish that you were acting as an attorney.”
Turley described Cohen’s actions as “breathtakingly reckless” and reflective of “some type of strange savant-like gift,” pointing to instances where he has intermingled his own money with the interests of clients like Trump or failed “to maintain clear lines as an attorney.”
“Cohen has maximized the threat to the president because of his failure to keep clear lines in terms of when he’s acting as a friend or a business partner,” Turley told the Washington Examiner.
Attorneys assigned to the so-called taint team will capitalize on that flaw as they sort through the documents seized on Monday, looking for instances where Cohen shared communications between him and Trump with third parties – a breach of attorney-client privilege of his own making – or evidence of any active involvement in a crime scheme or enterprise. Such materials are almost always exempt from attorney-client protections.
“One of the things the taint team looks for … is some easy way out,” Turley said, referring to the team’s effort to maximize the information made available to the prosecution. “More likely than not, [Cohen] provided one.”
A spokesman for Cohen did not return requests for comment.
Trump tore into federal investigators after first learning of the raid and has since fumed to aides about Rosenstein’s overreach, according to a source close to the White House.
“This is ridiculous. This is now getting ridiculous,” the president told reporters before meeting with senior military officials on Monday. “I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. Many people have said you should fire [special counsel Robert Mueller]. Again, they found nothing. And in finding nothing, that’s a big statement.”
Amid his growing frustration, Trump has found himself in a difficult position. Because the raid of Cohen’s office was conducted by officials in the Southern District of New York, their investigation is unlikely to be halted if the president terminated Rosenstein, Mueller, or Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“There’s no stopping the investigation,” said the former senior intelligence official. “Trump really has no ability to quash it and anything he tries to do is going to be really much more closely evidence of obstruction.”
Turley said the move by Rosenstein — to ensure the raid was conducted by government attorneys in New York — was “as cunning as it is hostile” because of the precarious position in which it placed the president.
“Forty-eight hours ago, Trump was in a safe position. If he had stayed there, he probably could have weathered this investigation without much greater risk. But Cohen has made the world’s best wolf pit and if the president moves aggressively to protect him, he could very well fall into it,” Turley said.
A source close to the president’s legal team said Trump’s lawyers are more furious with Cohen than ever, citing his decision to continue litigation over a non-disclosure agreement signed by Stormy Daniels and his routine carelessness as an attorney.
“They had the president where they needed him to be and now Michael Cohen is again forcing the next issue,” the source said. “The D.C. team has been spending weeks trying to contain the damage caused by this attorney.”
Trump has denied having any prior knowledge about the payment that was made to Daniels by Cohen. When asked about the situation last week, he advised reporters to let his longtime attorney speak for himself.
“You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen,” Trump said. “Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael.”
