The lawyers for Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer for President Trump, complained in a new court filing that the FBI’s raid of Cohen’s office were “completely unprecedented,” and called for a “special master” to review the seized materials to determine if any are protected by attorney-client privilege.
“To the extent it bears repeating, federal prosecutors have seized the data and files of the personal attorney of the President of the United States. This is completely unprecedented,” they said in a court filing to Manhattan federal court. They said federal investigators “took everything.”
“This is perhaps the most highly publicized search warrant in the history of recent American criminal jurisprudence. It is paramount that the review of Mr. Cohen’s data and documents be handled in such a way as to eliminate, as much as possible, even the ‘appearance of unfairness,'” the court filing said. It added that the seizure was “an operation disquieting to lawyers, clients, citizens, and commentators alike.”
Cohen’s lawyers are hoping Judge Kimba Wood will require the FBI to turn over the documents it seized and have a neutral party decide which documents it can use, and which it cannot.
[Related: Trump asks judge to block evidence seized in raid on Michael Cohen’s apartment]
On Sunday morning, Trump tweeted all his attorneys were now worried their homes and offices would be raided.
“Attorney Client privilege is now a thing of the past. 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!” Trump tweeted.
Cohen’s filing also revealed Monday that he had 10 clients from 2017 to 2018, including Trump, Elliott Broidy, the former deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee and an unidentified client.
“The third legal client directed Mr. Cohen to not to reveal the identity publicly,” Cohen’s lawyers wrote.
He also had seven other clients who were noted and not named, for who “the work appears to be providing strategic advice and business consulting.”
Cohen is due in Manhattan federal court Monday at 2 p.m. The Department of Justice announced Friday that Cohen had been “under criminal investigation” for months in New York focused on his “personal business dealings.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller ordered the FBI raid of Cohen’s office last week to collect documents related to his $130,000 hush-money payment, allegedly on behalf of Trump, to porn star Stormy Daniels.
