President Trump’s attorneys want a federal judge to throw out all evidence seized in the raid on his personal attorney Michael Cohen’s home and office last week.
In a letter sent to U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood Sunday, Joanna Hendon said Trump is asking the judge to keep the government from using documents and other evidence seized in the raid because it may violate attorney-client privilege.
“The President objects to the government’s proposal to use a ‘taint team’ of prosecutors from the very Office that is investigating this matter to conduct the initial privilege review of documents seized from the President’s personal attorney, Michael D. Cohen,” Hendon writes. A “taint team” is a team of government lawyers who are not involved in the case that search through evidence to ensure no materials that would violate attorney-client privilege make their way into the case.
“The cases upon which the government relies do not authorize this extraordinary measure, and, to our knowledge, no court in this Circuit has ever forced a privilege-holder, over his objection, to rely on government lawyers to protect his attorney-client privilege as to materials that were seized from his own lawyer’s office.”
“The Court should enter an order enjoining the government from proceeding with any review of the seized materials, and directing the government to provide a copy of the seized materials to Mr. Cohen so that our firm and the President may review for privilege those seized documents that relate to him,” Herndon added.
The raid on Cohen sought communications between the lawyer and his presidential client. Trump has fumed throughout the week that the investigation will violate attorney-client privilege between Cohen and Trump.
Earlier 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 attorneys say the raid was ordered on behalf of special counsel Robert Mueller but other reports indicate investigators in New York are working on a separate corruption case against Cohen. The president’s lawyer has been in the spotlight recently after confirming he made a $130,000 payment to ex-pornstar Stormy Daniels that may have violated campaign finance laws.
Herndon wrote in the letter the raid was “disquieting to lawyers, clients, citizens, and commentators alike.”
“The question now before the Court is, who should perform the initial review of the seized materials to assess whether they are, or are not, subject to a valid claim of privilege: a taint team consisting of colleagues of the prosecutors assigned to this investigation, or the President, who is the holder of the privilege and, as such, has a unique interest in ensuring that every privileged item is fully protected from improper disclosure? The question answers itself,” she writes.
Herndon argues in the letter no attorney on the “taint team” would be able to protect attorney-client privilege because they would not understand Cohen and Trump’s relationship.
“When a lawyer’s files are seized by the government, a taint team member having no first-hand involvement in the underlying representation can only guess as to the nature of the relationships at issue and the circumstances under which particular documents came into being,” Herndon wrote. “No one in that position can adequately safeguard the privilege.”
