Sean Hannity Revealed As Michael Cohen's Third Client After Trump And Former RNC Finance Deputy
Update, April 16: A federal judge has revealed that Fox News personality Sean Hannity is one of Michael Cohen's clients. It was previously reported that Cohen has given legal advice to three people in the past year, including President Trump and former RNC deputy national finance chairman Elliot Broidy, who resigned last week after the Wall Street Journal reported that Cohen had arranged a $1.6 million payment to a Playboy model who had been impregnated by Broidy. The Wall Street Journal also reports that Cohen used the same limited liability company to accept payment from Broidy that he used to pay Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump.
In a statement to a Wall Street Journal reporter, Hannity said, "We have been friends for a long time. I have sought legal advice from Michael."
In a tweet, however, Hannity denied being Cohen's client in any real sense.
Update, April 13: Lawyers for Michael Cohen and President Trump asked a federal judge to prevent federal prosecutors from reviewing materials seized in a raid of his office and hotel room on Monday until after Cohen's lawyers — or an independent attorney — can go through them and removed privileged communications. The New York Times reports that President Trump called Cohen while the judge was hearing the case.
President Trump phoned his longtime confidant, Michael D. Cohen, to "check in" on Friday as lawyers for the two men went to court to block the Justice Department from reading seized documents related to Mr. Cohen's decade of work for Mr. Trump, according to two people familiar with the call.
It is not clear what else they discussed in a call that came days after a series of FBI raids. Depending on what was said, the call could be problematic for both men, as defense lawyers often advise their clients not to talk to each other during investigations. Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen still were trying to determine what exactly was seized.
In response to Cohen's motion, federal prosecutors filed court papers confirming that Cohen is under criminal investigation for his business dealings, as has been reported throughout the week. They argued that Cohen's motion to prevent the Justice Department from reading the seized materials was intended to delay their investigation and deprive them of evidence. The judge will rule on Cohen's motion on Monday.
Update, April 12: The Washington Post reports that FBI agents raiding Michael Cohen's office were looking in part for records related to loans he took out using New York City taxi medallions as collateral. Cohen reportedly owns a few dozen medallions, which are worth about $300,000 each.
When they raided the office of Trump lawyer Michael D. Cohen on Monday, FBI agents sought his communications with New York-based Sterling National Bank about taxi medallions owned by Cohen, according to a person familiar with the search warrant.
The request indicates that prosecutors may have interest in specific financial transactions that Cohen undertook while using his taxi business as collateral.
Update, April 11: The federal law enforcement agents who searched Michael Cohen's office on Monday were looking for records related to the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape, according to the New York Times.
The FBI agents who raided the office and hotel of President Trump's lawyer on Monday were seeking all records related to the "Access Hollywood" tape in which Mr. Trump was heard making vulgar comments about women, according to three people who have been briefed on the contents of a federal search warrant.
The search warrant also sought evidence of whether the lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, tried to suppress damaging information about Mr. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Update, April 10: The New York Times reports that yesterday's FBI raids of Michael Cohen's office and hotel room were at least partly an effort to obtain records related to payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, who have both claimed that they had affairs with Donald Trump.
The search warrant carried out by the public corruption unit of the Manhattan federal attorney's office seeks information about Karen McDougal, an ex-Playboy model who claims she carried on a nearly yearlong affair with Mr. Trump shortly after the birth of his son in 2006. Ms. McDougal was paid $150,000 by American Media Inc., the Enquirer's parent company, whose chief executive is a friend of Mr. Trump's.
Agents were also searching Michael D. Cohen's office for information related to Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, who says she also had sex with Mr. Trump while he was married. Mr. Cohen has acknowledged that he paid Ms. Clifford $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement to secure her silence just days before the 2016 presidential election.
The Times also reports that Rosenstein personally signed off on the raid. Meanwhile, ABC News reports that the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York played no role in the Cohen raid, having recused himself from the investigation.
Original post, April 9: The office of President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was raided by FBI agents today. The raid was related to an investigation into possible bank fraud and campaign finance violations by Cohen when he made an $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in October 2016. Although President Trump responded to the raid by calling Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team the "most conflicted group of people I have ever seen," the raid actually wasn't overseen by Mueller. In fact, a number of high-level Justice Department figures had to sign off on the search warrant for Cohen's office. Here's what you need to know.
Rod Rosenstein Told Robert Mueller To Hand Over The Cohen Case To A US Attorney's Office
We don't know the nature of the evidence that prompted the raid, but Cohen's own attorney, Stephen Ryan, told reporters that Special Counsel Robert Mueller referred the matter to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. According to Bloomberg, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — who is overseeing Mueller's investigation due to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal — was personally involved in the decision to turn the investigation over to the US attorney's office.
Mueller brought information involving Cohen to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who decided that the matter should be handled by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York rather than by Mueller's team, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Under Justice Department regulations, Mueller is required to consult with Rosenstein about how to handle evidence and matters that fall outside his jurisdiction and authority. Mueller is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential campaign, whether anyone close to Trump colluded in it and whether Trump sought to obstruct justice.
Cohen Wasn't Warned About The Search Ahead Of Time
The fact that the US attorney's office conducted a raid, rather than serving Cohen a subpoena, hints at the strength of the evidence they have already.
A person familiar with the matter told NBC News that this was not a subpoena requesting documents from Cohen. Instead, the source said, this was a court-authorized search, which means there was sufficient probable cause for a federal judge to agree that a search involving the president's personal attorney could occur without any advance notice to Cohen.
[NBC News]
However, Ryan told reporters that the raid was uncalled for because "Mr. Cohen has cooperated completely with all government entities, including providing thousands of non-privileged documents to the Congress and sitting for depositions under oath."
The Search Warrant Was Approved By A US Attorney And A Magistrate Judge
There's a high bar for investigators to have to clear if they want to raid a lawyer's office. Ken White of Popehat, in a very helpful explainer, that both a US Attorney (or Rosenstein) and a magistrate judge had to sign off on the warrant.
The USAM [US Attorney's Manual] requires such a search warrant to be approved by the US Attorney — the head of the office, a Presidential appointee — and requires "consultation" with the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. This is not a couple of rogue AUSAs sneaking in a warrant…
Federal magistrate judges (appointed by local district judges, not by the President) review search warrant applications. A Magistrate Judge therefore reviewed this application and found probable cause — that is, probable cause to believe that the subject premises (Cohen's office) contains specified evidence of a specified federal crime.
[Popehat]
Whatever Privileged Communications Were Found Will Have To Be Handled Carefully
Part of the USAM rules for searching attorney-client communications involves setting up a review process to protect attorney-client privilege. White explains what that review process might like.
That process might involve a judge reviewing the materials to separate out what is privileged (or what might fall within an exception to the privilege), or else set up a "dirty team" that does the review but is insulated from the "clean team" running the investigation. Another option is a "special master," an experienced and qualified third-party attorney to do the review. Sometimes the reviewing team will only be identifying and protecting privileged material. Sometimes the reviewing team will be preparing to seek, or to implement, a court ruling that the documents are not privileged.
[Popehat]
