Judge Rejects Team Bid to Block Fed Prosecutors From Reviewing Cohen Raid
Judge rejects Trump lawyer's request to keep seized records from being accessed by investigators
U.Due south. District Guess Kimba Woods said she has "faith" in federal prosecutors.
A federal gauge Mon rejected efforts by President Donald Trump and his personal attorney to keep law enforcement from accessing records seized in a stunning raid last calendar week.
U.S. District Approximate Kimba Woods said she has "organized religion" in federal prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Part, who are running the investigation into Trump'due south personal attorney and cocky-described fixer, Michael Cohen. Prosecutors will now take a team separate from the ane investigating Cohen put all of the seized documents on a searchable database — without reading whatever of them. They will then share the database with lawyers for Cohen and Trump.
Officials told the court that those seized records include roughly 10 boxes, plus information files on multiple phones and electronic devices that could have upward to two weeks to organize.
The court boxing that waged through most of the afternoon was put in movement when FBI agents raided Cohen's office, home and hotel room a calendar week agone to search for records continued with sure piece of work on behalf of Trump and in Cohen's ain business concern dealings. Cohen appealed to the court, arguing that the lion's share of the records needed to be kept confidential because of attorney-client privilege. Trump joined the try.
Federal prosecutors, after get-go declining to discuss annihilation most the ongoing case last week, argued both in filings and in open court that Cohen represented few people as an chaser and, therefore, he possessed few documents legitimately covered by attorney-client privilege. That event was front end and center every bit the two.5-hour hearing opened in Manhattan federal court. Cohen'south attorneys told the court he had 3 clients from 2017 to 2018, including the president and GOP financier Elliott Broidy, just they refused to name the third in public.
"I understand he doesn't want his name out there," the judge said. "That's not enough under the law."
And with that came the nigh dramatic part of the hearing as Cohen's chaser, Stephen Ryan, reluctantly revealed it was Play tricks News Channel host Sean Hannity. Gasps could be heard echoing throughout Woods's stately, large courtroom.
Ryan offered no indication of the work Cohen had done for Hannity. But, as the news of Hannity's function ping-ponged effectually media and political circles in New York and Washington, Hannity downplayed any attorney-customer relationship he has had with Cohen.
"Michael Cohen has never represented me in whatsoever matter," Hannity tweeted. "I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees. I accept occasionally had brief discussions with him virtually legal questions nearly which I wanted his input and perspective. I causeless those conversations were confidential, but to be admittedly articulate they never involved any matter between me and a third party."
The Hannity revelation came early in the hearing, which was held amid an nearly circus-like atmosphere. Only earlier the hearing began, porn star Stormy Daniels arrived in court with her attorney, Michael Avenatti. It is Daniels, who alleges a ane-dark tryst with Trump before he was president, who has go the most improbable yet critical role player in the ongoing saga of Trump and his cascading controversies. The White Firm has denied the allegation of an affair.
Presently earlier Trump was elected in 2016, Cohen bundled a $130,000 payment to Daniels from his own funds in order to keep her from going public with the story of what she says was her California one-nighter with Trump. Records of that arrangement were scooped up in final calendar week's raids, according to people briefed on the case. Trump has said he did non know most the payment, and has denied the underlying claims well-nigh the affair with Daniels, calling it "imitation news."
Cohen did not announced to notice when Daniels first walked into the courtroom. She and Avenatti saturday anxiety autonomously from Cohen only did not announced to collaborate.
Daniels was non permitted to address the court, but she spoke to reporters outside.
"For years Mr. Cohen has acted similar he is above the police," Daniels said. "He has considered himself and openly referred to himself every bit Mr. Trump'south fixer. He'due south played by a different set of rules, or should we say no rules at all. He has never thought that the piddling man, or especially women and even more women like me, mattered. That ends at present. My attorney and I are committed to making sure that anybody finds out the truth and the facts of what happened."
At result in court was a disquisitional however technical set of legal principles, dealing with the nature of the relationship between lawyers and the people they stand for.
Simply it as well diameter the mark of the politics of the twenty-four hour period in which a reality-star president prominent on Twitter is facing a battery of legal issues that withal includes the special prosecutor's probe into Russian election meddling.
In arguing his case, Ryan told the court "this is something that's never occurred in the history of the The states -- papers of the president have been taken and reviewed by the authorities."
And Trump'south attorney, Joanna Hendon, said last week's FBI searches were "an unprecedented raid and seizure of the personal chaser of a sitting president."
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/judge-rejects-trump-lawyers-request-seized-records-accessed/story?id=54513352
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