WASHINGTON — The FBI today raided the office of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, seizing records related to several topics including payments to adult superstar Stormy Daniels.
The New York Times said that federal prosecutors in New York obtained the search warrant after receiving a referral from White House special counsel Robert Mueller.
Cohen recently said he paid $130,000 to Daniels. He also plays a key role in aspects of Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The FBI seized emails, tax documents and business records, including communications between Trump and Cohen, according to the Times.
Cohen’s lawyer told the Times the search “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.”
“Today the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York executed a series of search warrants and seized the privileged communications between my client, Michael Cohen, and his clients,” said Stephen Ryan, his lawyer. “I have been advised by federal prosecutors that the New York action is, in part, a referral by the Office of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.”
Meantime, Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti said he will announce a “sizable” reward for the identification of a person he said threatened his client to keep quiet about the alleged affair between Trump and Daniels.
He plans releasing tomorrow a composite sketch of a man who allegedly threatened Daniels in a Las Vegas parking lot seven years ago.
“We are very close to identifying this individual. … We need some assistance from the public,” Avenatti told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, adding later, “I’m also confident that when we release the sketch tomorrow and when we offer the sizable reward, someone is going to come forward and it’s going to tighten the noose, if you will, on this issue.”
