FBI Raids Offices of Trump's Personal Lawyer Michael Cohen, President Calls It A 'Disgraceful Situation'

The U.S.'s Federal Bureau of Investigation agents today raided at least two of the New York offices of President Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer and ‘confidant’ Michael Cohen. Law enforcement officials acted on a "referral" from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Cohen's own attorney Stephen Ryan said agents seized "privileged communications" between Cohen and Cohen's own clients, in part based on a request from Special Counsel Robert Mueller. CNN reported that a source familiar with the matter said the search warrant was very broad in terms of items sought, and another source said the search included bank records.  Additionally, The Wall Street Journal reported the raid included Michael Cohen's home.

Cohen has been Trump's personal lawyer and confidant for years, advising him on real estate and personal matters, as well as supporting him since he became president. Cohen also made the USD 130,000 payoff to the porn actress Stormy Daniels, ahead of the 2016 election, which she claims was meant to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with Trump.

Ryan lashed out at prosecutors over the raid, which came as Mueller seeks to interview Trump for his sprawling investigation. Ryan called the raid "completely inappropriate and unnecessary.” "It resulted in the unnecessary seizure of protected attorney client communications between a lawyer and his clients. These government tactics are also wrong because Mr. Cohen has co-operated completely with all government entities, including providing thousands of non-privileged documents to the Congress and sitting for depositions under oath," the statement said.

President Donald Trump slammed the FBI raid on his personal attorney Michael Cohen's office and hotel room as a "disgraceful situation" and "an attack on our country." "I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys. Good man. And it's a disgraceful situation. It's a total witch hunt," Trump said Monday, referring to a lawful FBI raid. “It's an attack on our country," Trump said. "It's an attack on what we all stand for."

The President again criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself, saying, "the attorney general made a terrible mistake."

The CNN also reported that a source close to the White House warned that Special Counsel Mueller's decision to pass information on  which resulted in the seizure warrants could push Trump in the direction of taking action against him. This source, who has long said the President could still fire Mueller based on conversations with Trump and close advisers, believes the President could view the raid as crossing a red line and said among the actions Trump could take is replacing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has oversight of the probe.

U.S. media highlighted the raid was a no-knock raid which means that FBI agents simply walked into Cohen’s office and seized documents they were looking for. This also means they took this approach as there was fear of possible evidence being possibly destroyed. The raid is also an escalation of action against what the U.S. Justice Department sees as criminal activity committed by people connected to U.S. President Donald Trump.

Last week, Trump broke his silence over the payment to Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, denying he paid her hush money through his attorney and insisting he did not know why Cohen made the payment. (With Agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 10, 2018 05:26 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).