President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen is under criminal investigation for his "business dealings" and has been a target of law enforcement for months, the Justice Department said Friday. US Attorney Robert Khuzami, in a motion filed with a US District Court judge in New York, redacted the alleged criminal conduct for which Cohen is being investigated.
The Justice Department filing was in response to a request by Cohen for a temporary restraining order that would prevent prosecutors from reviewing certain material seized by the FBI on Monday. FBI agents searched Cohen's home, hotel room, office, a safety deposit box and seized two cellphones in a raid on Monday that drew a furious reaction the same day from Trump.
Trump denounced the FBI raid on "good man" Cohen as "disgraceful" and an "attack on our country." The New York Times, citing several people close to Trump, said the president called Cohen on Friday to "check-in" with his long-time lawyer and fixer. The Justice Department motion revealed that "multiple different email accounts maintained by Cohen" had been secretly monitored by law enforcement for some time.
Cohen has been Trump's personal lawyer for years and has acknowledged making a $130,000 payment before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels, who says she had a tryst with Trump a decade ago. Some of the documents seized in the raids reportedly relate to payments to Daniels and another woman, a former Playboy model named Karen McDougal who also claims to have had an affair with Trump.
According to The Washington Post, Cohen may be under examination for possible bank fraud and for campaign finance violations. Cohen's lawyer cited attorney-client privilege in seeking to restrict access to "documents and communications related to numerous clients." But the government said Cohen appears to have only one client - Donald Trump.
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