Politics
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Michael Cohen.
- The FBI raided President Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen's Manhattan office on Monday.
- The raid came after special counsel Robert Mueller provided the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York with information.
The FBI on Monday raided the Manhattan office of President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, apparently acting on a tip from the special counsel Robert Mueller.
The agency took records related to several topics, including the $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels just prior to the 2016 presidential election, The New York Times reported Monday. Federal prosecutors obtained a search warrant after Mueller sent a referral, Cohen's lawyer Stephen Ryan said.
Ryan called the search "completely inappropriate and unnecessary."
The Times wrote that the raid did not appear to be directly connected to Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, but that the information he provided was likely uncovered as part of his investigation.
"Today the US 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," Ryan said. "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."
Ryan said Cohen cooperated with authorities and turned over thousands of documents to Congress, which is also investigating Russian interference.
FBI officials took emails, tax documents, and business records, a person briefed on the raid told The Times.