'Do I need this in my life?' : Michael Cohen breaks silence after FBI raid
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Federal agents on Monday raided the office of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, seizing records on topics including a $130,000 payment made to a porn actress who says she had sex with Trump more than a decade ago. (April 9)
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President Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen broke his silence Tuesday evening talking with multiple media outlets about the FBI raids that targeted his office, home and hotel room.Â
“I am unhappy to have my personal residence and office raided,” Cohen told CNN’s Don Lemon. “But I will tell you that members of the FBI that conducted the search and seizure were all extremely professional, courteous and respectful. And I thanked them at the conclusion.”
Cohen’s statements to CNN and several other outlets were a stark deviation from that of his boss, President Trump, who called the raid “disgraceful” and an “attack on our country.”
Cohen did not immediately respond to calls and emails from USA TODAY.Â
“I am unhappy to have my personal residence and office raided. But I will tell you that members of the FBI that conducted the search and seizure were all extremely professional, courteous and respectful,” he told CNN. “And I thanked them at the conclusion.”
Cohen said he was worried, adding, “Do I need this in my life? No. Do I want to be involved in this? No.”
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The raid was “upsetting, to say the least,” he told CNN.Â
On Monday, FBI agents raided Cohen’s New York offices, acting in part on a referral by special counsel Robert Mueller to federal prosecutors in New York.Â
Attorney Stephen Ryan, who represents Cohen, called the action “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.”
“It resulted in the unnecessary seizure of protected attorney-client communications between a lawyer and his clients,” Ryan said. “These government tactics are also wrong because Mr. Cohen has cooperated completely with all government entities, including providing thousands of non-privileged documents to the Congress and sitting for depositions under oath.”
Ryan did not detail what communications were sought or seized in the raid.Â
The Justice Department’s move against Cohen required approval at the highest levels of the department where such raids involve separating privileged communication between attorneys and their clients from communication that may be relevant to criminal investigations.
The raid came in the aftermath of Cohen acknowledging using his own money to “facilitate†a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election. Â
Cohen said he was not reimbursed by the Trump campaign or the Trump Organization, and President Trump said he did not know about the payment or where the money came from.Â
Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who represents Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, declined to say Tuesday whether his client had been contacted by the Justice Department or the FBI in connection with the Cohen investigation. But he indicated in a late-afternoon tweet that they both would “fully cooperate with any search for the truth.â€
“Unlike others,†he wrote, “we don’t require the presence of the fine members of the FBI in order to speak honestly.â€
If Cohen used his own money and acted without Trump’s knowledge, it could be considered an illegal contribution to Trump’s campaign and put him in legal jeopardy. Legal ethics rules bar attorneys from settling a claim without their clients’ knowledge or using their own money to fund settlements.
Contributing: Fredreka Schouten and David Jackson. Follow Christal Hayes on Twitter: Journo_Christal
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Summer Zervos: The former “Apprentice” contestant has accused the president of sexual misconduct, including kissing and groping her in the years after she left the show. She has filed suit against him, saying he made defamatory remarks about her after she came forward with her story.
Seen here, Summer Zervos, left, stands with her lawyer Gloria Allred outside the New York County Criminal Court on Dec. 5, 2017, in New York. The judge in the case allowed on March 20, 2018, Zervos’ defamation suit against Trump to proceed.Â
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