Michael Cohen: The FBI raided the office of Michael Cohen, a personal lawyer and confidant of President Donald Trump, Cohen’s attorney confirmed to CNN Monday.
What they seized: Information related to porn actress Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006 that the White House has denied, a source said.
Trump reacts: The President slammed the FBI raid as a “disgraceful situation” and “an attack on our country.”
Our live coverage has ended. Scroll down to read more about the FBI raid.
Michael Cohen’s attorney on Monday filed a motion to dismiss the claims of defamation filed against him by Stephanie Clifford, the adult film actress known as Stormy Daniels.
The filing calls Daniels’ defamation claim “a desperate attempt … to keep at least a portion of this case out of arbitration,” and lists seven reasons why the court should either strike or dismiss the porn star’s claims.
Cohen’s filing is in response to an amended complaint filed by Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti which said that Cohen’s public denial of the affair she alleges she had with Donald Trump in 2006 was “meant to convey that Ms. Clifford is a liar.”
In the filing, Cohen’s attorney stated Daniels was not damaged by Cohen’s words because she said her earnings had quadrupled.
The FBI raided Cohen’s office Monday and seized documents with information related to Daniels as well as bank records, sources said.
Stephen Ryan, a lawyer for Cohen, said in a statement that the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York had executed “a series of search warrants” including at his office, and “seized the privileged communications” between Cohen and his clients.
Here’s what Avenatti told CNN’s Anderson Cooper about the raid:
A $150,000 payment to President Donald Trump’s foundation in 2015 by a Ukrainian billionaire is being examined by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, The New York Times reported Monday, citing three people briefed on the matter.
The donation was made by Victor Pinchuk in September of that year, according to the Times’ report, and in return Trump made a 20-minute video appearance that month at a conference in Kiev.
The payment, which was the largest donation to the charity in 2015 aside from donations from Trump, was discovered when investigators subpoenaed the Trump Organization for information related to foreign business deals, according to The New York Times.
Mueller is leading the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, which includes examining any potential ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia. Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi just issued a statement tonight regarding President Trump’s remarks about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“President Trump’s disparagement of special counsel Mueller’s investigation as ‘an attack on our country’ is a grave reminder of his utter contempt for the rule of law,” she said.
Here’s her statement:
What Trump said earlier tonight
He called the FBI raid on his personal attorney Michael Cohen “an attack on our country,” saying it was a “whole new level of unfairness.”
President Trump has been relatively calm about the Russia investigation so far, because he maintains his innocence.
But news of a raid on Michael Cohen’s office and home sent him over the edge because it hits much closer to home, a source familiar with Trump’s reaction said.
Cohen is like a surrogate family member to the President, and has been spotted semi-regularly at the White House, at times meeting with Trump or dining with the first lady Melania Trump.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the FBI raid of Michael Cohen’s office and home is “probably one of the most significant, most seismic events in the Trump-Russia investigation.”
“For the United States Department of Justice to raid a lawyer’s office and his residence is absolutely extraordinary,” the Connecticut lawmaker said. “This kind of search warrant is a profoundly significant development; one of the most important in this entire investigation over the last year and a half.”
Blumenthal said he believes that the raid raises the stakes for all those involved.
Blumenthal said that the raid “means that the President is likely to be even more impulsive and wrathful than he has been so far.”
President Trump is “upset” about the FBI raid because it happened to his personal attorney, according to a source close to the President.
The feeling from the President and those close to him is that federal officials should have asked for the documents first before executing a search warrant and they’re indignant by the way it has been handled. The source said Michael Cohen has been cooperating with investigators all along.
Earlier tonight, Trump, speaking to reporters, slammed the FBI raid on Cohen’s office and hotel room, calling it 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.
Watch Trump’s remarks:
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a statement tonight, warned President Trump not to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
He continued: “Special Counsel Mueller, a Republican, has uncovered a deep and detailed pattern of Russian interference in our elections that has led to indictments and guilty pleas. It has also led to the Trump administration itself leveling sanctions against Russian individuals for meddling in our elections, proof that it’s not a so-called ‘witch-hunt.’”
Schumer said Mueller’s investigation “must be allowed to continue.”
Earlier tonight, Trump was asked why he hasn’t moved to fire Mueller. Trump said the situation is a “disgrace.”
“We’ll see what happens,” he said.
President Trump was asked whether he’ll fire special counsel Robert Mueller after today’s FBI raid at the office and hotel room of his personal attorney Michael Cohen.
“Why don’t just fire Mueller?” Trump asked. “Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens.”
President Trump made the decision on his own to directly – and bluntly – address the FBI raid of Michael Cohen’s office during his meeting with top military brass and his national security adviser.
One White House official said there was no discussion about the President not talking about the raid at this event. He wanted to talk about it, the official said, and react to the news that had enraged him for the last two hours.
“You can see how angry he is,” a White House official said.
The President said he learned the news as the rest of the country did, but the official said he learned of it from Cohen – or someone in Cohen’s office – a little earlier in the afternoon.
President Trump slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions over his decision to recuse himself in the Russia investigation.
“The Attorney General made a terrible mistake when he did this and when he recused himself, or he should have certainly let us know if he was going to recuse himself, and we would have used a – put a different attorney general in,” Trump said.
“So he made what I consider to be a very terrible mistake for the country but you’ll figure that out,” he added.
President Trump in his harshest words to date on the investigation called the FBI raid on his personal attorney Michael Cohen “an attack on our country,” saying it was a “whole new level of unfairness.”
Read his reaction:
Among the records seized were communications between Michael Cohen and Donald Trump, according to a source with knowledge.
Earlier, Cohen’s attorney said that the raid included the “seizure of protected attorney client communications between a lawyer and his clients.”
The raids today included the Loews Regency New York where Michael Cohen has been staying, according to a source familiar with the matter.
There were approximately a dozen FBI agents involved, the source said.
Additionally, the Wall Street Journal reports the raid also included Cohen’s home.
A source familiar with the matter said the warrant to search Michael Cohen’s office was very broad in terms of items sought, and another source said the search included bank records.
One source familiar with the matter told CNN that included in the documents authorities seized was information related to Stephanie Clifford, better known as porn actress Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006 that the White House has denied.
A source close to the White House said the decision to raid the offices of Michael Cohen could well push President Trump in the direction of taking action against the special counsel’s office.
The source, who has long said the President could still fire special counsel Robert Mueller, believes Trump could view this raid as crossing a line.
Among the actions the President could take, the source said, would be replacing Rod Rosenstein.
“Mueller has gone rogue,” the source said.
Michael Cohen’s office that was raided today was inside the law firm Squire Patton Boggs, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York. Agents visited the office this morning, according to someone familiar with the situation.
Angelo Kakolyris, a spokesman for Squire Patton Boggs, told CNN:
Cohen had formed a strategic alliance to develop business with the law firm one year ago after leaving the Trump Organization’s umbrella. The law firm does not represent Cohen or President Donald Trump.
A White House official says President Trump has been watching TV reports of the FBI raid on the office of Michael Cohen, his longtime lawyer and confidant.
The official said the President was following the news coverage on cable television and knew about the raid before it broke in the New York Times and on TV, the official said. However, it’s unclear if Trump has spoken to Cohen.
It’s important to remember it was just four days ago that Trump, aboard Air Force One, referred reporters to Cohen when asked about the payment made to Stormy Daniels.
“Well, you’ll have to ask Michael Cohen,” Trump told reporters. “Michael is my attorney. And you’ll have to ask Michael Cohen.”
The White House had no immediate comment on the FBI raid.
Stephen Ryan, Michael Cohen’s attorney, is calling the raid “inappropriate and unnecessary” and described the government tactics as “wrong.”
Here’s his full statement:
The FBI raided the office of Michael Cohen, a personal lawyer and confidant of President Donald Trump, The New York Times reported Monday.
Stephen Ryan, a lawyer for Cohen, said the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York had executed “a series of search warrants and seized the privileged communications” between Cohen and his clients, according to the Times.
CNN has reached out to Cohen and his attorneys for comment.
Ryan told the Times the search was “completely inappropriate and unnecessary,” and that federal prosecutors had told him it stemmed partially from a referral by the office of special counsel Robert Mueller.
A person briefed on the search told the Times that one of the topics being investigated was the payment Cohen facilitated to Stephanie Clifford, known as the porn actress Stormy Daniels. The FBI also seized emails, tax documents and business records, including communications between Trump and Cohen, according to the Times.
Cohen is a longtime ally of the President, and admitted earlier this year to setting up a limited liability company in 2016 to pay Daniels. She has alleged she had an affair with Trump a decade earlier, and that the payment was hush money. The White House has denied Daniels’ allegations of an affair with Trump.
Asked about the Daniels controversy last week, Trump said he did not know about the payment and declined to comment further, instead referring questions to Cohen.
“You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen,” Trump said. “Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael.”
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