As Katie wrote yesterday, Michael Cohen, the personal lawyer for President Trump, had his office, his hotel, and home raided by the FBI. He’s under investigation for possible bank fraud and FEC violations over porn payments made to adult entertainment actress Stormy Daniels, who alleges an affair with the sitting president years before he was elected. She also alleges that she was threatened to keep quiet about it in 2011. The alleged encounter with Trump was not sexual, according to Daniels. She then said that the whole intimate encounter was consensual in an interview with 60 Minutes.
It’s been reported in The New York Times, that the Cohen raid was not connected to the DOJ’s Russia probe headed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller specifically, but rather executed likely based on information Mueller found through his investigation, which he passed onto federal authorities in New York City.
"Mueller brought info re: Cohen to Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, who decided that the matter should be handled by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York rather than by Mueller’s team, according to a person familiar with the matter" https://t.co/BMlxA3Pdev
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 9, 2018
Liberal lawyer Alan Dershowitz called this a “dangerous day” for attorney-client privilege on Fox News’ Hannity last night. He also noted that if Hillary Clinton was being investigated and her lawyer’s office was raided like this, the American Civil Liberties Union would more or less go crazy. Dershowitz added that the silence from the ACLU and civil libertarians on this raid is “appalling” (via Washington Examiner):
This is a very dangerous day today for lawyer-client relations," he added.
[…]
"I tell [clients] on my word of honor that what you tell me is sacrosanct," he said. "And now they say, just based on probable cause ... they can burst into the office, grab all the computers, and then give it to another FBI agent and say, 'You're the firewall. We want you now to read all these confidential communications, tell us which ones we can get and which ones we can't get.'"
[…]
"The deafening silence from the ACLU and civil libertarians about the intrusion into the lawyer-client confidentiality is really appalling," Dershowitz said.
Dershowitz’s decision to maintain his principles on these legal matters and defend the president has cost him. He admits that his liberal colleagues no longer invite him to dinner parties, for which he says he’s now several pounds lighter as a result. He also said that they agree with him, privately telling him his legal defenses of Donald Trump are 100 percent correct, but that he should also shut the f**k up.