After two months of legal wrangling following an April 9 FBI raid on his home, hotel room and office, sources close to Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen say that he’s preparing to cooperate with prosecutors from the Southern District of New York who have been overseeing the criminal probe against him, ABC News reported Wednesday morning.
In the latest sign that he could be preparing to cooperate, ABC said the law firm that has represented Cohen so far will not be representing him going forward. So far, Cohen has been represented by Stephen Ryan and Todd Harrison of the Washington and New York firm McDermott, Will & Emery LLP. No replacement counsel has been identified at this time. The report comes as Cohen’s attorneys are rushing to review 3.7 million documents seized in the raid for signs they could be protected by attorney-client privilege by the Friday deadline. Of 300,000 documents reviewed so far, the “special master” supervising the dissemination of documents seized in the raid said that only 162 of them were protected.
The possibility of Cohen turning states witness could create problems for the White House, Cohen’s family members and lawyers that have been working on the multifaceted investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Needless to say, the Democrats are ecstatic.
BREAKING: Michael Cohen no longer has legal representation, and a source tells ABC he is going to cooperate with federal prosecutors in New York. This would mean Cohen flipped on Trump. Which would be the most devastating blow to him yet. It could end his presidency. Tick-tock.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) June 13, 2018
Today’s news comes after Vanity Fair reported late Tuesday that Cohen has been telling friends that he expects to be arrested soon. When contacted by the Vanity Fair reporter via text, Cohen reportedly replied “your source is wrong!”
While Trump has repeatedly played down his connections to Cohen (he said last month during an interview with Fox & Friends that Cohen handled only “a tiny fraction” of his legal work) sources close to the White House have told media that Trump is worried about the prospect of his former “fixer” cooperating with prosecutors. Trump has also lashed out at the prosecutors who targeted Cohen, famously declaring that “attorney-client privilege is dead!” on twitter while saying during a press conference that the raid on Cohen was “an attack on our country.”
Attorney–client privilege is dead!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2018
“Trump should be super worried about Michael Cohen,” a former White House official said. “If anyone can blow up Trump, it’s him.”
Cohen is reportedly being investigated for bank fraud connected to a “hush money” payment of $130,000 made to Stormy Daniels, the former adult-film star who alleges she had a brief affair with Trump a decade ago. Special Counsel Robert Mueller reportedly turned over evidence against Cohen to the Southern District of New York, with the DOJ’s approval.
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