BOMBSHELL FBI ‘Monitored’ Phone of President Trump’s Personal Attorney
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The Russia witch-hunt by Robert Mueller has exhibited wild overreach, especially when Mueller raided the office and personal home of President Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, totally denigrating “attorney/client” privilege.
Now, we’re learning that not only was Cohen RAIDED like a common criminal, but his phones were also “monitored” by the Obama-era feds.
Federal investigators logged the phone calls of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in the weeks before they raided his Manhattan home, office and hotel room, according to a report Thursday.
It’s unclear what information was uncovered during log of phone calls known as a “pen register.”
NBC News initially reported the feds had wiretapped Cohen and at least one phone call between Cohen and the White House was intercepted.
Hours later, they corrected the story to say investigators did not obtain a wiretap, but rather a call log.
Former mayor Rudy Giuliani, who recently joined Trump’s legal team and has been on a media blitz over the past 24 hours, argued that reports of a phone tap were bogus.
“We don’t believe it’s true. I keep hearing different stories from different sources,” he told the Daily News “We think it’s going to turn out to be untrue because it would be totally illegal. You can’t wiretap a lawyer, let alone the President’s lawyer.”
Federal prosecutors have already revealed they obtained “covert” search warrants on multiple email accounts belonging to Cohen, according court filings.
But no evidence of a wiretap is clear in the heavily-redacted documents related to the raid.
“A pen register just tells you what phone numbers a phone was in contact with,” noted former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti, now a partner at Thompson Coburn LLP. “It’s like obtaining phone records in real time. It does not reveal the content of communications whatsoever.”
Prosecutors would have had to prove to a judge that they believed Cohen was currently using his phone to engage in criminal activity to listen in on calls.
“Obtaining a wiretap on an attorney is so highly unusual that in my nine years as a federal prosecutor I can’t recall anyone obtaining one on a working lawyer,” Mariotti told The News. “This is a very unusual situation. It would have had to be vetted at the highest level of the DOJ. It’s the attorney of the President of the United States of America.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that she could not “verify the validity” of the NBC report.
“I would refer you to the President’s outside counsel about any concerns of wiretapping,” Sanders said.
During the briefing, Sanders said she was unsure of when Trump and Cohen last spoke, and said she is “not aware of specific” matters where Cohen is representing the President.
The Department of Justice declined to comment.
Trump publicly fumed in the weeks following the raid of his longtime “fixer,” saying the FBI “broke in” and calling it “a witch hunt” and “an attack on our country.”
The Feds seized reams of documents, several cell phones and computer hard drives in their search.
Investigators were reportedly targeting information on a campaign era payout Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to squash her alleged 2006 fling with the future President.
Trump for the first time admitted Thursday morning that he reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 he used to keep the adult film star from going public.
The admission directly contradicts what the President told reporters less than a month ago, when he denied knowledge of the payments.
“You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael,” he told reporters on Air Force One. in April.
Sanders told reporters on Thursday that “this was information the President didn’t know at the time but eventually learned … we give the very best information we have at the time.”
It has also been reported that Giuliani warned Trump that Cohen is likely to flip on him.
Trump pushed back against reports that Cohen — who has worked for Trump and his related business for more than a decade — might “flip” by coughing up details of his personal business dealings.
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