Trump Rages Over FBI Raids Targeting His Longtime Lawyer

“Attorney-client privilege is dead!”

Jim Loscalzo/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

President Donald Trump continued to lash out over the FBI’s raids targeting his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, declaring on Twitter Tuesday morning that “attorney-client privilege is dead.”

The FBI reportedly seized documents related to Cohen’s $130,000 payout to Stormy Daniels, the porn star who claims she had an affair with Trump. Agents also collected “communications between Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen, which would most likely require a special team of agents to review because conversations between lawyers and clients are protected from scrutiny in most instances,” the New York Times reported. Specifically, the documents will be reviewed by a so-called “taint team” before they are provided to prosecutors.

In his tweet, the president appears to be contending that in going after Cohen’s communications with him, the bureau is violating his legal rights. In a statement Monday, Cohen’s lawyer Stephen Ryan condemned the FBI’s actions as “completely inappropriate and unnecessary,” but he stopped short of calling them illegal.

But legal experts say that the notion that the FBI may have unjustly violated attorney-client privilege is dubious at best and that the FBI’s conduct only highlights the gravity of the investigation. The FBI’s decision to execute the raids also appears to show that investigators had reason to believe the destruction of evidence could take place. Former US attorney and deputy assistant attorney general Harry Litman told USA Today:

The only way the prosecution would be permitted to examine any material that might otherwise fall under the attorney-client umbrella is if it is determined to be part of crime jointly undertaken by the attorney and the client. But for the privilege to be nullified, Litman said the taint team would have to get the approval of the court to present the material to the prosecution. 

Shortly after the raid was conducted, Trump blasted the FBI’s moves as “disgraceful.” He told reporters. “It’s an attack on our country, in a true sense. It’s an attack on what we all stand for.” The president also appeared to float the idea of firing special counsel Robert Mueller, who apparently referred the Cohen case to prosectors.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate