NEW YORK _ Michael Cohen revealed for the first time Monday how many of his documents, text messages and emails he believes are protected by attorney-client privilege: 12,061 out of over 4 million.
Barbara Jones, a retired judge overseeing the review of material seized by the FBI from Cohen's law office and residences in April, will make the final recommendation on what is privileged. Documents designated as privileged are not fair game for prosecutors in Manhattan Federal Court investigating Cohen for campaign finance law violations, as well as bank and wire fraud.
As President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Cohen brokered hush money payments to two women in 2016 who claimed to have had affairs with Trump.
Cohen's assessment, revealed in a letter filed by his attorney Todd Harrison, expands the potential amount of privileged material significantly _ though it remains less than 1 percent of the total amount of documents under review.
Last week Judge Kimba Wood affirmed Jones' determinations so far of what material was privileged _ and revealed that Cohen was more often acting as a client than a lawyer. Wood wrote that only 161 out of 292,226 of Cohen's documents and electronic communications were privileged.
