WASHINGTON _ FBI agents raided the New York office Monday of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer, marking a dramatic escalation in law enforcement's investigation of the president's inner circle.
The raid stemmed in part from special counsel Robert S. Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign after Mueller's team referred material to federal prosecutors in New York, who are conducting a separate probe.
It's unclear exactly what the FBI was looking for in the office, but Cohen is involved in two of Trump's most controversial episodes.
He worked on a plan to develop a Trump-branded hotel complex in Moscow during the presidential campaign. The hotel was never built.
Cohen also crafted an agreement to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, an adult-film star who said she had an affair with Trump years ago.
The payment of $130,000 was delivered to Daniels shortly before the 2016 election, raising the possibility that it represented an illegal campaign expenditure. Trump last week denied knowing about the payment.
A lawyer for Cohen, Stephen Ryan, accused the U.S. attorney's office for the southern district of New York of seizing "privileged communications between my client, Michael Cohen, and his clients."
"The decision by the U.S. attorney's office in New York to conduct their investigation using search warrants is completely inappropriate and unnecessary," Ryan said in a statement.
He said Cohen had "cooperated completely" with federal investigators, and had handed over thousands of documents and given testimony under oath.
