WASHINGTON — Federal agents who raided the office of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, were looking for information about payments to a former Playboy playmate and a porn actress who claim to have had affairs with Trump, two people familiar with the investigation said Tuesday.
Public corruption prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan are trying to determine if there was any fraud related to the payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, according to one of the people. McDougal, a former playmate, was paid $150,000 by the parent company of the National Enquirer for her story, though the magazine never published it. Cohen paid $130,000 to Daniels as part of an agreement, made before the 2016 election, to keep her from going public with her allegations.
A warrant used in the raid Monday specifically authorized agents to seize records related to McDougal, said one of the people, who demanded anonymity to discuss the confidential details.
The payments appear to be part of a pattern of Trump’ self-described fixer trying to shield the businessman-turned-politician from embarrassing press by buying women’s silence.
The new details on the Cohen raid, first reported by The New York Times, emerged as the president boiled over on Twitter about it and evidence that investigators are zeroing in on his inner circle. The raid on Cohen was not carried out by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.
But the president’s ire has been directed at Mueller and his boss, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. On Monday, Trump called Mueller’s investigation “an attack on our country” and suggested he was considering firing the special counsel.
The furious president himself blasted out his displeasure early Tuesday, saying on Twitter: “Attorney-client privilege is dead!”
In fact, attorney-client privilege is not absolute and can’t be invoked when the discussion was part of an effort to commit a crime. The search was authorized by a judge and no evidence suggests it was carried out improperly.
The search did not appear related to allegations of Russian election interference or possible coordination with the Trump campaign, the main focus of Mueller’s probe. But the raid was prompted, at least in part, by evidence or allegations uncovered by Mueller’s team.
Under Justice Dept. regulations, Mueller must consult with Rosenstein when his investigators uncover new evidence that may fall outside his original mandate. Rosenstein then decides whether to allow Mueller to proceed or assign the matter to another U.S. attorney or another part of the Justice Dept.
FBI agents searched Cohen’s office, apartment and a hotel room where he’s been staying while his home is under renovation, looking for documents related to Daniels and McDougal.
McDougal has said she carried on an affair with Trump in 2006 after the birth of his son. The Enquirer’s publisher, American Media Inc., said they paid McDougal for details of the alleged affair, but they never appeared in print.
Agents also seized records related to a $130,000 payment made to Daniels, who says she had sex with Trump the same year as McDougal. Daniels’ team has had extensive communications with federal investigators, said a third person familiar with the investigations, who demanded anonymity to discuss the confidential matter.