Judge says prosecutors will get access to Cohen raid materials this week

Prosecutors will soon gain access to most of the documents related to an FBI raid of President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen. 

Judge Kimba Wood on Tuesday said prosecutors investigating Cohen’s business dealings will receive access to most of the raid materials later this week, according to The Associated Press.

She added that lawyers for Cohen, Trump and the Trump Organization can make designations on items they feel should be subject to attorney-client privilege by Wednesday night.

{mosads}

The decision comes a day after Cohen’s attorney argued that more than 12,000 files seized during the April FBI raid on his home, office and hotel room should be protected by attorney-client privilege. That argument came after Cohen’s attorneys reviewed more than 4 million paper and electronic files taken as part of the government’s case against Trump and Cohen.

The AP also notes that Wood made an exception for about 22,000 documents. For those, she’s giving the Trump Organization until July 5 to make final designations. 

Cohen is under investigation in the Southern District of New York for potential bank fraud and campaign finance violations. The investigation partly stems from the $130,000 nondisclosure payment he gave to adult-film star Stormy Daniels over an affair Daniels says she had with Trump more than a decade ago. 

In mid-June, it was reported that Cohen was considering cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 election.

“He knows a lot of things about the president and he’s not averse to talking in the right situation,” a friend of Cohen’s told CNN. “If they want information on Trump, he’s willing to give it.”

It’s also been reported that Cohen hired a new lawyer to represent him in the federal probe into his business dealings.