The FBI has raided the office of President Donald J. Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen.
The bureau’s startling move includes the seizing of records and communications about a $130,000 payment he allegedly made to Stephanie Clifford (aka, “Stormy Daniels,” a porn star), who claims to have had an affair with Trump.
Trump tweeted about the surprise incident immediately, declaring that “attorney-client privilege is dead.”
Attorney–client privilege is dead!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2018
Who is Michael Cohen? Here are five things you need to know.
1) Cohen grew up on Long Island. His father was a Holocaust survivor and a surgeon, and his mother was a nurse. He earned his law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1991, which is now Western Michigan University.
2) Cohen spent most of his life as a Democrat. He volunteered for the failed presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis in 1988 and was a legislative intern for Congressman Joe Moakley (D-MA). Cohen once went sailing off Cape Cod with Ted Kennedy and voted for former President Barack Obama. But in 2011, he admitted to ABC that he grew disappointed with Obama. Prior to this time, he ran for the New York City Council as a Republican and briefly campaigned for a New York State Senate seat.
As Cohen said in 2011, “I’m prepared to put the fact that I voted for Obama to the side. I’m more concerned now about my children, future grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and everybody’s children and families. I’m more concerned about them than I am about party affiliation.”
Cohen officially registered as a Republican in 2017. On April 3, 2017, Cohen was appointed a National Deputy Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee. He also is the co-founder, along with Darrell C. Scott, of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump.
As the son of a holocaust survivor, I have no tolerance for #racism. Just because I support @POTUS @realDonaldTrump doesn't make me a racist pic.twitter.com/lfIwdosreE
— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) August 16, 2017
3) Cohen is tough when facing off against the media’s relentless attacks against Donald Trump. He once told a liberal Daily Beast reporter: “So I’m warning you, tread very f***ing lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be f***ing disgusting. You understand me? You write a story that has Mr. Trump’s name in it, with the word ‘rape,’ and I’m going to mess your life up […] for as long as you’re on this frickin’ planet.” When Megyn Kelly questioned Trump about his treatment of women, Cohen retweeted threats to her, such as one that said, “Let’s gut her.”
4) In 2017, he owed the city of New York approximately $40,000 in back taxes for a fleet of taxi medallions he owns. Also, McClatchy reported that Cohen was involved in a number of potentially questionable, large real estate transactions.
5) Cohen’s entire life is closely associated with the Trump family. He’s a member of the board of the Eric Trump Foundation, a children’s health charity named for Donald Trump’s 31-year-old son. He was even chief operations officer of Affliction, a mixed martial arts promotion, which was partially owned by Trump. Before joining the Trump Organization, Cohen had purchased several homes in Trump’s buildings.
While an executive at the Trump Organization, Cohen was known as Trump’s “pit bull.” In 2011, when Trump was publicly speculating about running for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination, Cohen co-founded the website “Should Trump Run?” to draft Trump into running.
Given what we know about Michael Cohen, do you think the FBI overstepped its boundaries when it raided his offices? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!