Judge orders release of Michael Cohen's unsealed search warrants related to FBI raids
Unsealed search warrants related to President Donald Trump’s former fixer and personal attorney Michael Cohen have been released as part of a court order by a federal judge in New York.
The warrants relate to a search executed on Cohen’s home, office and hotel room last April.
The documents were unsealed after news organizations, including ABC News, pressed the court to order their release. The judge agreed but on the condition any reference to an ongoing investigation was redacted.
While the documents break down Cohen’s financial crimes -- to which he has pleaded guilty -- the portions about the ongoing campaign finance investigation in which Cohen has implicated Trump are entirely redacted.
The search warrant affidavits made clear the matter was referred to federal prosecutors in New York from special counsel Robert Mueller. Cohen owed $22 million on taxi medallion loans from Sterling National Bank and Melrose Credit Union. In January 2017, as Trump assumed the presidency, Cohen began receiving nearly $3 million for what the FBI believed to be political consulting work, “including consulting for international clients on issues pending before the Trump administration.” There was a suspicion of a Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violation by Cohen from authorities. The FBI also said Cohen never told the banks to which he owed money that he had this additional source of income.
In a statement Tuesday, Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, told ABC News the release “only furthers [Cohen’s] interest in continuing to cooperate and providing information and the truth about Donald Trump and the Trump organization to law enforcement and Congress.”
Cohen was sentenced to three years in jail and is expected to report for his sentence in early May.
