Trump reacts to raid on his lawyer’s office

A raid carried out by the FBI on the New York office of Donald Trump’s lawyer identified as Michael Cohen has been described by the United States President as ‘disgraceful’.

Reports say the FBI also raided Cohen’s hotel and residence earlier, seeking documents on his clients and personal finances of the lawyer who is under investigation for alleged crimes related to bank fraud and campaign finance violations.

“I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, a good man,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.

“It’s a disgraceful situation,” he said, describing the raid as “an attack on what we all stand for”.

Read also: Workers’ strike paralyses rail travel across France

Cohen’s lawyer said in a statement that federal prosecutors obtained a search warrant for the raids, which were first reported by the New York Times, on a referral from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating alleged Russian interference in the US 2016 presidential elections.

According to US media, documents seized in the raid included those regarding a $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels less than two weeks before the 2016 presidential elections.

The raid is coming after another top US lawyer identified as Alex van der Zwaan was sentenced to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines and was fined $20,000 for ‘repeatedly’ lying to investigators about his foreign contacts.

Authorities say the former lawyer of a top campaign aide of Trump was found guilty of lying to the special counsel in an on-going probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections.

 

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