National Review/Jack Crowe: Michael Cohen Expected to Part with Attorneys and Cooperate with Mueller

National Review
The Corner

News
Law & the Courts  
Michael Cohen Expected to Part with Attorneys and Cooperate with Mueller
By Jack Crowe  

June 13, 2018 11:39 AM

President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen leaves federal court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, April 16, 2018. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Michael Cohen is expected to begin cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team as the attorneys currently representing him plan to leave the case in the coming days, ABC News reported Wednesday.

The law firm McDermott, Will & Emery LLP will stop providing its services to Cohen after it finishes reviewing documents seized from his home and office to determine which are subject to attorney–client privilege, according to the report.

After Cohen’s team asked U.S. District Court judge Kimba Wood permission to review the 3.7 million documents seized in the April 9 raid before the government’s attorneys, Wood agreed, and appointed former federal judge Barbara Jones to serve as a “special master” to settle any disputes between Cohen’s team and the government over what documents should be privileged.

Jones announced last week that just 162 of the 300,000 seized documents that Cohen’s team has reviewed so far are covered by attorney–client privilege. The attorneys have until Friday to complete their review of the remaining documents, and any documents not reviewed at that point will be turned over to federal prosecutors, who will then determine which of them are privileged.
Stay Updated with NR Daily

NR's afternoon roundup of the day's best commentary & must-read analysis.

Cohen’s expected cooperation, prompted by his lack of representation, is a troubling development for the Trump administration and Trump himself.

“It’s an attack on our country in a true sense. It’s an attack on all we stand for,” Trump said during a meeting with senior military leadership at the White House following the raids. “That is really now on a whole new level of unfairness.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is investigating Cohen over a range of financial crimes including potential bank fraud and campaign-finance violations stemming from his $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Daniels’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, castigated Cohen’s representation in a tweet sent after the Wednesday morning report.

“So after Mr. Ryan makes false accusations against me in fed court, he now abandons Mr. Cohen, withdraws, tucks his tail between his legs, & goes home? Just like David Schwartz before him!! Not a good look and a disaster for Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump,” he tweeted.
Jack Crowe — Jack Crowe is a news writer at National Review Online.
More in Law & the Courts  
Masterpiece Cakeshop Will Help Protect Jews’ Religious Freedom
The Equal Rights Amendment Is a Feminist Ruse
Leak Investigations, Journalists, and Double Standards
You Don’t Get to Rewrite the Constitution Because You Dislike Trump
Most Popular
Science & Tech  
YouTube Terminates Channel of Firearms Parts Retailer
By Mairead McArdle
YouTube suddenly terminated the channel for the firearms parts company Brownells, the company claimed on Saturday. "Brownells’ YouTube channel has been terminated without warning or notice," Brownells' Twitter account stated. Brownells’ YouTube channel has been terminated w/oout warning or notice. If ... Read More
Culture  
Robert De Niro’s Juvenile Stunt at the Tonys
By Kyle Smith
The Tony Awards should have been a celebration of The Band's Visit, the beautifully underplayed musical about Egyptian musicians striking up fumbling temporary friendships with the residents of a dusty Israeli village, which captured ten awards including Best Musical, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the ... Read More
U.S.  
Can We Talk?
By Kevin D. Williamson
Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Nicholas Goldberg argues that Fox News is “a danger to this country,” as the headline put it. Goldberg is the editorial-page editor of the paper, and he offers the familiar lament: “We live in an era in which Americans are being encouraged to disregard or dismiss factual ... Read More
Law & the Courts  
The Equal Rights Amendment Is a Feminist Ruse
By Alexandra DeSanctis
Led by the indomitable actress Alyssa Milano, left-wing feminists are waging their latest self-righteous campaign, this time to ensure that American women will finally be viewed as human beings and granted the same rights as men. After decades of the Left’s insistence that U.S. culture has made steady moral ... Read More

    ...

© 2018 National Review

    Donate
    Subscribe

    Sections
        The Corner
        Bench Memos
        The Morning Jolt
        The G-File
        All Articles
        All Authors
        Podcasts
        Photos
        Videos

    Topics
        Politics & Policy
        Culture
        White House
        Film & TV
        PC Culture
        U.S.
        World
        Immigration
        Economy & Business
        Elections

    Magazine
        Latest Issue
        Archive
        Subscribe
        Customer Care
        NRPLUS
        Magazine FAQ

    About
        Frequently Asked Questions
        The Masthead
        Contact Us
        Privacy Policy
        Terms of Service
        NR Institute

    More
        Advertise
        Donate
        Search
        E-mails & Alerts

Newsletters
Morning Jolt (M-F)
NR Daily (M-Sa)
The G-File (F)
Breaking News (M-Su)

© 2018 National Review