Donald Trump blasts FBI raid on lawyer Michael Cohen's office as 'attack on our country'

Furious: Donald Trump
AP
David Gardner10 April 2018

President Donald Trump angrily blasted an FBI raid on his personal lawyer’s office as “an attack on our country.”

In a furious tirade, the US president lashed out at Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his own Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

He even blamed the FBI seizure of his lawyer Michael Cohen’s records relating to an alleged affair between Mr Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels for a drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average - despite the stock market closing at about the time the news of the raid first broke yesterday.

Among the documents reportedly seized were papers detailing a $130,000 ‘hush money’ payment allegedly made by Mr Cohen in return for Ms Daniels silence about an alleged 2006 tryst with the president.

Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen (PA )
PA

“It’s a disgraceful situation,” raged Mr Trump after federal agents raided Mr Cohen’s office and hotel room. “It’s a total witch hunt.”

“It’s an attack on our country - what we all stand for. When I saw this, when I heard about it, that is a whole new level of unfairness,” he added.

“The stock market dropped a lot today, as soon as they heard the noise, you know, this nonsense that was going on,” said Mr Trump. “It was up, it was way up. It dropped quite a bit at the end.”

Once again, the president raised the spectre of firing Mr Mueller, the Special US Counsel heading up a probe into alleged ties between Russia and the Trump election campaign.

Mr Cohen’s lawyer Stephen Ryan said in a statement the office raid followed a “referral” from Mueller.

“I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “Many people have said you should fire him. Again, they found nothing and in finding nothing, that’s a big statement.”

He called Mr Mueller’s investigators “the most biased group of people. These people have the biggest conflicts of interest I’ve ever seen. Democrats all, just about all.”

According to the Washington Post, the FBI is investigating Mr Cohen for bank fraud and campaign finance violations.

In addition to the lawyer’s office, agents also raided his home and the Park Avenue hotel where he’s been staying, according to reports.

Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims she was paid $130,000 in a deal with Mr Cohen, 51, shortly before the election to keep the fling quiet. Mr Trump said last week that he had no knowledge of the payment. Because the deal was struck so close to the 2016 presidential election, legal sources say the cash could be seen as an illegal campaign expense.

It emerged on the same day it was alleged that the Special Counsel is also looking into a $150,000 donation made to Mr Trump’s foundation by Victor Pinchuk, a wealthy Ukrainian businessman. The payment was made in return for Mr Trump shooting a 20-minute video for a conference in Kiev. Mr Mueller is reportedly investigating the unusually large donation as part of his wider examination of the flow of money to the billionaire in the run-up to the election.

Mr Pinchuk, who has been accused by American companies of selling steel on US markets at artificially low prices, claims he made the contribution following a ‘specific request’ from Mr Trump.

Mr Trump has denied having a sexual relationship with Ms Daniels and any campaign collusion with Moscow.

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