Last week, the home, office, and hotel of President Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, were raided by the FBI on the order of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. There, federal agents confiscated all documents found in the attorney’s office.
In addition to the raids, New York City Judge, Kimba Wood, ordered Cohen to reveal all the private clients he had taken after leaving the Trump Organization. Cohen had left the Trump Organization right after the 2016 Presidential Elections and had opened up a private legal practice. Since then, Cohen had taken up three clients since then including Trump, the former GOP fundraiser Elliot Broidy, and a third client. In the letter addressed to Judge Wood, Cohen’s attorneys did not name his third client.
However, at federal court on Monday, Cohen’s lawyer was left with no choice but to disclose the name of the client. The mystery client turned out to be none other than Fox News host, Sean Hannity. Soon afterwards, Hannity went on his radio show to reveal the exact nature of his legal relationship with attorney Michael Cohen. Hannity also tweeted about this issue to clear his side in the matter.
“Michael Cohen has never represented me in any matter. I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees. I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective. I assumed those conversations were confidential, but to be absolutely clear they never involved any matter between me and a third-party.”
On Friday, Hannity presented his defense in his Fox News show, where he remarked that Cohen was “a great attorney.” Hannity also claimed to have consulted Cohen, only on matters relating to real estate, since “Michael knows real estate.”
Moreover, Hannity also tweeted that he did not ask Cohen to conceal his real identity.
“In response to some wild speculation, let me make clear that I did not ask Michael Cohen to bring this proceeding on my behalf, I have no personal interest in this proceeding, and, in fact, asked that my de minimis discussions with Michael Cohen, which dealt almost exclusively about real estate, not be made a part of this proceeding.”
The letter submitted to the court by Cohen’s attorneys, further revealed that Cohen had seven other clients from his private practice, to whom he gave “strategic advice and business consulting” instead of the conventional legal advice. However, the names of these seven clients were not disclosed in the letter, to protect their confidentiality.
In the letter, Trump’s attorneys requested the court to halt the plans of the Justice Department so “our firm and the President may review for privilege those seized documents that relate to him.” They further wrote that the FBI raids were “an operation disquieting to lawyers, clients, citizens, and commentators alike”.
