On Monday, a judge in the Southern District of New York ordered the public release of a search warrant that allowed the FBI to raid the office and hotel of President Trump's then-lawyer Michael Cohen in April 2018. The 269-page warrant reveals that investigators were looking into Cohen as early as July 2017, and provides new insight on what led him to cooperate with prosecutors. Here are five more stunning takeaways from the release.
1. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office suspected Cohen was a foreign agent. Beyond the crimes Cohen was eventually charged with, the warrant also said Mueller probed Cohen on suspicion that he committed money laundering and acted as an unregistered foreign agent.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
3. FBI agents didn't want to knock on the wrong door. FBI agents used a cell phone tracker called a "triggerfish" to figure out exactly which room Cohen was using in a Manhattan hotel, NBC News details. They also wanted a device that would track Cohen's incoming and outgoing calls, but didn't want to listen in on them.
4. Trump exposed Cohen's Gmail. Despite the warrant's orders, Google wouldn't hand over data stored on "servers located outside of the United States." But Trump soon signed a law giving U.S. law enforcement enhanced access to overseas servers, prompting U.S. prosecutors to return to court and eventually win access to Cohen's Gmail.
5. There's a lot still left sealed. At least 19 consecutive pages covering an "illegal campaign contribution scheme" allegedly involving Trump were redacted in Tuesday's release. That implies a SDNY investigation — which already turned out a plea deal with Cohen — is still ongoing, CNN's Manu Raju says.
Find the whole warrant here.
-
The 5 best political thriller series of the 21st centuryThe Week Recommends Viewers can binge on most anything, including espionage and the formation of parliamentary coalitions
-
Sudan stands on the brink of another national schismThe Explainer With tens of thousands dead and millions displaced, one of Africa’s most severe outbreaks of sectarian violence is poised to take a dramatic turn for the worse
-
‘Not every social scourge is an act of war’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
