Kimba M. Wood, a federal judge revealed on Monday that she will not grant FBI seized documents access to Trump and Cohen. She also told that she was considering to appoint an independent lawyer to investigate and review the material caught in FBI’s raid. In a hearing of a high-stakes case involving the president and his lawyer Michael D. Cohen, Kimba M. Wood did not allow an exclusive access to the president of the material. However, she said that she will also not allow federal prosecutors to review the documents and Mr. Trump will finally get the copies of the documents that belong to him.
A week before this hiring, federal agents raid on Cohen’s office and found a couple of boxes full of documents and a dozen electronic machines like hard drives and cell phones. Trump and Cohen along with the prosecutors have pledged to the court to give them an exclusive access to the documents so that they can determine which documents might be guarded by the attorney-client privilege. This is important in determining that which of these documents can be used in the investigation by the prosecutors.
The officials of Trump’s administration fear that Cohen’s inquiry can pose a serious threat to Trump than the one by Robert S. Mueller III. However, Wood was not able to decide which way the first review should go, but she told that she believed in the prosecutors. Wood said that he has complete faith in attorney office and their integrity is entirely trustworthy.
Since Trump elected as a president, he had issues with the judges of federal courts. Many judges ruled against his policies like the transgender policy, and his conflicts over business interests. However, the case presided by Wood is much intimate in the sense that this matter can create a serious jeopardy for his closest friend, Cohen. Mr Cohen is with Trump for a decade and helped him in his election campaign by suppressing the scandals involving the scandal of the president about his relationship with a playboy model, Karen McDougal.
In the first hearing of this case, Cohen didn’t appear but on the direction of the judge, he attended the second hearing on Monday. Cohen did not speak to the media and sat quietly among his lawyers and didn’t utter a word during the whole proceeding.
The documents seized by FBI will surely put light on the president’s relationship with his lawyer. According to reports, these documents can reveal the case of Stormy Daniels, a star of adult films who claimed to have an affair with the president and also accused Cohen of giving her $130,000 to keep quiet. There was another surprise before the hearing began as Ms. Clifford along with her lawyer Michael Avenatti entered the courtroom. It was the first time when Clifford and Cohen faced each other.
The hearing lasted for almost two and a half hours and at the end of the hearing, it was also revealed that the fox news host and one of the passionate supporter of Trump Sean Hannity, had recently been the client of Cohen.
The lawyer of Mr. Cohen told the court that he had represented three clients on legal matters recently. One of those clients was Trump and the other was Elliott Broidy, a Republican donor. He further said that Broidy was dismissed from his seat after he was alleged of having an affair with a playboy model. The lawyer also told that Broidy was also accused of $1.6 million payment help from Cohen.
However, the lawyer refused to disclose the name of his third client saying that the third client had nothing to do with Cohen. But the judge Wood forced the lawyer to reveal the name of his third client and Mr. Hannity was named as his third client. The federal judge had asked to use a special group of investigators and named that group as “taint team.” And this group will review the documents and determine whether there is any violation of these documents.