U.S. investigators wiretapped phone lines of Trump lawyer -NBC

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK - 3 May 2018: Federal investigators wiretapped the phone lines of U.S. President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen before the FBI seized records and documents in a raid last month on his offices, hotel room and home, NBC News reported on Thursday.

NBC, citing sources familiar with legal proceedings involving Cohen, said it was unclear how long the wiretap had been authorized, but it was in place in the weeks before the April 9 raids in New York targeting the lawyer. At least one call between a phone line associated with Cohen and the White House was intercepted, NBC quoted one source as saying.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a news briefing she could not verify the NBC report and said she had not talked to Trump about the wiretap issue.

The raids were part of a federal criminal investigation of Cohen in New York in part over a $130,000 payment he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels a month before the 2016 U.S. presidential election to keep her quiet about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump in 2006.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump said on Twitter that Cohen was reimbursed for that payment through a monthly retainer, not campaign funds, to stop "false and extortionist accusations" Daniels has made about a sexual relationship with the president.

The wiretapping of Cohen, if confirmed, would represent the latest ominous development for Trump, who faces legal difficulties on several fronts. The investigation of Cohen is an offshoot of the ongoing probe by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller into potential collusion between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia and whether Trump has unlawfully sought to obstruct the investigation. Russia and Trump deny any collusion.

Daniels also has filed two lawsuits against Trump.

Like a search warrant, a wiretap can be authorized when a judge determines there is probable cause to believe a person has committed a crime. But there is an added burden of showing the criminal behavior is ongoing and that there is no other way to reasonably obtain the information. Authorities must re-apply for the wiretap every 30 days.

It was not immediately clear when the warrant for surveillance was obtained or what evidence the Federal Bureau of Investigation had to support its request.

'A MOCKERY'

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who is a member of Trump's legal team, told the Washington Post that, if true, the wiretaps would be "not appropriate," according to a Twitter post by a Post reporter.

"You mean, I call up my lawyer and the government is wiretapping him?" Giuliani asked in comments to the Post. "... They've already eviscerated the attorney-client privilege. This would make a mockery of it."

Attorney-client privilege generally shields communications between a lawyer and a client.

Giuliani did not immediately return a call for comment from Reuters.

A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office, which is handling the Cohen investigation, declined to comment.

Cohen and a lawyer for him did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Because Cohen is a lawyer, prosecutors likely took multiple steps to address concerns that a wiretap would violate attorney-client privilege, said Chris Slobogin, a professor of criminal law at Vanderbilt University Law School.

At the time of their wiretap application, prosecutors likely would have needed to convince a judge that Cohen was not acting as lawyer or was engaging in criminal conduct, both exceptions to attorney-client privilege, Slobogin said.

The agents who conducted the wiretap would also have been instructed to turn off eavesdropping equipment off if they determined at the start of a conversation that it might be protected by attorney-client privilege, Slobogin added.

In an April 13 court filing, federal prosecutor Robert Khuzami said the government had previously obtained covert search warrants on several of Cohen's email accounts and had used a "filter team" to examine the materials gathered in the raid. Their review found Cohen was performing little to no legal work, Khuzami said.