Federal judge partially releases documents pertaining to Michael Cohen raid News
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Federal judge partially releases documents pertaining to Michael Cohen raid

The US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday released a redacted version of the warrants used to raid Michael Cohen’s home. This release follows Judge William Pauley granting a request by multiple media outlets for the documents to be made public.

Hundreds of pages of documents were released. The documents indicate that it was Robert Mueller that originally requested warrants on Cohen before the case was transferred to New York. Mueller was given permission to look at many of Cohen’s emails and to track his calls two separate times.

The justification for these warrants has likely been redacted from these documents. All campaign finance contribution materials have also been redacted from the release.

The prosecutors wanted emails pertaining to the use of a shell company, Essential Consultants, to transfer “hush money payments” from Trump to Cohen for his distribution. A few months after the shell company was established, money started flowing into it from a Russian oligarch who has ties to Putin and was sanctioned by the US for election interference. These payments total more than $580,000.

The documents also reveal the existence of a “filter team” that looked at Cohen’s documents related to President Donald Trump. This team was separate from the investigation and worked to make sure their attorney-client privilege was protected.

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in December for campaign finance violations, tax evasion and for false statements to Congress and financial institutions.