Washington: The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday raided the offices and home of US president Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen, law enforcement sources said, in a dramatic new development in a series of probes involving close Trump associates.
Agencies are investigating if Trump's 2016 campaign in-charges colluded with Russia during the US presidential election. Trump has called the probe a "witch hunt" and denied any collusion.
The raid could increase legal pressure on the president, because it involves the records of his longtime attorney and indicates a second centre of investigations in Manhattan, alongside a Washington-based probe.
Cohen has been at the centre of a controversy over a $130,000 payment he has admitted making shortly before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels, who has said that she had sex once with Trump in 2006 and was paid to keep quiet about it.
Trump responded in nebulous terms to a question whether if he would fire Robert Mueller, from the Office of Special Counsel, a key link in the Russia investigation.
Possible bank, tax frauds under the scanner
Federal prosecutors are investigating Cohen for possible bank and tax fraud, and for possible campaign law violation in connection with the Stormy Daniels payment, and perhaps other matters having to do with foreign support to Trump’s 2016 campaign, a second source familiar with the investigation said.
The New York Times reported on Monday evening that Mueller is investigating a $150,000 payment made in September 2015 by an Ukrainian billionaire, Viktor Pinchuk, to Trump's charitable foundation in exchange for a 20-minute video appearance by Trump at a conference in Kiev.
Cohen solicited the Pinchuk donation, the Times reported, citing three sources it said were briefed on the matter, although it was not immediately clear if Monday's raids sought information on that issue.
Trump had declared his candidacy for president in June 2015.
Cohen did not immediately respond to Reuters for a request for comment on the raids. A spokesman for Mueller had no comment.
Cohen's 'stormy' admission
Cohen has said that he paid the $130,000 settlement money to Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, from his own pocket through a personal home equity loan. Trump, in comments to reporters on Air Force One last week, said that he did not know about the payment.
According to a person familiar with the matter, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the New York offices of the law firm Squire Patton Boggs on the 23rd floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where Cohen has an office.
Federal agents also raided a room at the Loews Regency Hotel on Park Avenue in Manhattan where Cohen has been staying while his apartment is being renovated.
No 'dirt' emails found
The FBI and US attorney's office on Monday also sought any emails between former White House communications director Hope Hicks and Cohen about a false and misleading account that Trump helped prepare of a June 9, 2016, meeting between Trump’s son Donald Trump, Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner and a group of Russians who had promised "dirt" on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the first source familiar with the investigation said.