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Cohen Remains Trump's Lawyer Despite Probe, Spokesman Says

Cohen Remains Trump's Lawyer Despite Probe, Spokesman Says

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is retaining Michael Cohen as his personal attorney despite a federal criminal investigation of the lawyer’s business dealings, a White House spokesman said.

“Michael Cohen’s legal problems and issues are his own,” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said on CNN Friday. Asked if Cohen remains Trump’s lawyer, Shah said: “Last I’ve heard, he continues to be.”

The FBI searched Cohen’s office and home on Monday, and on Friday prosecutors in the Southern District of New York said in court that they had been conducting a criminal investigation for months. Agents also seized the contents of a safety deposit box and two of Cohen’s mobile phones. Prosecutors said they had been monitoring Cohen’s email accounts under a secret warrant.

The New York Times reported that Trump called Cohen on Friday, citing people it didn’t identify.

Trump became furious about the searches of Cohen’s property, which resulted in part from information gathered by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign. Trump this week discussed with aides the possibility of firing Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, who is supervising Mueller’s inquiry, a person familiar with the matter said.

Investigators are seeking evidence of crimes “many of which have nothing to do with his work as an attorney, but rather relate to Cohen’s own business dealings,” prosecutors said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net, Toluse Olorunnipa in Washington at tolorunnipa@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, John Harney

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