Cohen Prosecutors to Get About 1 Million Items From Phones

(Bloomberg) -- The retired judge appointed last month to review documents seized by the FBI from Michael Cohen said she plans on Wednesday to turn over about 1 million items taken from three phones to federal prosecutors who can then begin reviewing them as part of their criminal investigation of President Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer.

Barbara Jones, appointed to help determine which items are protected by attorney-client privilege, said in a report Tuesday that she’s reviewed thousands of pages and on May 23 turned over 292,000 items to the government. Those don’t include 252 that Cohen or Trump claim are privileged or include "highly personal" information, such as medical records.

In the report, Jones told U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood that she received:

• May 17: Electronic data from mobile storage devices, a computer, two phones and CDs;
• May 21: Electronic data from mobile storage devices, two computers and a video recorder;
• May 22: Electronic images

Jones said she also reviewed 639 hard-copy documents totaling 12,453 pages.

She said she’s still waiting for three items, which she didn’t identify.

Lawyers for Cohen, Trump and Trump’s company, The Trump Organization, are reviewing the material and designating items they claim are shielded from the government. Jones will make recommendations to Wood, who has the final say.

Also on Tuesday, Jones submitted her first bill -- for $47,390.

The bill covers the last seven days of April at $700 per hour for Jones and her team. Included among a number of meetings and calls is an eight-hour session with the parties to discuss the production of materials taken in the raid. Jones was appointed by Wood on April 27.

Cohen sued April 13 to try to block prosecutors from looking at communications protected by attorney-client privilege. Trump and his company quickly joined in the suit. Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who claims she had sex with Trump in 2006 and was then paid $130,000 to keep quiet about it, is also trying to join the case.

Jones’s rate was agreed to by the parties. Half will be paid by the government, half by Cohen, Trump and the company. Payments to Jones are likely to be dwarfed by the cost to Cohen and Trump for their outside lawyers.

Wood is scheduled to get an update on the progress of the case Wednesday in New York.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider, Elizabeth Wollman

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