Hannity denies being represented by Cohen as court drama unfolds

They chuckled but their jovial moment belied the firestorm Hannity was in after the news broke earlier in the day that he was named in court as a client of President Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

Cohen was in court to ask the judge to limit the ability of federal prosecutors to review documents seized from his offices and home last week as part of a criminal investigation, which stems in part from a probe into possible collusion between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian Federation. “The president trusted Mr. Cohen as his fixer for years.and I think the chickens are about to come home to roost”, Avenatti said, warning Trump and Cohen.

Hannity denied he ever actually hired Cohen, suggesting he was just getting informal advice, but, you know, formal enough for it to be protected by attorney-client privilege. He didn’t pay Cohen, he didn’t ask him to represent him against a third party, so he wasn’t a client – or so he thought.

Broidy resigned his RNC post last week after it was revealed that he paid $1.6 million to a former Playboy model with whom he had a relationship that resulted in an abortion. The Playmate became pregnant and elected to have an abortion.

Cohen’s lawyer argued to keep the third client’s name confidential, but Wood dismissed his pleas to write it down in a sealed note.

Other lawyers for the president also filed an emergency request to let Cohen evaluate the documents before the Federal Bureau of Investigation can have them. Not only does Hannity advise Trump, not only does Trump promote Hannity’s show, not only does Hannity attack Trump’s critics – Hannity and Trump even share the same lawyer. And second: Are we sure Hannity never paid him? I never received an invoice.

“I had no personal interest in this legal matter”.

“But I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective”, he added. “They’re assuming – because I guess he did some type of work for some Republican guy – they’re figuring, ‘Oh, he must’ve done a big settlement case for Hannity.’ That’s not – no, that’s not what happened”. Cohen represented Trump in offering hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, and Hannity has called CNN’s president a “porn king” for the network’s coverage of the Stormy Daniels scandal.

But she also said that to help ensure fairness and the perception of fairness, “a special master might have some role here”. While in court, she smiled several times as she observed the proceedings from a folding chair near the back of the room. Her lawyer says she’ll be in the courtroom Monday.

The Cohen raid, conducted by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents with a search warrant a week ago, sought evidence of those payments, which could violate laws on bank fraud and campaign contributions.

Prosecutors want a different system, in which a special team of Justice Department lawyers not directly involved in the probe would review the material and determine what was off-limits to investigators because of attorney-client privilege.

On Twitter Sunday, Trump said that all lawyers are now “deflated and concerned” by the Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on Cohen, adding that “Attorney Client privilege is now a thing of the past”.

The searching of any attorney’s office by the government is highly unusual and typically triggers the appointment of a “taint team” to check seized material for attorney-client privilege.

I don’t know, maybe these photographers thought she was going to take off her clothes.