UPDATE:
After refusing to cooperate with a congressional request for documents and communications records with Russia, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer has been officially subpoenaed by Congress.
The story was first reported by MSNBC by Peter Alexander which came at the same time Ken Dilanian tweeted out the news.
House intelligence committee has issued a subpoena to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, Congressional aide tells NBC News
— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) May 30, 2017
Donald Trump’s Personal Attorney Just Got Caught Up In Russia Investigation
Another Trump Confidant Just Got Caught Up In The Russia Investigation.
Just days after Donald Trump’s son-in-law was publically revealed as a prime target in the FBI’s Russia investigation, a new report confirms that another close and personal Trump confidant has gained the attention of investigators.
According to a new ABC News report, Donald Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen has become a focus of the quickly expanding Congressional investigation.
“Cohen confirmed to ABC News that House and Senate investigators have asked him ‘to provide information and testimony’ about any contacts he had with people connected to the Russian government, but he said he has turned down the invitation,” ABC News reports.
Another important note in the ABC News report is that the move by members of the Senate Intelligence Committee to give the chairman Senator Richard Burr and ranking Senator Mark Warner, blanket authority to issue subpoenas as they deem necessary, came as a response to Cohen’s refusal to cooperate with the Senate’s request for information.
The ABC News report notes that “While much of the media focus in recent days has fallen on Russian contacts made by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, there are few people closer to the president than his longtime lawyer. Insiders consider Cohen to be Trump’s ‘pitbull’ or “consigliere” for his role in threatening legal action against Trump critics, gaining notoriety for threatening and browbeating reporters investigating Trump’s background.”
“The emergence of Cohen as a subject of the Senate probe brings renewed attention to a strident Trump advocate who had been named in the unverified dossier prepared by a former British intelligence agent during the 2016 campaign and provided by the FBI to Sen. John McCain, which contains a number of unconfirmed allegations that Cohen played a role in working with the Russians on the hack of the Democratic party during the campaign,” ABC News reports.
You can read the full ABC News report here.
