Before they could finish reviewing the more than 3.7 million documents seized from the April 9 raids on his office and properties in New York, lawyers representing Michael Cohen are now expected to withdraw from his case, ABC News reports.
Cohen was being represented by Stephen Ryan and Todd Harrison of the Washington and New York firm, McDermott, Will & Emery LLP, but as of now, no law firm has stepped forward to take their place.
Citing a source close to the matter, ABC News says that Cohen is now “likely to cooperate with federal prosecutors in New York” since he no longer has legal representation — a development that’s likely to be a huge blow to the White House.
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said the prospect of Cohen flipping should scare the Trump White House.
“It appears that Michael Cohen will cooperate with federal prosecutors in New York,” he tweeted. “In order to get a cooperation deal, Cohen will need to provide all information he knows about criminal activity, no matter who it is, but attorney-client privilege may create some hurdles.”
“So if Cohen cooperates, he will have to tell almost all of what he knows about criminal activity to federal prosecutors, who can share that info with Mueller, other federal prosecutors, and state prosecutors,” he wrote in a subsequent tweet.
But Trump could potentially derail all of this with a pardon of Cohen.
“His recent talk of pardons appears to be an attempt to reduce the political damage of giving pardons,” Mariotti continued. “If Trump pardoned Cohen for federal crimes, state prosecutors would have to use the evidence gathered by the FBI.”
Cohen has been a liability to Trump since it was revealed that he brokered an agreement to pay $130,000 in hush money on behalf of Trump to porn star Stormy Daniels — an agreement that required her to stay silent about an alleged sexual encounter that took place between the two over a decade ago.
Michael Avenatti, who represents Daniels in a lawsuit seeking to void the hush agreement, spoke out on Cohen’s predicament in a Twitter post this Wednesday.
“So after Mr. Ryan makes false accusations against me in fed court, he now abandons Mr. Cohen, withdraws, tucks his tail between his legs, & goes home?” he tweeted “Just like David Schwartz before him!! Not a good look and a disaster for Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump.”
Featured image via screen grab/YouTube
