That filing also includes Cohen’s fundamental rationale for objecting to the use of any government attorneys in reviewing the seized material.
“As the Court is surely aware, there is a growing public debate about whether criminal and congressional investigations by the government are being undertaken impartially, free of any political bias or partisan motivation. It is in this climate that the Government executed an unprecedented search warrant — instead of using its less onerous subpoena power — upon the personal attorney of the President of the United States.”
This is a remarkable argument.
It’s true that there is public debate about whether the government investigation of Trump and his allies is impartial. But it’s also true that this debate is largely a function of
Trump himself having fostered it.
Before he took office, Trump lashed out at U.S. intelligence agencies, accusing them of leaking reports about the existence of the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. His first trip after inauguration was to the CIA in an apparent effort to rebuild his relationship with the agency, but, in the intervening months, he has consistently accused the Justice Department and the FBI of partisan bias — with very little evidence to back up the claim.
With the aid of Fox News Channel hosts such as Sean Hannity, Trump has played a key role in heightening skepticism of the FBI’s impartiality in its investigation of the president and his allies. The network seizes on nebulous or often minor criticism and uses it to build a shaky case against the investigation. Then there’s a feedback loop between Fox News and the president, in which he promotes the network’s arguments against the FBI investigation and the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and Fox News, in turn, reports on the president’s response.
The “growing public debate,” in other words, is largely
a function of Cohen’s primary client, Donald Trump, thanks to his outsize platform as president of the United States. Cohen’s attorneys are arguing that the FBI is viewed as biased against Cohen and Trump and indirectly citing as evidence the arguments that Trump has been making.
