On Thursday we found out that Donald Trump's longtime lawyer/fixer has a habit of making recordings that may have been swept up by the FBI, and on Friday we learned the FBI has indeed seized those recordings. ABC News writes:
Federal agents who raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel room this week seized recordings, sources familiar with the raid tell ABC News.
Sources say Cohen was known to record conversations with reporters so he could show them to Trump in order to deal with reporters on certain stories. Cohen was known to record other types of discussions and communications too, which sources say, could include communications with Trump. The contents or details of the recordings seized is not clear.
So those recordings—which may include conversations with Trump—are in FBI hands, though lawyers for Cohen and Trump have gone to court in an attempt to suppress the materials taken in that raid.
It's worth noting that we now know the investigation into Cohen dates back months, according to court filings from Friday. In total, the week's revelations have Team Trump totally freaked out, according to a fresh New York Times report filed Friday evening.
President Trump’s advisers have concluded that a wide-ranging corruption investigation in New York poses a greater and more imminent threat to the president than even the special counsel’s investigation, according to several people close to Mr. Trump.
Whoa. Team Trump is now more afraid of what can be learned through the investigation into Cohen than he is of Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia. Also "Team Trump" isn't so much of a team anymore.
Mr. Trump found himself increasingly isolated in mounting a response. He continued to struggle to hire a new criminal lawyer, and some of his own aides were reluctant to advise him about a response for fear of being dragged into a criminal investigation themselves.
Part of Trump's problem is not only that he doesn't currently have many lawyers, but that ultimately, it appears Cohen wasn't working as a lawyer a lot of the time and therefore many of the seized materials might not be shielded by attorney-client privilege.
And if the judge finds much of the seized material doesn't fall under attorney-client privilege, that will clearly open up Trump to a world of hurt. He seems to get that now.