Michael Cohen Forced To Reveal He Did Secret Legal Work For Sean Hannity In Court

An attorney for President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen revealed in a hearing in a New York City court on Monday that Cohen also performed secret legal work for Fox News host Sean Hannity. 

Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels Appear In Court

Hannity has long been one of Trump’s most fervent supporters, since well before the 2016 election. The veteran commentator has also condemned special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election and often lambasted Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton, with claims that her and her husband Bill Clinton’s foundation has been plagued with scandals for years. According to CNBC, Hannity admitted on his radio show Monday afternoon that he has asked Cohen for legal advice, whom he described as a “friend.” However, the Fox News host added that Trump’s lawyer has never represented him.

The hearing — which Cohen and porn star Stormy Daniels both attended — follows last week’s raid of Cohen’s office, home and hotel room. The FBI searched all three locations on April 9 to seize records relating to Cohen’s payment of $130,000 to Daniels days before the 2016 election to force her silence on an affair Trump had with her in 2006. The raid was also reportedly conducted to search for other documentation of Cohen’s personal and business transactions to settle the president’s affairs or other matters. Emails and other communications between Trump and Cohen were taken.

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Daniels is being represented by Michael Avenatti, who said he was “ecstatic” about Trump’s recent claim that he had no idea about Cohen’s aforementioned payment to Daniels in 2016. Avenatti also recently teased the imminent release of a sketch of a man who allegedly threatened Daniels in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011 to keep quiet about her encounter with Trump. Daniels revealed she and her daughter were threatened in a 60 Minutes interview last month.

Former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer reportedly attended Monday’s hearing.

Federal prosecutors have already determined that Cohen has performed very little to no real legal work for Trump over the last few years. On Sunday, one of Trump’s lawyers reportedly requested that a judge permit Trump and Cohen to review the documents taken in the raid to determine which ones should not have been seized because it would violate attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors have reportedly demanded that these records be analyzed by a “filter team” of attorneys separate from the main prosecution team.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood is presiding over Monday’s hearing. She was nominated to the federal court by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and confirmed a year later. President Bill Clinton considered her for the role of attorney general in 1993 but Wood withdrew.

Last week, it was also revealed that Cohen negotiated a $1.6 million payment to a Playboy model with whom Elliott Broidy — a former deputy finance chairman for the Republican National Committee — reportedly had an extramarital affair and impregnated. Broidy has since resigned.

Mueller reportedly gave a referral for the search warrants that authorized the searches for Cohen’s documents. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein also reportedly approved the raids.

It was also revealed that the raids were conducted to search for records related to the Access Hollywood tape that surfaced just weeks before the 2016 election. In the video, Trump was heard making crude comments about women and openly admitting to sexual assault while on a bus with Billy Bush in 2005.

Rachel Maddow’s program on MSNBC recently beat Hannity as the most-watched cable news show.