Trump's Personal Lawyer Hires Own Lawyer for Russia Probe

And he's not alone
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 16, 2017 3:55 PM CDT
Trump's Personal Lawyer Hires Own Lawyer for Russia Probe
President's Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, seen here in Trump Tower in 2016, has hired his own lawyer for Robert Mueller's Russian probe.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

In a sign that Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign is ramping up, President Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has hired his own lawyer. NBC's Katy Tur broke the news on Twitter. CNN reports Cohen was subpoenaed by the House intelligence committee two weeks ago and has agreed to testify by Sept. 5. It's unclear exactly why Mueller's investigation is interested in Cohen, though he was mentioned in the Trump dossier compiled by a former British spy, according to the Washington Post. The dossier claimed Cohen traveled to Prague to meet with Russians to coordinate hacking efforts. Cohen has denied it, and Trump called the dossier "fake news."

But Cohen, a lawyer for the Trump Organization for a decade, did meet with a Ukrainian lawmaker in January in New York and received a plan from a former Trump associate that could have led to the lifting of Russian sanctions. Cohen says he threw the plan away, but it's been reported he gave it to Michael Flynn. Cohen isn't the only one lawyering up. It was reported Thursday that Vice President Pence hired outside legal counsel, and now a Trump campaign senior communications adviser has also hired a lawyer. A source "familiar with the situation" says the FBI has contacted Michael Caputo in connection with the Russia investigation. Again, it's unclear why the FBI is interested in Caputo, though he was a known ally to Paul Manafort, lived in Moscow for a time, and was briefly hired to improve Vladimir Putin's image in the US. (More Russia stories.)

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