Judge appoints independent referee to review records seized from Cohen
The judge named Barbara Jones, a former federal judge and prosecutor.
Judge Kimba Wood appointed an independent referee to determine which materials seized in the FBI’s raid of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen properties are subject to the attorney-client privilege.
The judge expressed confidence in the integrity of federal prosecutors but said “a special master makes sense,” and named Barbara Jones, a former federal judge and former federal prosecutor now in private practice, to the post.
“She has all the points of view you’d want,” Wood said of Jones.
Jones was not among the recommendations for a special master provided by either the government or Cohen’s legal team, but Stephen Ryan, an attorney for Cohen, called Jones a “wonderful” choice.
She was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton in 1995 and served 16 years in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She was the judge who oversaw the accounting fraud trial of former WorldCom chief Bernie Ebbers.
Prior to her nomination she was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where she prosecuted mobsters. In her private work, she presided over the arbitration of Ray Rice, the NFL running back who was suspended after a video emerged of a physical altercation with his wife. She ultimately overturned Rice’s indefinite suspension.
As special master, Jones will decide what records seized from Cohen’s property April 9 may contain communications covered by the attorney-client privilege and would therefore be off limits to prosecutors. She may, during the course of her review, also weed out personal material like medical records or family photos that may not be relevant to the criminal investigation.
The judge made clear that Jones' primary role is to sort out privilege.
“Counsel will focus first on the privilege issue,” Judge Wood said. “That’s what brought us here.”
The government will simultaneously give copies of the seized documents to Cohen’s lawyers and to Jones, and Cohen’s lawyers will give documents relevant to Trump to Trump’s lawyers.
Michael Cohen was in court but remained silent.
In a phone interview with Fox & Friends ahead of Cohen’s appearance in federal court in New York, President Trump distanced himself from Cohen’s legal woes, saying his longtime attorney and confidant handles only a “tiny, tiny little fraction” of his legal work.
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“I don't know his business, but this doesn't have to do with me,” Trump said of Cohen. “Michael is a businessman. He has got a business. He also practices law. I would say probably the big thing is his business, and they're looking something having to do with his business. I have nothing to do with his business, I can tell you.”
In a letter to Judge Kimba Wood filed Thursday morning, prosecutors suggested Trump may have undermined his own argument with his comments to the cable network.
“President Trump reportedly said on cable television this morning that Cohen performs ‘a tiny, tiny little fraction’ of his overall legal work,” wrote U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami. “These statements … suggest that the seized materials are unlikely to contain voluminous privileged documents, further supporting the importance of efficiency here.”
Lead prosecutor Tom McKay also seemed to reference President Trump’s comments on “Fox & Friends" in court, noting the “limited nature of Cohen’s representation” expressed by some of his clients.
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