President Trump’s response to the FBI raid on his personal attorney’s office is intense and inflammatory. If what he is saying is true, the action was less of a seizure and more of a lawless “break-in.”
The details are still being ironed out, but we know that the FBI raided Cohen’s office and hotel room on Monday. NBC News reported that the search warrants “were sought and executed by FBI agents and federal prosecutors in New York in coordination with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team after an initial referral from Mueller’s office.”
We don’t know exactly why Cohen’s information was seized. Officials are most likely looking for information about the $130,000 in hush Monday paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels weeks before the 2016 presidential election. But Cohen has also been the subject of speculation about possible bank fraud, according to the Washington Post and New York Times.
And we know this…Trump is livid. When reporters came into the Cabinet Room during a meeting with military leaders, Trump called Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt” and a “disgrace.” He said it’s “an attack on our country in a true sense, an attack on what we all stand for.”
According to the actual transcript of Trump’s response, we know that he used the words “disgrace” or “disgraceful” nine times. He criticized the special counsel’s office, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, federal investigators, Hillary Clinton, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Based on his response in the Cabinet Room and the intensity of his Tuesday morning tweets, some are suggesting the pressure is getting to the president. When he was specifically asked about firing Mueller, he said, “Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens…. And many people have said, ‘You should fire him.’”
It was just three weeks ago, that key GOP leaders said they saw no need to shield Mueller from White House interference because they saw no evidence that Trump might fire Mueller. Some are thinking they need to reconsider that decision now.