Michael Cohen Image by Getty Images

A lawyer for President Donald Trump sought in court on Friday to stop U.S. prosecutors from deciding what materials seized from his personal attorney can be used in a probe that began with a referral by investigators looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Monday’s raids of attorney Michael Cohen’s home and office followed a referral by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who for nearly a year has been looking into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow.

At a hearing in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Joanna Hendon, a lawyer for Trump, said the president had “acute” and “weighty” interests at stake.

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She resisted the idea that Cohen’s lawyers, a special master” or a “taint team” favored by prosecutors should decide what becomes public.

“The viability of this prosecution, it has to be done right,” Hendon told U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood.

Tom McKay, a federal prosecutor, stressed that the president does not deserve special treatment, and that his interest in attorney-client privilege was “no different” from anyone else’s.

Friday’s hearing was scheduled after Cohen’s lawyers applied the prior evening for the first chance to decide which documents were relevant to Mueller’s investigation.—Reuters

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