Looking For Answers In Documents Recovered From Michael Cohen’s Shredder
Michael Cohen Image by Gettty Images
The Department of Justice recently recovered and pieced together records found in a shredder belonging to President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, but the findings aren’t as juicy as people speculated.
BuzzFeed News obtained the documents, which are a combination of documents that prosecutors already had, handwritten notes about his taxi business, insurance papers and correspondence from a woman described in court filings as a “vexatious litigant” who claims she is under government surveillance.
Most of the shredded records are difficult to understand, BuzzFeed reported. One page doesn’t include full words and is a jumble of numbers, letters and bar codes. One document appears to be part of an envelope. There are fragments of handwritten notes. There is an invitation to a reception in Miami to meet with business representatives from Qatar. Several of the records seem to be insurance forms for an apartment.
The clearest page documents a $62,500 wire transfer from March into a First Republic Bank account controlled by Cohen, which has already been reported, according to a federal law enforcement source. This would fit with a series of payments from the Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy, who reportedly paid Cohen to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement with a former Playboy model regarding their alleged affair.
It’s unclear, BuzzFeed wrote, whether any of the reconstructed documents are of use to federal prosecutors in the investigation of Cohen, whose home, office and hotel room were raided by the FBI in April.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
