INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
delved deeper and deeper into his orbit
Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted his former campaign chairman
Then he secured a guilty plea from his former national security adviser
All the while, Mueller and his investigators have spent hours questioning White House officials about whether the president had sought to
obstruct justice.But the FBI's seizure on Monday of privileged communications between Trump and his private lawyer, Michael Cohen - as well
as documents related to a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who has alleged a sexual affair with Trump - was a
particularly extraordinary move that opens a whole new front in the converging legal battles ensnaring the administration.Cohen is Trump's
virtual vault - the keeper of his secrets, from his business deals to his personal affairs - and the executor of his wishes."This search
warrant is like dropping a bomb on Trump's front porch," said Joyce White Vance, a former U.S
attorney in Alabama.Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer, said the seizure of Cohen's records "should be the most concerning for the
president."You can't get much worse than this, other than arresting someone's wife or putting pressure on a family member," he said
"This strikes at the inner sanctum: your lawyer, your CPA, your barber, your therapist, your bartender
All the people who would know the worst about you."The president spent much of Monday afternoon glued to the television
Aides said Trump watched cable news coverage of surprise raids on Cohen's Manhattan office, home and hotel room by FBI agents, who took the
lawyer's computer, phone and personal financial records after a referral from Mueller.As the sun began to fall in Washington, Trump offered
reporters his initial reaction: "It's a disgraceful situation.""I have this witch hunt constantly going on," Trump said
"That is a whole new level of unfairness," he added, leaving no doubt that he views Monday's actions as a personal affront
Trump called Cohen "a good man" and went on to criticize Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying he had made "a very terrible mistake for the
country" by recusing himself from the Russia probe.Asked why he had not fired Mueller, Trump left the door open
"We'll see what happens," he told reporters
"Many people have said, 'You should fire him,' " the president added.Shortly after the raids began Monday morning, Trump received a heads-up
He huddled in the Oval Office with Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer who oversees its handling of the Mueller probe, as well as with White
House counsel Donald McGahn and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, officials said.Other aides said they did not understand what was
happening and struggled to pinpoint the significance of the seizures
Many officials sought to keep their distance from the developments, deferring comment until a strategy was determined.Aides said they viewed
Trump's late-afternoon comments to reporters as a necessary venting session
He had been grousing privately about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, a Trump appointee who oversees the Mueller investigation
because of Sessions' recusal.He complained about Rosenstein again Monday in private, a White House adviser said, and stewed all afternoon
about the warrant to seize Cohen's records, at times raising his voice
Trump said that Rosenstein approved the warrant, that he wished Rosenstein was not in the job and there was no one making the prosecutors
follow the rules, the adviser said
Trump complained sharply about Sessions and Mueller and asked detailed questions about who was behind the move - and said that people would
be more critical of such a warrant if it wasn't intended to damage the president.Still, a senior White House official said late Monday that
no "imminent" personnel changes were expected.It was unclear if Trump talked to Cohen, with whom he recently dined at Mar-a-Lago, the
president's private club in Palm Beach, Florida.Trump "won't like that Cohen is in the crosshairs, but you have to remember: He'd prefer the
heat be on Cohen than on him," said one of the president's advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment
"His goal will be to figure out how much vulnerability he has."This was Trump's first crisis without Hope Hicks, the recently departed White
House communications director who knew her way around the broader Trump orbit, getting to the bottom of what was happening, counseling the
president and intuiting how he would want the situation handled.Trump also navigated Monday's turn without a full slate of legal advisers
He has yet to replace John Dowd, who resigned last month as his personal attorney in the Russia matter
Reached briefly Monday afternoon, one White House official sighed when asked about Trump's strategy, pointing to the "evident" limitations
of the current legal team, as well as the absence so far of a public-relations plan to counter the hotly anticipated release next week of
former FBI Director James Comey's memoir, "A Higher Loyalty."There was fear in Trump's orbit that the president is liable to erupt in anger
in coming days, escalating his attacks against Mueller at a time when his attorneys are negotiating a possible interview
And there was concern in some quarters that Trump, who has been shaking up his administration in recent weeks, may also seek to terminate
Mueller.Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a friend of Trump, called the Cohen raids "a little heavy-handed.""Is this surprising Yes,"
said Giuliani, also a former U.S
This is the way prosecutors get information - sometimes to convict and prosecute, sometimes to exculpate."Criticizing Mueller for veering
into "highly personal issues," such as the alleged Daniels encounter, Giuliani added, "The only thing that's happening, perhaps, is that
her alleged relation with Donald TrumpTrump told reporters aboard Air Force One last week that he did not know Cohen had arranged the
$130,000 payment for Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, just days before the 2016 election to prevent her from publicly
speaking about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.The president said he did not know where Cohen got the money and declined to
answer whether he had set up a fund for Cohen to use
"You'll have to ask Michael Cohen," Trump said
"Michael's my attorney, and you'll have to ask Michael."White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said repeatedly that Trump
denies Clifford's allegations.Without a lead attorney in Dowd's absence, Trump has absorbed some advice from a number of legal commentators
on cable news, including Alan Dershowitz, a retired Harvard Law School professor who has made supportive comments about the president."This
may mark the end of the kind of cooperation that Trump's lawyers have been involved with," Dershowitz said Monday in an interview
"Cooperation doesn't seem to have much payback
Stormy DanielsDershowitz advised Trump to use "every legal tactic available to him" to fight Mueller and the FBI
He said the president could "assert" his rights as Cohen's client and "go into court and seek to demand returned every bit of information
that is arguably lawyer-client privilege before anybody has a chance to read anything.Tim O'Brien, author of the Trump biography "Trump
Nation," said the seizure of records from his private attorney probably would "smell of a mortal threat" by Trump
And, O'Brien added, "He is historically prone not to sit back and let the chips fall where they may
He is historically prone to come out with guns blazing."Cohen has long been a fixer for Trump, as well as his family and business, and
associates said he was disappointed when he was not brought officially on board the campaign, and again when he was passed over for a
coveted White House job."He's done the dirty work that the president hasn't wanted to do himself, and he's been doing it for a decade,"
O'Brien said.In the early weeks of the administration, Cohen was spotted unshaven, roaming the lobby of the Trump International Hotel in
He has stayed in touch with the president through late-night phone calls.But now, Cohen is back squarely in Trump's orbit - though perhaps
not in the way he had hoped to be
Cohen himself has become the kind of distraction that he was usually tasked with handling for his boss."When it comes to Michael Cohen,
anything is possible," said Louise Sunshine, a former Trump Organization executive who knows Cohen
"Anything and everything is possible."---The Washington Post's Ashley Parker contributed to this report.(Except for the headline, this story
has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
