Michael Cohen Has Been Ordered To Appear At A Hearing On Monday.
COOPER: The President's lawyer/fixer is in a bit of a fix himself, you can say. Michael Cohen has been ordered to appear, as you may know, at a hearing on Monday as lawyers for him and the President try to keep prosecutors from using some of what FBI agents seized in the raid on Cohen's home, his office and hotel room. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz joins us now with the latest. So, what's the judge hoping to learn from Michael Cohen in federal court on Monday because she had a lot of questions on Friday that apparently, his lawyers couldn't answer?</s>SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE PRODUCER: Yes, that's right, Anderson. And that's why she ordered Michael Cohen himself to appear in court because she grew increasingly frustrated that these attorneys were not able to get answers to the questions. Essentially, what she wants to know is who Michael Cohen's clients are. You would think it would be something simply Michael Cohen can answer. Can tell his lawyers and that he would be able to relay that to the court so that the government can use that as a way to check who privilege could apply to in this case. It's this whole argument in this case that the FBI should not have access to these documents because of privilege issues. And you know, Anderson, quite frankly, it seemed like even his attorneys, Michael Cohen's attorneys, were having a hard time getting that information out of him.</s>COOPER: Yes. I mean, it's hard to argue</s>PROKUPECZ: Right. That's a great question, Anderson. And that seems to be the issue, right. They are claiming in their court documents that there are thousands of documents that were removed from Michael Cohen's possession by the FBI. The government is saying not so much the case. They feel that essentially pertains to privilege and even the government there, the prosecutors said that Michael Cohen's attorneys are exaggerating that number. The judge seemed to agree because she asked the attorneys, you are saying that there are thousands of documents that pertain to privilege, where are you getting that from, where are you getting that information from? And the lawyers, quite simply, did not have any answers for the judge. The government, Anderson, views this as a stall tactic by Michael Cohen's attorneys. They want to get to work here. The government said the FBI, they have these documents. They have this information. They have his phones. They need to get to work and start reviewing this and they feel that Michael Cohen's lawyers are just stalling right now.</s>COOPER: Shimon, we will see you on Monday. Thanks very much. The lawyer for Stormy Daniels was also at the hearing yesterday. The raids on Cohen included a search for records related to a $130,000 payment to Daniels right before the election to keep her quiet about the alleged affair with the President. Stormy Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti joins me. Michael, you indicated that - yesterday, that Stormy Daniels may join you in court on Monday or Tuesday for hearing connected to the federal government's raid on Michael Cohen's office. Is this something she needs to be there for or something you just want her to be there for?</s>MICHAEL AVENATTI, STORMY DANIELS' ATTORNEY: We haven't decided, Anderson, whether she is going to attend on Monday afternoon at 2:00. That's the time of the hearing. It's really ultimately going to be up to her as to whether she wants to attend. She feels very passionately about this case and wants to ensure that these documents are handled appropriately and also wants to ensure that the American people understand that her goal is to make this process as public as possible as it relates to the disclosure of facts and information. It's a pretty important issue for her.</s>COOPER: CNN is reporting that the FBI seized recordings that Michael Cohen made between himself and Keith Davidson, who an attorney who represented at one time your client, Stormy Daniels, and also Karen McDougal. Do you have any avenues to actually obtain those recordings from the federal government? Is that something you can get access to?</s>AVENATTI: Well, we could subpoena those recordings, if they existed, from the federal government. You know, Anderson, we are very, very concerned about with each passing day the information that is coming out related to Michael Cohen and others. If we discover that in fact Michael Cohen recorded either my client or her attorney Keith Davidson, we are going to be bringing another action likely or another claim against Michael Cohen for wiretapping.</s>COOPER: Were you -- I know you were in court yesterday for a hearing related to the raid on Michael Cohen's office. What stood out to you from that hearing? Because clearly there were a lot of reports about how irritated the judge was with Michael Cohen's attorneys and their lack of answers.</s>AVENATTI: Well, two things stood out, Anderson. First of all, the judge posed a number of simple questions to Michael Cohen's attorney relating to -- or attorneys, relating to his law practice. And they were not able to provide the most simple answers in response to those questions. The judge became fairly frustrated and ultimately ordered Michael Cohen to court on Monday at 2:00. I find it ironic that at the same time they were not able to answer those questions. The judge actually asked if they had contact with their client and they hedged. It was unclear whether they were able to actually reach him to have him participate or not. Meanwhile, we are all in court doing what we need to do. And then it comes out that at the same time Michael Cohen is basically sitting with my guess his friends, enjoying cigars on the upper east or west side of New York. Very bad, bad scene for Michael Cohen. I don't know what this guy is thinking. If he is going to skip court, he shouldn't be photographed or videotaped out on the stoop, if you will, with his buddies.</s>COOPER: I want to ask you about Cohen's involvement with a Republican donor's payment to a playboy playmate who he gotten pregnant, who the donor had gotten pregnant. What do you make of the fact that Michael Cohen used the exact same pseudonyms, David Dennison and Peggy Peterson to identify the parties in your case as he did this payoff? I mean, legally, I guess it doesn't matter, but does it seem odd to you?</s>AVENATTI: Well, it does seem odd. You know, I broke this story on Thursday night by way of my twitter. And then "the Wall Street Journal" reported it on Friday. To be fair, it's unclear whether it was Michael Cohen that utilized those pseudonyms, whether it was his idea for that in that instance, or Keith Davidson's. It's unclear at this time. But I did want to go back to one thing, Anderson. The other thing that stood out to me from the hearing that took place on Friday in federal court is as follows. Michael Cohen's attorneys have stated that thousands if not millions of pages of documents that they maintain are attorney/client privileged were seized by the FBI. They also claim those documents may span 30 years. To put that in context or to really put a fine point on this, Anderson, Michael Cohen right now is radioactive. I'm going to repeat it. Radioactive. Anybody that had any contact with this attorney, this man, for the last 30 years, their information may now be in the hands of the FBI. And there is going to be a lot of people that are going to be very, very nervous. And the more contact you had with him during that time period, the more at risk you are. And we know who the person is that had the most contact. And that's the President of the United States.</s>COOPER: Michael Avenatti, appreciate it. Michael, thanks.</s>AVENATTI: Thank you.</s>COOPER: Well. Up next, the strikes in Syria. We will have the latest from the Pentagon, from the White House, as well as Moscow, after the President claims on twitter, "mission accomplished."