Politics

Feds piece together Trump fixer Michael Cohen's shredded documents, retrieve encrypted messages

Key Points
  • Investigators have pieced together 16 pages of shredded documents belonging to President Donald Trump's ex-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen.
  • Prosecutors said they also have been able to access Cohen's encrypted messages from WhatsApp and Signal.
  • Cohen has told friends and family that he is willing to cooperate with prosecutors who are eyeing his business dealings and a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen leaves federal court in Manhattan, New York, U.S., May 30, 2018.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

Federal investigators were able to piece together about 16 pages of shredded documents seized during a raid on President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, a court filing Friday revealed.

Prosecutors also now have been able to read more than 700 pages of messages and call logs from the encrypted communication platforms WhatsApp and Signal.

Authorities conducting a criminal probe of Cohen previously had said that they were unable to access the encrypted content.

Investigators obtained two BlackBerry phones during the April 9 raid on Cohen's apartment, office and the hotel room where he had been staying with his family during renovations to their home.

In Friday's court filing, prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said that one of the devices contained approximately 315 megabytes of data. But the FBI has not yet been able to extract anything from the second device.

Cohen, who has not been charged with a crime, in recent days has told friends and family that he is willing to cooperate with investigators, who are looking into his financial dealings, according to reports.

Prosecutors also are eyeing the $130,000 payment Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels right before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels has said the money was in exchange for her silence about an affair with Trump.

The White House has said Trump did not have sex with her.

Cohen's lawyers did not immediately return a request for comment.