Trump lawyers seek sealed filings in challenging Cohen materials

Lawyers for President Donald Trump late Wednesday sought permission to make sealed filings in Manhattan federal court about claims of attorney-client privilege on materials seized in an April raid from his lawyer Michael Cohen.

Trump lawyer Joanna Hendon told U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood that challenges to rulings from a special master were too sensitive to file publicly.

“The submissions at issue will discuss issues pertaining to privilege and the grand jury exclusively,” she wrote.

Cohen, who paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump, is under investigation for fraud offenses.

Wood named ex-Judge Barbara Jones to identify seized files protected by attorney-client privilege, and the first challenges to her decisions are due Thursday.

Hendon, writing on behalf of Cohen and the Trump Organization as well as Trump, said they also wanted to file challenges privately, without showing them to prosecutors.

Jones told Wood that the government has not signed off on the plan, and opposes the “wholesale” filing of challenges privately or under seal.

Cohen sued after the raid to keep the government from looking at privileged materials.

Filings so far have been public, but Wood has signaled she may allow sealing to protect the investigation or privileged items.