WILLIAM BRANGHAM: FBI
agents today raided and
seized communications
from President Trump's

longtime personal
attorney, Michael Cohen.

In a statement, Cohen's lawyer
called the seizures "completely
inappropriate and unnecessary."

He confirmed federal prosecutors
had obtained a series of
search warrants, upon referrals

from special counsel
Robert Mueller, who is
leading the Russia probe.

Multiple news outlets
report that agents
seized records related
to payments Cohen made to

an adult film actress
known as Stormy Daniels.

She claims she had an affair
with Mr. Trump in 2006.

Eric Tucker covers the Justice
Department for the Associated
Press, and he has been

on this story.

Eric Tucker, welcome
to the "NewsHour."

I wonder if you could tell
us, what else do we know
about these raids today?

ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press:
So, we know they took place
at his office in Manhattan,

and we know that they seized
records relating to multiple
different topics, including, as

you mentioned, records relating
to the $130,000 that Michael
Cohen has admitted making, the

payment he has admitted
to Stormy Daniels.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We know --
I'm no lawyer, but the idea
of attorney-client privilege

is an incredibly sacrosanct
part of American law, so what is
it that would prompt attorneys

to have been investigated
like this, to have
these raids conducted?

ERIC TUCKER: That's
a great question.

And when you actually look at
the Justice Department protocol
and manuals, they actually

do lay out a mechanism
by which you can seize
records from an attorney.

And so what it really
does suggest is that
this is a process that
went through multiple

levels and layers of
approval in order to get the
action that we saw today.

So, you know, in an ordinary
search warrant, obviously, you
have to go to a judge and you

lay out probable cause that a
crime was committed and that
the records that you're going to

be obtaining will bear out
evidence of a potential crime.

And so one imagine that
the government here must
really think they have
that sort of evidence.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Help me
understand something that seems
a bit confusing on the surface.

If this was a referral from
Robert Mueller's office, yet
it's relating to Stormy Daniels

and Michael Cohen's interactions
with her, how does that work?

As far as we know, Mueller
wasn't necessarily looking
into the Stormy Daniels issue.

ERIC TUCKER: Right.

That's another great question.

We do know, based on
on-the-record statements
from a Trump campaign
associate named Sam

Nunberg, that among the
questions he was asked
before the grand jury
were questions that

related to the Stormy
Daniels payment.

He was around during the
campaign and so he says
he was asked about that.

And so it does appear that
special counsel Mueller is
taking his mandate seriously to

say, look, I'm responsible for
investigating certain elements
of President Trump and his

campaign and not others.

And so he is empowered and
indeed authorized and encouraged
to make referrals to other

entities within the Justice
Department when he sees activity
that might fall outside of

his mandate.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right,
Eric Tucker of the Associated
Press, thank you very much.

ERIC TUCKER: Thank you.