The Manafort Raid and the Privilege Fights To Come
August 16, 2017 | The Insider: White Collar Defense and Securities Enforcement
Last week, multiple media sources reported that as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia inquiry, investigators executed a court-authorized search warrant at the Alexandria, Virginia home of Paul J. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman. Shortly after these reports surfaced, John Dowd, who represents President Trump in the Russia inquiry, sent an email to at least one Wall Street Journal reporter calling the raid a “gross abuse of the judicial process” more akin to methods “found and employed in Russia not America.” Mr. Dowd also suggested that problems with the raid could lead to a “Motion to Suppress the fruits of the search.” It will likely be many months before a court could be called upon to decide a suppression motion, but Mr. Dowd’s comments give clues as some issues that might arise on such a motion, and also highlight challenges facing the Special Counsel. [...]