Federal prosecutors have completed their investigation into campaign finance violations by President Trump’s now-imprisoned former attorney Michael Cohen — and a federal judge has ordered that previously redacted materials from the case be made public on Thursday.
Cohen pleaded guilty last year to making hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal in the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections to keep them quiet about their alleged extramarital affairs with Trump, among other charges.
Trump has denied having any sexual relationship with the women.
Evidence against Cohen was gathered through April 2018 searches of his residence, hotel room, safe deposit box, cellphone and his electronic communications.
In a notice posted Wednesday, Manhattan federal Judge William Pauley III confirmed that prosecutors have “concluded the aspects of its investigation that justified the continued sealing” of materials related to the campaign finance violations.
The judge also ordered prosecutors to post redacted materials from the case, as well as an unredacted version of a status report that they submitted to the judge earlier this week, to the public docket by Thursday morning.
Cohen is serving a three-year sentence at a federal prison in Otisville.
An attorney for Cohen took issue with the fact the investigation into the President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was over.
“Why is Michael Cohen… the only member of the Trump company to be prosecuted and imprisoned?” the lawyer, Lanny Davis, said.