openpolitics.com

Michael Cohen has hired New York lawyer Guy Petrillo to represent him in a federal investigation into his business dealings, and has told associates he wants President Donald Trump, his former boss, to pay his legal fees, according to people familiar with the matter.

.. The Trump campaign had been footing the bill for some of Mr. Cohen’s legal expenses, paying nearly $230,000 to McDermott, Will & Emery LLP between October 2017 and January 2018, according to Federal Election Commission records and a person familiar with the matter. But those payments helped cover Mr. Cohen’s legal representation in the separate Russia investigation, not in the probe of his business dealings.

The Trump family had also financed a portion of Mr. Cohen’s legal bills in the latter probe, paying for the review of documents seized by prosecutors in an April raid of his properties, but hadn’t agreed or offered to cover his full fees, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Trump told reporters on Friday that Mr. Cohen was no longer his lawyer. “I always liked Michael Cohen,” he said. “I haven’t spoken to Michael in a long time.”

.. Mr. Petrillo is a civil and criminal lawyer who a decade ago served as chief of the criminal division for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office.

.. He has told associates he is irked by the constant media presence that accompanies him. “If I walk down the street, there are 25 people following me,”