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Avenatti Responds To Botched NBC Report About Cohen Wiretapping

CNN

Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti is standing by claims the FBI is monitoring Michael Cohen’s text messages and emails.

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After NBC reported that the FBI was listening in on Cohen’s phone calls, Avenatti added that it is a “fact” that investigators were also tapping his “text message communications for the weeks leading up to the FBI raids.”

NBC later corrected its story, clarifying that the FBI had a pen register warrant that allows them to see who Cohen was calling and for how long, but doesn’t allow them to listen to the actual calls. (RELATED: MSNBC Issues HUGE Correction To Michael Cohen ‘Wiretap’ Story)

However, Avenatti said in a CNN interview on Thursday night that he knew separately from NBC that the FBI was looking at Cohen’s texts and emails.

“I know that separate and independently from the NBC reporting, I want to be clear,” Avenatti said.

He added that warrants for phone calls, emails, and text messages would all have to be granted separately.

“You have to get authorization to do email, a separate authorization for text message, and a third authorization in order to conduct a wiretap of audio communications,” he explained. “The NBC reporting dealt with the audio communications — I already had knowledge as to the first two, the email and the text messages. I know that was going on for a fact.”

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