FBI recovers data from Trump lawyer’s phone

Washington, June 16: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has recovered encrypted data from messaging apps WhatsApp and Signal stored on one of the BlackBerry smartphones owned by US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen. According to a report in arstechnica.com on Saturday, a letter submitted to the presiding judge in the case against Cohen revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation recovered over 700 pages of messages and call logs from encrypted messaging apps on a smartphone belonging to Cohen. “The messages and call logs together constitute 731 pages of potential evidence,” the report added. WhatsApp and Signal store their messages in encrypted databases on the device. “A cryptographic key is required to decrypt the contents of such a database, and there are tools readily available to access the WhatsApp database on a PC,” the report said. Cohen has until June 25 to review the materials and make any claims of attorney-client privilege. “After that, any messages he claims are protected will be reviewed by the Special Master, retired federal judge Barbara Jones,” the report added.

Cohen has filed for a restraining order against porn star Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti is representing her in the case. to prevent him from speaking to the press about the adult film star’s lawsuit. (IANS)