President Donald Trump's advisers now believe a criminal investigation into longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen "poses a greater and more imminent threat" than the Russia probe, The New York Times reported Friday.
The report cited "several people close" to the president, saying that the president has "found himself increasingly isolated in mounting a response."
"He continued to struggle to hire a new criminal lawyer," the Times noted, "and some of his own aides were reluctant to advise him about a response for fear of being dragged into a criminal investigation themselves."
Cohen sued in federal court in New York to block prosecutors from accessing files seized from his office and residence in an FBI raid on Monday.
Trump's lawyers joined in the action —and Federal District Judge Kimba Wood ruled that President Trump could intervene in the motion.
A full hearing is set for Monday on Cohen's petition.
"Those searches have been executed, and the evidence is locked down," Joanna Hendon, a Trump lawyer, said in court. "I'm not trying to delay.
"I'm just trying to ensure that it's done scrupulously."
Meanwhile, Trump called Cohen on Friday to "check in," according to "two people briefed on the call."
But, "depending on what else was discussed," the Times disclosed, "the call could be problematic, as lawyers typically advise their clients against discussing investigations."
In addition, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded "I'm not sure" when asked whether Cohen still was Trump's personal attorney.
"I would have to check," she told reporters at the daily briefing. "We only speak about White House staff."
Armed with a search warrant obtained in part on information provided by Russia special counsel Robert Mueller, FBI agents raided Cohen's office, home and a hotel room where he was temporarily staying.
Agents seized data from Cohen's cellphones, tablet, laptop and safe deposit box, the Times reported.
In court documents Friday, prosecutors disclosed that they had already secretly obtained many of Cohen's emails.
Trump, livid, blasted the raid as a "disgrace" and said the FBI "broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys."
He also ripped the FBI's action on Twitter:
According to the report, prosecutors are building a "significant case" against Cohen that "could put pressure on him to cooperate and tell investigators what he knows."
He has worked for the Trump Organization for more than a decade — and the president's legal team was "caught flat-footed by the New York raids," the Times reported.
"The lawyers fear that Mr. Cohen will not be forthcoming with them about what was in his files, leaving them girding for the unknown."
Further, prosecutors said in court papers that they used a search warrant in the Cohen raid — versus a subpoena — because "they had evidence" that his files "might be permanently deleted," the Times reported.
But by whom? "The documents did not say.
"Many details in the documents were redacted," according to the Times, "but prosecutors said they had found evidence of fraud and a 'lack of truthfulness' on his part."