Attorney-client privilege gives a client the right to keep his or her communications with a lawyer confidential. So the FBI raid raised questions about whether that right had been infringed, as Trump tweeted this morning:
Attorney–client privilege is dead!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2018
But legal experts said no. The action was unusual, but they contend, the way the Justice Department conducted the raid indicates its careful consideration of the attorney-client privilege. The order for the raid had to come from the highest levels of the Justice Department, said Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney, and deputy assistant attorney general. It was likely approved by Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general. And that there is no attorney-client privilege if there was a discussion of a crime.
No, there is a crime fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege, as there has been for centuries. Annesley v. Anglesea (1743), 17 How. St. Tr. 1139. https://t.co/M4J5S0o305
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) April 10, 2018
"The [attorney-client] privilege takes flight if the relation is abused. A client who consults an attorney for advice that will serve him in the commission of a fraud will have no help from the law. He must let the truth be told."
Justice Cardozo for the Court, Clark v U.S., 1933— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) April 10, 2018
I use the attorney-client privilege. I know the attorney-client privilege. The attorney-client privilege is a friend of mine. And the attorney-client privilege is not dead. What is dead is using the privilege to hide illegal acts. And that has been dead for a long time. #basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 10, 2018
