Unsealed warrants show Michael Cohen’s ties to Russian oligarch sparked FBI suspicion: CNN's Evan Perez

CNN's Evan Perez said on Wednesday that newly released search warrants related to former Trump "fixer" Michael Cohen reveal that the FBI was suspicious about his ties to a Russian oligarch.

Specifically, Perez said that the FBI found that Cohen used the same shell companies that he used to pay off President Donald Trump's former mistresses to also do business with "a company that is tied to a Russian oligarch" named Viktor Vekselberg.

It's this connection, Perez said, that gave real urgency to the search warrant.

"That's what gets the FBI and the special counsel particularly interested in Michael Cohen," he said. "There's a lot of suspicion as to what was happening to this money... you could see why the FBI was suspicious and why they wanted to learn more."

Perez then marveled at how badly Michael Cohen "screwed up" by using the same shell company to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels as he did to do business dealings with a Russian-linked company.

"These shell companies are cheap!" he said. "You can go online and set one up in Delaware, and what you usually do is set up one for each purpose and that way you don't attract the attention of the FBI!"

Watch the video below.