Serious threat coming for Trump family as probe into former president intensifies

Ivanka Trump waves to supporters during a campaign event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds last year. Photo / AP

There are people in Donald Trump's inner circle who thought they could never be touched.

But their world is starting to unravel, with fears those closest to the former president are next in the firing line after Rudy Giuliani's apartment and office was raided.

Not only do insiders believe the raid sent a strong message from the feds on what could be to come, they think Trump's former lawyer won't remain fiercely loyal and is likely to roll.

Ivanka Trump waves to supporters during a campaign event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds last year. Photo / AP

That means the likes of Ivanka, her husband Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr and even the former president could be ratted out in order for Giuliani to save his own backside from prison.

Federal investigators on Wednesday executed a search warrant at the Manhattan apartment as they probe Giuliani's business dealings with Ukraine, seizing computers and files to help in the inquiry looking at whether Giuliani engaged in illegal lobbying for Ukrainian officials.

But Trump insiders told CNN the raid was orchestrated to send a message to his inner circle, and it had worked, with a sense of fear ignited in those who believed they weren't in the firing line.

"This was a show of force that sent a strong message to a lot of people in Trump's world that other things may be coming down the pipeline," one Trump adviser said.

"I can't for the life of me think why you would need to send seven FBI agents to go and collect a cellphone and laptop."

Giuliani, once a top New York prosecutor before becoming a celebrated mayor of the city, was a personal lawyer for Trump when the president was impeached in December 2019 for seeking political help from Ukraine.

But the investigation could be honing in on the former Trump lawyer doing paid work for Ukrainian businessmen at the same time, violating US laws against unregistered lobbying for foreign entities, which he denies.

Former US attorney Preet Bharara said there was a strong chance Giuliani would be charged, which means prison could be on the cards.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to crowd before boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., in this Wednesday, January 20, 2021. Photo / AP

Insiders say even the most loyal people have a breaking point if they are staring down the barrel of a prison sentence, as was evidenced with former Trump adviser Michael Cohen.

Cohen has now weighed in on the turmoil, predicting Giuliani is "absolutely" going to turn on Trump to save himself.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington last year. Photo / AP

Trump's former "fixer", who was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion and campaign-finance violations, said there was no doubt Giuliani was nervous.

"And it's rightfully so that he's nervous, because he knows the power of the SDNY (Southern District of New York) is unlimited, and they use that power," Cohen told CNN on Thursday.

"Prior to Donald becoming president, Rudy didn't like Donald, and Donald certainly didn't like Rudy. So do I think Rudy will give up Donald in a heartbeat? Absolutely. He certainly doesn't want to follow my path down into a 36-month sentence."

Cohen said Giuliani likely "has no interest in going to prison and spending the golden years of his life behind bars".

Cohen said what was ironic was the fact the tactics of the SDNY, in terms of bullying into a plea deal, were created by Giuliani 30 years ago.

"And it's just ironic that the tactics that he created for that office are now going to be employed against him, in terms of making him plead guilty and, certainly, at the least, turning over information about Jared, Ivanka, about Don Jr, about Donald himself, about all of these individuals in that garbage can orbit of Donald Trump," he said.

Michael Cohen has predicted Rudy Giuliani is 'absolutely' going to turn on Trump to save himself. Photo / AP

"Who knows what Rudy was involved with. What we're going to find out is, there are text messages, there are emails, there are different types of communication apps that the FBI knows how to re-establish, even if Rudy, who I don't think is technological, tried to delete or what have you."

Cohen continued that investigators might be looking into Ukrainian conversations but uncover others involved and expand the probe.

"We have no idea how expansive that this investigation is going to ultimately reveal itself, because Rudy's an idiot," he said.

"And that's the problem. Rudy drinks too much. Rudy behaves in such an erratic manner that, who knows what's on those telephones or what's on his computers?"

Cohen said he believed Trump would be afraid because he was when the feds raided him.

"Because Donald Trump cares about only one person, and I say it all the time," he told CNN.

"He cares about only himself. So, he doesn't care that they raided Rudy's home. He doesn't care that they raided Rudy's law office. What is it going to do to affect me, is all that he's thinking right now. What did stupid Rudy do? What did stupid Rudy write? What sort of text messages or emails?

"What sort of stupid things was Rudy up to that's now going to implicate me?"

Cohen said Giuliani would be a "treasure trove" of information and Trump would be living in fear of that.