Donald Trump's personal lawyer becomes focus of Russia investigation

The lawyer said he had rejected a request to provide documents

Mr Cohen said he had turned down the request from congressional investigators (AP)

The federal investigation into alleged collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign team and Moscow, has now spread to include the President’s personal lawyer.

Michael Cohen, who was previously employed by the Trump Organisation, told US media he had been asked by House and Senate investigators to provide “information and testimony” about any contacts he had with people connected to the Russian government. He said he had turned down the invitation.

“I declined the invitation to participate, as the request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being answered,” he told ABC News.

The Associated Press said that a member of staff of the House Intelligence Committee said Mr Cohen had confirmed that Mr Cohen had been issued a subpoena.

After Mr Cohen rejected the congressional requests for cooperation, the Senate Select Intelligence Committee voted unanimously to grant its chairman, Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, and ranking Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia, blanket authority to issue subpoenas as they deemed necessary.

While Mr Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, has been the subject of much media focus in recent days, after it was revealed he was a target of the ongoing FBI probe, Mr Cohen is also considered very close to the President.

The network said that insiders consider him be Mr Trump’s pit bull or consigliere for his role in threatening legal action against critics of the New York tycoon.

In a 2016 appearance on CNN that went viral, the stone-faced attorney flashed anger when anchor Brianna Keiler said the Trump campaign was “down”.

“Says who?” he challenged. When she cited polls, he said: “Which polls?” She replied, “All of them.”

He then responded: “You’re going to all be very surprised when he polls substantially higher than what you all are giving him credit for.”