Federal prosecutors moved quickly to take legal advantage of new comments by President Trump, who said in an Fox News interview Thursday morning that his personal attorney Michael Cohen performs only a “a tiny, tiny little fraction” of the president’s legal work.

In a letter to the court filed less than three hours after Trump appeared on “Fox and Friends,” prosecutors argued those comments prove that relatively few documents seized during a search of Cohen’s home, office and hotel room earlier this month are likely to be confidential communications between Cohen and his client, Trump.

The filing came in advance of a midday hearing in front of U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood as lawyers for Cohen and Trump have been fighting to prevent prosecutors from having unfettered access to thousands of documents seized from Cohen, as part of what prosecutors have said is an ongoing criminal investigation into the lawyer and his personal business.

The prosecutors’ speedy incorporation of Trump’s Fox interview into legal documents provided a vivid illustration of the strategic downsides of the president’s media interviews and off-the-cuff remarks and tweets – and why lawyers urge their clients to limit public commentary about ongoing legal matters.

Prosecutors noted that Cohen’s lawyers had at first told the court that the FBI had seized “thousands, if not millions” of pages of privileged material from his home and office. Since then, however, Cohen’s lawyers have acknowledged that Cohen has only had three legal clients in the last year.

One, Fox News host Sean Hannity, has said that Cohen never represented him in any legal matter. With his new comments, Trump too indicated that Cohen did relatively little work for him.

“These statement by two of Cohen’s three identified clients suggested that the seized materials are unlikely to contain voluminous privileged documents, further supporting the importance of efficiency here,” prosecutors wrote.

Cohen has argued that some of the documents are protected by attorney-client privilege and has been pushing to allow his lawyers to review the material first. His lawyers have suggested a neutral special master be appointed to adjudicate potential disputes over what documents prosecutors should receive.

In their filing, prosecutors withdrew their previous opposition to the appointment of a special master, provided that third party receive the documents before Cohen and his lawyers. They suggested Wood name a retired federal judge to quickly begin the process and prevent delays in their investigation.

The legal showdown began after FBI agents seized records and documents as part of a probe by federal prosecutors in New York into possible bank fraud and wire fraud.

People familiar with the investigation have said prosecutors are also investigating whether Cohen violated campaign finance law by working to squelch damaging information about Trump prior to the November 2016 election, including with a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stephanie Clifford, who is better known as Stormy Daniels.

Wood had earlier said she was considering appointing a special master – not because of legal precedent but in the interest of avoiding the appearance of bias in the politically charged case.

During his “Fox and Friends” interview, Trump also confirmed that Cohen had been representing him when the Daniels payment was negotiated.

“He represents me with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal. From what I see, he did absolutely nothing wrong,” Trump said.

The comment appeared to conflict with earlier Trump comments insisting that he had been unaware of Cohen’s payment to Daniels and could also prove legally problematic. Trump’s contention that Cohen was acting on his behalf would appear to put the president in the middle of a payment now under criminal investigation.

Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for Daniels who is engaged in a civil lawsuit against Cohen, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Trump’s comment was “hugely damaging” and a “gift from heavens.”

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