The chatter surrounding a federal investigation into Donald Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen has begun to coalesce around a key question: Will he flip on the president?

Legal experts, as well as Trump's allies and confidants, think Cohen is already in deep trouble and headed for even more. Cohen's home, office and hotel room were searched last week in a series of raids by FBI agents.

The besieged fixer, who has handled Trump's legal affairs for years, could be facing a choice between prison time or cooperating with federal prosecutors.

On Thursday, Trump's former divorce lawyer, Jay Goldberg, told The Wall Street Journal he has warned the president that Cohen's loyalty to Trump would be compromised if Cohen faces criminal charges.

Goldberg said he told Trump that Cohen "will never stand up" for him.

On a 1-to-100 scale, where 100 is fully protecting the president, Goldberg said he told Trump that Cohen "isn't even a 1."

After Cohen's residence, hotel room, office, safety deposit box and electronic devices were raided April 9, Trump's advisors began to fear that the investigation posed a greater threat to the president than special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of potential links between Trump's campaign and the Kremlin, The New York Times reported.

Federal agents seized materials that included documents related to women being paid for their silence about alleged affairs with Trump, as well as files relating to communications between Trump and Cohen.

The search warrants, signed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, were based on a referral by Mueller.

Trump is being sued by porn star Stormy Daniels, who seeks to void a nondisclosure pact negotiated by Cohen shortly before the 2016 election, which barred her from discussing an alleged affair with Trump. Files related to Daniels were among those seized from Cohen.

Trump has denied the affair ever occurred. After the raids, he blasted them as being "an attack on our country in a true sense."