It looks like Trump's plan to protect himself in New York has backfired spectacularly
- President Donald Trump personally interviewed Geoffrey Berman to be US attorney for the Southern District of New York.
- Berman reportedly recused himself from the Michael Cohen raid.
- It was exactly the kind of thing Trump was likely looking to avoid.
It appears as if President Donald Trump's plan to protect himself in New York just completely backfired.
ABC News reported Tuesday that Geoffrey Berman, the interim US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, recused himself from the investigation into Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen. Two sources told ABC News that Berman was not involved in the decision to raid Cohen's office and residences because of that recusal, which was approved by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Other attorneys in the office handled the raid, which was approved by a federal judge.
It's unlikely that Trump had such a situation in mind when he made the eyebrow-raising move to interview Berman personally for the job, as Politico reported in October. The publication reported that Trump interviewed candidates for the Southern and Eastern District of New York as well as for Washington, DC, three locals that could prove instrumental in any investigation involving the president.
Politico reported that Trump had not personally interviewed candidates for any other jurisdiction.
"I never heard of a president interviewing a US attorney candidate," Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who served as former President George W. Bush's chief ethics lawyer, told Business Insider in October.
Berman, meanwhile, worked at the same law firm as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a close Trump ally, and donated to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Sessions appointed Berman to be interim US attorney for the district after Trump interviewed him.
Controversial interviews
Following the Politico story, Bharara tweeted that "it is neither normal nor advisable for Trump to personally interview candidates" for US attorney, particularly in the Southern District of New York.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement at the time that "there's no reason" for Trump to be meeting with candidates for those vacancies.
"The U.S. attorney for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York - like the US attorney for Washington, DC -would have jurisdiction over many important cases, including those involving President Trump's personal and family business interests. There's no reason for President Trump to be meeting with candidates for these positions, which create the appearance that he may be trying to influence or elicit inappropriate commitments from potential US attorneys. US attorneys must be loyal to the Constitution - not the president."
The White House defended the interviews, saying that it was under Trump's authority to do so.
"These are individuals that the president nominates and the Senate confirms under Article II of the Constitution," a White House official told Politico. "We realize Senate Democrats would like to reduce this President's constitutional powers. But he and other presidents before him and after may talk to individuals nominated to positions within the executive branch."
Painter, who could not recall such an interview taking place in the Bush administration, asked "why is he only interviewing in these districts?"
"That's highly peculiar," he said. "And it suggests that he has an interest in the outcome of the US attorneys who work in these districts. That is very problematic, because we're looking at a situation where he could be trying to get a promise of loyalty from a US attorney. He's probably not going to be stupid enough to ask, but he's probably going to be interviewing somebody who is not going to prosecute certain cases."
Berman recused
With Berman recused, the FBI took records related to several topics, including the $130,000 hush-money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election, as well as emails, tax documents, and business records, The New York Times reported. Federal prosecutors obtained a search warrant after special counsel Robert Mueller sent a referral, said Stephen Ryan, Cohen's lawyer.
The Washington Post reported that investigators were looking into whether Cohen committed bank fraud or violated campaign finance election law. Meanwhile, The Times said the raid did not appear to be directly connected to Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 US election, but that the information he provided was most likely uncovered as part of it.
Agents were looking for records of payments made to two women who claim they had affairs with the president, as well as information on the role of the publisher of the National Enquirer in keeping one of the women quiet, The Times reported Tuesday.
Trump lashed out over the raid on Monday, telling reporters at the White House that it was a "disgraceful situation" and "an attack on our country" and "what we all stand for."