Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein personally approved the FBI’s decision to raid Michael Cohen’s office in New York, according to a report.
Sources told the New York Times that Rosenstein’s involvement in the decision to raid the office of Cohen, President Trump’s longtime attorney, led the president to vent about whether he should fire the No. 2 official at the Justice Department.
During the raid, agents were reportedly searching for documents related to payments made to two women who claim to have had extramarital affairs with Trump more than a decade ago. The New York Times reported that FBI agents were also looking for information about American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, which paid one of the women $150,000.
The woman who received the money from American Media Inc. is Karen McDougal, an ex-Playboy model who said she had a yearlong affair with Trump in 2006.
The search warrant also sought information regarding Stormy Daniels, a former adult film actress whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. Daniels said she had a sexual encounter with Trump after they met in 2006. She received $130,000 from Cohen as part of a confidentiality agreement she signed just before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about the affair.
Cohen admitted to facilitating the payment to Daniels, but has denied Trump knew about the money.
Rosenstein tapped special counsel Robert Mueller to lead the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the probe and Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey in May. He now oversees Mueller’s investigation, which also includes obstruction of justice by Trump.
Though Rosenstein has to approve Mueller’s moves, that may not be the case for searches conducted by other federal authorities. Prosecutors have to speak with senior criminal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., before they search a lawyer’s records, the New York Times reported. However, the deputy attorney general does not necessarily have to be involved in those discussions.
Trump has fumed that the investigation into Russian meddling is a “witch hunt” and called the FBI’s raid of Cohen’s office a “disgraceful situation.”
But the top officials involved in the raid are all Republicans, the New York Times noted, including Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman.
ABC News reported Tuesday that Berman recused from the investigation involving Cohen, and Rosenstein approved his recusal.
Trump reportedly thought about firing Rosenstein last year and is again frustrated with the deputy attorney general. But lawmakers are also concerned the president will fire Mueller.
When discussing the raid with reporters Monday, Trump said “many people” have told him to fire the special counsel and criticized the team of investigators Mueller has assembled.
The president fired off a pair of tweets Tuesday morning, saying the raids were a “total witch hunt” and claiming “attorney-client privilege is dead.”
