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So, now people from interim U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman's office apparently told ABC News that Berman had been recused from the investigation into President Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, before Monday's FBI raids on Cohen's law office, home as well as hotel room, and that the matter had been handled by other officials who work for Berman.
That may or may not be. Berman's office declined to respond to a request for confirmation that Berman had been removed from the investigation before the warrants had been sought for Monday's raids. However, FreeMartyG has found that the senior counsel for Berman's office, Audrey Strauss, worked with Berman on the DOJ's Iran-Contra probe along with Michael Bromwich, who now runs the organization behind fired former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe's $554,446 Gofundme, as well as with CNN pundit Jeffrey Toobin, who aired false information about the raids as the story was breaking on Monday.
It is not currently possible to say who from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York approved of the raids since the reason(s) for Berman's reported recusal are not yet publicly known. One possible reason for Berman’s recusal would be that he served as a volunteer lawyer for the Trump campaign. However, it is not known if there were additional reasons which would have also required his recusal. Berman's office declined to comment in a separate inquiry as to who else had been recused from the investigation into Cohen prior to the decision to raid his residences and law office. However, as the senior counsel for Berman's office, Audrey Strauss could have been consulted on any matter of Berman's recusal, provided of course that she had not already been removed from the matter herself.
FreeMartyG is continuing to investigate and anyone with further information is encouraged to come forward. Submissions may be made on or off the record.
Despite conflicting information from CNN and ABC, as FreeMartyG reported on Monday, Berman is an interim U.S. attorney, which means that he was appointed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and not by President Trump, a very important distinction given President Trump's comments on Sessions. Confusion on Berman's appointment may be being fueled by this January 5th, 2018 DOJ press release which lists Berman without the "interim" qualifier. However, please see this Heavy.com article or the quote from New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in this January 10th New York Times article.
Throughout CNN's coverage on Monday, Toobin told viewers that even someone who had been directly appointed by Trump approved the raids and insinuated that therefore the raids were especially credible. But Berman was not nominated by President Trump and apparently did not sign off on the searches.
Additionally, the Times is now reporting that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein personally approved the raids Monday. FreeMartyG is currently conducting a poll as to whether the Deputy Attorney General went too far. And Monday night Harvard Law Emeritus Professor Alan Dershowitz told the Fox News audience that, “The deafening silence of the ACLU and civil libertarians about the intrusion into the lawyer-client confidentiality is really appalling." And that if lawyers for the Clintons had been raided, “the ACLU would be on every TV station in America jumping up and down."
In the now-infamous Strzok-Page text messages, there were as of yet unexplained references to “secret society.” Further, President Trump has tweeted that the people behind Special Counsel Mueller's investigation are "conflicted." Former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe was fired following an Inspector General's report into his handling of the Hillary Clinton private email server scandal.
Stay tuned to FreeMartyG for the latest developments in this breaking story.
Marty Gottesfeld is an Obama-era political prisoner and Republican Senate candidate against incumbent Elizabeth Warren. You can donate to his legal defense fund at FreeMartyG.com or to his political campaign at VoteMartyG.com.
