Washington (CNN)Geoffrey Berman, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan who was appointed on an interim basis by the attorney general in January, was recused from the investigation into President Donald Trump’s personal attorney before any search warrants were issued on his office and hotel room, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
The source did not know the specific reasons for Berman’s recusal but said the decision to step aside was his and was approved by senior Justice Department officials within Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s office.
On Monday, Michael Cohen’s office and hotel room were raided by a dozen FBI agents on search warrants that had been executed by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which Berman leads, according to Cohen’s attorney Stephen Ryan.
Prosecutors from the Southern District came to the criminal division at the Justice Department in Washington to sign off on the warrants, as required by the US Attorney’s Manual, according to the source, and Rosenstein was made aware of the warrants before they were executed Monday.
Officials from the Southern District declined to comment on the recusal, which was first reported by ABC News.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Berman, a former white-collar defense attorney and veteran of the Southern District, as an interim US attorney in January. Berman’s ascension fueled controversy after CNN reported that Trump had personally interviewed him in the…
