Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein personally approved Monday's FBI raid on President Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
ABC News, meanwhile, reported that Geoffrey Berman, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, which had jurisdiction, was recused from the Cohen case and not involved in carrying out the raid.
Rosenstein approved Berman's recusal, ABC reported.
Rosenstein's involvement and approval of the raid signal a high degree of probable cause, especially given that Cohen is an attorney, highly-sensitive ground, the Times reports.
Further, a former U.S. attorney told Axios that special counsel Robert Mueller referred evidence found on Cohen to Rosenstein, who then referred it to the Southern District of New York.
It was the Southern District that consulted with Rosenstein — and received — the go-ahead to obtain a search warrant, Axios reports.
"Which meant they had probable cause to believe that a crime was committed and that Cohen had evidence that was fruit, instrument or evidence of the crime," the former U.S. attorney told Axios.
Rosenstein's approval of the raid enraged Trump, the Times reports, rekindling private discussions whether to fire the deputy AG, the Times reports.
Rosentein was put in charge of matters related to the investigation of Russia's possible involvement in the 2016 presidential election after Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, recused himself. Rosenstein in that role appointed special counsel Robert Muller, whom Trump has repeatedly criticized.
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