The one-two scoops here on Rosenstein personally approving the Cohen warrant applications — https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/us/politics/trump-russia-mueller-rosenstein.html?smid=tw-share … — and Berman recusal — https://twitter.com/jonkarl/status/983734168134864898 … — are important pieces of information, but neither is necessarily surprising.
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Again, though, we're yet to have on the record confirmation of any of this stuff from SDNY US Atty's Office, Main Justice, the FBI, or the Special Counsel's Office.
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In fact, the SDNY US Attorney's Office just declined to comment on today's reports, adding, "We have not confirmed or denied the existence of an investigation into this matter."
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Main Justice also declines to comment.
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One thing: I don't get the bit in the ABC story about Rosenstein "approving" Berman's recusal.
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Anyway, the short of this is that there's a lot of sort of likely, but not totally clear reporting out there and just about no one — except the very interested party of Cohen's lawyer — has been talking on the record.
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BTW, if Berman is recused, the #2 at SDNY is Robert Khuzami, "a prosecutor in the Southern District from 1990 to 2002" who served as the SEC enforcement chief under Obama:https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/business/robert-khuzami-us-attorneys-office.html …
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In light of Cohen using his Trump Org email address for at least part of the payment facilitation, this makes sense. It also further clarifies that this is coming from a different direction than the Mueller investigation, at least at this point:https://www.wsj.com/articles/feds-seek-stormy-daniels-documents-tied-to-trump-organization-1523379888?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1&mod=breakingnews …
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USA Today reports that Berman was disqualified from the Cohen-related matter by Rosenstein:https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/04/10/top-ny-prosecutor-geoffrey-berman-trump-appointee-recused-michael-cohen-inquiry/502367002/ …
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If this came from a referral from Mueller's office, Mueller would have reported up to Rosenstein and Rosenstein would determine who gets the referral. If Berman is under consideration to be Trump's US Atty nom, it's not surprising for Rosenstein to determine he's disqualified.pic.twitter.com/dIyhX9yz2M
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[Open to counterpoints on that — but that's a possible way that I can get it to make sense, given that no one is saying on the record what's going on. One person already suggested another possibility: B/c Sessions is recused and Berman's a Sessions appointee, he is recused, too.]
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Lol. Now USA Today has edited its story to say that Berman "was recused by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein." ABC says the "recusal was approved by senior Justice Department officials" who report to Rosenstein, who was informed after the fact.
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The WSJ doesn't have specifics on the apparent Berman recusal, but
@eorden reports that it is so, and says, as I noted was likely earlier, that Khuzami is now responsible for overseeing the Cohen investigation —>https://twitter.com/eorden/status/983837172036972544 …Show this thread
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Huh??? Berman's recusal is warranted b/c he met with Trump about a job? Bob Mueller met with Trump re: the FBI Director job like the day before he was appointed special counsel. Rosenstein also met with Trump about his job.
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Yes, I've written all those stories. I was poking around at reasons that could lead a person to do so (and some people might recuse where others wouldn't). Plus, obviously, we don't know what they discussed. (That said, the disqual reporting in interesting.)
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All I know is that nothing about this whole ordeal is ever handled in the ordinary course.
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Thank you.
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That does not make sense to me. Many judges have personal and professional connections (including conversations) with executive branch. Did he recuse himself or did the DOJ recuse him?
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