Free Republic

The House Judiciary Committee believes it has evidence that President Trump asked Matthew Whitaker, at the time the acting attorney general, whether Manhattan U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman could regain control of his office’s investigation into Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and his real-estate business, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Berman, a former law partner of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani who in 2016 donated to the Trump campaign and whom the president personally interviewed for the U.S. attorney job, last year had recused himself from involvement in the matter. He didn’t give a reason, but legal experts said his...

President Donald Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, may have been convinced by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York to plead guilty to a supposed violation of campaign finance law, but that doesn’t mean that what happened is actually a federal crime. In fact, neither the Federal Election Commission—which is the independent agency tasked with enforcing the Federal Election Campaign Act—nor its former commissioners would likely agree with the overaggressive view that the Southern District is taking. Indeed, the Southern District’s aggressive stance on this issue might have violated the Justice Department’s own policy....

A U.S. Treasury Department official has been criminally charged with leaking confidential documents relating to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, the Russian embassy and others, to a reporter from digital media company BuzzFeed, Manhattan federal prosecutors announced on Wednesday. Natalie May Edwards, a senior adviser in the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), was arrested on Tuesday and charged with unauthorized disclosure of suspicious activity reports, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. She was expected to make an initial appearance in Virginia federal court later in the day.

Rod Rosenstein made the decision to turn over the Michael Cohen case to attorneys in the Southern District of New York. Rosenstein did this to ensure that the witch hunt against President Trump continued if President Trump shut down the junk Mueller investigation. The US attorney Trump appointed for that outpost, Geoffrey Berman, reportedly was ordered to recuse himself by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, leaving the office staffed mostly by holdovers from Preet Bharara’s tenure.

JUST IN: Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein ordered Trump-appointed US attorney Geoffrey Berman to recuse himself from Michael Cohen case, letting Democrat holdovers of anti-Trump Preet Bharara pursue the case - NYP

ABC News has learned that Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is recused from the Michael Cohen investigation. Two sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News Berman was not involved in the decision to raid Cohen's office because of the recusal. The recusal was approved by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The raid of Cohen's handled by others in the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and approved by a federal judge.

ABC News has learned that Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is recused from the Michael Cohen investigation. Two sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News Berman was not involved in the decision to raid Cohen's office because of the recusal. The recusal was approved by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is one of the most talked-about potential Democratic candidates for the White House in 2020. But she has also turned into a thorn in the side of the Department of Justice as she holds up one of DOJ's highest-profile postings. The junior senator from New York plans to use her “blue-slip prerogative” to block the confirmation of Geoffrey S. Berman, if he is nominated by President Trump to be the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Gillibrand spokesman Glen Caplin told Fox News. Berman, 58, a former prosecutor in the...