Payments targeted by FBI in raid
Search of Trump’s lawyer’s office sets off tirade from president.
The FBI agents who raided the office of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Monday were looking for records about payments to two women who claim they had affairs with Trump, and information related to the publisher of The National Enquirer’s role in silencing one of the women, several people briefed on the investigation said.
The search warrant carried out by the public corruption unit of the New York City federal attorney’s office seeks information about Karen McDougal, an ex-Playboy model who claims she carried on a nearly yearlong affair with Trump shortly after the birth of his son in 2006. McDougal was paid $150,000 by American Media Inc., the Enquirer’s parent company, whose chief executive is a friend of Trump’s. Agents were also searching Michael D. Cohen’s office for information related to Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, who says she also had sex with Trump while he was married. Cohen has acknowledged that he paid Clifford $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement to secure her silence just days before the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen Ryan, on Monday called the raids “inappropriate and unnecessary.” In an email on Tuesday, he referred back
to that statement.
Rod Rosenstein, the veteran Republican prosecutor hand-picked by Trump to serve as deputy attorney general, personally signed off on Monday’s FBI decision to raid the office of Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney and longtime confidant, several government officials said.
The early-morning searches enraged Trump, associates said, setting off an angry public tirade Monday evening that continued in private at the White House as the president fumed about whether he should fire Rosenstein. The episode has deeply unsettled White House aides, Justice Department officials and lawmakers from both parties, who believe the president may use it as a pretext to purge the team leading the investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 election.
Searching a lawyer’s files is among the most sensitive moves federal prosecutors can make as they pursue a criminal investigation. Rosenstein’s personal involvement in the decision signals that the evidence seen by law enforcement officials was significant enough to persuade the Justice Department’s second-in-command that such an aggressive move was necessary.
Trump’s advisers have spent the last 24 hours trying to convince the president not to make an impulsive decision that could put the president in more legal jeopardy and ignite a controversy that could consume his presidency, several people close to Trump said. The president began Tuesday morning with a pair of angry tweets, calling the raids “A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!” and venting that “attorney–client privilege is dead!”
Trump has long been mistrustful of Rosenstein, the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, who appointed special counsel Robert Mueller, and now oversees his investigation into Trump’s campaign and possible obstruction of justice by the president. In his remarks Monday night, the president lashed out at Rosenstein for having “signed a FISA warrant,” apparently a reference to the role Rosenstein played in authorizing the wiretap of a Trump associate in the Russia inquiry.
Trump considered firing Rosenstein last summer. Instead, he ordered Mueller to be fired, then backed down after the White House counsel refused to carry out the order, The New York Times reported in January. Trump is now again telling associates that he is frustrated with Rosenstein, according to one official familiar with the conversations.
While Rosenstein must sign off on all moves that Mueller makes, that is not necessarily the case for searches — such as this one — that are carried out by other federal law enforcement offices. Justice Department regulations require prosecutors to consult with senior criminal prosecutors in Washington — but not necessarily the deputy attorney general — before conducting a search of a lawyer’s files.
The involvement of Rosenstein and top prosecutors in New York in the raid of Cohen’s office makes it harder for Trump to argue that his legal problems are the result of a witch hunt led by Mueller. In addition to Rosenstein, all of the top law enforcement officials involved in the raid are Republicans: Mueller; Christopher Wray, the FBI director; and Geoffrey Berman, the interim U.S. attorney in New York.
While Trump is focused for the moment on Rosenstein, many of the president’s advisers and allies are fearful that the president also intends to fire Mueller in an attempt to end the Russia investigation. Asked by reporters Monday night whether he intends to do so, Trump said, “We’ll see what happens.”
“But I think it’s really a sad situation when you look at what happened,” the president added. “And many people have said you should fire him. Again, they found nothing and in finding nothing, that’s a big statement.”
The prospect that Trump might fire Mueller was met with fierce responses from Democrats and some Republicans, who warned that such a move would be disastrous for the White House.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday on Fox Business Network that “it would be suicide for the president to want to talk about firing Mueller.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the top Democrat in the House, on Monday called Trump’s attacks on Mueller and his team a “grave reminder of his utter contempt for the rule of law.”
The president has for months been harshly critical of Attorney General Jeff Sessions for having recused himself in the Russia investigation. Trump renewed that criticism Monday night, saying that “he made what I consider to be a very terrible mistake for the country, but you’ll figure that out.”
As the president’s attacks became more severe over the past months, top Justice Department officials quietly worried about what to do should Trump fire the special counsel or one of his top officials. They chose to band together in a public show of solidarity in late February, when Sessions dined with Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who is overseeing Mueller, and Noel J. Francisco, the solicitor general who would oversee the Russia investigation should Rosenstein be fired.
The earlymorning searches enraged Trump, associates said, setting off an angry public tirade Monday evening that continued in private at the White House as the president fumed about whether he should fire Rosenstein.