Rod Rosenstein, the veteran Republican prosecutor hand-picked by President Donald Trump to serve as deputy attorney general, personally signed off on Monday’s FBI decision to raid the office of Michael D. Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney and longtime confidant, three 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 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.
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