Chief Manhattan federal prosecutor and Trump administration appointee Geoffrey Berman, whose office oversees a federal inquiry into President Trump's longtime personal lawyer, was recused from the investigation before FBI agents raided Michael Cohen's offices and home, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Berman, named in January as an interim replacement to fill the post formerly held by Preet Bharara, whom Trump dismissed last year, was recused by Justice Department officials under Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, said the source, who was not authorized to comment publicly.

Stephen Ryan, Cohen's attorney, said the raid in New York was prompted by a referral from Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, who determined that the information related to the attorney did not fall within the direct scope of his investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 election.

Rosenstein directly oversees Mueller's work and manages how such referrals are directed for further investigation.

The source said Berman played no role in the decision to carry out the search of Cohen's New York office and home, where authorities were in part pursuing information related to an alleged hush money payment of $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election.

Upon President Donald Trump's firing Preet Bharara as U.S. Attorney, Trump reportedly interviewed Berman among other candidates for the position.[18] Berman had performed some part-time volunteer work for the Trump transition.[19] On January 3, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Berman's appointment as U.S. Attorney, along with sixteen other former prosecutors, to serve in various offices around the country on an interim basis until the Senate can permanently confirm them.[20][21] The Trump Administration never nominated Berman or most of the other interim appointments. On April 25, 2018, the Chief Judge of the Southern District of New York entered an order formally on behalf of a unanimous court appointing Berman United States Attorney pursuant to its authority under 28 U.S.C Section 546(d). Berman has the appointment indefinitely, until an individual nominated by the President is confirmed by the Senate, or he is dismissed from the position by the President.[4]

In April 2018, the office of Berman issued a search warrant of the office and hotel room of Michael Cohen, former lawyer of Donald Trump, for possible bank fraud and campaign finance violations.[22][23][24] Since Berman is recused by the U.S. Attorney General's Office from the investigation, he was apparently not involved in the decision to raid Cohen's office.[25] That search was presumably conducted under the authority of Robert Khuzami, Berman’s top deputy.[26]

They were flying into darkness. The pilot, John “Jack” Alcock, normally so brash, bold and cheerful, stared forward at the cloud now obscuring their aircraft’s wingtips.

Crammed beside him on the wooden seat of their Vickers Vimy biplane, navigator Arthur “Teddy” Brown was silent.

The dense cloud surrounding them meant he could get no readings. They were, to a large extent, flying blind.

Dawn broke, the morning of 15 June, 1919, and the wind picked up, throwing their plane about as Alcock fought to keep it level. Suddenly, the engines shuddered and the plane stalled.

SNIP

People, some still in their pyjamas, ran towards them and found Alcock sitting in the cockpit throwing out its contents and asking, “Who’ll have an orange, direct from Newfoundland? Who’ll have some cigarettes?”

“Anybody hurt?” somebody asked the airmen. “No.” Brown had a bloody nose and mouth but nothing worse.

“Where are you from?” said another. “America,” Alcock replied. The crowd laughed, refusing to believe it.

SNIP

Now, let’s all forget that Howard Schultz ever wanted to be president
It looks like Starbucks founder, former CEO and “person of means” Howard Schultz may no longer be running for president. Just four months after declaring to 60 Minutes that he would be the best CEO of America™, Schultz has let go most of his campaign team, telling staff that he would not be campaigning during the summer. Schultz is currently recovering from back surgery .

Schultz’s run for president caused much consternation among Democrats: his attempt to run as a centrist candidate never polled particularly well, although he potentially would have diverted enough votes to allow Trump to win a second term as President. (Like any good billionaire, Schultz ignored this well-documented public opinion in favor of his own ego.) His campaign isn’t officially dead yet — he will reportedly make a final decision sometime after Labor Day. But fortunately, Schultz’s body is on Team America: it seems he’ll be recovering for long enough for everybody to forget that he was ever a contender. Yep, the Mueller Report wasn’t enough to bring down Trump, yet it seems that a coffee magnate’s back pain might be the magic bullet, and America can collectively yell “bye bitch!” in the direction of this bland totem of corporate America.