More TERRIBLE NEWS for Trump/Cohen: the recused SDNY US Attorney, Geoffrey Berman,

has only an interim appointment that was set to expire on May 4.

The recused Berman had been a DT pick. Berman replaced Preet Bharara after an interview with DT. Then Berman betrayed DT by recusing himself from the Cohen prosecution, so another prosecutor was put into place who authorized the Cohen raids.

However, Berman's interim appointment was about to expire, at which point a new US attorney might have been appointed who would not have had to recuse himself.

But a panel of judges has just unanimously extended the appointment of Berman, the recused US attorney, indefinitely. So the SDNY prosecution of Cohen will not be impeded by some new U.S. attorney.
Any new appointee would have to be nominated by DT and confirmed by the Senate -- which buys the prosecution more time.

P.S. The reason Kirsten Gillibrand was threatening to block the appointment was because she'd been afraid Berman would be a Trump stooge. His recusing himself wasn't anticipated.

https://www.amny.com/news/berman-us-attorney-1.18259267

Manhattan federal judges announced Wednesday they have voted to name Geoffrey Berman as permanent U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, extending the interim appointment he got from the Justice Department despite opposition from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

Berman took over the nation’s most prestigious U.S. Attorney’s office on a 120-day interim basis in January, in the wake of controversy that surrounded the firing last year of Preet Bharara, who was followed by his deputy Joon Kim serving as acting U.S. Attorney.

SNIP

The Trump administration, however, never formally nominated Berman to the Senate. After the court’s announcement, Gillibrand said the process was short-circuited.

“The Court has acted responsibly within the law,” she said in a statement. “It is troubling however that President Trump continues to attempt to undermine our institutions by doing an end-run around the U.S. Senate’s advise and consent responsibility for U.S. Attorney nominations.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-25/top-federal-prosecutor-in-n-y-has-term-extended-by-u-s-judge

Berman’s appointment, by an order signed Wednesday by the district’s chief judge, Colleen McMahon, was made after a unanimous vote of the judges in the district. It is to take effect immediately after the expiration of his temporary appointment on May 4 and will run until Trump nominates a replacement and the Senate confirms the person, the order said.

“I thank the court and I am grateful for its confidence in me,” Berman, a Manhattan federal prosecutor in the 1990s, said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing the great tradition of this office to pursue justice without fear or favor.”

Under the law, the district court could have appointed any candidate it saw fit to run the U.S. Attorney’s Office once the temporary appointment expired, to serve until the vacancy was filled.