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Donald Trump doesn’t like to follow the rules. He lies constantly. He cheats on his wife (and not just the current one). His businesses are notorious for stiffing customers and vendors. As president, he has violated one longstanding norm after another. When Trump believes it’s convenient for him to break a rule, he often just decides that the rule doesn’t matter.

This longstanding pattern probably goes a long way toward explaining yesterday’s events: The F.B.I. conducted a raid of the office and hotel room of Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen — a raid approved by the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, who was appointed by the Trump administration just three months ago.

Think about how extraordinary this is.

Receiving a warrant to search any lawyer’s office is unusual, given the power of attorney-client privilege. And in this case, the office being searched is that of the lawyer representing the president of the United States. Which means that the search required the approval of both top Justice Department officials and a federal judge.