“Trump Justice Department officials in Washington raised no concerns to Manhattan federal prosecutors when they said they wanted to covertly search Rudy Giuliani’s Apple iCloud account in late 2019, according to people familiar with the matter. The Justice Department’s national security division was notified by Manhattan prosecutors because the former New York mayor was being investigated for possible undisclosed foreign lobbying stemming from his work in Ukraine, an issue which falls under the division’s purview. Prosecutors didn’t need formal approval from Washington for the iCloud warrant, but senior officials could have raised questions or voiced concerns to Manhattan prosecutors that might have spurred them to reconsider the search or modify its scope, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.”

“The lack of pushback in 2019 could undercut efforts by the personal lawyer to former President Donald Trump to cast both the iCloud search and the April 28 Federal Bureau of Investigation raids of his Manhattan home and office as the actions of politically biased prosecutors who ‘hate’ him and his most famous client. A spokesperson for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which is leading the probe, declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the Justice Department in Washington. Robert Costello, Giuliani’s lawyer, said he didn’t know who was consulted in Washington prior to the 2019 iCloud search by Manhattan prosecutors” – Bloomberg.