See my tiny fist? ONLY LOOK AT THE TINY FIST!
This will be a relatively short diary, documenting a news story that somehow eluded the Daily Kos news-tentacles. I searched the site and only found one brief mention in Doctor Who’s “Today in Congress” summary (from yesterday, July 3, 2020).
It has only been about two weeks since Attorney General (and sad, evil warthog) William Barr created a firestorm of controversy by essentially firing Geoffrey Berman, the U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. This is an ongoing scandal with pending congressional testimony, as Berman was personally supervising multiple investigations involving President Trump, including his taxes, Rudy Giuliani, and related matters. As DKos readers will recall, Barr originally announced an egregious lie, stating that Berman had “resigned” his position, but would be receiving a promotion, moving into a higher role in the main Justice Department. Despite the proffered promotion, Berman called out Barr’s lie, stating “I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position, to which I was appointed by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate." The next day, Barr announced that Berman had now been officially fired by Trump, although Trump himself claimed “I’m not involved.”
Next, Berman will be testifying:
Okay… that’s “old” news. After all, it’s been two whole weeks. On Friday, while everyone was paying attention to Donald Trump’s shouty orange klan rally, Barr quietly did it again. I just heard about it from Rachel Maddow’s recorded show, July 2. I then found the story in more official form, from Reuters.
Quoting from the Reuters piece:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, New York, is moving to high-ranking post at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, giving Attorney General William Barr a chance to put a fresh stamp on another of the nation’s top prosecutors’ offices.
Richard Donoghue, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York since January 2018, will become principal associate deputy attorney general, reporting to Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, a spokesman said.
Donoghue will work closely with the more than 90 U.S. attorneys around the country. He announced his departure to staff earlier Thursday. No successor was named.
So, this time, the offer of a promotion was made, once again late on a news day before a holiday, and this time the U.S. Attorney accepted. The political crony to take his place has not yet been announced.
Why should we care? Because, of course, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York has been supervising MORE investigations into Trump’s corruption. Among the cases being handled in that office: Investigations into the Trump inaugural campaign and into Rudy Giuliani.
In fact, again quoting Reuters:
Donoghue’s stature appeared to rise in January when Rosen tapped him to oversee and vet tips related to Ukraine in the wake of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, according to a memo released to Congress. Trump was acquitted.
Barr has said the vetting process was a means to scrutinize tips by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Although this has made almost no splash with the major news organizations, it appears extremely likely that this is yet another act of blatant corruption and obstruction of justice by Bill Barr and the Trump administration.
At the risk of plagiarizing from Aldous Snow, we’ve got to do something. We all realize that congress is feeling crippled after Trump’s shameful “exoneration” after impeachment, but the massive escalation of their corruption cannot be ignored.
Call your congressional representative! DO NOT allow this naked corruption to slip past their attention.
