Late on Friday evening, Attorney General William Barr issued a press release indicating that Geoffrey Berman, the U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York had resigned and was being replaced by Barr’s hand-picked alternative. “Finally, I thank Geoffrey Berman, who is stepping down after two-and-a-half years of service as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York,” Barr wrote.
But an hour later, Berman produced his own statement. “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," Berman wrote. "Until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption." Berman led the prosecution of Michael Cohen and Donald Trump’s giant, unspent “inaugural fund” that collected multiple million-dollar contributions from overseas. He is currently investigating the actions of Rudy Giuliani and his partners in Ukraine and elsewhere. What started as an attempt to hide the replacement of a key U. S. attorney in a late-night shuffle, is turning into an explosion at the DOJ that highlights Trump and Barr’s unprecedented politicization of that department.
The U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York is a key office at the Justice Department, handling huge cases of corporate and governmental corruption, tax evasion, and massive criminal conspiracies. But on Friday night Barr sought to swiftly replace Berman with Jay Clayton, who is currently serving as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Clayton is a corporate attorney who is a long time friend of Barr’s. He has never appeared in criminal court or prosecuted a case in his life.
That Barr and Trump would attempt to impose such an ineffectual figure into a critical role is scandalous enough. But as Berman’s reaction makes clear, the White House is attempting to make this switch in the middle of critical investigations and directly over the opposition of the sitting U. S. Attorney.
According to The New York Times, Barr has been trying to tease Berman out of his office for some time, including making offers to hand Berman the Civil Rights Division within the DOJ. But Berman has stolidly refused to leave and been insistent on continuing investigations that are underway. Trump has frequently clashed with the U. S. attorney for SDNY and has fired off tweets and statements complaining about the office for better than two years, especially following the raid on Michael Cohen’s office and more recent prosecution of Rudy Giuliani’s partners in the Ukraine-scandal, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. It was Berman’s office that investigated the scheme to buy off Stormy Daniels and also collected information on Trump’s corporations that has not resulted in any prosecutions … so far.
In a White House obsessed with refusing to provide information to Congress, firing inspector generals, and persecuting whistleblowers, the dismissal of Berman might have swiftly been lost as just one more step in the overt politicization of a department that is supposed to hold itself at a distance from White House whims. But Berman’s refusal to leave is lifting this event into a defining moment.
As CNN notes, the U. S. Attorney’s office for SDNY also makes appearance’s in John Bolton’s book. That includes an instance in which Trump offered to shut down an investigation of bank fraud and sanction violations to help Turkish autocrat Recep Erdogan. When the SDNY failed to cooperate, Trump told Bolton that the members of the office "were not his people, but were Obama people." However, Berman was appointed by Trump.
According to the statement from Barr, Trump has already appointed the current U. S. Attorney for New Jersey to begin acting as interim attorney for SDNY on July 3. But it seems clear that Berman has no intention of leaving his office unless Barr and Trump go beyond the pretense that he has “resigned.” Because he is not going to do that.
On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee under chairman Jerry Nadler is planning to hold a hearing on the politicization of the Justice Department that will include testimony by whistleblowers from that department. Depending on what happens in the next three day, the SDNY story may be part of that hearing — or the focus. Barr has refused to appear at the hearing.
With only five months remaining in Trump’s term, this attempt to close down investigation of key associates is both ugly … and probably fruitless. One thing is sure: If Berman is no longer a U. S. Attorney, he will certainly make one hell of a witness.
