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US prosecutor who probed Trump allies refuses to quit
NEW YORK, June 20, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A US prosecutor who
investigated allies of President Donald Trump was fighting for his job
Saturday after refusing to quit despite the attorney general issuing a
press release announcing his resignation.
Geoffrey Berman has overseen the prosecution of former Trump lawyer
Michael Cohen and probed advisor Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to discredit
the president’s political opponents since he was appointed to head the
powerful Southern District of New York attorney’s office in 2018.
The impasse marks the latest controversy in what Democrats in
Washington have characterized as the politicization of the Justice
Department under Attorney General Bill Barr.
Barr announced Berman’s resignation late on Friday and said Trump
would nominate Securities and Exchange Commission chief Jay Clayton as
his replacement.
“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 said.
But Berman said he first learned of his apparent departure from
Barr’s press release.
“I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning,” Berman wrote.
“I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is
confirmed by the Senate. Until then, our investigations will move
forward without interruption.”
Federal prosecutors under Berman’s charge in New York have pursued
cases against tycoon sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead
in his Manhattan jail cell last year.
Berman also investigated two associates of Giuliani accused of
campaign finance violations and helping dig up dirt on Trump’s
election challenger Joe Biden as part of the Ukraine scandal over
which Trump was impeached.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer urged the Justice
Department’s inspector general to launch an investigation into
“blatantly corrupt DOJ interference” and called for Clayton to
withdraw from consideration.
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– ‘Brazen’ –
“He can allow himself to be used in the brazen Trump-Barr scheme to
interfere in investigations by the US Attorney for the Southern
District of New York, or he can stand up to this corruption, withdraw
his name from consideration, and save his own reputation from
overnight ruin,” the New York senator said.
Jerry Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee, said he was not surprised by the move, and accused Barr of
repeatedly interfering in “criminal investigations on Trump’s behalf.”
“We have a hearing on this topic on Wednesday,” Nadler tweeted. “We
welcome Mr. Berman’s testimony and will invite him to testify.”
The Trump administration has in recent months fired or demoted
inspectors general for the Pentagon, the intelligence community and
the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as a senior
health official who questioned Trump’s promotion of unproven drug
therapies for COVID-19.
State Department inspector general Steve Linick was removed last
month after running a misconduct probe into Washington’s top diplomat
and steadfast Trump ally Mike Pompeo.
Berman’s predecessor in the attorney’s office, Preet Bharara, was
sacked after he refused Trump’s demand for his resignation.
“Why does a president get rid of his own hand-picked US Attorney in
SDNY on a Friday night, less than 5 months before the election?”
Bharara tweeted.
While US attorneys are usually nominated by the president, Berman
was appointed by the federal court in his district, according to the
Washington Post.
This has led some observers to believe that only the court has the
power to remove him until a replacement is confirmed by the Senate,
the newspaper reported.
Top Republican Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, which would have the task of confirming Clayton, said in a
statement he had not been informed of the move.
The South Carolina senator, in a statement likely to be seen as
pushback against an administration of which he has been a staunch
ally, highlighted a procedural maneuver that could allow Democrats to
try to thwart Clayton.
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