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They no longer try to hide their corruption

Matata

Matata

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Sep 10, 2003
Messages
9,938
All I can say is, "Wow".
 
They're obviously trying to kill an investigation into Trump's finances, and as usual Barr is willing to be completely unethical to conform to the his boss's agenda.
 
Yup. Berman is a republican by the way, appointed by Jeff Session so I don’t know how it could be spun as liberal agenda etc.

Our constitutional crisis may be coming a bit early this year depending on Trump\Barrs reaction. If they insist that trump can fire him and name his replacement without the senate and Berman refuses to recognize that and continues at his job, things could get interesting... You have to imagine the office and staff of SDNY would just continue listening to Berman and follow his lead.
 
I guess we will have to wait and see whether Mr. Berman can hold out!


"Mr. Barr asked Mr. Berman to resign, but he refused, so Mr. Barr moved to fire him, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Trump had been discussing removing Mr. Berman for some time with a small group of advisers, the person said. Mr. Trump has been upset with Mr. Berman ever since the Manhattan prosecutor’s office pursued a case against Mr. Cohen.

...​

In 2018, the attorney general at the time, Jeff Sessions, appointed Mr. Berman as interim United States attorney in Manhattan.
But Mr. Trump never formally sent Mr. Berman’s nomination to the Senate. After 120 days, his formal appointment to the post was made by the judges of the United States District Court.
Mr. Berman took note of the nature of his appointment to the position in explaining why he was refusing to step down.

'I was appointed by the judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York,' Mr. Berman said in his statement. 'I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate. Until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption.'"
 
This is twitter, so take it for what it's worth, but could be very interesting:






Seth Abramson

@SethAbramson
·
12h

My book doesn't come out until later in the summer, but I'm going to tell you now one thing that you'll find in it: all of the reporting indicates that Barr is involved in the dubious funding of the Trump 2020 campaign by foreign sources. This is all a lot worse than you realize.


And why would they try to hide the corruption? The republican led senate won't do a damn thing about it.
 
Hers's the latest.

"Mr. Barr’s attempt to fire Mr. Berman received unexpected pushback from Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a close Trump ally.

Mr. Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee — which would approve Mr. Clayton’s nomination — suggested in a statement that he would allow New York’s two Democratic senators to thwart the nomination through a procedural maneuver.

He complimented Mr. Clayton but said he had not heard from the administration about his planned nomination.

Mr. Trump’s purge of officials has intensified in the months since the Republican-led Senate acquitted him in the impeachment trial. He has fired or forced out inspectors general with independent oversight over executive branch agencies and other key figures from the trial."


www.nytimes.com

Clash Over U.S. Attorney Who Investigated Trump Associates Sets Off Crisis (Published 2020)

Attorney General William Barr tried to fire the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey Berman, but he is refusing to leave.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
AGBF said:
Hers's the latest.

"Mr. Barr’s attempt to fire Mr. Berman received unexpected pushback from Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a close Trump ally.

Mr. Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee — which would approve Mr. Clayton’s nomination — suggested in a statement that he would allow New York’s two Democratic senators to thwart the nomination through a procedural maneuver.

He complimented Mr. Clayton but said he had not heard from the administration about his planned nomination.

Mr. Trump’s purge of officials has intensified in the months since the Republican-led Senate acquitted him in the impeachment trial. He has fired or forced out inspectors general with independent oversight over executive branch agencies and other key figures from the trial."


www.nytimes.com

Clash Over U.S. Attorney Who Investigated Trump Associates Sets Off Crisis (Published 2020)

Attorney General William Barr tried to fire the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey Berman, but he is refusing to leave.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
Click to expand...

I have no faith. Graham's "push back" is a lot like Collins' "deep concern".
 
Demon said:
I have no faith. Graham's "push back" is a lot like Collins' "deep concern"
Click to expand...

Ditto. I hope both of them are sent packing at election time.
 
Trump has fired Berman. The move was necessary because Bill Barr was unable to do so. See this article for details as to why. It sounds as if Berman was getting too close to Trump's cronies and his financial dealings with them.


"The declaration by the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan that he would stay in his job despite Attorney General William P. Barr’s attempt to fire him raised not just the mystery of what was behind Mr. Barr’s move, but also a legal question: Who has the authority to remove him?

No definitive and settled Supreme Court precedent exists to look to for guidance, and federal statutes appear to conflict on the question. That sets up the possibility of a protracted fight in court if the Trump administration pushes forward and Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, continues to resist.

But legal experts pointed to a 1979 Justice Department opinion to suggest that the ultimate result of any courtroom confrontation will likely be that President Trump — though not Mr. Barr — has the authority to fire Mr. Berman".

www.nytimes.com

Who Can Fire a Court-Appointed U.S. Attorney? An Abrupt Legal Fight, Explained (Published 2020)

The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan had refused to let the attorney general fire him, but acquiesced after William P. Barr invoked the president.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
AGBF said:
Trump has fired Berman. The move was necessary because Bill Barr was unable to do so. See this article for details as to why. It sounds as if Berman was getting too close to Trump's cronies and his financial dealings with them.


"The declaration by the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan that he would stay in his job despite Attorney General William P. Barr’s attempt to fire him raised not just the mystery of what was behind Mr. Barr’s move, but also a legal question: Who has the authority to remove him?

No definitive and settled Supreme Court precedent exists to look to for guidance, and federal statutes appear to conflict on the question. That sets up the possibility of a protracted fight in court if the Trump administration pushes forward and Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, continues to resist.

But legal experts pointed to a 1979 Justice Department opinion to suggest that the ultimate result of any courtroom confrontation will likely be that President Trump — though not Mr. Barr — has the authority to fire Mr. Berman".

www.nytimes.com

Who Can Fire a Court-Appointed U.S. Attorney? An Abrupt Legal Fight, Explained (Published 2020)

The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan had refused to let the attorney general fire him, but acquiesced after William P. Barr invoked the president.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
Click to expand...

Hopefully Berman takes it to court and at least delays his removal till after the election.

There are questions on whether Trump can even fire Berman:


Steve Vladeck
@steve_vladeck
·
16h

To recap: 1) Berman was appointed under 28 U.S.C. § 546(d). 2) That statute contemplates that he keeps his job until a permanent successor is confirmed by the Senate. 3) 28 U.S.C. § 541(c) says U.S. Attorneys are subject to removal by the President. So the statutes conflict.

Now, Barr is saying Trump has fired Berman, but the letter is on Barr's letterhead and doesn't have Trump's signature.

And now this - Trump denying any involvement. What a clown show!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1274435491572613120


So essentially:

Barr: Berman has resigned.

Berman: I have not resigned.

Barr: Trump has fired Berman.

Trump: I am not involved.
 
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And the latest:

“In light of A. G. Barr’s decision to respect the normal operation of law and have Deputy U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss become Acting U.S. Attorney, I will be leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, effective immediately.” -Geoffrey Berman

I think Strauss was with SDNY previously and left for a while.

But will she "resign" next?
 
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One major reason that Geoffrey Berman did not wat to resign was that Trump and Barr intended to replace him with Trump crony Jay Clayton. Once he was assured that he would be replaced by his own chief deputy, Audrey Strauss, he was willing to resign. He felt assured that she would not drop the important work in which he was engaged, work which Trump and Barr might have influenced Jay Clayton to drop.
 
Demon said:
I think Strauss was with SDNY previously and left for a while.

But will she "resign" next?
Click to expand...

Do you mean will Trump and Barr suddenly announce that she has resigned while she is still working at her desk oblivious to her alleged resignation?
 
Seems to happen a lot. I'm worried that they may be able to have her "resign" and by some trickery then install Clayton.
 
This is wonderful. I assume he will preach only to the converted, however. Everyone knows that Preet Bharara is incorruptible. The Trump Republicans will simply ignore him. This excerpt starts with a discussion of the termination of Geoffrey Berman.

"What prompted the termination? We don’t know and neither Mr. Barr nor President Trump has publicly said. Mr. Berman is a registered Republican, donated to the Trump campaign and was personally interviewed by the president. There has been no suggestion of impropriety or incompetence.

Against that backdrop, the only sin ascribable to S.D.N.Y. under Mr. Berman’s leadership, it seems, is violation of the commandment to protect the president’s friends and pursue his rivals.

The president was unhappy with how the case against his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was handled. The president was displeased that his handpicked U.S. attorney, Mr. Berman, removed himself from the case, unable to protect Mr. Trump from being incriminated in open court. Then there is the reported continuing investigation of the president’s other personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, a former law partner of Mr. Berman. Perhaps that was a bridge too far.

Maybe it had something to do with Turkey. According to John Bolton’s new book, in connection with a case involving the Turkish bank Halkbank in S.D.N.Y. that the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, didn’t like, Mr. Trump told the Turkish leader that the 'Southern District prosecutors were not his people.'

I don’t know if any of these matters, individually or in combination, provoked the firing. It may be impossible to know.

But given the president’s track record, the absence of any other articulated reason and the peculiarity of the weekend termination, neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Barr deserves much benefit of the doubt. Nothing about the weekend termination was regular or in good faith. It smacks of an effort to get rid of someone perceived to be disloyal in favor of someone more controllable. It may be legal, but it does not clothe the attorney general, or the department he leads, in honor."


www.nytimes.com

Opinion | Bill Barr Should Have Lost His Job This Weekend (Published 2020)

The attorney general undermined the rule of law by forcing out Geoffrey Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
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