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Geoffrey Berman: Fired U.S. Attorney Admits He’s Been Fired… Sort Of
Hotair ^
| 06/21/2020
| Jazz Shaw
Posted on 06/21/2020 6:51:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The definitive answer as to what happened in the Manhattan U.S. Attorneys office is still far from definitive. In the short period of time between Friday evening and Sunday morning, the bizarre saga of (former) U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman has taken more twists and turns than an Olympic luge run. Yesterday I
puzzled over how Bermans dismissal by either Donald Trump or Bill Barr (depending who you ask) was handled in such an apparently slapdash fashion. In less than a day, we went from Barr announcing the Berman was resigning to Berman saying he wasnt. Then Barr said Trump had fired Berman. The President
claimed that he hadnt. But Barr isnt authorized to fire Berman, so if Trump didnt do it, then Berman is still the U.S. Attorney for Manhattan, right? (We can pause here if you feel the need to take an aspirin and lie down for a bit.)
Well, none of that matters this morning. It seems that a deal was cut and Berman is now admitting hes fired. Or hes resigning. Im really not sure anymore, but hes leaving the office effective immediately. (NY Post)
Geoffrey Berman on Saturday night agreed to step down as one of the nations most powerful U.S. Attorneys, ending a day-long power tug-of-war that stretched from his Manhattan headquarters to the White House and Justice Department in Washington.
In a statement issued at 6 p.m., Berman said he would leave immediately, and turn control of the office over to his Deputy U.S. Attorney, Audrey Strauss.
Berman credited his decision which came after a day of refusing to step down to Attorney General William Barr backtracking on his original demand that his successor be attorney and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton.
Im confident that Berman crafted his statement carefully and his choice of words was interesting. He didnt say he was resigning but he also didnt mention being fired. He simply said, I will be leaving
Let me circle back to something I wrote about this yesterday. [Berman] cant technically refuse to leave the office because all U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. If Trump says hes fired, hes fired. But now the President is saying he didnt fire Berman, so the former U.S. Attorney has technically resigned. But in order to get him to do it, Barr had to sweeten the pot by agreeing to back down on installing Securities and Exchange Commission chief Jay Clayton as his replacement. Instead, Bermans former deputy, Audrey Strauss will be stepping up to fill his shoes until the Senate confirms
somebody.
Barr has now placed Trump in something of a delicate position, assuming we believe that this was all Barrs idea to begin with. (More on that in a moment.) Yes, the GOP still has enough votes to ram through Clayton if they can keep everyone in line. But the Democrats have the perfect excuse to make it a party-line vote. Theyll simply argue that theres already a perfectly viable person serving in the office (Strauss) who has literally been prosecuting cases since Jimmy Carter was in office. She actually had to come out of retirement in 2018 to take the role of Bermans deputy. Clayton, on the other hand, has never prosecuted so much as a jaywalking ticket.
Returning to how this all began, do any of you honestly believe that Bill Barr would have taken it upon himself to can Berman without at least giving President Trump a courtesy call? Given the obvious political fallout of this transition and the media circus that followed, that should be a firing offense on Barrs part if he did. Trump is denying this publicly, but thats a bit much for even me to swallow. And the fallout started last night. The (at least temporary) surrender on Clayton is already being fed into the CNN/MSNBC translator and defined as a victory for The Resistance. And if a couple of nervous Republicans bail out on the Clayton confirmation vote, the Democrats will chalk that one up in the W column also, leaving Trump with yet another acting person in the U.S. Attorneys office in Manhattan who he never wanted in the first place.
Bill Barr has been a loyalist in Trumps camp from day one, so its difficult to see him getting the boot over this. But somebody messed up majorly in how this was handled. Yes, Donald Trump loves stories where hes portrayed as being a fighter and sticking it to his enemies. But he also likes stories where he wins the fight. Thats looking far from certain at this point.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: berman; doj; firing; geoffreyberman; jazzshaw; rino
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To: Engedi
RE: Just dont understand why President would let someone be top AG with little prosecution experience. Is this another friend, good guy, great guy of the President that will stab him in the back, embarrass him down the road?
Well, there you go...more bad optics.
Democrats will campaign on:
1) A corrupt administration sabotaging a legitimate investigation into corruption.
2) Cronyism — giving a position to a golfing buddy to help make the investigation go away.
21
posted on
06/21/2020 7:24:30 AM PDT
by
SeekAndFind
(look at Michigan, it wil)
To: DoodleDawg
RE: LOL! Is there any doubt about that?
Yes, so how to counter that?
22
posted on
06/21/2020 7:25:02 AM PDT
by
SeekAndFind
(look at Michigan, it wil)
To: SeekAndFind
Attorney General Bill Barr responds to SDNY U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman who announced his refusal to leave his position last night:
…”Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so.”…
Shorthand: You’re fired.
As we noted last night all the right resistance members have gone bananas. However, despite all the pearl-clutching, there’s no doubt in my mind Barr has this well in hand.
UPDATE 6:30pm ET: Geoffrey Berman Responds:
Common sense would tell us the attorney general knows House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler is attempting to have him impeached. AG Bill Barr would not make any controversial personnel move -that provides Nadler ammunition- without having every angle of the removal covered.
First Review The Backstory – Next step, remember there is a ton of background material around these moves that connects to a much larger DOJ review. CTH has written some of the aspects on a TWITTER THREAD HERE, I’m not going to go too deep again.
Out of an abundance of caution; and knowing there are resistance members who review CTH analysis; CTH is not going to get too specific about the most likely strategy AG Bill Barr is using here. However, that said,… and with some cautious optimism to enhance my professional skepticism,… there is a clear play at the front of these moves.
How was AG Bill Barr ever going to bring the background DOJ material to the forefront?
How does the AG present material to the public when he knows the resistance agenda is going to be to frame him as being politically motivated?
AG Barr knows the motive of Nadler is to diffuse the damning material from the DOJ investigation by shouting that Bill Barr is doing the bidding of President Trump.
Traditional approaches will not work in this highly partisan era. Even the most stunning evidence of prior DOJ/FBI politicization and misconduct will be obfuscated by media around the Nadler narrative. Taking the initiative to hold a press conference, to release investigative findings, will not work.
AG Barr needs a mechanism to bring the material to the public square.
AG Barr needs the initiative to originate within the opposition.
There’s no better mechanism than by using the Br’er Rabbit approach…. “don’t throw me into the briar patch” etc.
The AG can, likely has, achieved this mechanism by baiting Democrats and media into framing him as being political. Reacting to the demands, Barr then releases his investigative findings as an outcome of accusations against him; while simultaneously saying it wasn’t his idea to bring this stuff to the surface, but he is being forced to by the false narrative(s) framed to impugn his motive.
This approach captures the attention of the public and positions political and media opposition in a way they can’t accuse Barr of improper motive because it is their claims and accusations that have driven the need for sunlight. The opposition are the initiators.
The Democrats and Media will have thrown Br’er Barr into the briar patch, and now Barr is forced to explain all of the background material so that everyone can understand.
In combination with a series of DOJ and FBI personnel moves that are timed to conclude on Friday, July 3rd,… Barr has a previously scheduled interview with Maria Bartiromo tomorrow, Sunday June 21.
The Friday night removal of SDNY Geoffrey Berman, appears timed to ignite exactly what has taken place in the last 24 hours… and the pre-scheduled interview looks purposeful.
23
posted on
06/21/2020 7:32:42 AM PDT
by
Bratch
(If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
To: SeekAndFind
The author seems to be completely misrepresenting what Trump said.
Trump said he didn't fire Berman, and that Barr canned Berman on his own (i.e., "accepted his resignation"). That was almost certainly 100% correct when the initial announcement was made on Friday.
Berman left because he didn't have a leg to stand on. It must have been humiliating for him to post a Twitter message where he claimed to have some kind of special job protection due to his unusual hiring circumstances (the SDNY court judges authorized him to continue in is U.S. Attorney role after his 120-day limit as an interim appointment expired) ... only to have his boss post a public letter that cited chapter and verse about why he wasn't even remotely accurate in his understanding of the law.
24
posted on
06/21/2020 7:33:34 AM PDT
by
Alberta's Child
("We're human beings ... we're not f#%&ing animals." -- Dennis Rodman, 6/1/2020)
To: SeekAndFind
Campaign issue for certain. Or grounds for Impeachment II.
To: SeekAndFind
The story I've seen elsewhere is that this has less to do with Berman himself than with the overall problem with incompetence and/or malfeasance in his office.
There is a money-laundering case involving Iran and Venezuela that was prosecuted through this office, and the Iranian target was found guilty at his trial a couple of months ago. It turns out the SDNY office is now facing the exact same issue of withholding exculpatory evidence in the case, and in this case the judge seems to be coming down very hard on the prosecutors.
26
posted on
06/21/2020 7:36:16 AM PDT
by
Alberta's Child
("We're human beings ... we're not f#%&ing animals." -- Dennis Rodman, 6/1/2020)
To: SeekAndFind
The Art of Simmering Chaos.
27
posted on
06/21/2020 7:38:15 AM PDT
by
Doctor DNA
(retired)
To: ChuckHam
...I have no problem with Rudy being investigated if there is reasonable cause to do so. As a matter of fact I believe a few special council need to be hired to investigate all those involved in wrongdoing related to Ukraine, Mueller investigation, etc... I have a huge problem with it. Just look at the Mueller investigation -- he knew almost before it started that there was no collusion, but Mueller kept the investigation alive for years, hoping to get Trump or someone close to him on a "process violation."
And as a result of Mueller's phony investigation, we lost the House in the mid-terms. As corrupt a process as one can imagine.
Rudy is one of the good guys, but if a corrupt investigator spends enough tax dollars looking into anyone they can gin up something that looks bad. Step on this guy now so that the only thing the Dems can do is an incompetent set of meetings led by Fatso Nadler.
To: SeekAndFind
The liberal-fed-robot blogs (Reddit, Quora, YouTube, Facebook, etc.) are already playing this canard.
29
posted on
06/21/2020 8:04:12 AM PDT
by
Robert A Cook PE
(I can only donate monthly, but ABCNNBCBS donates every hour, every night, every day of the year.)
To: SeekAndFind
Barr said he was asking Trump to fire Brennan. Shaw is a day late...
30
posted on
06/21/2020 8:07:17 AM PDT
by
rockrr
( Everything is different now...)
To: rockrr
31
posted on
06/21/2020 8:08:18 AM PDT
by
rockrr
( Everything is different now...)
To: SeekAndFind
BS
Trump doesn’t do conditional
“You’re fired” is unconditional
32
posted on
06/21/2020 8:10:07 AM PDT
by
bert
( (KE. NP. N.C. +12) Progressives are existential American enemies)
To: SeekAndFind
Yes, so how to counter that? You can't really. The other side won't believe you if you try so just push on, put your replacement in the position, and leave it behind you.
To: CurlyDave; ChuckHam
I have a huge problem with it. Just look at the Mueller investigation — he knew almost before it started that there was no collusion, but Mueller kept the investigation alive for years, hoping to get Trump or someone close to him on a “process violation.”
And as a result of Mueller’s phony investigation, we lost the House in the mid-terms. As corrupt a process as one can imagine.
Exactly. This perpetual “investigation”, politically motivated lawfare assault in reality, of Trump and his supporters while there is NO substantive engagement of coupist Democrats is outrageous.
34
posted on
06/21/2020 8:20:31 AM PDT
by
lodi90
To: SeekAndFind
This is what Resistance (TM) looks like. Dems fight for every inch and make everything a political food fight. As GOP voters unaccustomed to seeing those who we elect performing in this manner it may be hard to recognize.
35
posted on
06/21/2020 8:23:02 AM PDT
by
lodi90
To: Deaf Smith
Makes me wonder if that type of firing took place in this instance. First thing I do before letting any employee go is take away their access to all computer systems by canceling their logon certificates system wide and changing the locks on their office and building access card passcodes.
Always do this when they are away from the office or at 4 on a Friday or holiday weekend.
Then I tell them there services are no longer required.
Rare, but it happens.
To: SeekAndFind
Here's an idea:
37
posted on
06/21/2020 8:56:24 AM PDT
by
TangoLimaSierra
(To the Left, The Truth is Right Wing Extremism.)
To: Deaf Smith
He’s probably going to KEEP all those perks AND his NEW JOB!
38
posted on
06/21/2020 9:32:24 AM PDT
by
Ann Archy
(Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
To: Deaf Smith
and then when THEY come to you to ask what’s going on, you say: “You’re fired!”
39
posted on
06/21/2020 12:06:18 PM PDT
by
catnipman
(Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
To: SeekAndFind
Schiff for brains has already announced his intention to call Berman in to testify.
Just wondering, has there been any indication why this is happening now?
40
posted on
06/21/2020 1:28:50 PM PDT
by
Jvette
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