Regarding this Giuliani stuff...
I saw someone remind folks that in June of 2020, Barr and Trump ousted the US Attorney for the SDNY (Geoffrey Berman) whose branch was overseeing this Giuliani investigation.
On June 19, 2020, late on a friday night, Bill Barr suddenly announced that Geoffrey Berman had resigned and that Jay Clayton, the head of the SEC and a Trump loyalist, would be be nominated to take his place. Until then, Barr was moving the US Attorney for New Jersey over to SDNY instead of doing what normally happens when there's a resignation: the #2 person in that office takes over. Barr (and Trump) clearly wanted someone from outside SDNY to be running the show.
Instead of going quietly, Berman soon put out his own press statement saying he had NOT resigned and had no intention of doing so. Because Trump had failed to nominate and get a US Attorney confirmed for the SDNY, despite having total control of Congress, in 2018 a Federal court appointed Berman itself. And because Berman was court-appointed, Barr technically did not have the power to fire him. So Trump had to fire Berman himself. Which he did.
But the rules for succession in a firing of a US Attorney are different than a resignation, and neither Trump nor Barr was allowed to appoint an acting head under these circumstances. So the Deputy US Attorney, Audrey Strauss, ended up succeeding her boss after all and the investigation into Rudy (or Steve Bannon) was not shut down.
Berman would later testify before Congress and say that Barr had met him in New York City to put heavy pressure on him in person to resign. They would "find a nice job for him in DC" if he played ball.
I saw someone remind folks that in June of 2020, Barr and Trump ousted the US Attorney for the SDNY (Geoffrey Berman) whose branch was overseeing this Giuliani investigation.
On June 19, 2020, late on a friday night, Bill Barr suddenly announced that Geoffrey Berman had resigned and that Jay Clayton, the head of the SEC and a Trump loyalist, would be be nominated to take his place. Until then, Barr was moving the US Attorney for New Jersey over to SDNY instead of doing what normally happens when there's a resignation: the #2 person in that office takes over. Barr (and Trump) clearly wanted someone from outside SDNY to be running the show.
Instead of going quietly, Berman soon put out his own press statement saying he had NOT resigned and had no intention of doing so. Because Trump had failed to nominate and get a US Attorney confirmed for the SDNY, despite having total control of Congress, in 2018 a Federal court appointed Berman itself. And because Berman was court-appointed, Barr technically did not have the power to fire him. So Trump had to fire Berman himself. Which he did.
But the rules for succession in a firing of a US Attorney are different than a resignation, and neither Trump nor Barr was allowed to appoint an acting head under these circumstances. So the Deputy US Attorney, Audrey Strauss, ended up succeeding her boss after all and the investigation into Rudy (or Steve Bannon) was not shut down.
Berman would later testify before Congress and say that Barr had met him in New York City to put heavy pressure on him in person to resign. They would "find a nice job for him in DC" if he played ball.
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